>London Commuting Visualisations
>I’ve been aware of the mySociety work for while, mainly through theyworkforyou.com which was used for some aspects of Protect The Human. I recently discovered their mapping project which visualises commuting times for different forms of transport. These visualisations are fascinating and could prove incredibly useful in managing the transport networks that we all use in our daily lives.
click image for full version
This map shows travel times to the Department of Transport in Pimlico using public transport. It’s the detail which I love, showing islands appearing around transport nodes and hubs such as train stations or main bus routes.
Wimbledon while reasonably far out is very well connected through Victoria Station, whereas for getting to Pimlico, SE London is hopeless. Of course were the map to be centred on London Bridge where most SE London transport deposits the daily hoardes, then the map would look very different.
There is a dynamic version with sliders half way down this page, centred again on Pimlico.
A similar map shows Edinburgh, comparing public transport versus car commuting times. The light coloured areas represent where public transport is quicker than driving. While city public transport bodies must have this kind of information (I hope to God they do) it’s amazing to see this data visualised so clearly.
This last map came as a bit of a shock. As a cyclist who braves the capital regularly, I’m well aware of how quick two wheels can be, but I was surprised at the extent to which this as true. The clear areas on this map represent where cycling is faster than public transport if you work at the Department of Transport. For most of London cycling is clearly faster! The black area in Pimlico is confusing, any ideas?
Of course what we all want is to enter our own postcode and visualise how how our lives are affected by travel times and networks. Hopefully one day that system wil be developed. If you’re interested you can commission mysociety to create a custom map for you.
For anyone interested in sustainable transport and car free areas, www.carfree.org.uk and www.carfree.com are good places to start.
Read More>Cool new routemaster design – video
>One of the entries in the Routemaster bus competition for London.
I’ve only seen still images for the other designs but this video really brings this particular design to life. I really like the look of this video (although it could do with more/any sound), not to mention the actual design of the bus – I love the idea of people facing each other on London buses. Although it does seem to have the longest wheel-base of any bus I’ve ever seen – corners and cyclists beware. I really love the big destination sign next to the front door.
http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1348426470
Read More>London Calling
>A few months ago we moved out of London to Bristol. To non-Londoners that might not seem a big deal but London is a hard place to settle in and having invested 8 years of my life there it was time to go. I’ve continued to work in the big smoke each week, mainly on Protect The Human, commuting each week and staying with a friend.
Having mentally made the break I could no longer Brompton. I’m not going to bore you with the details but the Brompton is fantastic and I can hardly imagine life without it now. I cycle to the train, fold it in up seconds and pop it alongside the suitcases. I reckon I’ve saved about £200 in two months and countless hours of travel time.
The Brompton is really nice to ride and as long as the tyres are pumped up hard I can keep up easily with most cyclists on London’s streets. The fold mechanism is amazing and incredibly satisfying, here’s a video showing how small it goes:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNnOdoUn3kg&hl=en&fs=1]
I have quite a few other essentials to help manage the commute, the most critical being a broadband dongle for the laptop. It’s a 3 supplied dongle and works pretty well most of the time but is a bit variable depending on the phone signal. The image below shows everything the cycling train commuter needs for a couple of nights in London (the pic is annoted with notes if you visit the photo on Flickr).
