I like the Tube, But to not have Air condition on the trains is a joke.

[Pat Vegas]

The new metropolitan line/Circle etc trains do.

The Victoria line trains are only a few years old but they decided not to put Air con in.

So the best they do is tell you carry a bottle of water with you.

I understand the system is old, busy, installing this stuff is costly but it should be done imo. Not for the one hot day a year. in general it's always hot on the trains and they are becoming busier every year. It could be fit to the old trains. they refit them out every now and again.

Unless there is some reason for deep level trains can't have it.

London is one of the biggest cities in the world they need to sort this out.

They won't, and I am wasting my time. But the fares are also ridiculous and go up every year. They don't even give you an excuse why they go up anymore.

When I am angry at the tube it might be time to leave.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Meditation might be the answer to your anger issues.

I'd definitely give Buddhism a go, f.

[Luis Anaconda]

Theravadins also believes that the Buddha allowed the monks to choose a vegetarian diet, but only prohibited them from eating human, elephant, cow, horse, dog, cat, lion, tiger, bear, leopard, and slug flesh. According to Theravada, the Buddha did not prohibit any kind of meat-eating for his lay followers.

No beef :cry:

[Pat Vegas]

I don't think of anything else whilst I am playing and it's great.

Apart from that I think London is trying to shaft people from every direction. I assume it's always been this way but a lot of people I know are leaving the place.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

The odd meditate here and there, and Bob's yer wossname.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Look out of your windows upon green, upon the glories of nature.

[Classic Jorge]

Great in theory but in practice bhuddism seems a right ball ache.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Berni]

[Rich]

don't have it is because there is nowhere for the hot air that air conditioners generate to go (on the deep level sections of these lines, anyway). A few years ago TFL/Boris encouraged people to devise a solution to the long standing problem. Clearly nobody has thought of a suitable solution, though.

Edit: Just found this so seems the above is the case - Conventional air conditioning has been ruled out on the deep lines because of the lack of space for equipment on trains and the problems of dispersing the waste heat these would generate. Different systems have been proposed to cool Underground trains, most notably the use of massive blocks of ice inside the train. The blocks would be kept in refrigeration units, preventing them from melting completely.

[Classic Jorge]

I hate the tube and avoid it as much as I can in london, as in I only take it when the alternative is a bus.

[Berni]

when walking would have been just as quick and a hundred times less unpleasant. People just don't know their London geography, I guess.

[Rich]

lanes without looking. Fortunately both times have been at less than 20mph so no major damage.

I don't really want to die, though. Otherwise I'd tend to agree.

[Pokster]

you do have to mix with some Northerners, but we aren't all bad

[Rich]

[Luis Anaconda]

[Rich]

How many did you score at Dorking?

[Classic Jorge]

My bike got written off by a guy doing a hit and run on me three days after I bought it.

Had to rebuild it from scratch as the insurance wouldnt process the claim :( Still much better than the tube.

Nothing beats a taxi though, a proper black cab is the only way to travel around the capital.

[Classic Jorge]

Keep it quiet, mate. We'll be rammed with the *******s if you're not careful.

[Berni]

[Brentwood]

[Rich]

[Classic Jorge]

[Brentwood]

having cash was good

He was a **** driver though. Headed the wrong way on the M4 (towards Wales), kept getting undertaken, hooted by a guy on a scooter for pulling in front of him and told me the last time he was in Oslo was for the murder trial of his brother

Supposedly they get rid of the drivers who get poor ratings though

[Rich]

[Classic Jorge]

It's one of the few things that make London distinctly London and I'm convinced they'll keep undercutting the licensed/metered trade until they kill it off and then raise their prices.

We have them up here too but frankly, f**k that, I give google enough of my data as it is.

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

[Brentwood]

on the reasonable assumption that they would see a guaranteed return on their investment (i.e. a finite amount of competition allowed)

On the other hand, it is better for the customer to have more choice, the technology makes it simple and works across countries (how can there be black cabs who don't take credit cards in 2015?)

I think Uber could compensate the black cabbies in some way. Maybe have another category of car people can choose from called London cab?

[Classic Jorge]

The training can be done part time in a few years, though my dad managed it in a then record 13 months.

Yes, choice is all well and good but it was against the law to run a metered service and the only reason it's been allowed is that big business lobbied for it to happen, and as we know big business always gets its way.

Ideology aside I do think the eventual loss of the trade will rob London of something, of its quintessence. Which is sad.

[Berni]

Why? Because credit card payments are logged and have to go through the books as income on which they have to pay tax. Cash presents no such problems.

Again, some of this comes back on cab drivers, who for years have continued with (or allowed others to continue with) protectionist, dodgy and customer-unfriendly practices that have made Uber seem really attractive in comparison.

[Classic Jorge]

[Pat Vegas]

hotter conditions.

Of course it would be a pain to retrofit the trains, I think it's more of a case that they don't want to spend the money.

But the good news we don't need to worry about this next week for a couple of days as we won't be able to use the tube as they are going on strike.

[Classic Jorge]

[Brentwood]

It's inevitable that they'll lose, so they may as well make the most out of a bad situation imo

[Berni]

That's a pretty basic conservative dictum, I'd have thought.

London existed before black cabs and it will exist without them. They're just taxis, after all.

[Pat Vegas]

[Classic Jorge]

But, hang on, it's the lower classes we're talking about here so it's fair game. How very Andrew Jackson.

[Berni]

http://glennelliott.co.uk/uber-isnt-killing-londons-black-ca b-complacency/ (http://glennelliott.co.uk/uber-isnt-killing-londons-black-cab-complacency/)

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

And describing cab drivers in class terms is a bit disingenuous imo. The earnings of a London cab driver are between 50 and 100k pa, which means they're not exactly on the breadline and can easily afford their Tottenham season tickets.

[Brentwood]

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

I still dont see what the problem with not taking cards is but, then again, I dont see what the big deal in finding a cash machine is either.

It's like going to a solicitor and being annoyed you cant pay them via paypal. If someone wanted to pay me in cash I'd ask them to give me a bank transfer instead.

[Classic Jorge]

And you cant equate class with money, as any fool knows

[Brentwood]

they want to hand over their card, quickly pay and get a receipt fast. They don't want to have to visit an ATM first, get cash out and hope they have enough for the fare, but not too much (especially if they are foreign travellers who don't want to take out more cash than they need)

We have even moved on from card paments now, people expect to pay using their phone these days

The black economy will be all but eradicated in a few years when we are completely cashless

[Classic Jorge]

I mean, a really unscrupilous type would get a few free receipt books off of his dad and then sell them on to people for expenses claims.

[Berni]

In a customer-driven industry, you either meet the customer's needs (including the way they predominantly want to pay) or you take a pounding from the competition that does. If you fail to meet your customer's needs, it's your own fault. It's called competition.

You get in a cab in any major city and Europe and it will take card payments. Why should London be different?

The comparison with solicitors and paypal is ludicrous. PayPal is not a common method of paying for anything other than online, whereas using a credit or debit card is now probably more common than paying for things in cash. For cabs not to reflect that fact is unacceptable.

And all that is without mentioning the obvious fact that the reason cab drivers don't want to take cards is because it makes their habitual tax evasion easier to deal in cash. This position is entirely unjustifiable, I'm afraid.

[Classic Jorge]

How do you tip otherwise? Are you scrabbling around for coppers whilst your card is going through?

[Berni]

If the customer wants to pay by card (and say you're in a rush and don't have time to visit a cash machine, why shouldn't you?), then you, the service provider, better make sure you can take a card or someone like Uber will come along and arse-f**k you.

[Brentwood]

I was given some as a present and it is still sitting in my wallet untouched

You just wave the card over a wireless reader and it processes it in seconds. Buses, paying at the tip, buying a pack of gum. It's much easier

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

You need to pop back to civilisation occasionally. Things have changed.

[Classic Jorge]

you bunch of tight *******s

[Brentwood]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

It's their preferred currency.

[Brentwood]

[Berni]

when it comes to questions of football and black cabbery. :hehe:

[Classic Jorge]

[Mo Britain less Europe]

selfies and ****ers blare out their crap hip hop