In message , at 13:31:19 on Sat, 12
Jan 2013, tim..... remarked:
I don't see that he can conclude that it's got anything to do with
the journey "looking" shorted.

That's what academics do - they study things and come to conclusions.

Yes, but that doesn't make those conclusions right.

But it does mean they are likely to be embarrassed if it's wrong, and
spend more time on the research than the average tabloid journalist.

In the case of catching a train from Padd it could easily be because
access to the circle line platforms is simpler.

Erm, both routes he was comparing were from the Circle platforms.

Oh

Who would do that, now that you also have to change at Edgware road?

Surely anyone deciding that "change at Baker St" is the way to go is
then going to seek out the platform that has direct trains. And the
circle line isn't it!

Perhaps the journalist (not the academic) got the map wrong. Like much
of the rest of this report, plenty has got lost in the retelling.

The shortest route on the ground (whichever way that is)

Did you read the article *at all*?

Yes.

Hint: it includes a geographic map as well.

ps The shortest route on the ground is probably via Leicester Square
(second shortest via Warren St) in both cases the Beck map quite
closely resembling the geographic one.

I'm not suggesting otherwise.

The "whichever" above implies you weren't sure (or hadn't looked).

I'm only questioning this assertion that the "right" way that people
should choose to go can be usefully constructed from the shortest route
on the ground, and that if they don't do this they have done something
wrong.

Who was asserting that? Via Oxford Circus is not the shortest route.

Surely the "right way" is the quickest including average connection
time(s) regardless of the length of track that is traversed.

Most of the time, yes, but there are other considerations such as
reliability of dwell time (no use if the route is the quickest, but the
connections only work between xx.20 and xx.30 because of the timetable),
how crowded they might be if it's rush hour and so on. I'd also look at
whether the robustness - having a plausible "plan B" if I encounter
disruption en-route.
--
Roland Perry