"Paul Corfield" wrote:

My categorisation (from memory and without the benefit of numbers in
front of me)

Excellent - DLR
Good - W&C, ELL, Central, Piccadilly and Jubilee
Middling - District, H&C, Circle, Bakerloo, Victoria
Awful - Northern, Metropolitan

Interesting. I commute daily (District & DLR) and also travel around town
for work and leisure. My 'evidence' is therefore purely anecdotal.

DLR is great, and impressively the full timetable is on display at each
station. You can normally set your watch by it.

Central rarely lets me down. Full marks for frequency. If travelling from
the east of town to Paddington, I take the Central to Lancaster Gate then
walk - invariably quicker than the H&C/Circle.

Personally, I've always found the Victoria reliable, fast and frequent.

I've more or less given up on the Jubilee. Horrendous gaps between trains.
Extended dwell times at stations whilst they faff around with the PEDs and
various bleepers go off in the cab. Frequent total collapse of service on
the eastern stretch. Random unannounced 'short working' to North Greenwich.
I travel Canary Wharf - West End frequently, and have discovered that DLR to
Bank then Central is quicker and more reliable in the real world.

Another journey I undertake frequently is Canary Wharf - Finchley. DLR to
Bank is always fine. The Northern has been the cause of many 'apologies for
lateness', however. When something goes wrong, the High Barnet service seems
to thin alarmingly, and reversals at Finchley Central appear to be the norm.

The District, having been through a bad patch, seems to be on the up again.
The unrefurbished stock suffers from door problems, but this is now in the
minority. Some of the problems on the eastern stretch are 'passenger
related' - trespass; vandalism; people hurling themselves under trains etc.

The Circle is fine when it runs, but too often it doesn't. The whole north
side of the Circle/H&C can be a bit 'iffy' for those with tight deadlines.
However, I would say 'improving' here.

Chris