[uk.transport.london added for the TfL Journey Planner interest]

"David Mummery" wrote in message ...
Tomorrow I shall travel from East Anglia to Olympia, via Liverpool St. and
LUL, for the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival.

As I walk with difficulty and a stick, I wish to avoid steps and long
distances when transferring from one LUL train to another.
Would somebody in the know please suggest the best route from Liv. St. to
Olympia which will avoid unnecessary steps and long walks?

Excluding a cab, I don't think there's anything wrong with Circle
clockwise to somewhere on the south side of the Circle, for example
Mansion House, stay on the same platform, any District line train to
Earls Court, then District to Olympia.

I don't know which direction clockwise on the Circle is named at
Liverpool St, but I'm sure you can work this out


For example, what is the best way to arrive at Earls Court in order to be on
the correct platform for the Olympia shuttle?

It doesn't matter; the layout at Earls Court is

--------Eastbound trains---------
####### Eastbound platform 1 ######
####### Eastbound platform 2 ######
--------Eastbound trains---------
-------Westbound trains----------
####### Westbound platform 3 #####
####### Westbound platform 4 #####
-------Westbound trains----------

ie each direction has a single platform with two faces. So whichever
westbound face you arrive at, you will not have to go very far for the
Olympia train (which I *believe* is always platform 4, but don't quote
me on that).

Access from the District line platform to Olympia itself is step-free,
I think.


I have assumed that the Underground will be the right mode of travel, but
somebody may know better...

ObUk.Transport.London: Incidentally, when I asked TfL's Journey
Planner about this route (being careful to choose the *stations* as
start and end), with default options, it didn't offer me this route at
all, instead giving me these choices:

- Central line to Holborn, Picc to Earls Court, District to Olympia
- Central to Notting Hill Gate, D or C to High St Ken, bus number 49
- Circle line over the top to High St Ken, bux X7 or 701
- Central line to Holborn, Picc to Earls Court, D to West Btompton,
Silverlink to Kenny O

Um... what?

I changed option from Fastest (default) to Least Interchange and got
offered:

- Central to Notting Hill Gate, bus 28 or 27
- Circle over the top to High St Ken, District to Olympia (finally
acknowledging the existence of this route!)
- Circle over the top to High St Ken, bus 49

I changed the options to exclude buses and all it now offered me was
Circle over the top to High St Ken, District to Olympia. But from
memory that involves going up and down stairs at High St Ken.
Unfortunately there is no 'avoid stairs' option, only 'can't use
stairs' - which would rule out Liverpool St tube station entirely!

Further investigation *seems* to suggest that this Journey Planner
doesn't actually know the Circle is topologically circular. I have
read in one of these groups that the Circle line uses Aldgate as a
pseudo-terminus for timetabling purposes. And in fact asking for a
route from Liverpool Street to Tower Hill offers me the *two* part
journey: Circle or Met to Aldgate, then Circle to Tower Hill.

Which I suppose explains why it always wants to route me over the top
of the Circle.


--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

In message , at
09:08:05 on Thu, 5 Aug 2004, LarryLard remarked:
Unfortunately there is no 'avoid stairs' option, only 'can't use
stairs' - which would rule out Liverpool St tube station entirely!

The clockwise Circle line platform is accessible from the main station,
but I don't know about the road outside.
--
Roland Perry