We are two American academics are thinking of renting an apartment on
Albert Mansions St. in Crouch End for the summer. We will not have a
car. Could anyone be so kind as to give me an honest sense of the
difficulty or ease of transport to the Public Records Office in Kew,
where we will need to travel daily for reseacrh purposes? I see that
the closest underground stations seem to be Highgate and Finsbury. We
have mobility issues, so walking a mile is not an option. Are buses to
the stations frequent and/or reliable? Thank you very much for any
advice.

wrote:
We are two American academics are thinking of renting an apartment on
Albert Mansions St. in Crouch End for the summer. We will not have a
car. Could anyone be so kind as to give me an honest sense of the
difficulty or ease of transport to the Public Records Office in Kew,
where we will need to travel daily for reseacrh purposes? I see that
the closest underground stations seem to be Highgate and Finsbury. We
have mobility issues, so walking a mile is not an option. Are buses to
the stations frequent and/or reliable? Thank you very much for any
advice.

The W7 bus goes every 6 minutes during the day from Dickenson Road
(c300m from Albert Mansions) .

It will either take you the c2km to Finsbury Park Underground station
(then get the Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith for a cross-platform
change onto the District Line to Kew Gardens) - or you can get off
after c500m at Crouch Hill National Rail station (then get the
Silverlink Metro to Gospel Oak for a change onto another Silverlink
Metro train to Kew Gardens).

Either route will take about 1h15m in total. The Silverlink route takes
slightly longer during the day, but avoids a potentially long bus
journey down the congested Stroud Green Road at rush hours.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B wrote:

the congested Stroud Green Road at rush hours.

I find Stroud Green Road southbound to be appallingly congested for most of
the week, never mind rush hour.

Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Would you have any rough guess as to cost of the trip described below?
I can also check the Underground web page.

Thank you again. I really appreciate it.


On Jan 3, 9:32 am, "John B" wrote:
wrote:
We are two American academics are thinking of renting an apartment on
Albert Mansions St. in Crouch End for the summer. We will not have a
car. Could anyone be so kind as to give me an honest sense of the
difficulty or ease of transport to the Public Records Office in Kew,
where we will need to travel daily for reseacrh purposes? I see that
the closest underground stations seem to be Highgate and Finsbury. We
have mobility issues, so walking a mile is not an option. Are buses to
the stations frequent and/or reliable? Thank you very much for any
advice.The W7 bus goes every 6 minutes during the day from Dickenson Road
(c300m from Albert Mansions) .

It will either take you the c2km to Finsbury Park Underground station
(then get the Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith for a cross-platform
change onto the District Line to Kew Gardens) - or you can get off
after c500m at Crouch Hill National Rail station (then get the
Silverlink Metro to Gospel Oak for a change onto another Silverlink
Metro train to Kew Gardens).

Either route will take about 1h15m in total. The Silverlink route takes
slightly longer during the day, but avoids a potentially long bus
journey down the congested Stroud Green Road at rush hours.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot orgwww.johnband.org

wrote:
Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Would you have any rough guess as to cost of the trip described below?
I can also check the Underground web page.

Thank you again. I really appreciate it.

Assuming you're going every weekday, the most effective way to commute
will be on a monthly Travelcard (season ticket). All Travelcard fares
are zonal rather than point-to-point (ie you buy a ticket that has
unlimited use within a particular zone or set of zones, where 1 is the
innermost and 6 the outermost).

Kew Gardens and Crouch Hill are both in Zone 3; Finsbury Park is in
Zone 2. However, your journey via Crouch Hill forces you to go into
Zone 2 during the journey, and the journey via Finsbury Park forces you
to go into Zone 1, so you'll need to buy either a Z23 card or a Z123
card depending on the route you pick.

(this map -
http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/syst...LC_May_x05.pdf
- might make things clearer).

This will cost £105.30 per month to go via Finsbury Park, or £57.60
to go via Crouch Hill (because this journey goes through Zones 2 and 3
only, avoiding the centre.

All Travelcards are also valid on all London buses and trams
irrespective of zone.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B wrote:

wrote:
Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Would you have any rough guess as to cost of the trip described below?
I can also check the Underground web page.

Thank you again. I really appreciate it.

Assuming you're going every weekday, the most effective way to commute
will be on a monthly Travelcard (season ticket). All Travelcard fares
are zonal rather than point-to-point (ie you buy a ticket that has
unlimited use within a particular zone or set of zones, where 1 is the
innermost and 6 the outermost).

Kew Gardens and Crouch Hill are both in Zone 3; Finsbury Park is in
Zone 2. However, your journey via Crouch Hill forces you to go into
Zone 2 during the journey, and the journey via Finsbury Park forces you
to go into Zone 1, so you'll need to buy either a Z23 card or a Z123
card depending on the route you pick.

(this map -
http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/syst...LC_May_x05.pdf
- might make things clearer).

This will cost £105.30 per month to go via Finsbury Park, or £57.60
to go via Crouch Hill (because this journey goes through Zones 2 and 3
only, avoiding the centre.

All Travelcards are also valid on all London buses and trams
irrespective of zone.


The aforementioned Travelcard tickets are also available for weekly
(i.e. 7-day) periods as well as month periods, and they can start on
any day of the week (unlike the weekly Carte Orange ticket in Paris,
the validity of which starts on a monday whether you like it or not!).

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 wrote:

Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Since the North End is in Boston, i would have thought that would be an
even longer commute!

Or is there a North End in London somewhere? The existence of a North End
Road in Earl's Courtish suggests so, but i've never heard it used as a
placename.

tom

--
If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.

Tom Anderson wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 wrote:

Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Since the North End is in Boston, i would have thought that would be an
even longer commute!

Or is there a North End in London somewhere? The existence of a North End
Road in Earl's Courtish suggests so, but i've never heard it used as a
placename.


At first I thought they were speaking of the North End Road in the
vicinity of Earls Court, but perhaps it's the big North End Road in
Golders Green, or the nearby little road merely named 'North End'
(streetmap - http://tinyurl.com/ykcode), or one of several similarly
named roads.

My other thought was whether our esteemed academics are merely adapting
the West End/ East End naming convention so there would also be the
North End and the South End - a concept that has never crossed my mind
before!

Perhaps they would care to clarify of which North End they speak?!

Tom Anderson wrote:

Or is there a North End in London somewhere?

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...ir=0&alt=-1000

There was going to be a tube station called "North End" near there.

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 wrote:

Thank you very much. This is incredibly helpful. Now for the dilemma --
pay 2X as much to stay in a tiny flat in the North End (or some more
centrally located spot), or accept the cost and time of the commute.

Since the North End is in Boston, i would have thought that would be an
even longer commute!

Or is there a North End in London somewhere? The existence of a North End
Road in Earl's Courtish suggests so, but i've never heard it used as a
placename.

tom

--
If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed.

Yikes, I meant West End! Already the American fool and not one foot on
British soil yet. Thanks, all, for the helpful replies.