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TfL drop River Thames from Tube map
Ross Lydall16 Sep 2009
The Underground map has been redrawn without the Thames or the Tube zone charging system.
Transport for London said changes were made after some passengers complained that Harry Beck's classic design, first published in 1933, had become too cluttered.
Critics claim the new zone-free map will allow TfL to disguise the rising cost of travel.
The Underground has grown recently with extensions to the Docklands Light Railway, the addition of London Overground services — when TfL took control of the former North London line
— and the East London line extension.
But Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem London Assembly transport spokeswoman, said: “It seems surprising that the first revisions to the Tube map under a Tory Mayor drop the river Thames.
Boris Johnson promised Londoners he was keen to develop river transport services and this won't
help.
“But dropping the fare zone lines may be even worse as Londoners could lose out through paying more.”
Jo deBank, of taxpayer-funded passenger body London Travelwatch, said: “We question the removal of the river, which does at least give the map some geographical sense, and we think the
removal of the fare zones is foolish, especially for tourists and visitors who are unfamiliar with the system.”
Passengers entering Zone 1 — which covers much of central London — pay premium fares, with further rises expected in January.
TfL recently introduced a system ensuring Oyster prepay passengers are not charged extra if they manage to avoid Zone 1.
Annie Mole, who runs the Going Underground blog, said: “It seems like TfL wants to confuse people. I'd love to know whether this is it an attempt to tax the unwitting? Or is there a new
zone structure rolling out?”
The Harry Beck map has been voted a British design icon alongside Concorde and Spitfire.
The Thames and the zone structure have been removed from small paper maps available from Tube stations.
TfL said that maps on ticket machines, on its website and inside train carriages would show the river and the zones.
A TfL spokesman said the map had “lost the simplicity which made it so effective” and the new version still showed connections to river transport.
Reader views (15)
I don't live in London but do visit. I recently came with a group of scouts and took a boat down to Grenwich, walked under the Thames and back into the city via the Docklands railway. Please tell me how I would do this using your new map? It was a great way to see alot of London in a short space of time but impossible without a good map showing which stations were near the river
- Anna,Newark, Newark, Uk, 01/10/2009 10:46
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Which overpaid idiot(s) decided this???
Tens of millions of people have been able to still read the map ok with the Thames and zones on it, so why change it? And nobody ever asked US! Do NOT change it/put it back.
Fire all the people who decided on this, clearly they have too much time to waste!
- Ralph, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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Well rivers tend to be BENDY and we all know what BOJO thinks of this feature - You cant BENDY like Boris!!
So how will visiters to the Mayors River festival know which stations to use or the boat race.
As for the pathetic excuse for its ommission far more complex changes have been made than just re-inserting the old part of the East London Line this again is wrong as it should be shown from Highbury and Islington to West Croydon which is currently being built. The map also fails to show the DLR extension to Stratford International which is also under construction.
However, the more serious ommission is fare zones so how are passengers to know what ticket they require or is this a way of hiding fare increases by switching stations between zones.
Well another fine mess Chairman Boris has made!!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 01/10/2009 09:46
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Dear enquire@tfl
This morning I was unfortunate enough to see your newly designed Tube ‘map’. What a terrible confusing
mass it has become and TFL should be ashamed.
Removing the Zones means that no one knows what zone they are in or going to. I am sure this will allow TFL to gouge more money from people who cross into Zones their Travelcard does not cover and make money out of penalty charges but it makes actual travel more difficult and confusing. It also means station staff will be inundated by questions from people about whether their Zone 1&2 pass will allow them to travel to destination X without paying extra.
Removing the Thames means that you don’t know which side of the river you are on or are travelling to which is important for tourists and those who live here as it helps plan our journey. It is the major navigational feature in London and removing it has removed geographical context from the city.
Removing the grid references can be described as nothing other than sheer stupidity. How is anyone supposed to find their destination or start point, especially if they don’t know which line they are on or going to? It means that station staff will be flooded with people asking where each station is as it will be far too time consuming to follow each and every line all the way along to see if you can find the right station.
- Butch, London, UK, 01/10/2009 09:46
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No index, so finding an unfamiliar station will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. No zones, so lots of penalty fares and paying too much. Crowds of baffled tourists and visitors having to clutter up the ticket machines and ticket offices to get simple questions answered...
Obviously the idiot responsible for this fiasco never uses the Underground !
Apart from its immense iconic value, it's particularly important to show the Thames around Docklands because you can't easily cross to the other side if you find yourself on the wrong bank.
Come on Boris, be decisive and stop this nonsense NOW.
- Peter Carmichael, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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What were they thinking getting rid of the river thames like that? It really must have been designed by someone who has absolutly no cultural understanding or perspective of London whatsoever!
- Gary, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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What a waste of money. Maps are supposed to help, not hinder. Why on earth remove the Thames and the travelcard zones. Worse than useless. Boris is really making his mark. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
- Richard, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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So which side of the river is any station on ?
Which station is nearest the river ?
- Sarsfields Ghost, LONDON, 01/10/2009 09:46
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So some other egotistical idiot thinks they can improve on the essence of Beck's masterpiece of design? Doubtless, sense will prevail in a future version and the River Thames be rightly restored to its place on London's Tube map.
- Guy Cavendish, London, England, 01/10/2009 09:46
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How utterly stupid removing the Thames and price zones from the tube map.
If they confuse people they should not go out without a resonsible adult holding their hand.
The majority I am sure are happy with the old map. Why are the minority always considered first ?
- Michael, London, UK, 01/10/2009 09:46
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Although I do miss the river not being on the underground map any more, I do prefer the new map. If people need information about fare zones, then let them loos at the London Connections map which is almost always displayed next to the underground map. The new map is so much clearer, and if the TfL people say that they have designed the new map with passengers' views in mind, I for one am delighted that they have taken passenhers' views into account. The whole point of the Tube map is to show the routes that you need to take to get to your desination. The old map was too cluttered and too full of information. The new map is clean, easy to understand (not just for tourists, but for Londoners too) and is more in keeping with the original, designed in 1931 by Harry Beck.
- Jonathan, Willesden, 01/10/2009 09:46
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Maybe in this dumbed down country people think it is the ThamesUnlinked tube line!
- Michael, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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The new map looks a lot cleaner, and I didn't immediately notice that the river had gone. What people want is to work out a route between two stations. Until we have a Venice-style river-bus service that runs every ten minutes with the same zonal fares as the tube, the river is an irrelevance.
Look to the future. When we can use our travelcards on all the surface railways in the zones, there are going to have to be a lot more stations and lines on the map!
- Nigel, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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Does this mean I can now get a cab south of the river?
- George, London, 01/10/2009 09:46
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it's insane! it's like shrouding Big Ben out of the skyline. if a train tunnel is flooded no one will know where the water came from. it's destroying the city's north-south character.
- Neil, london, 01/10/2009 09:46
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