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These are Eduardo Paolozzi’s ghosts taking their revenge for the destruction of the beautiful mosaic at old Tottenham Court Road Station, obviously. Seriously,

These are Eduardo Paolozzi’s ghosts taking their revenge for the destruction of the beautiful mosaic at old Tottenham Court Road Station, obviously. Seriously, though the Lizzie Line is an example of really grand design but poorly executed. Here are some of my observations: a. The quality of material is poor and hinders easy maintenance. b. The high-res information displays show train arrivals in incorrect order, e.g. 1. Abbey Wood 4 min 2. Shenfield 2 min c. All advertising spaces are now LED displays, some with additional LED-lit frames which use a lot more energy than the old printed posters, which used none. There are hundreds of these things at each station. They heat up the air inside the stations making them unbearably hot in the summer. The solution is more AC and ventilation using even more energy. I stopped caring about saving the planet when I saw what the TfL did. d. The western section of the line beyond Paddington basically doesn't work in any reliable fashion and should just be repainted green and given to the GWR where it would fit with the rest of the often cancelled services.

RadiozRadioz 3y ago
The heat generated by the LED ads is tiny compared to the heat generated by the actual trains and I think they handled that one very well.
- frantathefranta 3y ago
  Presumably the LED ads are also cheaper than employing people to change the posters.
  - notatoad 3y ago
    i doubt it's less actual cost, but they definitely make more money overall by being able to rotate the ads more frequently.
- jauntywundrkind 3y ago
  Generally agreed. In DC we had a similar change over. My complaint is just that it is incredibly tacky. It's much brighter than ambient lighting is. Our metro system is facing a huge budget crunch (the Feds stopping COVID money, and the 2.5 states involved have been very unhelpful at providing funding). I get that advertising is an appealing revenue stream. I just wish we could do it in a way that wasn't so rambunctiously over the top; I wish we could preserve some level of taste.
  - Symbiote 3y ago
    Transport for London's [1] revenue should be £9100 million this year. Revenue from advertising was £130 million last year, so around 1.5%. It would be nicer if they would just end the advertising. [1] London Underground (metro), several within-London urban and suburban rail lines, buses, trams, river ferries, major roads https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/march/annual-budget-for-2023-24-shows-tfl-set-to-deliver-operating-surplus https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/march/... https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-advertising-annual-report-august-2023-acc.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-advertising-annual-report-aug...
    - google234123 3y ago
      Just increase tax a bit more to make up for it :)
      - tonyedgecombe 3y ago
        In a way advertising is a tax that we all pay.
  - kjellsbells 3y ago
    Metro is a balm compared to the PenFed illuminated tunnel at Washington Dulles airport. For non locals, this is in a long walkway between access train and terminal, is lit in bright blue moving images, and plays a silly song about interest rates at high volume for the entirety of your time in the tunnel. It has cemented my desire to never do business with PenFed, for sure.
    - earthboundkid 3y ago
      My favorite thing about the DC metro are the micro-targeted ads. Obviously, there's all the defense contractor junk at Pentagon City, but I also remember one at Foggy Bottom that was like "so-and-so is on the payroll of ISIS and the State Department should BAN them."
drexlspivey 3y ago
How much energy is "wasted" to print all those paper posters, ship them to all stations, have people periodically replace them, discard the old ones etc?
- throwup238 3y ago
  Probably a lot less than it costs to build, ship, and actively power the displays. It's easy to estimate: if the displays + lifetime power costs more than all the posters, then chances are they use a lot more power. The cost of electricity isn't one of those externalities a business can hoist on society - it has to pay for each kilowatt-hour and that cost is easily quantifiable.
  - tambour 3y ago
    But why would TfL replace their old school displays with LED displays if the latter cost more than the former in the first place? If they are gaining some sort of monetary incentive from replacing poster displays with LED screens, and your reasoning holds true, then perhaps in the greater scheme of things the LED displays do use less 'power'.
Log_out_ 3y ago
Eh, poor material and execution is the subscription model of construction..
rmbyrro 3y ago
Imagine that, in the past, the tube was steam engine powered. If there are peoples who can handle heat deep there, they're the English. But, yeah, it's stupidity.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  Only for of the current lines, those using larger trains and shallower tunnels. The "tube" (with the circular tubelike tunnels) used electric from the start.
- eszed 3y ago
  Back then, the ground itself was cold and acted as a heat sink. People complained of the cold in the underground. A century+ of trains and passengers has warmed the clay, so the stations heat up.
panick21_ 3y ago
Cruel cruel world, how has such evil been allowed to flourish, information in the wrong order, how will London recover. > I stopped caring about saving the planet when I saw what the TfL did. Ok, dude, you are high on your own drama.
colanderman 3y ago
That order (alphabetical) seems correct or at least reasonable to me? Why would I care about the Shenfield train if I'm going to Abbey Wood? (Yes I know some journeys it may not matter as two trains share a route for a while -- I'm about to board such a train in Boston -- but a sign with two lines isn't hard to scan -- and even with many lines, if the times are right-justified, it's easy to spot the shortest times.)

RadiozRadioz 3y ago

The heat generated by the LED ads is tiny compared to the heat generated by the actual trains and I think they handled that one very well.

frantathefranta 3y ago
Presumably the LED ads are also cheaper than employing people to change the posters.
- notatoad 3y ago
  i doubt it's less actual cost, but they definitely make more money overall by being able to rotate the ads more frequently.
jauntywundrkind 3y ago
Generally agreed. In DC we had a similar change over. My complaint is just that it is incredibly tacky. It's much brighter than ambient lighting is. Our metro system is facing a huge budget crunch (the Feds stopping COVID money, and the 2.5 states involved have been very unhelpful at providing funding). I get that advertising is an appealing revenue stream. I just wish we could do it in a way that wasn't so rambunctiously over the top; I wish we could preserve some level of taste.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  Transport for London's [1] revenue should be £9100 million this year. Revenue from advertising was £130 million last year, so around 1.5%. It would be nicer if they would just end the advertising. [1] London Underground (metro), several within-London urban and suburban rail lines, buses, trams, river ferries, major roads https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/march/annual-budget-for-2023-24-shows-tfl-set-to-deliver-operating-surplus https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/march/... https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-advertising-annual-report-august-2023-acc.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-advertising-annual-report-aug...
  - google234123 3y ago
    Just increase tax a bit more to make up for it :)
    - tonyedgecombe 3y ago
      In a way advertising is a tax that we all pay.
- kjellsbells 3y ago
  Metro is a balm compared to the PenFed illuminated tunnel at Washington Dulles airport. For non locals, this is in a long walkway between access train and terminal, is lit in bright blue moving images, and plays a silly song about interest rates at high volume for the entirety of your time in the tunnel. It has cemented my desire to never do business with PenFed, for sure.
  - earthboundkid 3y ago
    My favorite thing about the DC metro are the micro-targeted ads. Obviously, there's all the defense contractor junk at Pentagon City, but I also remember one at Foggy Bottom that was like "so-and-so is on the payroll of ISIS and the State Department should BAN them."

drexlspivey 3y ago

How much energy is "wasted" to print all those paper posters, ship them to all stations, have people periodically replace them, discard the old ones etc?

throwup238 3y ago
Probably a lot less than it costs to build, ship, and actively power the displays. It's easy to estimate: if the displays + lifetime power costs more than all the posters, then chances are they use a lot more power. The cost of electricity isn't one of those externalities a business can hoist on society - it has to pay for each kilowatt-hour and that cost is easily quantifiable.
- tambour 3y ago
  But why would TfL replace their old school displays with LED displays if the latter cost more than the former in the first place? If they are gaining some sort of monetary incentive from replacing poster displays with LED screens, and your reasoning holds true, then perhaps in the greater scheme of things the LED displays do use less 'power'.

Log_out_ 3y ago

Eh, poor material and execution is the subscription model of construction..

rmbyrro 3y ago

Imagine that, in the past, the tube was steam engine powered. If there are peoples who can handle heat deep there, they're the English. But, yeah, it's stupidity.

Symbiote 3y ago
Only for of the current lines, those using larger trains and shallower tunnels. The "tube" (with the circular tubelike tunnels) used electric from the start.
eszed 3y ago
Back then, the ground itself was cold and acted as a heat sink. People complained of the cold in the underground. A century+ of trains and passengers has warmed the clay, so the stations heat up.

panick21_ 3y ago

Cruel cruel world, how has such evil been allowed to flourish, information in the wrong order, how will London recover. > I stopped caring about saving the planet when I saw what the TfL did. Ok, dude, you are high on your own drama.

colanderman 3y ago

That order (alphabetical) seems correct or at least reasonable to me? Why would I care about the Shenfield train if I'm going to Abbey Wood? (Yes I know some journeys it may not matter as two trains share a route for a while -- I'm about to board such a train in Boston -- but a sign with two lines isn't hard to scan -- and even with many lines, if the times are right-justified, it's easy to spot the shortest times.)