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Accessibility

Tottenham Court Road now full step free!

Finally, the lifts are open at Tottenham Court Road, and you can access both the Central and Northern line platforms step free, using the five new lifts that have been installed at the station (there is a sixth one, which is for staff/emergency use only)

The Northern line is labelled at being down at level -5, whilst the Central Line at level -4.

To get to the Central line from the ticket hall involves using two lifts, and a corridor walk, to get to the Northern, you can get one lift all the way down (which stops to interchange with the Central line if you wish).

We’re updating the 3D map for TCR today, and we’ll preview it here tomorrow and have it in the next update of the App for you …

 

3D Maps / Accessibility / Lifts — — 15 Feb 17

New Entrance At Victoria

Part of the Victoria Station Upgrade has been completed with the brand new entrance at Cardinal Place now being open. It was due to open in December 2016, but opened a month later in January, bringing a new way in and out straight to the Victoria Line – which then lets you connect as before to the District and Circles.

The lifts aren’t finished .. yet, but there’s 3 of them – all new, and when they’re open it’ll bring step free access to another Zone 1 station.

We have of course updated the 3D map for Station Master, and here’s how it will appear ni the next update…

3D Maps / Accessibility / Lifts — — 19 Jan 17

New Vauxhall Lift At Last

Its only a year late… actually, it might be about 15 months late we think, but finally .. finally the new lift at Vauxhall station is open meaning it now has full step-free access.  It’s located at platform level in the crossover corridor towards the southern end of the platforms, and we’ve already updated the data in Station Master to be in the next release of the App.  They’ve also re-opened what was Exit No.6, and logically called in No.4 which is a ramp, for step free access from the street (although there is now a working lift again from the bus station too!)

Vauxhall Lift

Corridor

Accessibility — — 19 Sep 16

Tower Hill Gets Lifts

Another dreaded ‘blue blob’ will appear on the tube map after today making it harder to read, but bringing with it the excellent news that another Zone 1 station now has step free-access with the addition of two news lifts at Tower Hill tube station, meaning that you can now access both platforms without using steps.

Read the full TfL Press Release here

Tower Hill Lift 1

Tower Hill Lift 2

Accessibility / Lifts — — 07 Aug 16

Epping footbridge closed

For three months over summer, the footbridge at Epping station is closed whilst it’s being repaired.  This means a change of what you’d normally have to do at Epping station to get to and from trains.

Platform 2 is the one on the west side of the station, and there’s a footbridge over to Platform 1.  With that closed, they’ve now opened up the side entrance all the time to allow people to enter or exit that way, and use the second footbridge (handy that it’s there!) that is not part of the station.

Epping Footbridge

This could mean you arrive at Epping, enter the station, and then have to leave again and walk round when you find the next train is from platform 1, and not 2.   And if you’re arriving on Platform 1, you have to exit the station by the side entrance, and then walk over the public footbridge – not the one inside the station – to exit.  Things should be back to normal by September,

 

Accessibility / Infrastructure / Tube — — 09 Jul 16

Tottenham Court Road Lifts

Are the lifts at the new Tottenham Court Road almost ready? It would seem to be that way, as a brand new wide barrier gate has been installed and is on view in the ticketing area at the station, to allow access down to what we think is the Northern line platforms.

We haven’t worked out yet where the lift is down to the Central line.  There’s also (obviously) another lift still currently behind blue hoardings next to escalators to take you from street level down to the ticketing area.   Looks like it could open soon though, and the Tube will get another step-free station added to its list.

Wide gate by the new lift

Wide gate by the new lift

Accessibility / Lifts — — 18 May 16

South Tottenham Step Free

Just in time for the line to be … closed for several months whilst it’s electrified, step-free access has come to South Tottenham station on the Overground with the addition of two new lifts.

The ticketing area has been improved too with a new gate line, ticket machines, a bike rack and even a nice garden is being built.  But as from June of this year, trains will only run to Gospel Oak, and then from September the whole line will be shut whilst it is converted so that longer electric trains can run upon it, and not the two-car diesel ones that are there at the moment.

Updated 3D map to follow!

Lifts at South Tottenham

Lifts at South Tottenham

Accessibility / Lifts / Overground — — 06 May 16

Still no lift at Vauxhall

Since the new tube map came out at the beginning of the year, Vauxhall has had a ‘blue blob’ for full accessibility because of the new lift that they’re building .. but we’re now towards the end of February, and it’s STILL not open. How long can a station be marked as ‘accessible’ on a map, but for it actually not to be and for that to be ok…?

Still no lift ...

Still no lift …

Accessibility / Tube — — 18 Feb 16

Still no lift at Vauxhall

The new January 2016 Tube Map brought with it a few changes, but one of the more subtle ones was that Vauxhall now got a connector blob – sorry! I mean a ‘blue wheelchair blob’ (making it impossible to distinguish whether stations marked as such are interchange stations or not).

Vauxhall Blue Blob

Vauxhall Blue Blob

This should have meant that the accessibility count for step-free stations should have gone up to 70, except for the small matter … that the lift is not operational yet.  Down at platform level the corridor between the two platforms at the southern end is where they’re building it, and up in the ticket hall area, all there is is a big blue door (below) where it’s not finished.  We’re just wondering how long it will be in terms of time between the Tube Map saying it’s accessible, and it actually being a reality…

Lift not finished at Vauxhall

Lift not finished at Vauxhall

Accessibility / Lifts — — 13 Jan 16

This is the way to do blobs

Accessibility blobs! Do you love ’em, or hate ’em? It’s essential to know of course these days which stations have step-free accessibility and which don’t, but some argue that the main Tube map has been disrupted by too much information pollution (not just with accessibility blobs, but with all information on the Tube map) and that there should be once ‘simple’ standard Tube map for the majority of users, and then specialised versions for others.

The main issues that people have always had with ‘wheelchair blobs’ (as they’ve become known) is that on a standard Tube map, there are ‘ticks’ and then circular ‘connector blobs’ to represent stations which are and aren’t interchange points.

When a station then gets a ‘wheelchair blob’ it becomes circular in shape, and then there’s no way of knowing if its meant to represent an interchange station or not – therefore rendering the regular connector blob pointless.

Which is why we were intrigued to see this at Covent Garden station the other day, on a map on the wall, where the wheelchair blobs have been stuck to the side of of the regular tick/connector blobs of stations.  A really nice touch, the first time we’ve seen it, and something that we wish was more prevalent.

Covent Garden Blobs

Covent Garden Blobs

 

Accessibility / Map / Tube — — 25 Nov 15
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