Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the most pointless Tube journey in town!
And no, the answer isn’t “the one I take to work in the morning”. The most pointless Tube journey in town is, in fact, the stretch of Piccadilly line from Covent Garden to Leicester Square. At a frankly miniscule 250 metres away from each other, these two are so close to one another that you could roll there and still beat the Tube. In fact, to prove this once and for all, we sent our pals Aaron and Owen out on an investigation that pits Man versus Tube:
That’s pretty conclusive evidence. And yet, according to this nifty commute tracker, the Covent Garden-Leicester Square route is a popular one. Every day, 254 people – most of whom we suspect are tourists – take a Tube journey that’s far quicker to walk. In fact, the Tube journey is made even slower by the interminable lifts at Covent Garden, and the seemingly never-ending escalator at Leicester Square. It’s also made worse by the mass of people on it, but I suppose that’s a given…
(It’s not all doom and gloom; before long you’ll be able to do this journey on the fancy new Piccadilly line trains.)
We already knew that the route was one of many London tube journeys that are quicker by foot, but even so, this is damning evidence. If you ever find yourself in need of this journey, give your Oyster card a break and get those pins moving!