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London Reconnections
Personal blog · londonreconnections.comhistoryculture
London Reconnections is a personal blog at londonreconnections.com about history and culture. Since 2012, 45 different Hacker News readers have linked it 70 times, most often “Understanding Uber: It's Not About the App”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
In-depth transport analysis for London and beyond
Most-linked posts?
- Understanding Uber: It's Not About the App4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-09-25
- The Ninety Second Railway3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-05-23
- Transport for London: The Impossible of Finances of Fighting a Pandemic2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2020-05-13
- The myth of the driverless tube train2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-06-09
- /2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-kings-cross-problems/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-09-25
- Schrodinger’s Cab Firm: Uber’s Existential Crisis2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-11-28
- Soviet fleet on the Thames (2020)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-09-11
- Crossrail: The End of the Beginning2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-06-04
- A Legacy of Iron: Crossrail, Connaught and WW22 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-02-04
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-05-20
What Hacker News says?
Meanwhile, in places with sensible rules about taxis and private hire, the only thing that Uber did was make it easier for people to break the rules. And rack up an enormous tax bill that they somehow believed they'd be able to get out of paying. https://www.londonreconnections.com/2021/uber-loses-appeal-a...
Comment linking /2021/uber-loses-appeal-against-ruling-on-uk-worker-rights/
on “Meta torrented & seeded 81.7 TB dataset containing copyrighted data”Submitted Understanding Uber: It's Not About the App as a story · 221 points
HN discussionThat's cool. Sometimes... it doesn't work out. https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behi...
Comment linking /2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-kings-cross-problems/
on “Road resurfacing during the daytime without stopping traffic [video]”Submitted IKEA’s Crimes Against Cartography as a story · 163 points
HN discussionIt looks like this is not the case, "It is also this setup that also allows Uber to pay what their critics say is less than their ‘fair share’ of tax – Uber pays no VAT and, last year, only paid £411,000 in Corporation Tax." https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/understanding-uber-...
Comment linking /2017/understanding-uber-not-app/
on “Alphabet considers Lyft investment of about $1B”Submitted Know When to Run: The Story Behind the Xmas Kings Cross Problems as a story · 119 points
HN discussionOn that subject, unexploded ordnance (UXO) is a real danger for the Crossrail tunnels deep under London: http://www.londonreconnections.com/2012/a-legacy-of-iron-cro...
Comment linking /2012/a-legacy-of-iron-crossrail-connaught-and-ww2/
on “Do the right thing, wait to get fired”Submitted Crossrail: The End of the Beginning as a story · 83 points
HN discussionThe British rail situation can lead to very interesting problems. https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behi... it's one of the most interesting postmortems of a non-software issue I've ever read.
Comment linking /2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-kings-cross-problems/
on “Why rails buckle in Britain”Submitted The myth of the driverless tube train as a story · 66 points
HN discussionThe timetables bit is key here. the reason a lot of services failed so horribly in 2018/2019 was because as OP pointed out, greyling fucked up the timetabling. Not only that, they decided to pick a fight with the unions on southern rail, which turned out to end in a messy stalemate. https://www.londonreconnections.com/ has some good references.
Comment linking /
on “UK Rail services to come under unified state control”Submitted Soviet fleet on the Thames (2020) as a story · 48 points
HN discussionIt's from 2017, but this is still relevant: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/understanding-uber-...
Comment linking /2017/understanding-uber-not-app/
on “Uber loses licence to operate in London, will still operate while appealing”Submitted The Purple Elephant in the Room: Crossrail’s Opening Date as a story · 46 points
HN discussion> Can you engineer sensors to do this? Absolutely. Machine vision is getting better every year, but these procedures date from a time when digital cameras and computers didn't even exist. They work well, don't require maintenance, and are simple. An engineered sensor-based solution would be expensive, would break often in the dirty environment of the tunnels, and would be pretty imperfect. The London Underground has…
Comment linking /2018/crossrail-cutting-fine/
on “‘We Are Not Essential. We Are Sacrificial.’”Submitted The DNA of a London Underground Station as a story · 35 points
HN discussionIf anyone is in project management the story about Kings Cross at Christmas 2015 is must read article on how what seems like the best contingency plans can go wrong https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behi...
Comment linking /2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-kings-cross-problems/
on “Understanding Uber: It's Not About the App”Submitted The Rise and Fall of a Vision: Wrightbus Enters Administration as a story · 30 points
HN discussionParis runs an 85 second headway on Line 14, >40TPH. https://web.archive.org/web/20061019140333/http://references... London runs 36 TPH on the Victoria Line: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/ninety-second-railw...
Comment linking /2017/ninety-second-railway-making-victoria-frequent-metro-world/
on “How Many Tracks Do Train Stations Need?”Submitted You Hacked: Cyber-security and the Railways (2017) as a story · 19 points
HN discussionYou probably mean this: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/crossrail-documentary-the-fi... Not on iPlayer any more but you can buy it on DVD if your don't think tunnelling is boring. :) http://www.londonreconnections.com is also a detailed resource.
Comment linking /
on “Exploring the Elizabeth line, one of the world’s largest construction projects”Submitted Extending the Bakerloo: It's Not About Transport as a story · 8 points
HN discussion> London's Victoria Line now runs at up to 36 trains per hour, a train every 100 seconds. And have thinking about pushing it even further for quite a while now. https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/ninety-second-railw...
Comment linking /2017/ninety-second-railway-making-victoria-frequent-metro-world/
on “Proposal to fix NYC’s subway and broader transit system expected to cost $19B”Submitted Making the Grade (Separation): The Bermondsey Diveunder as a story · 7 points
HN discussionBy most accounts the Elizabeth line in its operational phase has been a great success. According to the ORR's (Office of Road and Rail) first annual report after opening the central section of the Elizabeth line, passenger numbers have exceeded their "post-pandemic optimistic scenario" and the line is on course to be revenue-positive within a few years. More details in this London Reconnections post here: https://ww…
Comment linking /2023/the-state-of-rail-breaking-down-the-numbers/
on “London, Paris, Seoul Show Commuting Power of Fast Regional Rail”Submitted Mind the Gender Gap: The Hidden Data Gap in Transport as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThat's a totally separate idea and won't be done anytime soon. From what I read Camden Town station would need to be rebuilt and plus a lot of other upgrade works: http://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/we-need-to-talk-abou...
Comment linking /2013/we-need-to-talk-about-camden/
on “Apple to create new London HQ at Battersea Power Station”Submitted Understanding Uber: Breaking Down the London Driver Numbers as a story · 5 points
HN discussion> Not really much point to this but I thought it was interesting how the PSAs are effectively put in a position of responsibility for the actions of the autonomous vehicle but presumably are not compensated the same as an active(?) driver would be. This is an interesting question. Most drivers on the underground aren’t active drivers at. I think every deep level tube line, except the Bakerloo, is autonomous, and the…
Comment linking /2020/tfl-the-impossible-finances-of-fighting-a-pandemic/
on “UK’s first full-sized autonomous bus takes to the roads of Scotland”Submitted The Purple Elephant in the Room: Crossrail's Opening Date as a story · 4 points
HN discussion
