A Circle line party is a type of subway party occasionally held on the Circle line of the London Underground.
A Circle line party is a type of subway party occasionally held on the Circle line of the London Underground.
Although the time and place of these parties is planned, the event itself occurs spontaneously, as each participant decides for themselves what sort of revelry, costume, decorations, snacks, libations and guests to bring to the party. The participants decorate the carriages festively, and play music, either live or on portable sound systems, disguised to appear as normal luggage.
Other activities include setting up pole-dancing poles on the trains. Free drinks, snacks and sweets are provided, often being provided from well-stocked portable bars and snack tables, which disappear as the train arrives at the station. Commuters are invited to participate in the parties.
To maintain a low profile while the trains are in the stations, most participants only revel and frolic once the trains are in tunnels. Permission is not sought from London Underground or the British Transport Police for Circle line parties, and police sometimes stop trains for long periods to break the parties up. However, their organisers, typically linked to anarchist groups such as the Space Hijackers, claim that Circle line parties are not meant to disrupt travel, but to "reclaim the public space from the advertisers and give it back to the people to whom it belongs".
On 7 May 2008, the newly elected Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced that the drinking of alcohol would be banned on all public transport services run by Transport for London from 1 June. [1] A man called Robbie Knox then thought up the idea of a Circle line party to be held at the end of the month to celebrate the last night of legal drinking on the London Underground, and spread the idea on the social networking website Facebook. The plan quickly received media attention and was mentioned in several newspapers. [2]
On 31 May, the night itself, thousands of people attended, the largest Circle line party ever. Some dressed in costumes ranging from 1920s prohibition figures to Boris Johnson himself. The line was suspended after several trains were damaged during the party, and a number of London Underground staff and police officers were assaulted. Seventeen people were arrested due to disorderly behaviour and six tube stations were closed as they became overcrowded. [3]
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Tube map is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was designed by Harry Beck in 1931. Since then, it has been expanded to include more of London's public transport systems, including the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, the Elizabeth line, Tramlink, the London Cable Car and Thameslink.
Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom.
The Circle line is a spiral-shaped London Underground line, running from Hammersmith in the west to Edgware Road and then looping around central London back to Edgware Road. The railway is below ground in the central section and on the loop east of Paddington. Unlike London's deep-level lines, the Circle line tunnels are just below the surface and are of similar size to those on British main lines. Printed in yellow on the Tube map, the 17-mile (27 km) line serves 36 stations, including most of London's main line termini. Almost all of the route, and all the stations, are shared with one or more of the three other sub-surface lines, namely the District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines combined, over 114 million passenger journeys were recorded in 2011/12.
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Bank and Monument are two interlinked stations in the City of London that form a public transport complex served by five lines of the London Underground as well as the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).
Westminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. On the Circle and District lines, the station is between St James's Park and Embankment, and on the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station is located at the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment and is close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, and the London Eye. Also close by are Downing Street, the Cenotaph, Westminster Millennium Pier, the Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Supreme Court.
Ealing Broadway is a major single-level interchange station in Ealing in London, England. It is in the London Borough of Ealing, West London, and is served by the London Underground and also National Rail on the Great Western Main Line. On the Underground, it is one of three western termini of the District line, the next station being Ealing Common, and it is also one of two western termini of the Central line, the next station being West Acton. On the National Rail network, it is a through-station on the Great Western Main Line, 5 miles 56 chains (9.2 km) down the line from London Paddington, between Acton Main Line and West Ealing.
Aldgate is a London Underground station near Aldgate in the City of London. The station is on the Circle line between Tower Hill and Liverpool Street, and is the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan line. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Westbourne Park is a London Underground station in the Notting Hill area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines, between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Orbirail was a name for a suggested orbital railway route around London.
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The Bakerloo line extension is a proposed extension of the London Underground Bakerloo line in South London from its current terminus at Elephant & Castle to Lewisham station.
This article is primarily concerned with accidents on the London Underground network, which carries around a billion passengers a year. Statistically, there is just one fatal accident for every 300 million journeys. There are several safety warnings given to passengers, such as the traditional 'mind the gap' announcement and the regular announcements for passengers to keep behind the yellow line. Relatively few accidents are caused by overcrowding on the platforms, and staff monitor platforms and passageways at busy times preventing people entering the system if they become overcrowded.
Boris Johnson served as mayor of London from 1 May 2008 until 5 May 2016, being elected in 2008 and reelected in 2012. During his mayoralty, Johnson oversaw the preparations and hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympics and oversaw the cycle hire scheme. He also with introduced the New Routemaster buses and the Thames cable car, while promoting the proposed Garden Bridge over the River Thames; the project was later abandoned after Johnson left office. Johnson also banned alcohol consumption on much of London's public transport.
