Maddie Boulanger Blog Post 1


Seeing an omnibus, and more widely the history of transportation in London, at the London Transit Museum has led me to think differently about the ways in which we move around the city. In the past, your form of transportation was an indicator of your socioeconomic status. In my experience, this is much less true today. While we hear a lot about how classist British society, you do not feel like that when you take the tube. There are people from all walks of life on any given tube ride, but everyone is still using the same form of public transportation and all that comes with it, including the smells, the shoving, the annoyance and the impatience.
You can really see a sample of London when you take the tube. There are tourists and business people, mixed in with school groups and families and sometimes, if you’re lucky, a cute dog. In a time where transit was more separated by class, you would miss the experience of watching, or being a part of, a random group of people who are all trying to get somewhere. In my time in London, I've really enjoyed learning how to use the public transit system and trying to blend in on the bus or the tube. If you were in a private form of transit, sure you wouldn’t have to deal with the unpleasantness, but you would miss an experience of London that is very central to the everyday of those who live here. Not only being a part of the crowd, but feeling like you belong in the mix. 

The tube has changed alongside London and its population, and going to the Transit Museum helped me to see where we fit into the London of today and made me think what might be different if we return many years from now and try to get from one end to the other.

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