tubechallenge.com

Both myself and my girlfriend are interested in participating in the Tube Challange - not to break any records but for charity and is something I have always wanted to do for some strange reason!

Is tehre anyone out there who can either talk us out of it or can give us any tips? We really do not have a clue about how we are going to tackle any of this or any of the logistics or organisation involved in completing this challenge but if we are going to do this we hope to get sponsored by work colleagues and friends so we will giving this our all!

A few questions I am already thingking about are as follows:-

1. Cost of tube run in £'s?
2. How can you 'prove' you have been to every station?
3. Can you arrive at one station served by many different lines? e.g. Picadilly?

They are a few to start but I am sure there will be plenty more.

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide as we would love to compelte this challenge this year.

I'm no expert myself, but...
1. The price of a one day peak zones 1-D travelcard, i.e. £13.60. Or if you're feeling swish and don't want to risk your travel card getting mushed up and unusable half way through the day, get two - one off-peak, one peak. (Actually, something I've been meaning to ask... what IS the deal with Harrow and Wealdstone?)
2. That entirely depends who you want to prove it to. Assuming your work colleagues and friends aren't completely heartless gits , I imagine they'd generally give you the benefit of the doubt rather than quibble over giving a few quid to charity. Guinness will obviously take a bit more convincing (independent witnesses at the start and end, a log book including train numbers - photographic evidence a definite plus, but photos of all 275 not required). A decent selection of photos (timestamped if possible) would probably be a good compromise.
3. Yes, you only have to visit it once regardless of how many lines it's served by - EXCEPT for Paddington, Edgware Road, Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush which appear as two separate blobs on the map. In those cases you have to visit both blobs - they're best thought of as two separate stations that just happen to have the same name.

It's an independant Witness every hour now.

Don't beat our record.

(Does that count as talking you out of it?)

You're not actually allowed to take photos at any station. Security reasons.

So I found out last week <_<...

What, no photos at all? The Conditions of Carriage only says that you can't

take flash photographs and/or use a tripod or other camera support equipment

so presumably you just need to carry around a copy of that to wave at any station staff who object...

Well, try telling that to the station guard at Upminster at 1am in the morning!

gasman wrote:What, no photos at all? The Conditions of Carriage only says that you can't

take flash photographs and/or use a tripod or other camera support equipment

so presumably you just need to carry around a copy of that to wave at any station staff who object...

You could get hold of a photo permit. It's no problem. But then officially you would have to register at every station with the supervisor. Might be good to have it anyway, though.

^ That would involve either lying, or telling TFL about your challenge attempt... probably not a good idea in the current climate!

And also, the cost is likely to be more than £13.60. You have to have accomodation and/or transport to the start and finish, you will probably need some new equipment for a serious challenge (London A-Z, backpack etc), and you'll certainly be buying food throughout the day.

Last time I did a full-day run, it cost about £30, including getting home the day after the attempt.

Sounds cheap, Root.

B&B ~ £25 each if sharing a twin room, could be avoided if you live near your start location or have friends there... good friends...
Ticket £13.60

(That's £40 already!)

Transport to and from could vary between £10 and £20. Food is a further £10 - if you want to be fairly well-nourished!

Expensive sport, is this tube challenge...

Yeah, but remembering I live in Chesham, I didn't bother with a B & B the prior night, and managed to find a host(ess) generous to put me up for the subsequent night free of charge.

And please, call me Ollie.