BECK'S GEOGRAPHY RUMBLED

摘要

Now here's a thought: transport strikes might actually increase productivity.That's the striking finding of academics who have reviewed a London Underground stoppage. The reason is that travellers forced to find out alternative routes may find a quicker route to work than the one they have habitually taken. Behind the quirky finding is a lack of understanding about how Beck's famous Underground map distorts geography, and how places that look far apart on the map can be physically quite close. The researchers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge analysed 20 days'data from commuters'Oyster cards to assess travel patterns before and after the February 2014 strike, which resulted in partial closure of the Underground network.The cards contained more than 200 million entry and exit readings on to London's transport system.