UP DOWN LONDON

Press

For press enquiries, please contact Christiane Link on [email protected] or on 020 7617 7344.

Press Release

Issued: 9th October 2013

For Immediate Release

London: New website shows broken lifts on tube, Overground and DLR at a glance

Londoners have a new, one-stop source to see which tube, Overground or DLR lifts are out of service. The new website Updownlondon.com uses TfL's open data station information and monitors their Twitter accounts to give passengers who use lifts a quick overview of which lifts are out of service.

Updownlondon.com is a not for profit project by journalist Christiane Link and web developer Kirk Northrop. "After asking TfL for over a year to provide a better overview of their broken lifts on their website, I had the idea to provide it myself", says Christiane Link, a journalist and wheelchair user. "For me as a wheelchair user it is important to see quickly which lifts are working and which aren't, as it saves me a lot of time avoiding those stations where lifts are broken. But I hope the website is useful for anybody who prefers to use lifts not escalators or stairs." At the moment TfL customers need to scroll through all station information or follow all Tweets by TfL to see if there is an issue with a lift. The project is inspired by updownvienna.com, a similar project which shows broken lifts of Vienna's Underground.

Updownlondon.com is useful for wheelchair users but also for people with mobility impairments, older people, people with luggage, or parents with children and buggies. All information about broken lifts is also tweeted into our Twitter account @tubelifts.

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Notes to editors

1. Contact: Christiane Link - [email protected] or 020 7617 7344
2. Christiane Link is a journalist, wheelchair user and accessibility campaigner. Her website: www.ortegalink.com. Kirk Northrop is a developer who is passionate about open data and providing solutions to make people's lives easier.
3. The site updates with the current information every 30 seconds. The time the page was generated is displayed at the bottom for reference. Users can also see "resolved issues". These are lifts which were fixed within the past 12 hours.
4. All broken lifts are also tweeted into one account. Please follow @tubelifts
5. Screenshots and head-shots available on request.