I sympathize with part of the article, in the sense that I didn't find transport to be overwhelmingly unreliable in Britain.  (I do, however, think Helen would agree with me when I say that the train we took from Gatwick to Brighton was absolutely filthy.  The St Pancras to Notts ones were generally quite nice, though, and, in my experience, always on time.)  The Underground is very expensive compared with the Metro in Washington -- about £5.00/day vs. (at peak times) about $4.00/day, if I remember correctly.  But I've never compared the Underground with the New York subway, and, as things tend to be in DC, I believe the Metro is heavily subsidized by the entire country.  (I know it was when it was constructed.  I could be wrong about it still being so.)  Whether or not that is also true of London, I don't know.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin