I would have agreed 10 or 20 years ago that transport in London was a disaster: there were numerous fatal crashes, trains were unreliable, things were falling apart, customer satisfaction was low and stations were in a decrepid state.
Granted more work is still needed, and this thread illustrates this always on-going renovation and expansion, but I wouldn't refer to the network as being in anyway close to a state of disaster.
For the size of the system it is very safe, accidents are rare to non-existant.
The network average of km operated across the network at all times was 95.8%, with the number of trains on service at 97.8%. Factor in that there has been a splurge on spending to ensure that stations actualy look nice, and that a lot of the older rolling stock is being phased out over the coming 4 years it can only get better.
And yet despite all the work to re-build and modernise stations which haven't seen much improvement for several decades, the network continues to expand.
The Heathrow Terminal 5 Extension opened in March, while two stations opened in the past month. Work continues on the East London Line Extension, and the two DLR Extensions to Woolwich Arsenal and Stratford International. Work will also soon begin on Crossrail, while Thameslink has been on-going.
There is a lot of boosterism, some deserved, some not so, but what city doesn't flaunt what it has done?
Jonas, 4 years and you're already aquired a British 'asset'
