AN INTRIGUING and nostalgic new exhibition explores how travelling by bus, train and Tube from the capital's outlying boroughs into the heart of the city has changed - and in some aspects stayed the same - since the early 20th Century.

The show, called Surburbia, at Covent Garden's London Transport Museum, presents a wealth of anthropological and documentary evidence to give visitors an insight into the history of commuting and the birth of Metro-land.

Museum director Sam Mullins said: "As the edge of the city moved outwards, so the suburbs it left behind changed from idyllic rural villages, through bland conformity, to urban decay and the rediscovery of the inner city.

"The concept of the suburb has similarly changed, attracting praise and parody in equal measure."

One of most fascinating aspects is a display of the advertising billboards and posters that London Transport, the forerunner of Transport for London, produced to provide snippets of information to the fare-paying public and encourage them, and at times discourage them, from using the system.

In an age where marketers seem to believe that gimmicky or off-the-wall adverts are the only way to catch people's attention, it is refreshing to appreciate the extraordinarily simple effectiveness of the messages here.

However, the most striking thing about the display is that the advice that was dished out decades ago is actually more relevant today than ever: the problems of public transport are, it appears, perennial.

Other sections in Suburbia focus on the look of the suburbs and its stations, the increasing consumerism of the lifestyle their inhabitants led, and the attempts to attract people to outer London.

See, for example, Live At Canons Park, a 1934 advertising brochure from DC Houses promoting the benefits of suburban living, the bravely blunt Leave This And Move To Edgware poster, or the 1913 Metropolitan Railway timetable, its cover graced by an idyllic picture of a train in the shadow of picturesque Harrow on the Hill on the cover.

Overall, the exhibition is a snapshot of changing attitudes to public transport travel, illustrated comprehensively with a wide range of exhibits.

Since the romantic notion of the perfect family life existing in London's outer boroughs no longer exists - of which posters once gushed, 'houses are economical, shops are economical and travel is economical' - this is an ideal way to look back at more prospective and innocent times. [25cf] Suburbia runs at London Transport Museum until March 31 next year and is included in the cost of museum admission, which is £10 for adults, £8 for pensioners, £6 for concessions and free for the under-16s.