Your perception of rail travel in the UK?
- Thread starter teuchter
- Start date
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Pretty much
PacificOcean
Unhinged User
Is that why the Gospel Oak to Barking Line survived, despite the fact that even today only about three people use it (in fact I remember as recently as 1998 they had museum piece trains running on it, with a proper conductor selling tickets!).
Also that curious spur between Romford and Upminster with a stop at Emerson Park that finishes at about seven in the evening?
Anywhere else in the country and they would have been toast surely?
Also that curious spur between Romford and Upminster with a stop at Emerson Park that finishes at about seven in the evening?
Anywhere else in the country and they would have been toast surely?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
If it's really true that only about 3 people use them, it seems unlikely London would "come to a halt" without them.
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
According to the wikipedia article on the line, Gospel Oak - Barking was slated for closure but they tried to run it down instead.
PacificOcean
Unhinged User
Well, three people may be an exaggeration, but look at the NR stats for stations on that line (via Wikipedia, but an accredited NR source).
My local station, Enfield Lock, has about 800,000 people per year, but stations on this new fangled London Overground - stations like Wanstead Park, Leytonstone High Road or Leyton Midland Road are in the thousands.
Yet for some reason, these stations are getting a huge investment.
PacificOcean
Unhinged User
davesgcr
Reading books
Barking to G Oak was very run down at one time - but its now heading for electrification and 4 trains an hour. I assure you , even in my time running it in the bad era of the mid to late 90's when we had the most awful "heritage" wrecks on the line , it was quite well used with regular standing in the peak hours on the section south of Tottenham to Barking.
Even the North London line escaped several closure attempts in the 1970's , and now its transformed and very busy - thanks to GLC funding and the travelcard , better trains etc etc.
Not quite in the league of the real hard hitters into Charing X and so on , but doing well (albeit with a chunk of subsidy) ........
Even the North London line escaped several closure attempts in the 1970's , and now its transformed and very busy - thanks to GLC funding and the travelcard , better trains etc etc.
Not quite in the league of the real hard hitters into Charing X and so on , but doing well (albeit with a chunk of subsidy) ........
ethel
Well-Known Member
teuchter
je suis teuchter
maybe people should move to other bits of london then
Nah - best to keep them all contained in one area.
In jest or not, there's a lot of this "you should move then!" as a response to people pointing out where the train service is crap. Ultimately, we're all in this together, though. The truth is that you'd be pretty bloody fucked off if everybody that had a crap service all moved to where you live.
ethel
Well-Known Member
it's just that i always hear people who live near clapham/kennington bang on about how convinent it is because of the northern line and how they couldn't possibly live somewhere without the tube.
ethel
Well-Known Member
the tube has a limited capacity! the trains run every couple of mins what else can tfl do to improve the service?
it would help the northern line greatly if the lazy sods who get it one stop between london birdge and bank used their legs.
Do people really get the northern line one stop between London Bridge and Bank? Seems an odd thing to do.
Anyway, what can TFL do? There's loads they *could* do, if there was appetite for spending the money. Building more tube lines south of the river, for example.
Anyway, what can TFL do? There's loads they *could* do, if there was appetite for spending the money. Building more tube lines south of the river, for example.
ethel
Well-Known Member
i still think that london employers need to look at chnaging working patterns to ease the morning rush hour. it's the only sensible, affordable way imho.
on a side note, why do people stuff themselves onto a tube when the next one is 1 min behind?
Oh absolutely. I could do at least 80% of my work from home. There is no reason that I shouldn't come into the office a single day a week at most. But the very idea of that would bring my employer out in hives.
Oh, I know this one! It's because the one 1 minute behind will ALSO be completely stuffed! And so will the one 2 minutes behind that! And then the one that is supposed to be 2 minutes behind that will actually turn up 10 minutes afterwards because somebody has pressed a button somewhere, by which time the platform will be overflowing all over again.
Doppelgänger
There's only one of me!
Loads of people do this. They probably have a travelcard so they don't pay any extra, but I also guess that many of them have no clue how far it really is to walk.
The amount of times I see people get on one or two stops, simily becuase they believe it is far away. Tourists are the classic example, they look at the tube map and suppose that the distance must be fairly substantial.
Getting on at either Bank or London Bridge during rush hour is no joke and all the hassle to get down the escaltor wait for a train, squeeze on/squeeze off then get back up to street level, must take just minutes less than actually walking. I know which I would prefer, plus you get to see a great view!
Doppelgänger
There's only one of me!
Because sometimes it is going to your destination, not everybody is just travelling around zone 1 and waiting for the next train might take 10 mins for where you want it to go.
To ask the obvious: how do you know that they are just going one stop?
ethel
Well-Known Member
i quite often get the tube from london bridge to euston the tube 1min behind is normally emptier than the packed one in front and the tube is normally half empty by euston.
also, the bus is normally a rpetty fast and less crammed option from london bridge. do some people still have a perception that the bus is beneath them?
ethel
Well-Known Member
you just notice them getting on and off sometimes. i'm nosey.
I don't use buses for one reason only: I don't have the first clue what bus to catch, where to catch it from or when to get off it. Trains are easy -- the network is there in front of you. To use the bus, you really have to have a working local knowledge.
Doppelgänger
There's only one of me!
You see them get on and then get off. It is obvious who they are as they are the ones who squeezed themselves on Bank and then they almost fall out at London Bridge. Past London Bridge, there are boticably fewer people.
How do you know that they aren't just changing lines?
PacificOcean
Unhinged User
A bus from London Bridge to Euston would take weeks.
This is also a good reason.
If the distance is far enough, I'll take the tube or train. If it is short, I'll walk. The bus seems like an complicated and slow option to an outsider.
Doppelgänger
There's only one of me!
Even if they are, assuming they get on somewhere like Bank, which takes ages to chage trains anyway, plus it is a mess at the moment, it really is easier to walk it across the bridge. I suppose if it is raining hard, I might let them off.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
This is true in many places but I think that in London they are pretty well organised. Just about every bus stop has quite clear maps showing where all the buses go, and in many cases a map showing other bus stops nearby and which routes they give access to.
If they are getting on at Bank, they might be changing to the Jubilee Line at London Bridge. Or they might have got off the DLR at Bank. Or another line completely.
If they are getting on at London Bridge, they might be picking up the DLR at Bank, which is literally 2 minutes walk from the Northern Line.
You're indulging in making assumptions about people and judging them based on those assumptions but you don't actually have a clue what their motivations are. (Not to mention that there might be other, more personal reasons why they want to minimise their walk, but that's besides the point).
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