The Greenwich Line User Group, aka Glug (sounds like my kinda group!) is meeting next week to review the impact of service changes on local train passengers. With no more direct trains to Charing Cross from our local station, how are people coping with these changes and are they finding themselves out of pocket because of it? Are tickets being accepted on alternative routes?
Our local Deptford representative is asking for feedback from passengers on their experiences so far; please either leave comments in the space below or email them to the address in the sidebar and I will forward them.
4 comments:
I travel to either London Bridge or Cannon Street so if anything the timetable is better for me (until the next big change anyway!)
I have however noticed that the trains do appear busier, whilst the trains running straight through London Bridge to Charing Cross seem emptier. I would have thought swapping some 8 coachers for 10 coachers would be a good idea
I work at Goodge St and used to take the train from Greenwich to Charing Cross to get the Northern Line to work. It was straight forward and one of the reasons I live in this area. Now with all trains diverted to Cannon St, I have to go to Cannon Street and get the Circle/District to Embankment and change to the Northern line there.
So far I have had mixed success. Going to work has been ok, but coming home it can be very hard to judge how long it will take to get to Cannon St and connect with my train home. Twice this week I have missed my train to Greenwich as the Circle/District stopped and waited at all stations ‘to regularize the service’. If I do miss my normal Greenwich train home from Cannon Street – the 7.57pm, I have a 20 minute wait until the next service to Greenwich which at that time, on a week night in the Capital city is terrible.
My main gripe with the current situation is that whilst I had planned to walk from Cannon St to Bank and get the Central Line to Tottenham Court Road, the Central line is not stopping at Tottenham Ct Rd until December 2015 so that link to the West End is not an option. I don’t understand why the rail companies didn’t pre-plan this better rather than coincide the diversion of so many South East London trains to Cannon Street with the suspension of the nearby Bank to Tottenham Court Road link - one of the West Ends busiest stations and my place of work.
It just seems that everyone in London is complaining about the train service at present, regardless of where they live and its time the powers that be understood that the price to service ratio is not acceptable at present.
I work in westminster, so its always been an easy straight train ride: greenwich to charing cross then 15 minute walk across to westminster taking me about 40/45 minutes.
because I only needed the 1 train, I have always bought a London terminals season ticket and not a travel card which works out much cheaper ( i think half the price)
Its now been a week of the new commute. It did not start well when on Monday morning, having transferred to lewisham on the dlr for the charing cross service, staff hired to direct confused commuters were giving out incorrect information and the platform felt dangerously overcrowded but I did manage to cram myself onto a train which was already overcrowded when it pulled into lewisham.
So far this week, in mornings I have caught the dlr to lewisham to connect to a charing cross service.
in evenings, I have walked to embankment to catch a district/circle line tube to cannon street and jump on a greenwich service there. (as the one attempt at travelling to lewisham took too long and meant arriving at an overcrowded station where commuters arriving at and leaving the station were vying to get through the one door)
so far, only 2 trains have left and/or arrived on time.
the average extra time added onto my journey is 20 - 30 minutes each day BUT this has only been because I was lucky to be able to leave work exactly on time and so make connections by sometimes minutes, more often seconds.
i have found information available very confusing. the new timetable book for the line is approx 90 pages long with train information spread across 4 seperate timetables.
there is an online option to make your own timetable for greenwich to charing cross, but i found that this only works for the cannon st option and gives 0 minutes to connect from train to tube in its timings.
i have found Lewisham station inadequate for the increased numbers using the station since the greenwich line commuters are now sharing it. 2/3 barriers in rush hour for such a busy connecting station (to other lines/dlr/buses) is not enough.
i have also found it confusing as to what alternative bus/tube/trains are available..for example, one train driver announced that we could just jump on the jubilee line, but which stops are our tickets valid for?
Can i start/finish a journey midway between embankment and cannon street for example?. We are also told that we should consider other ways to commute such as walking or cycling!!
its a shame it wasnt considered extending the list of stations people can use. for example, westminster is one extra stop from embankment (charing cross). the current set up adds on at least 10-20) minutes to my commute (one way) but that extra stop would help negate the extra time and changes. Not an unreasonable demand when we are still paying the same for our tickets with a much diminished service...and thats without mentioning that this is the second week running that greenwich wont have any trains at all running for whole/part of the weekend.
this is my thoughts and experience, and after one week, I can honestly say I am not looking forward to the next year or two of travel
In the last 3 months I have never, ever got on a train that was not late at least few minutes.
On most of the trains people can't even get on because they are crowded.
It's a joke.
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