Anyone unlucky enough to be a regular railwaly commuter between Brighton and London will have found it impossible to ignore the current furore surrounding the new winter timetable, which comes into effect on December 15th. My friend Jen has featured in the Brighton Argus recently, complaining bitterly about the changes. So what's it all about?!
In a bid to meet new government targets, the number of Victoria services is being increased, while the number of trains calling at London Bridge and Clapham Junction is actually being reduced at peak times. The practical impact is that commuters will have to spend on average five hours a week longer on the trains, and rather than having a single uninterrupted journey, they will have to change at Hove or Haywards Heath. The chances of getting a seat when boarding an already-packed train are... not good. And when one pays £3,500 for the privilege... you can understand peoples' fury. On top of this, train fares are going up by an average of 7% in January, adding another £200 a year to the average commuter's bill.
According to the Southern Rail boss Chris Burchell, this genius plan all came out of a 3-year strategic review, in which nobody raised any serious objections... because they never actually asked anyone at London Bridge or Clapham stations. They asked commuters at Victoria, who naturally aren't bothered about services to other stations - and were therefore able to report that 10/10 commuters said they didn't mind the London Bridge connections being reduced. They might have well asked a drainpipe if it cared about an eBay bid on a Morris Minor - quite what these market research companies use to think with is beyond me, but it does make me wonder if money changed hands to guarantee a favourable outcome to support the new government plans.
Today Chris Burchell is being grilled (electronically) on The Argus website. Many of the questions and comments are of a very emotive and personal nature - such as "taking away precious contact time between daddy and baby" - and I have every sympathy with the poor commuters who will be suffering under this ludicrous regime.
The rail industry in the UK is a complete joke. Despite being privatised, it now costs the taxpayer more in subsidies than it ever did under public ownership. Compensation schemes between operators are a farce, while on an individual level monthly or yearly ticket holders are unable to claim compensation for late or cancelled services. Service are run to meet targets, not to meet the needs of the users. You still cannot take a bicycle on mainline trains between 07:00 and 10am, and wheelchair users must often book up to a week in advance to receive help boarding trains.
I have three suggestions to commuters who want to end this misery:
1) Give up your season ticket and get in your car.
2) Leave your job for one nearer to home.
3) Move to London.
I predict that the first political party which vows to clear up this mess will do very, very well. Now where's my manifesto...?
11 comments:
And here's what I wrote to the Argus today about our first journey on the new timetable:
What a joke this timetable change is. Our new 7:15 Gatwick Express service from Brighton only left 1 minute late this morning, and we had a nice comfy train to sit on... not so bad.
However, my husband had to disembark the train at Haywards Heath (along with a hundred or so other people), to switch for East Croydon. The platform at HH was overcrowded, and when his train to East Croydon pulled in, they were already standing in the aisles.
Southern is touting that "If you used to stand up, you will now likely get a seat." They forgot to mention that if you used to get a seat, you will likely now have to stand.
I stayed on the train to Victoria, and when we stopped at Gatwick, there were dozens of bewildered Gatwick Express customers with lots of luggage, wondering why they'd just paid £16.90 to share their journey with commuters and stand in the aisle with their suitcases.
We were then told that the nice cushy Gatwick Express train we were sitting on will soon be replaced with refurbished old stock, with no wi-fi or tables for laptops, and 3 seats on each side.
Pulling into Victoria, we got to listen to the standard Gatwick Express message, welcoming us to London in 14 different languages, and telling us where the taxi rank is.
Is this a Gatwick Express train full of commuters? Or a commuter train full of Gatwick-Expressers?
We've unfortunately made the decision to move up to London in the new year - with the awful implementation of the new timetable, and the above inflation price rises next month, Southern has made it impossible for us to continue commuting from Brighton.
yah, southern really screwed it this time!!!
So why not get the Victoria train from Brighton to East Croydon and then East Croydon to London Bridge - there are plenty of trains to London Bridge from East Croydon......
London Bridge is worse, commuters from Haywards Heath never get a seat to London Bridge (and pay £3,050 pa for the luxury), so not only we pay high prices from HH but we also pay high property prices to live in a "commuter town". I am actually thinking about moving to Brighton or Hove (at least I could get a seat). Wait until the First Capital (Dis)Connect works start in London... I see it coming, late services from LB to HH...
Oh I bet now we will get on the 7:40am LB train the Brighton to East Croydon commuters too... we need to stay cozy during the winter! that should save some "heating" costs too...
Es una lucha!
Cambio y fuera,
Andrea
Or perhaps we should all go to Gatwick, catch a flight to London City airport.... I quite fancy VLM's propeller planes.
We made the decision to move to London today..... it's very sad to leave Brighton, but with the Husband having to stand up for most of his journey now (and be late most of the time, because, let's face it - if you have to take 3 southern trains, at least one of them is bound to be delayed!)... and the prices going up beyond inflation in the new year, it's actually now going to be easier and cheaper for us to move up to rotten old London. :(
We've found a nice place in Sydenham! So it should be alright. And at least I'll be taking a Southeastern train where there's plenty of seats in the morning.
Looks like your husband has now joined the exclusive "Haywards Heath Standing Room Only" club! My finance goes to LB every day and it seems to be even worse than when I did the commute 6 years ago, if that is even possible.
Good luck in London, you'll have the pleasure of local rail. :)
Simon: your finance?? hahaha
JeninBrighton: it is a shame, Brighton is nice. Are you sure Southeastern is better than Southern? I catch FCC from LB to HH on platform 5 and 6 where SouthEastern stops and those trains are always crowded, messy and dirty (more than the ones coming from our end) and they are late. Also, a friend who uses them to go to Kent mentioned that the prices are going up more than on southern as they are building new fast services (perhaps more delays as a result?).
I know that changing is a pain, but perhaps your husband can try the 7:30am from HH to East Croydon, most of the time I can get a sit but as I am going to LB I need to change... also the FCC from HH to EC at 7:23am (starts in Brighton) you always get a seat. To LB direct from HH seats are only available on the 8:03 (stops at EC) but too late to be on time at work.
Are you very far away from Hove station? Another option would be to get the littlehampton trains stopping at Hove direct to Victoria (they stop at EC)...
Mission Impossible!
Hey Andrea, glad to see most of the time you get a "sit". It's not just my keyboard then, eh? :)
Simon: it is "commuter" slang... what is your excuse? hahaha
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