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25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

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Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#51

Post by eesmith »

benj111 wrote: post #14

Is this a continuation of 'first world problems'? 'London problems' Oh no, my train waits it the station for nearly a full minute. The fact that there actually is a train, the train isn't a converted bus that was supposed to be a temporary measure 30 years ago, that's it's deemed viable to actually make a 13 minute train journey, the fact that presumably the train isn't 13 minutes late and in fact turned up, and the…

> ... best public transport in the country. Nowhere else has an underground system with trains every 5 minutes.

Glasgow? "There are trains every four minutes at peak times and every six-to-eight minutes during off-peak times." says https://www.spt.co.uk/subway/subway-timetables/ .

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#52

Post by citrin_ru »

pif wrote: post #33
switch007 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do get it. While I haven’t commuted, I’ve travelled many, many times around London including rush hour. Have smelled many armpits on the tube and even worn earplugs on the central line. (I have commuted in another European city however) But London is a victim of its own success. It will always be hot busy and crowded. This is just like almost every other major city in the world - hot, crowded public transport at ru…

> We really need to distribute the economic activity around the UK by properly investing in other towns and cities I think your proposal is correct worldwide; it's not a UK-only problem. Unfortunately, it looks like humanity has not yet invented a successful economic model that doesn't require a cramped megacity (with a huge income inequality within) or stealing from other countries (see tax havens).

Normalisation of work from home can reduce congestion in mega-cities. WFH during COVID has shown this.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#53

Post by switch007 »

williamvds wrote: post #35
switch007 wrote: post #6

It’s hard not to think Londoners are entitled and ungrateful. No other part of the country has ever had so much spent on mass transit nor will it ever. They have the finest public transport in the entire UK, and always will. I bet you can’t regularly do 1-40 mile journeys at the same speed and cost regularly anywhere else in the UK. The media recently tried to make out the Elizabeth line was one of the worst services…

I'm aware of just how under invested the rest of UK infrastructure is outside of London, but that doesn't make complaints about its services invalid. With the billions spent on the purple pine you'd reasonable expect a decent quality of service that doesn't involve so many cancellations, delays, and days of complete deadlock. Bet if you look at to comparable European countries this reliability would be a joke to them…

If London infrastructure investment isn’t working out why don’t we try spending the money elsewhere, you know, for science.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#54

Post by williamvds »

throwthrow5643 wrote: post #46

New to London. London transport is good when it works. One thing I don't get, compared to my home country, is why when the train employees strike, they cancel services? Back home they just refuse to collect fares, and open the turnstyles. That way the unions don't offside the public.

Opening everything and making it free during strikes sounds like a great way to do it, but I don't think the power that be would allow it.

I've never seen a barrier hopper stopped, but I'm sure the bobbies would be sent in if thry announced everyone would be doing it.

There's also the problem of disconnected services - the purple line is Rail, so while they use the same stations, they can be on strike when the Underground isn't. So you could go through open barriers at a rail station but you'd find the barriers shut trying to leave from an Underground station.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#55

Post by Symbiote »

throwthrow5643 wrote: post #46

New to London. London transport is good when it works. One thing I don't get, compared to my home country, is why when the train employees strike, they cancel services? Back home they just refuse to collect fares, and open the turnstyles. That way the unions don't offside the public.

I've led a blind friend to London Underground stations, to the gate line, and he's asked "assistance please". Usually that would mean someone would lead him to the correct platform, but when the station staff are "working to rule", they'll refuse to do this as it isn't in their job description. Could they be more heartless?

I was only with him once when this happened, and the station manager appeared and said I could lead him (without a ticket) and he'd let me out when I came back, which he did. My friend said it happened every month or two. Going alone meant he risked tripping on stairs, especially if it was busy and people jostled him.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#56

Post by badcppdev »

throwthrow5643 wrote: post #46

New to London. London transport is good when it works. One thing I don't get, compared to my home country, is why when the train employees strike, they cancel services? Back home they just refuse to collect fares, and open the turnstyles. That way the unions don't offside the public.

Many commuters have weekly, monthly, or even yearly passes and therefore would only be slightly annoyed by the 'unfairness'.

But more importantly the wage negotiations are very complicated as 80% of the money ultimately comes from the government and therefore politicians needs to be motivated. Politicians are mostly motivated by annoyed voters (and campaign contributions obviously).

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#57

Post by williamvds »

switch007 wrote: post #53
williamvds wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware of just how under invested the rest of UK infrastructure is outside of London, but that doesn't make complaints about its services invalid. With the billions spent on the purple pine you'd reasonable expect a decent quality of service that doesn't involve so many cancellations, delays, and days of complete deadlock. Bet if you look at to comparable European countries this reliability would be a joke to them…

If London infrastructure investment isn’t working out why don’t we try spending the money elsewhere, you know, for science.

Agreed, that's my personal plan for my own money.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#58

Post by Symbiote »

badcppdev wrote: post #56
throwthrow5643 wrote: post #46

New to London. London transport is good when it works. One thing I don't get, compared to my home country, is why when the train employees strike, they cancel services? Back home they just refuse to collect fares, and open the turnstyles. That way the unions don't offside the public.

Many commuters have weekly, monthly, or even yearly passes and therefore would only be slightly annoyed by the 'unfairness'. But more importantly the wage negotiations are very complicated as 80% of the money ultimately comes from the government and therefore politicians needs to be motivated. Politicians are mostly motivated by annoyed voters (and campaign contributions obviously).

Fares covered 71% of TfL expenditure in 2020/2021. That crashed to 27% during Covid, and is expected to be 65% this year.

Around 20% is commercial income (advertising, levies on new commercial buildings).

https://board.tfl.gov.uk/documents/s19826/TfL%20Budget%20202...

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#59

Post by mavhc »

eptcyka wrote: post #36
alexfoo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No (well not in my case) as if I wasn't cycle commuting I'd be having a shower at home before going in to work. All cycle commuting did was move my shower from home to work, it doesn't add an extra shower and so doesn't add any extra time. I did shower again after cycling home, but that often replaced the shower I'd have before going to bed (or after coming back from the gym) so, again, no increase in the number of s…

Sure, but I find office showers to be far more cumbersome, which takes more time. But I can totally see that being different for other people.

Saves loads of money by not heating your water at home though

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#60

Post by barrysteve »

switch007 wrote: post #6

It’s hard not to think Londoners are entitled and ungrateful. No other part of the country has ever had so much spent on mass transit nor will it ever. They have the finest public transport in the entire UK, and always will. I bet you can’t regularly do 1-40 mile journeys at the same speed and cost regularly anywhere else in the UK. The media recently tried to make out the Elizabeth line was one of the worst services…

Ungrateful?

Have you seen the DLR?

Fully automated, no hassle.

It's amazing to me that in , the whole Britian is not clamouring to get rid of Southwest trains that stop because there's leaves on the railway, and the next train is 20minutes away.

I'd rather not gamble being late in front of clients, in London, because leaves fell on some rails.

The Tube gets hotter in the summer than an Aussie beach. 40-50deg in the bowels of the Tube, for a cold and rainy country like the UK is insane.

People pay 3.5 quid for a 2minute journey through London, when you could just walk 10minutes instead.

London work places, set the expectations high, so the Tube should follow. It has nothing to do with the muggles that ride it, and blaming the people is blindness.

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