David A Stocks wrote:

wrote in message
...
On 6 Nov, 00:31, "David A Stocks" wrote:
"CJB" wrote in message

...
and Southern are NOT accepting FCC tickets.

There is not only a dispute withy drivers on the FCC Bedford -
Brighton route. There is also a dispute between Southern and FCC
about accepting FCC tickets on Southern services.

Today I was at Gatwick having travelled down from Paddington via
Farringdon.

That seems like a bit of a sacrifice - it's far quicker to
travel via Victoria using the Bakerloo/Victoria lines.

I got there OK. However on the return journey in the
evening ALL of the FCC services northwards had been cancelled and my
only option was to travel on Southern to Victoria, and then get the
Circle Line to Paddington.

Uh? Victoria and Bakerloo lines are *much* faster. Even a 36 or 436
bus would be faster.


Interesting point. And yet travel isn't only about speed. There's
also comfort

Most of FCC's rolling stock on the route is extremely uncomfortable

IMHO it's still much better than the cramped little toy-trains on the
Victoria and Bakerloo. (I admit, I'm biased because I'm slightly
claustrophobic. Maybe the original poster is too?)

- the
exceptions are the 377s and ex-Brighton Express 319s, both of which had
their interiors specified by Southern or their predecessors.

and convenience to consider.

The change at Farringdon is a nightmare in either direction at most times of
day. It has all of the congestion you would find at Oxford Circus,
Paddington and Victoria AND you're forced to negotiate it on long and narrow
staircases instead of escalators or a cross-platform interchange. Using
Farringdon is *not* an intelligent way to reduce the number of changes,
especially as the FCC service crawls through the Thameslink core.

Farringdon can get busy in the rush-hours, I'll grant you that, but in
my experience, off-peak it's a lot less crowded than either Oxford
Circus, Paddington or Victoria. And don't forget there's also a lot
of natural daylight at Farringdon, which helps to give the illusion of
space compared to a deep tube station.

Oh, and you mention long staircases, but they're not that long.
They're still quite a bit shorter than the walk from Southern Sussex
Coast platforms at Victoria to the tube ticket hall.

Just accept that what you personally look for in a journey isn't
always what everyone else looks for. Everyone's taste is different.
It's ridiculous for you to claim that everyone "ought" to only make
the sort of journeys that you like.