On 15/11/10 21:01, tim.... wrote:
"Denis McMahon" wrote in message
...
On 15/11/10 19:55, wrote:
It seems that this is another example of Network Rail wanting to turn
a prime site into a shopping centre, but just about tolerating
passengers (as being the prime source of customers for the shops).
What's really needed is small booths selling coffee etc. at platform
level for those of us compelled to use the trains - at a position
convenient to the trains. Who, in a rush to get their cattletruck
home, is going to go up escalators into a "shopping experience" in
search of a cup of tea?
Interesting to note that the one ground-floor level shop remaining in
the artist's impression is some sort of fashion emporium. That says it
all really! I've just to GOT to get my latest Gucci handbag en route
to platform 19 for the 18.20 to Staines!
Exactly. Not to mention the bottleneck that the escalators / lifts will
be.
So the shops will lose revenue, and go bust or inflate their prices and
lose more revenue, and eventually go bust.
So then there will be this expensive white elephant project that needs
to be paid for, but which isn't generating revenue.
NR aren't worried though, if the government won't bail them out
(taxpayers pockets) they can simply charge the TOCs more to use the
station (which will come from taxpayers pockets).
Commuters don't spend 30 minutes each time they visit Waterloo wandering
round the shops, and it's not like Victoria which is (a) the London end
of some of a busy airport's main rail links (b) In a much more touristy
area and (c) better served by Underground services for visitors to the
capital.
So, who is going to use these new shops, and how where is the extra shop
turnover going to come from that will pay for the increased rents that
will be used to pay off the bank loans that the developers will,
doubtless, require NR to indemnify.
The only ways that NR will be able to pay for the white elephant when
the developer discovers that the shops can't afford the higher rents on
their reduction in passing trade induced lower turnovers will be to
either dip into taxpayers pockets or force the TOCs to dip into
passengers pockets!
I don't think that the "shops" will discover this at all.
They are large national chains. They know that the footfall on the upper
floor of a railway station will be a fraction of the concourse level and
will only agree to the appropriate rent in the first place.
In which case, will the actual revenue to NR or the developer from what
the shops are prepared to pay (and are the franchise stores involved as
good at doing the projections as the national chains), or will NR / the
developer discover when they start renting properties that their income
is much less than expected, and start looking to raid passenger or
taxpayer pockets to cover the costs of the development.
I'll bet the NR / developers projections assume that retailers will pay
the same (or even more) per sq foot for "shiny new mezzanine" than they
currently pay for "dirty drafty concourse", when anyone with half a
brain can see that the reverse is more likely true because "shiny new
mezzanine" will have a greatly reduced turnover.
Rgds
Denis McMahon