On Tue, 22 May 2012 23:12:48 +0100, Peter Masson put finger to keyboard and
typed:



"Mark Goodge" wrote

the tendency to leave platform announcements until close to departure
times
creates too much of a scrum.

When the West Midlands service went to half-hourly (1974?) the principle was
established that these trains would leave alternately from either side of an
island platform, and that as far as possible each train would be open for
boarding as soon as the previous train had left. With the Virgin high
frequency service it should be possible to extend this principle to
Manchester as well as the West Midlands. This could halve the number of
passengers who need to wait on the concourse, though it would also be
necessary to come up with a new approach to Advance tickets, which encourage
passengers to arrive very early even when trains are at 20 minute frequency,
for fear of missing the one train their ticket is valid on and having to buy
a much more expensive new ticket.

That's part of the reason behind providing new catering outlets on a new
mezzanine level: it will be a place where people can go and sit down while
waiting to board a train rather than hanging around the main concourse.
Obviously, that has financial benefits to the operator as well, as it
increases their income from concessions. But it is of genuine value to
travellers who can arrive at the station in good time and relax a bit once
they're there.

It's also useful for those of us who typically travel on off-peak tickets.
Having somewhere at the station where I can pass the time between when my
meeting ended and the first train I can catch to get home is useful. Also,
given that the first post-restrictions train is usually chocka, I'm often
perfectly happy to wait for the next one if the frequency is high enough
(which, on London to points north on the WCML, it usually is). But I'm more
likely to do that if I can find somewhere comfortable to sit rather than
hang around on the concourse.

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk