London Banter - View Single Post - Proposal - every Tube ticket office to close by 2015

Roland Perry

In message , at 16:46:45 on Fri, 6 Dec
2013, d remarked:
They do that anyway even if there hasn't been a train througn for 10 minutes.
I don't think I've ever been on another metro system that has to "regulate"
itself. The trains just run. If you have trains every 2 minutes why do you
need a timetable anyway?

They are trying to avoid the "three buses come at once" scenario. It's
in the nature of public transport that the first to arrive picks up most
of the passengers, which slows it down. The one behind has fewer
passengers to pick up and gradually gains on the one in front.
Eventually they end up running in convoy.

Thats true, but unlike buses which can come up right behind and pass each
other , with trains the signalling will keep them a certain distance apart
anyway. And since there's no other traffic unlike on the roads there's no
reason for any one train to have many more passengers than another if they
come at frequent regular intervals. The amount of people waiting at 8am is
going to be pretty much the same as at 8.05 since any people the train picks
up will be replace by those entering the station.

The trains are further apart than the line capacity, and the situation
is inherently unstable, resulting in the "regulate" waits.
--
Roland Perry