London Banter - View Single Post

Roland Perry · February 17th 05, 06:15 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In message .com, at
10:45:12 on Thu, 17 Feb 2005, remarked:

Chris Tolley wrote:
On 16 Feb 2005 07:14:48 -0800, wrote:

I was also irritated that day-trippers, rather than the every day
commuters, were getting priority at the station during rush hour.

Why is that irritating?

a) After being given priority at the gates some block the platform with
their pushchairs and refuse to move down

b) They are being given priority but often pay less (family travelcard
for 2 adults + 2 kids is cheaper than 2 adult cards; or the other
option: ODTC add on to national rail ticket is about £3) and have less
need to travel during the rush hour

c) A real business (ie not a monopoly) would not discriminate against
its regular customers in favour of those who are not likely to use it
again for a long time

You've hit a nail on the head here. TFL is a kind of monopoly, which is
why people choose the car instead. But TFL realises that regular
travellers are making a distress purchase, and the "up for a day"
tourists are pure profit.

Roland Perry said:
Wouldn't that just mean a wave of people all trying to visit the
Science
museum for half an hour?

In my opinion, no.

1) There isn't much you can see in half an hour

You might not know that if you've never visited them before. In any
event, a proper staggering of closing times would take place over more
than half an hour.

2) By that time in the evening during a half term day at the museums
parents are quite possibly going to be worn out and want to go home

So what's the problem with them all closing at a time you now agree they
all want to go home anyway?

3) We always went to a particular museum when I wer a lad rather than
"The museums"

So you'd rather their one-off experience of Public Transport was a
nightmare, and they drove next time?

Nope.

So you agree they should have preferential treatment, as we all seem to
agree that the regular treatment is awful.

i) Their experience shouldn't be improved by adding delay to regular
passengers. They should be treated equaly

Ah, equally badly.

ii) Driving to the museums isn't really an option. Theres no
affordable parking in the local area (theres an expensive long stay
parking in Kingston House which is a fair walk away for kids)

The carpark under Hyde Park is close enough to make a short PT journey
to the museums, but still allow the cars to clog up the centre of
London.
--
Roland Perry