London Banter - View Single Post

Colin Rosenstiel · May 22nd 05, 09:06 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Tim Roll-Pickering) wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

The Victoria line is essentially full at the moment.

Next question, then - how come? It has a pretty decent 28.5 tph, it's
the shortest proper line in the whole network, and all but one of its
stations are on other lines as well!

For northbound trais to be be full at Victoria, Brixton, Stockwell,
Vauxhall and Pimlico would have to be generating as many passengers
as all the Northern line stations from Morden to Kennington put
together, or the Piccadilly line stations from Cockfosters to
Caledonian Road. I don't know those areas terribly well, and i
realise that at least some of them are very densely populated areas,
but that seems quite surprising. Is it because there are few people
getting off the line before central London? I guess a lot of Picc
passengers switch to the Vic at Finsbury Park, and perhaps Northern
passengers to the Vic at Stockwell! Or is the Victoria line picking
up a lot of passengers from the suburban railway network?

I guess it could be a factor. If I were commuting up through Brixton to
Victoria and then needed the tube, I'd be inclined to get off at
Brixton and join the Victoria Line there rather than go through the
squeeze at Victoria. I'm not sure how fast the Balham - Stockwell route
is but there could be passengers using that as an alternative. Commuter
trains at Vauxhaul have often shed quite a few there at peak hours.

If I take the tube from King's Cross to the office in Westminster I take
the Victoria Line to Green Park and the Jubilee from there to Westminster
but I come back via St James Park and Victoria so I'm more likely to get a
seat. For preference I cycle as it's quicker and more predictable.

--
Colin Rosenstiel