TheOneKEA wrote:
On Oct 11, 9:27 am, "Mizter T" wrote:
I definitely wouldn't say the passenger numbers at London Bridge would
go into freefall after the ELLX has opened: it's a very busy station
for city commuters; the ELLX will only run down the line to Croydon -
true, some pax from the Dartford lines could change at New Cross, but
people often prefer not to change trains (esp. during rush hour) and
there will probably be a time penalty in doing this; most importantly
going via Shoreditch High Street will deliver them to the north of the
City - for many, London Bridge and Cannon Street will remain more
convenient termini.

True - I suppose it was a bit much to say that they would go into
freefall, but I would have expected that the provision of bus services
headed directly into the northern and eastern City quadrants from the
ELLX would make it attractive for a significant portion of City
commuters. Earlier comments about new construction spreading the City
to the north and east would seem to add to this.


Shank's pony has traditionally been the way City workers get to and
from their office and station - it's certainly what I'd do. That said,
I was recently on a bus going south over London Bridge to LB station
and was mildly appalled at the number of people who boarded the bus at
the stop on the north side of the bridge to get to the station - these
were able bodied people, and it wasn't raining either - and it wasn't a
bendy bus so they had to line up to get on. I hasten to add I'd come
from significantly further north. But then again I'm repeatedly amazed
to see people who I've waited with at a bus stop for a good few minutes
get off a couple of stops later - again, they're able bodied &
unencumbered with heavy bags.

Bus passes and Travelcards are great, but they don't provide an
incentive for these people to think twice before getting on a bus,
whilst stumping up a fare each time would. It's for this reason that
I'm somewhat wary about kids having free bus travel - you can see whole
groups of schoolkids just jump on for a one stop hop down the road.
We're trying to encourage walking!


Some will switch to the ELLX to Shoreditch, but (obviously) only if
it's more convenient. So instead I'd say a bit of pressure could be
taken off London Bridge. The CTRL-DS will also take a further bit of
pressure off London Bridge (probably), though the jury is till very
much out on what effect these new fast train services from Kent will
have on travelling patterns.

True. I doubt even the people of Kent know what effect the CTRL-DS will
have on traveling patterns.

The CTRL-DS is an interesting case. If it weren't for the Chunnel a
super fast link through Kent to London would obviously never have been
constructed, yet it has been built and these high speed DS services are
piggybacking on all this expensive infrastructure. That's totally fair
enough, but as you say I'm not sure that anyone can really say how this
will change things. Though I'm sure there's a load of wily estate
agents, housing developers and local authority economic planners who're
planning hard to ensure they get their slice of the pie!