On 12 Feb, 04:13, Bearded wrote:

News [as delivered by Paul C from the TfL minutes and reports} that

- Initial patronage levels on DLR Woolwich extension are encouraging.

and

- target date for Tower Gateway DLR reopening is 15 Feb 2009!

... is good news indeed for us here in Woolwich and environs.

Fingers crossed for *Tower Gateway - in the best DLR tradition of
projects completed ahead of schedule.

Lots of City workers who currently go via Southeastern - London Bridge
and then bus will be tempted to make the switch, not least because they
will have a good chance of a seat.

Of course it ultimately depends on where in the City they're heading
to (really obvious point!).

The journey time by Southeastern from Woolwich Arsenal to London
Bridge is between 21-24 minutes, with a frequency of better than every
10 mins in the peak (pretty good off-peak too). By DLR from Woolwich
Arsenal to Bank it's a 31 minute journey (direct service), so maybe a
minute or two less to Tower Gateway (though not sure if it'll get a
direct service from WA though?), with a frequency of every 10 minutes
throughout the day.

Cost wise going by Southeastern is cheaper - a weekly rail-only season
from WA to London Terminals is £96.00, whilst a month's travel on DLR
using Oyster PAYG is £112.00 - that's two peak z1-4 fares of £2.80
(£5.60) x 20 days (cheaper than a monthly z1-4 Travelcard at £141.40)
- though people travelling outside the PAYG peak times of 0630-0930
and 1600-1900 will pay the lower £2.20 fare.

Those starting from stations other than Woolwich Arsenal (e.g. Abbey
Wood) will obviously be limited to going to London Bridge if they only
hold a cheaper rail-only season ticket, unless they're willing to
splash out on a Travelcard.

The prices of rail-only season tickets will rise a bit last year -
since 2007 there's been a programme to gradually equalise the cost of
all rail-only season tickets in London and price them on a zonal
basis, and 2010 is when this will be completed. How much of a
difference this makes remains to be seen.

Arriving at London Bridge doesn't mean one has to take a bus into the
City of course - it's a 15 minute walk or so from London Bridge to the
Tower and it's quite a pleasant stroll along the river front on either
bank.

Indeed if people are prepared to walk they can save a bit of money by
alighting their DLR train at Shadwell in zone 2 and walking along
Cable Street into the City - it's around a 12 minute walk to the
Tower. A months commute would cost £80.00 - that's two peak z2-4 fares
of £2.00 (£4) x 20 days - whilst paying out £82.20 gets one the added
flexibility of a z2-4 monthly Travelcard.


All it needs now is for the Costa Coffee outlet at Arsenal DLR to open.

Oh - and of course for the work at Bank to be finished. Is that still
the "Summer 09" shown in the LUL info sheet? Or does anyone here have a
more definite date?