In message .com,
writes

Funnily enough, where I work far more car drivers are late for work than
those who come in by PT...

Surely it's those Train Ops who drive in who can use the excuse "sorry
I'm late, bl**dy traffic at Staples Corner, Hanger Lane, M1" etc
without any expectation that the truth of this can be verified, whereas
those using LU services know any such false claims of disruption are
far more easily exposed? Thus PT users are more likely to leave for
work with time to spare.

As one of Steve's T/Ops, I can honestly say I've never used that excuse
despite using the NCR from East London daily. In fact in 3 years, I've
never (yet!, just look out for it to all go fubar tomorrow!!) managed to
book on late, go off sick or be on strike.

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... I know, I'm the one and only!!
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
oups.com...
Once you own a car, the cost of a journey collapses dramatically
(insurance, tax etc doesnt increase per mile), and ends up below that
of P.T. For the majority of the country a car is always faster than
P.T. London is a special case, as it's such an overcrowded ********,
but even in London its faster offpeak to travel by car.

Not sure about the latter; my regular journey has been done in 43 minutes
(door to door) by train/bike (which gives an average speed of almost 60mph);
I have never done the same journey by car in less than 75 minutes, even in
the middle of the night. Similarly, I've sat in traffic for hours in places
like St. Albans, Portsmouth or Brighton on too many occasions to ever
willingly drive in to a big city during the day. There was even a time when
it was quicker for me to travel by train from St. Albans to King's Cross and
then out to Hitchin, than leave St. Albans at 1700 by road.

Sure, if you live in the middle of a city near the station, and your
destination is near a station served by a fast train, and you're
travelling in peak time, then obviously the train is faster. However
none of my family have ever lived/worked in a position where that's the
case.

I need to travel from Evesham (10 minutes from evesham station) to St
Erth (10 minutes from St Erth Station) on Friday afternoon. I'll finish
work arround 3ish.

By train I'd arrive after midnight assuming all the trains are on time.
By car I'll arrive 3 hours earlier - and that's a conservitive
estimate.

Getting into work (W12) for 11PM, from Twyford (chosen because of it's
closeness to the trainline) means leaving the house at 21:20 to get the
21:38 train arriving 22:19 at Ealing, onto the central line arriving
22:40 at White City.

In the car I leave 40 minutes later at 22:00 and get in arround 22:45.

Even in the morning I can get in for 11:30 (just) by leaving arround
10:20 on the train, similar time as by car. Of course getting home at
23:30 by train is much harder and longer than car (about 3 times as
long as train)

I have never done the same journey by car in less than 75 minutes, even
in the middle of the night

How long does the train journey take at night? Peak travel time from
Twyford to Paddington is arround 25 minutes by train. It's twice as
long as at night.

Paul Weaver wrote:
Even in the morning I can get in for 11:30 (just) by leaving arround
10:20 on the train, similar time as by car. Of course getting home at
23:30 by train is much harder and longer than car (about 3 times as
long as train)

Of course after this mornings disaster (ticket office machine broke so
I couldn't get the ticket I wanted, only just got the train, then the
central line was closed so I had to get the stinky smelly slow 207 - I
thought this was an express service, but it stopped every 200 yards!
Bloke standing next to me (no seats available obviously) stank of
alcohol - at 11AM!, the bendy part smelled suspiciously of urine, and I
got into work 30 minutes late (with a longer walk than I planned fo up
wood lane)

Typical bus really.

Paul Weaver wrote:
Paul Weaver wrote:
Even in the morning I can get in for 11:30 (just) by leaving
arround 10:20 on the train, similar time as by car. Of course
getting home at 23:30 by train is much harder and longer than car
(about 3 times as long as train)

Of course after this mornings disaster (ticket office machine broke
so I couldn't get the ticket I wanted, only just got the train,
then the central line was closed so I had to get the stinky smelly
slow 207 - I thought this was an express service, but it stopped
every 200 yards!

The so-called express service on that route is the 607.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In message 70, Adrian
writes
Neil Williams ) gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying :

(and they can't come back into service until
every train has the extra carriage).

Why not?

Presumably to protect against a situation where the JLE doors "think" it's
a long train, but it isn't.
Can't they just add the extra car but leave it permanently locked and
out of use until all train have been so equipped? Or am I missing
something here? (I realise I must be but I'm sure someone will spell
it out!)

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

Can't they just add the extra car but leave it permanently locked and
out of use until all train have been so equipped?

Can you IMAGINE the shouting at rush hour?

In ,
Ian Jelf typed:

Can't they just add the extra car but leave it permanently locked and
out of use until all train have been so equipped? Or am I missing
something here? (I realise I must be but I'm sure someone will spell
it out!)

Locking out one car would prevent or delay access to end doors in case of
emergency.





--
Bob

In message , Ian Jelf
writes

Presumably to protect against a situation where the JLE doors "think" it's
a long train, but it isn't.

Can't they just add the extra car but leave it permanently locked and
out of use until all train have been so equipped? Or am I missing
something here? (I realise I must be but I'm sure someone will spell
it out!)

No. The internal doors in the train would still allow access to the
locked out car and can't be secured for safety reasons. Can you imagine
the fuss when someone managed to get into the 'unused' car, as they
would, and then couldn't get out because the doors didn't open.

This is a similar reason to why a train is taken out of service if one
car is unavailable for any reason - the out of service car can't be
secured.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

In message , Bob Wood
writes
In ,
Ian Jelf typed:

Can't they just add the extra car but leave it permanently locked and
out of use until all train have been so equipped? Or am I missing
something here? (I realise I must be but I'm sure someone will spell
it out!)

Locking out one car would prevent or delay access to end doors in case of
emergency.

I knew there'd be a reason but I couldn't just see it. Thanks folk.

(I wrote that the day after returning from honeymoon, by the way, so I
hope I'm excused a little lateral thinking! Good to be back everyone.)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk