TfL being really hit by crap economy and everyone being skint and just… not travelling around London as much as expected. Passenger numbers way below forecast on everything bar the Elizabeth line. Plus at least £32m spent on the cyberattack.
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Yeah London is skint and depressed. People stay local. The pubs aren’t busy because they chose to give all our disposable income to Thames water, energy firms, and landlords. Food banks are busy though. Change.
That’s interesting because the tubes always seem packed to me? Granted this is mostly commuter hours on the district/piccadilly/jubilee lines, but, I’d hate to see how busy things were if passenger numbers were up!
So I moved to London proper, mid-Covid from the suburbs at the end of the Met Line, and one of the things I notice on the rare occasions I commute from my parents, is out there passenger numbers are definitely so much lower than they used to be. Lots of white collar folk working from home a lot.
I think it’s more spread out. We live in Zone 3 and our local, Southern-operated station’s passenger numbers are going up and getting vaguely close to recovery
Standing right there on the Central Line platform at Bethnal Green and still missing the first three trains to come... just about shuffling to the front of the hordes by the fourth one. Those were the days eh.
Ha, I had colleagues when I worked in High Street Kensington who got the central line to Notting Hill Gate, and in summer I think they even took the circle line all the way around, because it was basically inhospitable. So, I sympathise
I think there are fewer trains because they have adjusted the timetables to respond to the demand. Catch-22. However it is categorically NOT as crowded or busy as it used to be.
Yeah, but that’s the point. Are there really going to be that many people deciding to make the switch (I mean, I understand why you’d avoid the Central Line).
It took a lot of weight off the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow once it got into central London, but it’s almost as unreliable as the Central Line in West London.
At least once a week your train would be cancelled, I admit I haven’t used it in a year because my work area moved, but it was pretty bad.
I used it for Heathrow once and may as well got the Piccadilly Line given delays/where we actually live. I would still pay for Heathrow Express if I could/needed to.
Great to hear the Elizabeth Lines continued success but agree with the Lime Bikes. I started doing Southwark to London Bridge on Lime because it was just quicker.
Is it really a poor economy? Seems a different picture in different areas. Tube up 3% (budget 7% increase, sounds ambitious?) even with E Line up 10%. Main problem is bus volume down slightly year on year (v. 6% growth budgeted why ???). What's happening to road speeds? Congestion seems worse.
Local areas more developed, more walking and cycling, more working from home combo..? All of these are pretty much positive. But negative I’m assuming cost is becoming prohibitory? I know my kids think so and try and use buses.
Massive mistake to ban legal e-bikes from ALL TfL train services. If they’re safe enough for GA and GW trains or Thameslink then surely they’re safe enough for Elizabeth (crossrail).
Just looked and cycle journeys are up 5% yoy and 25% up since pre-pandemic. Bike journeys are over 1M a day so will definitely be affecting TfLs figures. Lime up 85% yoy(!) but still only 16M a year so only a minor effect (so far).
That's just what I was thinking - I've basically stopped spending any money on transport in London beyond maintaining my bike and spending £20 a year on electricity for e-bike batteries. Definitely
I still use a mix of transport because sometimes I feel lazy, but I definitely now take more trips via lime bike than bus. Would be interesting to see this on a location basis, as I’m about a mile north of the Santander bike zone, so I was previously dependent on buses to get south.
This despite owning multiple bikes. I couldn’t always ride due to kids or open jag trips (I cycle kids to nursery on bakfiets, leave it there, wife picks up), or I’d run one way and cycle the other, too many reasons. Anyway, lime bikes seem to have solved the problem that Islington was too skint to.
I.e. they should have expanded the Santander bikes a decade or more ago. It’s ridiculous the zone hasn’t moved in ages. In the same period Citi bikes in NY have grown year by year. But we’re stuck with a private overpriced option because the government sucks at its job.
Before moving up here in 2006 I hadn't used public transport in London for around 10 years. It's incredible how one forgets what a sensible thing a bike is, £50 pa for a bit of maintenance and that's it.
I suspect central London in particular is down - on a purely vibes basis, the last few times I've been out, the Z2 town centres - Brixton, Peckham, Herne Hill, New Cross, Dalston, Clapham - seem to have more life about them than the West End.
The inner London town centres like those are more fun and much better value than central. Better food, live music, ability to sit. More fun, less ballache and cheaper than Central
I went to one last year (1st time in a while), and was shocked by the prices. They must have some dirt on the brewers or something. How can you sell it that cheap unless you’re extorting someone?
Yeah I probably left that bit unsaid, but even then if I've gone to the bother of getting into central I am committed to travelling so just go out the other side. Also the combination of Thameslink & Crossrail makes crossing the city north and south quite easy.
Estimated evasion declined from 3.9% to 3.8% over 2022-24, now 3.4%. So actually declining since the increase in penalties. TfL spent £22 million cracking down, recovering £1.3 million in penalties. The target is 1.5%
This has become politicised a bit as local Tories try to hit Khan.
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I sure as hell don’t remember having to regularly wait 15 minutes for a West Ruislip train during rush hour.
That has never happened to me ever, until just now.
No matter how shit the Central Line is, they can make it worse.
At least once a week your train would be cancelled, I admit I haven’t used it in a year because my work area moved, but it was pretty bad.
They just happen a lot.
I suspect central London in particular is down - on a purely vibes basis, the last few times I've been out, the Z2 town centres - Brixton, Peckham, Herne Hill, New Cross, Dalston, Clapham - seem to have more life about them than the West End.
Still £8 pints though 😢
Certain cuisines there are restaurants in Z1 that have an edge on most of what you'll find further out, but the list gets shorter every year.
This has become politicised a bit as local Tories try to hit Khan.
Though fare dodging and shoplifting is also a symptom of poverty.
https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/questions-mayor/find-an-answer/fare-evasion-50