Medley

Super, thank you

In the meantime, over on the Catford loop line (Crofton Park etc) and thus affecting Peckham Rye, Nunhead, Denmark Hill, we are battling away with the particularly awful Thameslink service https://www.change.org/p/thameslink-a-decent-train-service-for-crofton-park-and-the-catford-loop Would very much appreciate signatures on our petition to improve it. @acinderellaline is us on Twitter - Here is why we are hacked off - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p401EdjWd0TjfiSM_VCwKtB6-DRPQbdGkST66TG8c58/edit And here is how the trains actually perform! http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Crofton+Park+%28CFT%29&To=London+Blackfriars+%28BFR%29&TimTyp=A&TimDay=6a&Days=Wk&TimPer=12w&dtFr=&dtTo=&ShwTim=AvAr&ShwAdv=ShwAdv&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2&MxArCl=5

No, thank you! For some detail on what's actually happening with the trains, take a look at http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Crofton+Park+%28CFT%29&To=London+Blackfriars+%28BFR%29&TimTyp=A&TimDay=6a&Days=Wk&TimPer=12w&dtFr=&dtTo=&ShwTim=AvAr&ShwAdv=ShwAdv&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2&MxArCl=5

Hi all, Sick of the dismal Thameslink service, particularly on the Catford Loop? I'm helping with a local campaign to get improvements, starting with the day to day task of running something like the timetable. Our petition is here https://www.change.org/p/thameslink-a-decent-train-service-for-crofton-park-and-the-catford-loop Follow us on Twitter @acinderellaline For those of an historical bent, or whose natural justice is easily offended, take a look at our slides which show how passenger numbers have shot up, yet the service remains substantially worse than in the 1950s. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p401EdjWd0TjfiSM_VCwKtB6-DRPQbdGkST66TG8c58/edit#slide=id.p3 We've got Vicky Foxcroft MP to a meeting on 6th Feb from 2pm at the Rivoli ballroom. Hope to see you there.

The attempt by TfL to get its paws on part of Southeastern was partly defeated by Kent MPs and folk (wrongly) claiming that it would wreck their commutes

In the short term, there's a pressing need for a better deal for passengers on: - compensation (I see London TravelWatch are calling for this) - information - extra services if at all possible - reliability Beyond that, I think the only hope is to take these sorts of services away from the National Rail franchising model and to the London Overground model. Within-London travel needs: - sufficient frequency to turn up and go (4tph at least) - reliability far above what this line is currently delivering - a focus on London, not getting people to and from Sevenoaks, St Albans etc - appropriate rolling stock - appropriate staffing and lighting etc. Take a trip to Crofton Park and drink in the collapsing stairs, leaking roofs, permanent stench of urine, abysmal information, mostly shut ticket office, lack of ticket barriers...and marvel that the 2 or if you're lucky 3 trains per hour (which may be 4 or 8 car, at whim) are nevertheless absolutely rammed at peak times, and pretty busy even at quiet times. Even according to the official (Office of Rail Regulation) data, which has lots of flaws, entries and exits at Crofton Pk 2013-14 = 690,000 2012-13 = 593,000 The service is unchanged. Peckham Rye 2013-14 = 4.7m 2012-13 = 3.7m Denmark Hill 2013-14 = 5.2m 2012-13 = 3.9m These growth rates are heroic. But either the service is the same (with the odd exception - Overground when it came in at P Rye) or worse due to London Bridge remodelling etc. And that's the service as planned, which as we're seeing on this thread is very different from the service as run, particularly in the morning peak London-bound. Here's how the P Rye to Blackfriars service has performed in the last month: http://recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Peckham+Rye+%28PMR%29&To=Blackfriars+%28BFR%29&TimTyp=A&TimDay=6a&Days=Wk&TimPer=4w&dtFr=18%2F12%2F2014&dtTo=15%2F01%2F2015&ShwTim=AvAr&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2&MxArCl=5 The 08.01 and the 08.16 seem to be managing to arrive within 5 minutes (which the railways count as on time) only 58% of the time. And if you think that's bad, try P Rye to London Bridge: http://recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Peckham+Rye+%28PMR%29&To=London+Bridge+%28LBG%29&TimTyp=A&TimDay=6a&Days=Wk&TimPer=4w&dtFr=18%2F12%2F2014&dtTo=15%2F01%2F2015&ShwTim=AvAr&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2&MxArCl=5 33% for the 08.23, 44% for the 08.33 and 25% for the 08.54! No doubt the train co will say ah, but that's on the old timetable - not the much longer journey time schedule they've brought in with the London Bridge works.

Oh look, Wimbledon wins - when its MP was not just in the dominant party in govt., but also a transport minister first for London and then covering rail. http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/10174527.MP_claims_victory_as_Wimbledon_Thameslink_loop_saved/ The Thameslink service was pretty much at bursting point at some places (e.g. Crofton Park) before the London Bridge debacle. No doubt, from the stories on here, it's now falling over completely and people are having to avoid it. I'd love to think this would be noticed, but weary experience says otherwise. Still, keep pushing (and not just to get on the train).

Charles Notice - how have you managed to know Holland for 45 years and yet seemingly know nothing of the 'Kindermoord' (child killing) campaigns launched in the '70s? It is precisely because Dutch cities were rather like London is now - favouring the car too much, not safe enough for other road users, especially the more vulnerable such as children - that there was appetite to change. That changed grew, and has continued to grow. The Dutch did not at a stroke design their existing cities around cycling and walking, and nor did they build a raft of new ones around cycling and walking. Instead they improved what they had in ambitious but sustainable ways, learning as they went. They're still learning. Holland isn't perfection for this - it's just very far ahead of a lot of London. BrandNewGuy - no one's suggesting London can do without vans, it's about controlling their numbers, routes, hours of operation in some circs perhaps. But the real prize in modal shift is not out of vans or lorries, but out of private cars and public transport into cycling. And you'll never have a cycle route that goes exactly where everyone wants it to go. The point is to have corridor routes that deliver the right direction for a significant journey chunk for significant numbers of cyclists in good enough conditions, and then build on that by extending the network.

You can - although they lop a chunk off. Get on it!

Seconded on the free cycling lessons, mine were awesome (and I'd been cycling for a number of years in London every day by that point). 1h30 as a scouting route is way too long - allow an hour max to work out a way, and then 45 mins genuinely door to door after that. Take up one of the guiding ride offers!

re point 4 - that is ingenious. I see it quite clearly now. Presumably you're in touch with the organisations behind The Green Chain and The Capital Ring walking routes? What a great addition it would make. Another question then - how can people help/get involved?

Yes, Peckham's high line basically. I'd like to know more detail about the cycle paths - what might be on the coal line itself, and how that links to existing paths to make this potential Brixton-C Wharf route that's talked about.

Looks like a great idea. And an excellent response re scaffolding.

still failing to see how this is not news

I see no conflict between buildings being good to use and good to look at. Indeed the latter has an impact on the former, surely.