The head of the Thameslink franchise in proudly announcing their new fleet of electric trains has said that he can't promise a seat for everyone but charmingly added that there will be more room for people to stand in greater comfort.
Clearly his PR people have been at work on the usual assumption of that industry that the population is gullible, not to mention dim.What they really mean is that some potential space for seats has been given over to space for more standing. By this subterfuge they are able to say that the train offers more capacity= this is really good news.
The reality is that this growing trend is not good news at all. It is a bad news alternative to the expensive alternative of further lengthening trains and platforms. To most people "capacity" means at least seating even if of the high density variety. More space to crush load Japan style is not real capacity. A bit of honesty might go down better.
The reality is that if people have to travel in the peaks they may have to stand in some discomfort for up to half an hour. There is no room in some stations, tracks or trains to do better. Say that and there will be some complaining .Commuters will never accept the poor economics and difficult practicalities of actually meeting ever escalating demand over very short uni-directional peaks but at least a bit of honesty will mean that they are not disappointed.
Talking of disappointment and add to it British northerners belief that they suffer from per capita investment levels in transport infrastructure way below their compatriots in London and the South East, there will be confirmatory evidence of this when the overdue (by 50 years) electrification of the main Liverpool to Manchester line is complete in December. Not for the north shiny new fleets of high comfort trains. No. For a start there will only be three available so not all services will be electric. Even more more obvious though will be that the ones that are electric are operated by midlife and scarcely revitalised hand me downs from,- yes London and the south East
Clearly his PR people have been at work on the usual assumption of that industry that the population is gullible, not to mention dim.What they really mean is that some potential space for seats has been given over to space for more standing. By this subterfuge they are able to say that the train offers more capacity= this is really good news.
The reality is that this growing trend is not good news at all. It is a bad news alternative to the expensive alternative of further lengthening trains and platforms. To most people "capacity" means at least seating even if of the high density variety. More space to crush load Japan style is not real capacity. A bit of honesty might go down better.
The reality is that if people have to travel in the peaks they may have to stand in some discomfort for up to half an hour. There is no room in some stations, tracks or trains to do better. Say that and there will be some complaining .Commuters will never accept the poor economics and difficult practicalities of actually meeting ever escalating demand over very short uni-directional peaks but at least a bit of honesty will mean that they are not disappointed.
Talking of disappointment and add to it British northerners belief that they suffer from per capita investment levels in transport infrastructure way below their compatriots in London and the South East, there will be confirmatory evidence of this when the overdue (by 50 years) electrification of the main Liverpool to Manchester line is complete in December. Not for the north shiny new fleets of high comfort trains. No. For a start there will only be three available so not all services will be electric. Even more more obvious though will be that the ones that are electric are operated by midlife and scarcely revitalised hand me downs from,- yes London and the south East
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