Topic ID 744
An awful lot in the National press and UK news on the rail companies "Ideas" on charging commuters or travellers more to travel peak times in mornings and evenings. Now as a commuter of 20 odd years this is what happens now!!! We pay more for travelling earlier in the day and back because its written in stone that workers usually work from 9am till 5.00 pm or sometimes later and if you tell your boss you're coming in at 2pm think he'd have something to say? What do you all think? I am outraged... it will mean companies will have to pay us all more, no way I can or would pay another £500.00 pa for what I have now which I already pay more for! I think its outrageous that the Government is actively encouraging us to use public transport everywhere and taxing us/charging us if we don't, then when we do use public transport they're hammering us there too! I think it smacks of grabbing money off us for Crossrail and/or Olympic Games if we get it... I will fight this one.... What do you all think Hertford is a large commuter town it will affect all levels of staff on all levels of pay.....
Reply ID 7890
The rail companies are just using this to inflate their current ability to print money (look at the profits made by them released yesterday - nothing to do with good management, everything to do with far higher subsidies in real terms than the nationalised rail service ever got). From their point of view they can fob us off by comparing it with a scheme that has been brought in for at least partly environmental reasons - sheer nonsense of course. The role of the Government I'm not so sure about. They are probably tripping over their "joined up thinking" (sic) on this one. For sure though, the money ain't going to new schemes (some of which I might possible agree with) it’s going to go straight into the back pockets of the fat cats. Stupid thing is that with a little bit of not so lateral thinking and without using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, One for instance could remind people of the less congested trains that run just after the rush-hour (0837, 0856 from Hertford East for instance) that get you into town around 1000am & may be okay for people to negotiate flexible hours with their boss.... just a thought. With you on this one DQ CP
Reply ID 7891
What did you expect?? The government wants people out of their cars and on to the trains, the trains are already over crowded, so the train bosses either want to have less people on the trains so they look nice and spacious or they want the extra money to add more services. I would suspect the latter. Once again it looks like another major Labour Government catastrophe waiting to happen. Do we really have to suffer another 5 years of this?
Reply ID 7892
This must be a record - only 3 posts to turn this thread into a party political issue. I thought train companies already did this - I regularly travel to Swindon on the train and if I catch the 6:50am from HN then I pay about £75 return, whereas if I get a later train it can cost way less (I think, but I'm not certain, that the cost depends on when you depart from a London Station.) I'm all for peak/off peak tariffs, but they should be done by offering an incentive for travelling at off-peak times, rather than a financial punishment for travelling at on-peak times. Who was is who privatised those train companies again? Oh. [;)]
Reply ID 7894
quote:Victor - bless you but I think you are being slightly naive "add more services " - they are about to cut back Hertford East so they can trouser more dosh from the Stanstead Express. Until these privatised services are brought to heel then we can continue to be systematically ripped off.. And a "Labour" Government - I wish, but at least they haven’t made the shambles, just continued it from the previous lot.. Party political? Very true!! CP
Originally posted by Victor Meldrew
What did you expect?? The government wants people out of their cars and on to the trains, the trains are already over crowded, so the train bosses either want to have less people on the trains so they look nice and spacious or they want the extra money to add more services. I would suspect the latter. Once again it looks like another major Labour Government catastrophe waiting to happen. Do we really have to suffer another 5 years of this?
Reply ID 7895
Has nobody thought of putting on more trains? Or is that too obvious?
Reply ID 7896
CP, I actually got the 2 round the wrong way, when I said the latter I actually meant they would want to encourage more people off of their trains, which could also be incorrect as they probably want to line their pockets. Not wanting to get into political argument, but why do all Laborites blame the previous Party for their deficiencies, when they have had ample time to correct any problems that may, or may not have been put in to place by the the previous Bunch??
Reply ID 7897
They can't get any more trains in & out of Moorgate in the peak hours. In the evening they leave every 5 mins.
Reply ID 7900
The argument for the rail congestion charge is based on an anticipated steep increase in passengers, and a need to discourage some from using the peak services. Given more passengers = more money through fares, you'd have thought it possible to achieve the same effect of spreading the growing number of passengers across a greater time period by REDUCING the cost of non-peak services, to make them more attractive. No need to increase any charges above the silly levels they're already at.
Reply ID 7902
I think turning the rail system back round again is a bit like trying to turn a full speed supertanker 180 degrees; and 8 years is but a few hundred yards in the ocean. That said don't personally see that much constructive stuff being done to halt the rot or a great deal of difference in our current leaders aims - one could argue that New Labour is just a more efficient version of the Tories (in terms of the pace and intensity of privatisation) but there I go again party politics..... CP CP
Reply ID 7903
quote:If you didn't want to get into a political argument you shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. I'm not a Laborite and I'm not blaming anyone other than the train companies, for it is they who are to blame, for this. The comment about privatisation was a piss-take, hence the smiley.
Originally posted by Victor Meldrew
Not wanting to get into political argument, but why do all Laborites blame the previous Party for their deficiencies, when they have had ample time to correct any problems that may, or may not have been put in to place by the the previous Bunch??
Reply ID 7904
Joby, if you read my quote again, you will notice it is addressed to CP, not you. Is the heat getting to you as well? [8D]
Reply ID 7906
It certainly is, it hit 30 degrees in our office today, and we're meant to have aircon [V] Can I blame that on the previous Tory government too [?] [:D]
Reply ID 7910
is there any reason why they can't just add extra carriages to existing trains? and if some platforms aren't long enough for the extra long trains, do what they do at some tube stations, and ask people to move to the middle carriages if they wish to disembark the train. This is part of a much bigger issue. Public sector workers (of which I am one) have been forced out of london due to excrutiatingly high house prices. There is no way that nurses, teachers etc. will want to work in london if on top of all the other social and economic problems they face by working in london, they are then further penalised in terms of cost - either by road mileage tax or rail tax. For example, my job is community based - I need to drive to work in north london as I need my car to get around - public transport would take far too long and I would not physically be able to manage the large amount of equipment I need to carry around. However, if Blair gets his way, I will soon have to pay an additional £150-£200 a week in car mileage - will I stay in the NHS in London? I don't think so. And I won't be the only one either...
Reply ID 7912
Adding more carriages won't work either. They will be too long for the Drayton Park to Moorgate stretch.
Reply ID 7916
quote:Come on Victor this is an online forum not a 1:1 debate. Let us all cool and have a go at the real enemy (Who? One & WAGN? No the Ware Online Forum of course - sorry the heat is getting to me...) CP - on behalf of the People's Front For Hertford...
Originally posted by Victor Meldrew
Joby, if you read my quote again, you will notice it is addressed to CP, not you. Is the heat getting to you as well? [8D]
Reply ID 7922
quote:True - but a couple into Kings Cross at peak times??? Is there capacity? Mr Tigger Tigger
Originally posted by JohnSmith
Adding more carriages won't work either. They will be too long for the Drayton Park to Moorgate stretch.
Reply ID 7928
I agree, the Moorgate evening service would be difficult to add services to. However the morning service is pretty sparse and there is absolutely no reason the HE line should not have a better service. The railways should never have been privatised as they were. The franchises given are far too short to get serious players involved. The Swiss National Railway co. (widely regarded as the best run rail network in the world) wanted a franchise a couple of years back. They wanted 20 years but were offered 5 or 10. There is no incentive for any company to invest with such a short time span available.
Reply ID 7940
I wonder if the price of peak rate tickets will go down after the reduction in service at Hertford East, since it seems illogical to continually pay more for less. I'm stilll awaiting an answer from One customer service, who are striving to reply, no doubt.
Reply ID 7950
We can all rest easy for the mean time. One & WAGN have stated in today's Mercury that they don't plan to introduce congestion charging. Looks like it will be reserved for those fools who chose to buy houses south of the river.
Reply ID 8007
I think you'll also read in the Mercury that WAGN only said it "wouldn't raise any more fees till 31s March 2006" that's hardly no, we're not going to add charging to the fares! I am angry. I try unsuccessfully to get a job locally "over qualified " and all that malarkey, I would desperately love to, but I need/have to work - the Government won't pay me for sitting on my butt and neither will all you as taxpayers and I find it really distressing. I didn't vote for this Government and never will. I find it outrageous that my boss on £65k plus per year can afford to stomach a rise I on much lowlier a salary cannot. Sad day indeed. Anyone want a PA/Secretary in hertford area, circa £23k pa????? good at job and young at heart???????
Reply ID 8015
I've removed two postings by Victor Meldrew from this thread. Certain remarks about other forum members will not be tolerated. Please read our Terms and Conditions. http://www.hertford.net/yoursay/policy.asp
Reply ID 8017
Sorry admin, but she did offer
Reply ID 8018
quote:So just out of interest, comments like "penny pinching" and "less fortunate" are ok are they??????
Originally posted by Admin
I've removed two postings by Victor Meldrew from this thread. Certain remarks about other forum members will not be tolerated. Please read our Terms and Conditions. http://www.hertford.net/yoursay/policy.asp
Reply ID 8019
Context Victor , context... CP
Reply ID 8035
In answer to a lot of the posts, WAGN and ONE both claim they are up to full capacity on their tracks ( I beg to differ!!!) So basically they are not interested in running any extra services. I think we're all missing the point. The rail companies are not running a passenger rail service, they've organised a "gravy train" whereby they fleece innocent hard-working people out of their money under false pretences of offering a service.. Memo to WAGN and ONE "for Service, refer to America/Germany or Switzerland!" [^]
Reply ID 8048
Drama Queen, without wanting to sound like a spokesperson for One or WAGN (and believe me they probably wouldn't want that either), the services they run out of Hertford North & East are not the only ones they run. Take a look at the timetables between Broxbourne - Liverpool Street and WGC/Hertford North - Moorgate. Those stretches of track are run at capacity during the peak services and so no extra trains can be run.
Reply ID 8067
I always thought a HE to Broxbourne shuttle every 10 mins or so would be the way ahead.
Reply ID 8074
I have used the HN line since 1985 !!!!! I used to be able to catch either a 07.50, 0755, 0758 and 0803 !!!! now slashed to 07.50, 07.55 and then 08.10 ! So when you look at that and don't ask me how I remember these things I just do! It now takes me an extra 15 mins to get into the West End from 20 years ago.. Doesn't sound much, until you double that on the way back and add the dark mornings and a person who hates getting up! I would like to know exactly what/where this so called "charge" is going, cos so far investment in the rails has not been visible except after a crash!!
Reply ID 8078
The last time I used Hertford North was a few Saturdays ago I caught the train around 8.10 and was in Mayfair just after 9. Which I thought was pretty good considering it was an all stopper.