"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 May 2014 10:53:28 -0500, Recliner
wrote:

Roland Perry wrote:
In message

, at 09:22:12 on Thu, 29 May 2014, Recliner
remarked:
It does suggest that Crossrail will
indeed fill up soon after opening.

I don't think anyone doubts that... the question is, for how many
years
will the Central Line be a ghost town, until Crossrail becomes so
unbearably crowded that the Central Line starts being used by people
who
are in no hurry but just want to travel without their nose in
someone's armpit.

My guess is that the Central line will remain fairly crowded, at least
on
the western side.

Also on the east, from those many places where a Central Line station is
closer than a Crossrail one.

But won't many cross the platform to change to Crossrail at Stratford,
assuming that a Crossrail station in Central London will be a suitable
destination? Of course, this will increase the Central Line loading east
of Stratford.

I can't see people getting off Central Line trains to catch Crossrail
*unless* they want Abbey Wood, Farringdon, Paddington or points west
thereof. People local to Stratford will take the most convenient
service once within the station. Will people forsake a seat so they
can stand in crush conditions? Err not for a saving of a few minutes.

What I think may happen is that people who currently alight from
Greater Anglia locals will remain on the future Crossrail where a
Central London station is convenient for them. Thus the volumes
changing trains at Stratford will fall except for people who may tweak
their journeys to change via Stratford for Crossrail (say from stops
on the Jubilee Line, DLR and NLL) - e.g. Canning Town or West Ham to
Farringdon. Travel via Stratford will be very quick.

I don't imagine there will be much relief to the Central Line in the
medium to long term. There'll be a short term adjustment but
eventually everything will fill up and people may well be content to
stick with the much more frequent tube service than wait 5-10 minutes
for a Crossrail train. Off peak Crossrail will still be only every 10
minutes through Stratford and the headway through Canary Wharf will be
unbalanced and nowhere near as frequent as the Jubilee Line. People
expecting tube like frequencies on Crossrail are going to be
disappointed - especially heading West of Paddington where waits of
15-30 minutes will be not be unusual.

IME not that unusual on the Ealing Branch of the district in the evenings
either :-(

tim