On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 10:05:08 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:

[posted to both uk.transport.london and uk.railway]

[My take on the usefulness of this link for North Kent line to Canary
Wharf commuters is in the latter half of this post under the bracketed
header that highlights where this bit of my spiel begins!]


DLR webpage on "service change from 10 January":
http://pressroom.dlr.co.uk/news/details.asp?id=188


The DLR extension from King George V under the Thames to Woolwich
Arsenal is set to open this Saturday, the 10th of January, well over a
month before the contracted date of 28 February [1]. Public service
would appear to commence at the normal start of play in the early
morning on Saturday.

I'm amazed this is just on the DLR Press page and not the TfL Press
Release list. Still nice to know that it looks like the service is
starting then. It was rumoured that passenger service might not start
until Monday even though the underlying timetable had changed.

[*Usefulness for North Kent line to Canary Wharf commuters*]

Of course the new DLR link will obviously provide a very useful
interchange with the North Kent line for people heading to the
Docklands. However there wouldn't appear to be an appreciable
difference to journey times for those heading to the big Docklands
traffic destination of Canary Wharf - from Woolwich Arsenal, the JP
gives a 20-22 min journey to CW via Canning Town and a change on to
the Jubilee line (though this is a very easy interchange).

The other factor is that if people swap permanently to changing at
Woolwich for Docklands they can reduce the number of zones they require
on their Travelcard. Losing Zone 1 is a decent drop in price (assuming
there's no other regular reason to travel there).

--
Paul C