In message , at 13:15:07
on Tue, 8 Mar 2011, David Cantrell remarked:
These days I find everyone congregates in a mass in
front of the big departure broad, and as soon as a platform is announced
about a third of them will suddenly start scurrying in the same
direction. If you are any distance from the front of the "clump", you
will get held up.

This wasn't the case when I travelled to Edinburgh in December, when all
the trains were ****ed up because of the snow and so were horribly
overcrowded. The queue just moved forward and through the gate. I
would have thought that with all the cancellations at the time that
would have been the time to expect the behaviour you describe.

Was it a busy train - you simply can't get that many people through the
ticket check and onto the platform in a minute (which was the time
asserted up the thread). My own experience is that if they announce the
platform 8 minutes in advance (a typical worst case), if you hurry
along, you can get to the carriages at the front of the train with only
one or two minutes to spare.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote

In message , at 13:15:07
on Tue, 8 Mar 2011, David Cantrell remarked:

These days I find everyone congregates in a mass
in
front of the big departure broad, and as soon as a platform is announced
about a third of them will suddenly start scurrying in the same
direction. If you are any distance from the front of the "clump", you
will get held up.

This wasn't the case when I travelled to Edinburgh in December, when all
the trains were ****ed up because of the snow and so were horribly
overcrowded. The queue just moved forward and through the gate. I
would have thought that with all the cancellations at the time that
would have been the time to expect the behaviour you describe.

Was it a busy train - you simply can't get that many people through the
ticket check and onto the platform in a minute (which was the time
asserted up the thread). My own experience is that if they announce the
platform 8 minutes in advance (a typical worst case), if you hurry along,
you can get to the carriages at the front of the train with only one or
two minutes to spare.


Is that at KX or St P?

In message , at 14:38:38 on
Tue, 8 Mar 2011, Mizter T remarked:
These days I find everyone congregates in a
mass in
front of the big departure broad, and as soon as a platform is announced
about a third of them will suddenly start scurrying in the same
direction. If you are any distance from the front of the "clump", you
will get held up.

This wasn't the case when I travelled to Edinburgh in December, when all
the trains were ****ed up because of the snow and so were horribly
overcrowded. The queue just moved forward and through the gate. I
would have thought that with all the cancellations at the time that
would have been the time to expect the behaviour you describe.

Was it a busy train - you simply can't get that many people through
the ticket check and onto the platform in a minute (which was the
time asserted up the thread). My own experience is that if they
announce the platform 8 minutes in advance (a typical worst case), if
you hurry along, you can get to the carriages at the front of the
train with only one or two minutes to spare.

Is that at KX or St P?

I'm describing KGX.
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, Mar 08, 2011 at 01:53:30PM +0000, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:15:07
on Tue, 8 Mar 2011, David Cantrell remarked:
These days I find everyone congregates in a mass in
front of the big departure broad, and as soon as a platform is announced
about a third of them will suddenly start scurrying in the same
direction. If you are any distance from the front of the "clump", you
will get held up.
This wasn't the case when I travelled to Edinburgh in December, when all
the trains were ****ed up because of the snow and so were horribly
overcrowded ...
Was it a busy train - you simply can't get that many people through the
ticket check and onto the platform in a minute

Well, the previous train had been cancelled, so they had two train-loads
of people in one train. It was absolutely rammed. Inconsiderate gits
standing in first class prevented the nice young lady from getting to me
with my free coffee, and even worse, the wireless interweb was
overloaded!

(which was the time asserted up the thread).

Yes, that's nonsense.

--
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world

What profiteth a man, if he win a flame war, yet lose his cool?

On Mar 6, 1:27*am, john b wrote:
On Mar 6, 8:44*am, NM wrote:

1 minute is
more than enough for someone who's not physically handicapped to walk from
one side [of KX main shed] to the other.

No it isn't, in crowded conditions I would allow much longer. also
consider many travel with bags having a platform allocated is a great
help in these circumstances.

Opinion is divided on the matter: people who've actually done it and
don't have mad axes to grind against public transport say that it is;
people who're making **** up say that it isn't.

Thalys is good, even tell you where to stand on the platform, FGW will
not tell you at Paddington which platform the Penzance train leaves
from until 10 minutes before departure even when you can see it parked
there.

Which is a problem why? If they told you 2 minutes before departure,
that might be a problem - but 10 minutes is easily long enough to get
from the Mad Bishop & Bear to the frontmost coach of any IC platform
at Paddington, never mind from the concourse...

I would prefer to park my arse in the seat and wait rather than stand
in the crowd below the announcement board then join the scrum with
bags in tow.

On Mar 6, 2:18*pm, Neil Williams wrote:
On Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:22:21 -0600, (Roy Badami)
wrote:

I'm not sure I can think of any mode of transport that combines
*all*
of those (clearly desirable) elements. *

A car can, though it misses the "arrives at a predictable time" one
on occasions.

Train? Punctuality? I would expect the car to be considerably more 'on
time' going by my own experience, trains are not even classed as late
until they are 10 minutes behind, this causes the punctuality figures
to look a lot better than they are, some people would say that is
lying.

On Mar 6, 9:49*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:
In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:

I'm not sure I can think of any mode of transport that combines *all*
of those (clearly desirable) elements. *At least, not one that would
be suitable for inter-city distances.

A modest mid-life family car.

It's difficult to see how running any form of car can be described as
'cheap' given the amount it's going to cost you to tax it and ensure
it and MOT it. *Add in servicing, break down cover and (depending on
where you door is) residents parking and you have to pay a huge whack
before you even start travelling anywhere.

I'll concede that it may be the least expensive option for some usage
patterns but the high fixed costs pretty much ensure that there are no
circumstances under which it it could be described as 'cheap'

* * -roy

Four people traveling to work in London and returning home at the end
of the working day would find it cheaper to hire a minicab than use
the train.

On Mar 7, 9:40*am, wrote:
On Sat, 5 Mar 2011 13:44:30 -0800 (PST)

NM wrote:
On Mar 4, 3:29=A0pm, wrote:

1 minute is
more than enough for someone who's not physically handicapped to walk fro=
m
one side to the other.

No it isn't, in crowded conditions I would allow much longer. also
consider many travel with bags having a platform allocated is a great
help in these circumstances.

*shrug* I guess you're all slow walkers. Its never taken me very long to
do it.

Thalys is good, even tell you where to stand on the platform, FGW will
not tell you at Paddington which platform the Penzance train leaves
from until 10 minutes before departure even when you can see it parked
there.

Perhaps they're still cleaning the train and don't want passengers in the
way?

B2003

There is no reason why the punters cannot be let on to the platform
and admitted to the train when it's ready and the doors are unlocked,
the reservation gives the coach and seat number this can be spotted
easily through the windows thus pre-positioning of self and baggage/
grandchildren etc. can be easily accomplished without the usual scrum.

On 12/03/2011 17:53, NM wrote:
On Mar 6, 2:18 pm, Neil wrote:
On Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:22:21 -0600, (Roy Badami)
wrote:

I'm not sure I can think of any mode of transport that combines
*all*
of those (clearly desirable) elements.

A car can, though it misses the "arrives at a predictable time" one
on occasions.

Train? Punctuality? I would expect the car to be considerably more 'on
time' going by my own experience, trains are not even classed as late
until they are 10 minutes behind, this causes the punctuality figures
to look a lot better than they are, some people would say that is
lying.

Whereas cars don't have a scheduled arrival time, so whatever happens at
the Dartford crossing/M25/traffic lights they can never be "late". But
they can be unpredictable, going by the number of times I pick up the
office phone in the morning to hear "I'm stuck in a traffic jam at xxx".

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On 12/03/2011 17:56, NM wrote:

Four people traveling to work in London and returning home at the end
of the working day would find it cheaper to hire a minicab than use
the train.

And do they?

In congestion/tree-hugging terms, a car with four passengers all going
to and from the same place probably isn't a problem when compared with
all the cars containing just a driver.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK