You have access to decades of advances in brain surgery that were not afforded brain surgeons in the past. Are you today automatically a better brain surgeon than the ones working thirty years ago?
No, just no. The last thing I want to see is another pathetic cutesy bus-company brand trying to win hearts and minds with stupid slogans and insincere "friendliness".
Yes absolutely no point if it isn’t clockface. Additionals can be thrown in at specific turning points on the S&C but on the less tourist heavy Bentham Line simple 2 hourly clockface should suffice. A regular hourly path with the same stopping pattern in either direction on the Airedale Line is the principal consideration however. There are plenty of turning points north of there for any additionals including Skipton.
2 issues with that.
I thought I said that...
Good summary, thanks. But I think I prefered your first version - didn't that take most of the peak flows into account, so we're not ferrying empty seats north from Leeds in the afternoon? And if we could reinstate the bay platform at Hellifield we could even keep the Other Lot happy as there would be plenty of services for them to connect with
That seems to me the main issue; unless you have an hourly service (half-hourly from Leeds) you can't have both a clockface timetable and cater perfectly to peak traffic flows.I thought I said that...
Good summary, thanks. But I think I prefered your first version - didn't that take most of the peak flows into account, so we're not ferrying empty seats north from Leeds in the afternoon? And if we could reinstate the bay platform at Hellifield we could even keep the Other Lot happy as there would be plenty of services for them to connect with
An interconnected transport network? You must be barking!
I thought I said that...
Good summary, thanks. But I think I prefered your first version - didn't that take most of the peak flows into account, so we're not ferrying empty seats north from Leeds in the afternoon? And if we could reinstate the bay platform at Hellifield we could even keep the Other Lot happy as there would be plenty of services for them to connect with
A good example is the one service from Leeds to Forster Square, which run at xx12 and xx42 with no exceptions, save one which leaves at xx43, and another which randomly doesn't call at Kirkstall.
And from personal experience most trains on the S&C seem reasonably well loaded, save the very first and last; ditto with the FoBL.
I believe it's still the case - it certainly was until recently - that the expected 1656 Leeds to Skipton didn't exist (leaving at xx26 and xx56 throughout the day). Furthermore, the next all-stops departure towards Skipton is at 1719, not at 1726, with actually does exist but runs through to Morecambe, and doesn't call at all stations before Skipton.
Slightly off topic: Leeds to London leaves at xx15 and xx45, London to Leeds at xx03 and xx33, including in the peaks. The proposed East Coast timetable would have changed the departure times in the evening peak so that they would have been all over the place. Yonks ago, one of the things West Yorkshire PTE pushed for was consistent departure times and a clockface pattern, they way they are on buses. When we had buses. Them were t'days.
That is a weird way of doing it, might as well just public time it as xx.42.
The opening of Kirkstall Forge and the move to a xx:12 / xx:42 (they were previously xx:08 / xx:38) departure of the Leeds - Bradford FS broke most of my handy connections at Shipley for the service up to Ilkley that I get home. It was always a little tight, and wouldn't have appeared on journey planners, but I usually had a good couple of minutes to sprint up the stairs from P4 and down to P3 to get my connection. Now the Forster Square bound service rolls in about 5 minutes after the Ilkley has tootled off towards Baildon.
Not really Serpell only wanted an intercity core remaining. I only want to close the financially basket case lines and support reopening of stuff such as the Northumberland Line. An integrated Electric bus service Skipton to Penrith via Appleby would actually serve tourist hotpots like Hawes rather than passing them by.Yay, @daodao has got a Serpell colleague!
Virtually no resources - Carnforth Station Jct. to Settle Jct., at 24 miles, is the longest signal section in the UK; aside from maintenance the line has no manpower usage.
Interesting that the times got later rather than earlier - each stations adds 2 mins to the overall journey time, so I would've expected an xx08 departure to become xx04. Though I suppose that would be too close to the xx03 of the Ilkley departures (unless they stopped at Kirkstall as well, in which case they could become xx01. . . so many options!).The opening of Kirkstall Forge and the move to a xx:12 / xx:42 (they were previously xx:08 / xx:38) departure of the Leeds - Bradford FS broke most of my handy connections at Shipley for the service up to Ilkley that I get home. It was always a little tight, and wouldn't have appeared on journey planners, but I usually had a good couple of minutes to sprint up the stairs from P4 and down to P3 to get my connection. Now the Forster Square bound service rolls in about 5 minutes after the Ilkley has tootled off towards Baildon.
Still it gives me 25 minutes to bolt over the road to pick up supplies from Aldi if I need them, assuming of course I don't get stuck in the queue behind someone who doesn't understand the packing protocols they like customers to use!
What are the financial basket cases, and what are you basing the assumptions on?
I'm not sure the S&C could be considered a financial basket case - have you ever travelled on it in Summer? In Winter, yeah, sure, it probably operates at a loss. But the rest of the year easily makes up for it. It's not unusual for a conductor to take £200-£400 in ticket fares on a return trip from Carlisle to Skipton in Spring/Summer.
You are making an assumption that the track access charge is covering the cost of providing this track, which I believe is by no means the case. The trains also have to be leased, and maintained of course, and someone has to manage all of this, and up and up go the costs, way, way above your £710.
Yes but those costs would remain regardless of whether the unit was used on the S&C or not - management, leasing and maintenance are hardly likely to go down significantly if eight trains were removed from the entire Northern network.
The leasing and maintenance cost of eight trains to start with! Management/supervision may or may not change significantly depending on how close to thresholds they are currently. These costs have to be taken into account when deciding whether a line is profitable or not. You have no comment on the track access charge deficit to costs.
Even in Summer, there are a number of trains with few passengers on. (5h15 Leeds to Carlisle for instance, and various others?) Some trains are well loaded, but it is a mistake to think that some full (relatively low capacity) trains over the high 12 weeks will make up for the six months of poor loadings September/October-March/April.
I'm aware that £710 is an underestimate, but the point I was trying to make still stands - that to refer to the S&C as a 'basket case' is something of a fallacy.
