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Should Railways Discourage Fast Growth?

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whhistle

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Split from: Car Parking at Railway Stations

To encourage rail use, it should be easy for passengers to get to the train station. Provision of secure, well lit and CCTV covered bike parking should be a priority, along with local bus services timed to connect with arrivals and departures.
To counter this, perhaps railways shouldn't be encouraging so much growth?

They're already too busy at certain times of the day and nothing is bring done to encourage businesses to change business hours (I'm sure many people would work earlier) or make it easier for people to work from home. I'd certainly be more than happy to get paid (very) slightly less if it meant I worked from home 4 out of 5 days a week.

And let's face it, Advance tickets don't really encourage that many people to travel outside of the peak hours - I suspect they're mainly used by leisure travellers, who can be a lot more flexible.
 
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Tio Terry

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Peak time pricing was being used in the 1970’s to my certain knowledge in an effort to reduce overcrowding and, as far as I am aware, is still being used in the same way. There’s no way the network will ever be able to handle peak demand without overcrowding so there will always be some method used to encourage people to travel off peak.
 

coppercapped

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What do you mean by 'too busy'?

(People have been discussing changing business hours since I started working - that's since the mid 1960s. It doesn't matter which country one is in, people work (about) eight hours a day. At the beginning and end of this period a lot of people will be travelling. Only a few types of jobs can be done at home - and those are the ones which are most likely to go off-shore. Be careful what you wish for).
 

Comstock

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That's the problem. If a job can be done from home, why not any home anywhere in the world, possibly in a country where wages are much lower......
 

Wilts Wanderer

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I'm not sure peaktime pricing is being used to control overcrowding any more. It's more being used to maximise revenue - hence why peak intercity services can be quieter than shoulder peak services which are utterly wedged.
 

PartyOperator

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Most commuters in this country drive to work. Discouraging rail commuting wouldn't primarily lead to more flexible working or remote working - the main result would be even more people driving. I'd personally rather stand on a crowded train for half an hour than be stuck for an indeterminate period of time in a traffic jam.
 

Clip

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And let's face it, Advance tickets don't really encourage that many people to travel outside of the peak hours - I suspect they're mainly used by leisure travellers, who can be a lot more flexible.

Advance tickets encourage more people to travel off peak which is why they are they in teh first place
 

Jozhua

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No, because people will just use their cars instead, congesting our roads and releasing considerably larger amounts of deadly pollutants.

Also, how about the people who can't afford a car and/or are unable to drive?

I know people say railways are a 'long term' industry, but the UK is painfully slow to respond to increases in demand.
 

BigCj34

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Ultimately the railway needs to gain market share over the car. In some places the railway is already maxed out at commuter hours, say from Surrey to London, but in the North there is presumably more scope to expand patronage.

I don't see it as being sustainable to continually add capacity for routes into London when there are already crowded 10 car trains going into London terminals. At that point it would be worth examining why commuter destinations are not more spread out.

On another note I always find it curious that it's difficult to go around London by rail, a railway version of the M25 doesn't exist. Could addressing this unlock potential places of employment within Greater London for commuters and reduce the reliance on central London for commuters and businesses alike?
 

PeterC

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Ultimately the railway needs to gain market share over the car. In some places the railway is already maxed out at commuter hours, say from Surrey to London, but in the North there is presumably more scope to expand patronage.

I don't see it as being sustainable to continually add capacity for routes into London when there are already crowded 10 car trains going into London terminals. At that point it would be worth examining why commuter destinations are not more spread out.

On another note I always find it curious that it's difficult to go around London by rail, a railway version of the M25 doesn't exist. Could addressing this unlock potential places of employment within Greater London for commuters and reduce the reliance on central London for commuters and businesses alike?
Dispersed employment locations are more difficult to serve by public transport as there are too many potential origin / destination pairs so people are more likely to drive.

The "rail M25" idea regularly comes up, normally from enthusiasts who enjoy hanging around stations so are happy with a trip that involves several changes. Apart from a limited number of use cases most potential journeys would best be covered by Crossrail with, where possible, a single change in central London.
 

AM9

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... I don't see it as being sustainable to continually add capacity for routes into London when there are already crowded 10 car trains going into London terminals. ...
Do you see adding road capacity for London commuters to use private cars as sustainable?
 
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