Service improved? 2

An unusual view for a Bletchley
commuter - an almost empty
350/1 'blue' Desiro  

London Midland have a page on their website titled Improving our services where they describe the steps they are taking to address a number of problems areas.


This is the second in a series of postings based on the aspects of the service that London Midland are working on (for the first, see Service improvements? 1).


More Seats

Under this heading London Midland mention only the introduction of the 'Watford Shuttle'. a peak time service for passengers to/from Watford Junction, Bushey, Harrow & Wealdstone and London Euston.  The additional service started in May and they say that further trains will be added on this route before the end of the year.

So what impact has this new service had? According to London Midland it should "mean that our longer distance services into London can be quicker and have more available seats".  As a passenger who does the daily journey Bletchley-Euston-Bletchley, in my opinion the impact has been neutral and best:

• The 07:00 in the morning doesn't stop after Leighton Buzzard so the addition of the new service hasn't provided any extra seating capacity. 
• In the evening, despite the addition of the new short-distance service, London Midland added on an extra stop at Harrow for the 17:51.

London Midland's argument might be that the capacity of the service to/from Bletchley is already sufficient.  My honest answer to that would be:

• Getting a seat southbound in the morning isn't normally a problem but you do have to be careful which trains you pick and not be fussy where you sit (more seats at the back etc)
• Homeward in the evening is more difficult.  From 5pm onwards, finding somewhere to sit is likely to be a problem unless you board at least 5 minutes before departure 

The 'Watford Shuttle' isn't the first additional short-distance service that has been added on our line in recent years as Silverlink introduced the 'Tring specials' a little while.  Those trains too took up slots on an already crowded line and really only seem to benefit the passengers getting on/off the stations that they serve.

So what would I like to see?  How about:

1. Train lengths increased (4 carriages to 8 and 8 coaches to 12)
2. More scheduled services that call at Bletchley and don't stop between Leighton Buzzard and Euston
3. Further steps by London Midland to look after the full fare-paying passenger (the rail operators have had negative publicity recently for the introduction of the afternoon/evening period where cheap-day tickets can't be used, but London Midland get a vote of thanks from me for introducing their 1645-1845 evening peak restrictions)

Having praised London Midland for point 3 it might seem a bit churlish to give them a red cross for this measure.  I don't believe though that enough is being done for the passengers who are paying £3,300+ a year to travel to/from Bletchley.  It is unacceptable for us to be standing for up to an hour in anything other than exceptional circumstances.

What do you think?  Am I being too harsh?

If you travel from Bletchley or any other station on the line then please add your own comments below.



(As London Midland have named More Trains as their third improvement area that will be the next subject in this series of postings.)