A Full Train

I may have mentioned this before, but the over-crowding on the trains is getting rather bad. South West Trains recently changed the carriages on the Weymouth-Waterloo line, introducing more modern equipment which is, on the whole, more comfortable and quieter. There are also fewer seats on these carriages so, in the small section of carriage in which I sit today, there are nine occupied seats and 4 people sitting on the floor.

The root cause of the problem, as observed earlier in the week, is that the train operating companies have no incentive to provide seats; they maximise their revenue by transporting as many people as possible in the smallest number of carriages. There is no reason to believe this will change, even taking into account the Government’s recent announcement of extra rolling stock, because passenger numbers continue to rise faster than capacity.

There are a number of ways to increase capacity, none of which is easy to implement:

• run more trains,
• lengthen individual trains,
• introduce “double-decker” trains,
• encourage off-peak travel.

The number of trains is apparently constrained by the rolling stock and track; there isn’t enough of either to make it easy to do. Lengthening the trains again requires new rolling stock and so is not a quick fix. Double-decker trains would require tunnels and bridges to be re-worked and might also require wider tracks. None of this is easy.

A short-term solution is to encourage off-peak travel, which should appeal to train companies who would otherwise have empty rolling stock on the network, but most people want to arrive at their destination early in the morning and leave in the early evening; travelling outside these times, although more pleasant for the passenger, is too inconvenient to for the financial rewards offered.

Is there another solution? Well, yes, I have one to propose, but it is not cheap. More information will follow.

BBC Interview

The BBC has an interesting interview (link) with the author of a book that describes growing up in Britain as Muslim. While his attitudes are clearly sensible and pragmatic solutions to the cultural differences between Islam and Britain, it is also clear that almost all the problems he has faced are related to his religious beliefs, beliefs that are founded on no more than medieval stories. Pragmatic behaviour might prevent a violent clash of cultures, but the real solution is to admit that the ancient Holy books were written by fallible men, to discard their (mostly) restrictive and irrelevant teachings and to concentrate on building a better, more peaceful and more just world.

Virginia

The shootings in Virginia are simply too horrible to contemplate. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

The insensitive ravings of one Dinesh D'Souza are similarly unpleasant. This page (link) lists both D'Souza's unbelievable rants and an astonishingly eloquent and moving response.

Interest Rates

The news that inflation has risen again, and that interest rates are almost certain to follow, is not welcome. Three previous rises have already reduced our hopes of paying off our mortgage early and, although the increases are not affecting our monthly repayments, there is concern that they soon will, if things continue to deteriorate. House prices in our area continue to rise, but this is small consolation if we have to reduce our monthly restaurant bill in order to cover our mortgage.

I am somewhat tempted to consider a move down the market to a mortgage-free property. This is not as implausible as it sounds; we could probably find a 3 bedroom terraced house or a 2 bed apartment without too much trouble, but it would require a move to a rather less salubrious area. Tempting, but I am not sure the wife would go for it...

Friday Trains

I do not normally go in to the office on Friday, preferring, as many people do, to work from home. This is a great arrangement, allowing me to start early, finish early and enjoy a stress free Friday evening. The downside is that Friday is the best day for travelling because the 07:08 train is only 50% full, rather than the usual 105%. This evening’s return train will be, of course, as overcrowded as usual. Would it be possible to go to the office on Friday and work from home on Monday (the busiest day on the trains)? Probably, but that would mean missing the advantages of Friday home-working and Monday meetings, which almost certainly makes the plan unworkable.

The recent success of the rail companies in attracting new passengers onto the network has caused overcrowding on many trains, particularly commuter trains to and from London. Overcrowding manifests itself as a shortage of seats with (at a rough guess) between 105% and 150% of seats sold on some services. This is particularly annoying for regular rail users and season-ticket holders who account (again, at a rough guess) for between 25% and 50% of passengers and a significant and reliable percentage of rail companies’ income. There may be a solution:

1. Create a new class of ticket, at a substantial discount (say, 50%), holders of which would stand if the train were full (current tickets do not actually entitle passengers to a seat, but bear with me). This would probably free-up enough seats for those who wanted them but, when it did not:
2. Compensate standing full-price or season-ticket holders by refunding the difference between the single seated fare and the single standing fare.

This plan has several major advantages:

1. Some passengers would travel very cheaply if they sacrificed comfort,
2. Passengers paying the full fare, who not unreasonably expect a seat, would have more chance of getting one,
3. Rail companies, who currently have no incentive to offer any seats at all, would suddenly have a very large incentive to run trains with enough seats for their passengers.

This would be a rather controversial solution, particularly for the rail companies, but I think it could be made to work. Would passengers support it?

Easter Monday Gym

Another early morning gym visit, this time to be followed by breakfast at the club, before we meet my parents at Fishbourne Roman Palace. Fishbourne is one of the best preserved Roman palaces in northern Europe but that is all I really know about it, except that they have on display the skeleton of a former resident.

Well, I assume it is a resident; it might just have been an uppity visitor...