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suzyscottdotcomTfL figures confirm the Circle line is now worse after being extended to Hammersmith
Longer waits and fewer trains after Circle line extension
Ross Lydall and Miranda Bryant
16.03.10
Commuters on the redesigned Circle line are suffering much longer waits between services and fewer trains, official figures reveal today.
Transport for London's own figures prove what many passengers have suspected for weeks — that the line is now worse after being extended to Hammersmith. This is despite promises that the changes would improve the Tube's least reliable line.
In the four weeks after the Circle was turned into a “lasso line” between Edgware Road and Hammersmith, the number of trains in service and the distance they travelled both fell — with rush-hours worst affected.
The number of trains in service fell from 93.2 per cent of the target in the previous period to 90.4 per cent, while the distance travelled by peak-hour trains fell from 90 per cent of target to 87.8 per cent.
Problems have also been caused by the decision to reduce the service from seven to six trains an hour — or one every 10 minutes. At times passengers have been forced to wait up to 20 minutes for a train, while being charged premium fares to travel in Zone 1. Total average journey times on the Circle line are also longer than a year ago.
Today passengers said they now avoided the line, or factored in extra time for their journeys. Others called for the line to be returned to its original clockwise and counter-clockwise “full circle” routes.
Andrew Bosi, chairman of the Capital Transport Campaign, said there were longer gaps between services, passengers were now forced to change trains at Edgware Road and trains were delayed entering Hammersmith station because of a lack of platforms.
He said: “Those additional passenger delays are unacceptable. What makes this particularly irritating is the way Transport for London marketed the change as though it was a vast improvement.”
Murad Qureshi, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: “As someone who welcomed the operational change, I'm very disappointed. There doesn't seem to have been a better service as a result. I think the problem is still Edgware Road station. The Circle is the one service that seems to go down immediately when anything happens on the District, Metropolitan or Hammersmith and City [lines].”
The Circle line is the Tube's least reliable because it shares the majority of its 14 miles of track with other services on the District, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines.
The line is also one of the worst affected by weekend engineering work. It is due to close entirely for 10 weekends between the end of March and mid-July, including the four days over Easter, for track upgrades.
Other difficulties were caused by the absence of a terminus — a problem TfL said would be eased by allowing trains to “recover” at Hammersmith and Edgware Road before embarking on a new trip. The line is used by 218,000 passengers each weekday.
TfL said reliability — in terms of the “excess waiting time” taken by passengers to complete their journey — had improved by 43 per cent in the past 12 weeks.
Richard Parry, interim managing director of London Underground, said: “Instead of waiting five minutes for a dedicated Circle line train, customers are waiting six minutes... on more occasions than in the past we are getting much closer to the 10-minute frequency.
Longer waits and fewer trains after Circle line extension
Ross Lydall and Miranda Bryant
16.03.10
Commuters on the redesigned Circle line are suffering much longer waits between services and fewer trains, official figures reveal today.
Transport for London's own figures prove what many passengers have suspected for weeks — that the line is now worse after being extended to Hammersmith. This is despite promises that the changes would improve the Tube's least reliable line.
In the four weeks after the Circle was turned into a “lasso line” between Edgware Road and Hammersmith, the number of trains in service and the distance they travelled both fell — with rush-hours worst affected.
The number of trains in service fell from 93.2 per cent of the target in the previous period to 90.4 per cent, while the distance travelled by peak-hour trains fell from 90 per cent of target to 87.8 per cent.
Problems have also been caused by the decision to reduce the service from seven to six trains an hour — or one every 10 minutes. At times passengers have been forced to wait up to 20 minutes for a train, while being charged premium fares to travel in Zone 1. Total average journey times on the Circle line are also longer than a year ago.
Today passengers said they now avoided the line, or factored in extra time for their journeys. Others called for the line to be returned to its original clockwise and counter-clockwise “full circle” routes.
Andrew Bosi, chairman of the Capital Transport Campaign, said there were longer gaps between services, passengers were now forced to change trains at Edgware Road and trains were delayed entering Hammersmith station because of a lack of platforms.
He said: “Those additional passenger delays are unacceptable. What makes this particularly irritating is the way Transport for London marketed the change as though it was a vast improvement.”
Murad Qureshi, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: “As someone who welcomed the operational change, I'm very disappointed. There doesn't seem to have been a better service as a result. I think the problem is still Edgware Road station. The Circle is the one service that seems to go down immediately when anything happens on the District, Metropolitan or Hammersmith and City [lines].”
The Circle line is the Tube's least reliable because it shares the majority of its 14 miles of track with other services on the District, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines.
The line is also one of the worst affected by weekend engineering work. It is due to close entirely for 10 weekends between the end of March and mid-July, including the four days over Easter, for track upgrades.
Other difficulties were caused by the absence of a terminus — a problem TfL said would be eased by allowing trains to “recover” at Hammersmith and Edgware Road before embarking on a new trip. The line is used by 218,000 passengers each weekday.
TfL said reliability — in terms of the “excess waiting time” taken by passengers to complete their journey — had improved by 43 per cent in the past 12 weeks.
Richard Parry, interim managing director of London Underground, said: “Instead of waiting five minutes for a dedicated Circle line train, customers are waiting six minutes... on more occasions than in the past we are getting much closer to the 10-minute frequency.
