London Underground (long term) closures

tryingtosave_3

Is anyone else a northern line user who is extremely annoyed about the fact that no compensation is being offered for the 7 months of weekend closures?

Yes, I know this is “engineering works” which doesn't count under the customer charter, but as someone who has paid for a year in advance, I really feel they have altered the service enough to mean I should be given some sort of refund.

Any ideas? Anyone else pursuing this? I have written to LUL direct (no joy – hiding by charter) and London Travel Watch won't help.

Incidentally, I don't mind that they are doing the work – it is totally needed!

IvanOpinion

OK it doesn't affect me but why should they offer compensation for doing what they are expected to do to ensure passenger safety? Have they offered an alternaitve service, e.g. bus or can you carry out the same/similar journeys using other lines ?

Ivan

tryingtosave_3

There is an alternative service, but it takes considerably longer - consisting of getting off the tube, on to a bus for 20 minutes and back on the tube. This will happen every weekend from now until November.

I agree that the work should be done; hopefully it will result in a better service. The reason I feel they should compensate me is that I've paid for the tube but am getting buses. Bus tickets are considerably cheaper (easily half the price) - so I'm essentially paying tube prices for buses.

I guess it's a little like leasing a BMW, it breaking down and the company saying, no problems we're got a Ford you can use. Yes, they have provided you a similar service, but you're still paying BMW prices but driving round in a Ford. For one or two weekends you might say "fair enough" (and weekend closures are fairly common from time to time), but when it is 7 months ...

Hmm. I realise that it a bad example, but the only transport related one I can think of. And before anyone says it, "tube" and "BMW" is a bad comparison ... but still, this is sort of how I feel.

IvanOpinion

tryingtosave wrote:

And before anyone says it, "tube" and "BMW" is a bad comparison ... but still, this is sort of how I feel.

No its not .. only tubes drive BMWs ...... runs for cover

Ivan

reehsetin

these closeures are doing my head in!

i am right between the northan line and picadilly line but theyve taken to messing up both at the same time, dont they realise that its the same area and maybe just close one at a time, as soon as i got the picadilly line back the victoria line went
arghhhhhh!

gingercordial

Totally sympathise, I remember getting a partial refund after the Central line closure after the derailment a couple of years ago so I'm not sure why they couldn't operate a similar system for this for regular Northern line users, and surely with Oyster they should be able to tell from your history that you were genuinely a regular user (back with the Central line one they just asked you what your normal journeys were). Of course this should only be for the long-term disruptions, not just the odd weekend closure.

And it's not as if it's just the weekends, they always seem to run over into Monday mornings these days, something which I am already assuming will impede my commute on the Victoria line tomorrow morning...

Oh yeah reehsetin you must live close to me!

zappomatic

They seem to make a distinction between planned works and emergency closures/delays. I'd imagine their reasoning is that you would consider these closures before buying your pass, but the real world doesn't work like that! It's not as though most people have any real choice.

rainbow_carnage

see, i love the tube. sure, it's filthy, crowded, boiling hot, etc., but at least i don't have to drive to and from work every day. public trasport rocks!

having said this, i'm getting a tad sick of unplanned station closures preventing me from getting to my destination. last night i was trying to get to a show, having left the house with time to spare, only to be thwarted yet again by LU. kings cross station closed just as i got there, so i was unable to change for the correct line. i tried to get on a bus, but the nearest stop was closed and the buses couldn't get to the next one because the fire engines we blocking the bus lane. it was rush hour, and it took me almost 25 minutes and £12 to get a cab to take me the equivalent of two tube stops.

of course, stations should close when there's an emergency and the fire service have the right to park wherever they need to. i'm not upset about that. the thing is, though, that the last two times i tried to get to the same theatre in the past couple months, i was late because of LU. last time it was another station closure and the time before it was a signal failure, or something similar. a few months ago i had to pay £60 for a cab ride to heathrow because the piccadilly line train broke down when i was halfway to the airport. it was either that or miss my flight. these events are getting to be the rule, rather than the exception.

i'm happy to give myself a bit of extra time to get places, allowing for traffic, etc., but no one in their right mind is going to aim to get to a show 40 mins early, which is what i needed to have done yesterday to get there in time. i'm tired of paying for cabs when i have a perfectly good travelcard. LU don't compensate for cab fare.

nej

Look up a band called the Amateur Transplants and listen to their Underground song. It's a parody of Going Underground by The Jam and is very amusing! Not for the kiddies, though...

gingercordial

zappomatic wrote:

They seem to make a distinction between planned works and emergency closures/delays. I'd imagine their reasoning is that you would consider these closures before buying your pass, but the real world doesn't work like that! It's not as though most people have any real choice.

I have an annual travelcard so I can't consider these things in advance (unless they were to provide me with a list of everything they're doing in the coming year so I could factor in the downtime :rolleyes:).

I think the tube is great and I'm 100% for public transport, but they do seem to go out of their way to annoy people sometimes...

Casual

Send an email or letter to TfL (Transport for London). They're the main body that would have made decisions like this and have the flexibility to listen to your complaint.

Executive body of DfT.

HTH-
Catherine