Fury amongst rail campaigners

[Mojo]

Station staffing is a TOC issue though. So the fact that LM have has had staffing levels built into their franchise (either by TOC or PTE) means they have to staff stations. For FGW it is not the same because DfT did noit build such requirements into the franchise, and with Bristol being a smaller metropolitan area, it has no PTE. [IIRC PTE's were used in places where a metropolitan area covered more than one local authority in 1974; 30 years on maybe that should be reviewed.]

The ticket offices in the ex-West Midlands county had staffing primarily funded by Centro through their rail services grant.

The idea of a Greater Bristol PTE was approved by Bristol City Council in July 2007 following a Conservative motion and by South Gloucestershire Council in the last few weeks. Bath & North East Somerset is our next big target whereas North Somerset is going to be a very hard nut to crack as the Executive Member is very stubborn and keeps believing things that are obviously not true [1]

The Local Transport Bill, if approved will allow creation of new PTEs for two or more Local Authorities. They would all also be renamed to Intergrated Transport Authorities and there is the option of boundary changes. This is as well as the bus & road pricing powers. It would extend to England only.

For anyone who is interested in the background, the Transport Act 1968 created 5 PTEs in 4 urban areas in England and 1 in Scotland. The Local Goverment Act 1972 created 6 Metropolitan Counties in England and 2 new PTEs were created. The Metropolitan councils were abolished in 1986 and PTEs were created, but their areas are still largely the borders of the former Metropolitan Counties. There are a few oddities which are dealt with on a local level, such as the Centro fare zones being valid outside the ex-WM County past Shirley towards Earlswood. I'm sure a few other examples exist too. Technically the Greater Glasgow one SPT is no longer a PTE and the initials are now Strathclyde Partnership for Transport following the passing of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005.

I don't think any other local areas are at such an advanced stage in creating a PTE than Greater Bristol and so far only other serious expressions of interest come from South Hampshire.

In reference to Alex, I was probably referring to what used to be the West Midlands County, but could easily refer to the West Midlands conurbation (which doesn't include Coventry, but does include some parts of neighbouring real counties) which would seem to be the model Government is wanting to take forward for elected Mayors.

[1] http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/disp...tentPK=19673276&folderPk=83730&pNodeId=241968

 

[me123]

IIRC 320 and 318 are the same width, so are the seats wider?

I think they are wider. There doesn't seem to be as much "corridor" space between the seats as there is on a 320.

Tables on commuter stock are a waste of space if full size (ie Sprinter / Turbo) the smaller ones, as on 318 are better.

Yes. You can get away with them, but ripping tables out could suffice. 320s tables are just a ****-take though. Little stubs coming out the wall, that can barely hold a can of coke. The 318s are much better; I can use it if I'm having a linch on a train. And 334s get by without any at all IIRC.

 

[Mojo]

I think it depends on the type of area you are in and the facilities at stations. Where I used to live in Buckinghamshire on which most rail users were going to London in the morning lots of people seemed to have a tea or coffee from the station buffet and were quite annoyed when the (imo quite poor) mini tables/drink holders in the back of seats were removed and not replaced prior to refurb of the units. On the other hand, when new cup holders which provided support for the cups were introduced on the refurb. units the station buffet changed the type of cups they used as they fitted in better!

 

[paul1609]

Yeah,
I'd agree if you see a peak time 377 into London from Sussex there is at least 2 Laptops on every table and on the main Brighton Line there are commuter classes in French and such like..