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Kings X This Morning 15/1
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Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
That sounds like normal peak time crowd control measures to me? Just a bit later than the peak.
NeroWolfe
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Same issue this morning at around 9.00; I thought the Station was being evacuated when I heard the sirens....
It was heaving at 0830 this morning. I had to let 4 S/b Vic lines go before I could get on one, usually I am on the first one.
When I eventually got there at around 9:25/30 on Monday the southbound Northern Line platform seemed fairly empty.
bluegoblin7
Established Member
When staff are being assaulted for doing their jobs then the police presence is far from overkill. It does happen, because it happened to me.
Crowd control isn't put in place on a whim. If measure are in place it's for good reason and it's to prevent dangerous occurrences at platform level. Something as small as a five minute gap between train on one line in one direction is enough to start causing that pile up to happen. I've lost count of the number of times in the last three years alone that crowd control measures have gone in at that time of day. Just because the line and direction that you were using was quiet it doesn't mean that elsewhere on the station is. By ~0930 the peak flow is the westbound Piccadilly line.
bramling
Veteran Member
The problem is that no matter how many times some people are told that their line is inaccessible, they will still enter the station - either through ignorance or deliberately trying their luck. Meanwhile it’s not always physically easy to partition off parts of the station at short notice, especially with the minimal staffing levels that LU tends to run with nowadays.
sjoh
Member
Not really practical unless you're proposing different segregated gatelines for different lines - which would be chaos for a number of reasons (plus there really isn't space), or barriering access to one particular line once passengers are already through the gates, meaning you've now just got loads of passengers jamming into narrow passageways, slowly backing up and causing congestion for passengers for other lines - which doesn't really change the situation. If there's going to be congestion, it's much safer to keep it on the 'surface' side of the barriers.
Busaholic
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If you say 'no access to the Piccadilly Line westbound', for instance, then some will just go down to the Vic and try to access from there!
bluegoblin7
Established Member
December 2016. Severe delays on the Piccadilly line due to the wheel flat issues. Thirty minute+ gaps between trains.
Heavy footfall due to tourists and commuters arriving into St. Pancras and King's Cross. Plus the hotels in the area. Plus the events and other things on in the locality.
Tube gateline closed with all access via the "new" Northern concourse. Crowd control in place with reduced escalator facilities and gateline access. Regular manual and automated announcements that there is poor service on the Piccadilly line and this is the reason for the crowd control.
People swamp the staff asking why, asking how they get to their lines, just generally being ignorant and / or abusive towards the staff doing their job.
The problem gets worse because these people go to the platforms anyway - because they don't believe the staff - and the interchange passageways back up. Crowd control is moved from the gatelines to the entrances. Staffing is thin on the ground. The station is bursting and borderline as to whether to just shut up shop and wait for things to calm down.
Decision is made by fast thinking staff to just close the Piccadilly line platforms completely and have the line exit only whilst the big gaps are in force. Staff are stationed at the entrances to the platforms to offer journey advice and deter people. The same automated and manual PAs go out, supplemented by written information, that the Piccadilly line is closed at KX. Do people listen? Of course not. The passages back up again as people try to game the system and access the Picc, to be deterred by the staff. The staff are constantly harassed for doing their job.
Everything happens for a reason. The network is at bursting point. Please stop trying to second guess the seasoned staff who operate these stations day in, day out. They know the best way to keep their stations running; he alternatives are temporary closure which can cause a much bigger ripple effect.
Heavy footfall due to tourists and commuters arriving into St. Pancras and King's Cross. Plus the hotels in the area. Plus the events and other things on in the locality.
Tube gateline closed with all access via the "new" Northern concourse. Crowd control in place with reduced escalator facilities and gateline access. Regular manual and automated announcements that there is poor service on the Piccadilly line and this is the reason for the crowd control.
People swamp the staff asking why, asking how they get to their lines, just generally being ignorant and / or abusive towards the staff doing their job.
The problem gets worse because these people go to the platforms anyway - because they don't believe the staff - and the interchange passageways back up. Crowd control is moved from the gatelines to the entrances. Staffing is thin on the ground. The station is bursting and borderline as to whether to just shut up shop and wait for things to calm down.
Decision is made by fast thinking staff to just close the Piccadilly line platforms completely and have the line exit only whilst the big gaps are in force. Staff are stationed at the entrances to the platforms to offer journey advice and deter people. The same automated and manual PAs go out, supplemented by written information, that the Piccadilly line is closed at KX. Do people listen? Of course not. The passages back up again as people try to game the system and access the Picc, to be deterred by the staff. The staff are constantly harassed for doing their job.
Everything happens for a reason. The network is at bursting point. Please stop trying to second guess the seasoned staff who operate these stations day in, day out. They know the best way to keep their stations running; he alternatives are temporary closure which can cause a much bigger ripple effect.
What a brilliant post!!!
I've lost count how many times after implementing some sort of crowd control I've had people moaning and asking why we are doing this and why we are not doing that and should be doing this or that instead. All because they are selfish and just want to complete their journey and don't care about others. Even on platforms during big events (football matches, Wimbledon tennis etc) telling people to move down from where there is not much space, people will insist on standing where they want just because that's closer to their exit. Ask them to move down as there are a lot of people behind them and it's not safe... "well that's not my problem I'm gonna stand where I want". They never realise it's all for THEIR safety.
Just over a year ago at Marble Arch we had a one way system during Winter Wonderland. I was on one of the exits telling people to use the entrance across the road as this one was exit only. Even had a (not in uniform, had a few drinks) Police Officer moaning at me that there's too many people on the street that I should let people enter at this entrance. I told him our responsibility is the safety of people in the station not on the street, but if he wants to talk to the Supervisor he can cross over the road to the entrance and ask to speak to him. "Ok well let me go down this entrance then"... "Errr no...this is exit only..as I already told you..." He still carried on moaning.
I would never turn up at someone's work and start telling them how to do their job, as if I knew better.
Stupid, selfish, customers is one of the reasons why I can't stand being a CSA anymore, can't wait to start Supervisor position next month...
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bluegoblin7
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