New Met Timetable Commencing 11th Dec 2011

I for one as usually an off peak commuter are beginning to find services from Berko that take 32 minutes to Euston all the more enticing, especially as getting to Bermondsey by 0700 this week has already proved impossible twice!
Though I am travelling with the masses tomorrow on one of those old fashioned Met Express services!!! (if the snow doesn't scupper the plans for the 0802 ex chm)

I held a petition this morning on t406 Chesham - Aldgate and gained 20 signatures. Only a few people refused to sign it and they were people who only use the line occasionally and so didn't have an opinion. I only got through 4 cars, but will try and get through more tomorrow morning.

Out of interest, does anyone know if LU use computerised models and simulations to develop and validate new timetables or if its just old school intuition, experience and a slide rule?

I think that if they made public the results of the analysis that underlie the changes then it would be an easier sell for them.

I appreciate that timetable changes are never an easy thing to do unless you have spare capacity or new equipment that allows more or/and faster trains to run (which we don't have until all the legacy Met, Circle and H&C stock is retired or the new signalling is in place) as there will always be winners and losers and in this country losers will always kick up a fuss and winners rarely voice their appreciation. So in theory the easy thing for LU to do is leave things as is and accept the result.

I don't know if the driver for this change is, as some claim, Pinner man or cost saving from being able to turn off track current to the fast lines at certain periods of the day. I'd rather give the benefit of the doubt to LU that the change is driven from a need to make the service more reliable and see how it pans out. If it works then well done if not then work out why and fix it.

Personally the current change impacts me marginally in an adverse way as I use the Uxbridge branch in the peaks and in the past I have also lost the fast Aldgate service too. However, I try and look at it holistically that if the system runs better with better load balancing then overall the benefits that others get will outweigh my added commuting time so overall its a win.

Correct me if I am wrong but I think the change in the circle line to the t-cup has resulted in a less frequent but more reliable and resilient service so I'm willing to wait and see before deciding if the new Met timetable is a success.

I've yet to travel on the line since the TT change but to this day i've only heard criticism towards it because of the increase in journey times, will take a spin tomorrow and find out myself.

it doesn't look as if there has been much time wasted,more here.

www.buckinghamshireexaminer.co.uk/south-bucks-news/local-buckinghamshire-examiner-news/2011/12/14/rail-user-s-fury-at-deteriorating-service-114018-29956185/

You forgot Pinner on the Hill in case they want to go shopping on their days off ;D ;D
Also the new extension to Westminster for the Pinner MP!

I love the new Pinner Line (formerly the Met) and the Pinner express. Will they go on to stop at
Pinner Park, Pinner Road and then fast to Pinnergate. Sorry they will only stop at Pinner Park if Pinner Utd are playing at Pinner Stadium.

Well, the Chesham to Baker Street (not Aldgate!) I got on Wednesday night at about 6.00 was pulled out of service at Harrow...another 10 minutes added...

I didn't think the MET was changing until 16 Dec 2012?

Having worked three days early shift on this timetable, you go from 0 late running to 15 in a matter of minutes. Way too many trains heading to the city in the peak, and I've never diverted so many trains onto the fast lines to make up time. In quite a few cases, the Pinner lot got the old 10 minute service ;D ;D

Is their no way just to implement the old timetable rather than this fail of the new one instead? And just use that till the next change?

As the new Circle & Hammersmith lines have a new "self contained" timetable, It's not as good as the previous version. We've noticed that the Circles are losing time, like the old days, and 2 out of 3 days I was on we had to reform quite a few to get the service back on time!

I can vaguely remember a post on here from long, long ago that intimated the notion of the Met being forced to conform to the tube line mould came from higher than line management.

Something about them not seeing why the Met should justify its special status?

Well said ohmslaw and North End. "Initiative" is missing in every beaurocracy because it puts the innovator's head above the parapet. When something fundamental happens, such as when somebody says "the Earth is round, not flat", or "the Earth goes around the sun", such statements are always "rubbished" at first. The second stage is that they are VIOLENTLY argued against until, some time later, they become taken as "a given" at the third and final statge when those who argued the loudest go into total denial. The "It won't work!" rant is stage two, This is why the same people always pipe up "It won't work" when ANY innovative idea comes out. That's why it took years for through London services (Thameslink), 'cos we were told there would be 'no demand' for them. Ditto the Picc to Heathrow over 10 years too late. There are innumerable other examples. Getting Centrals to run from Ruislip Gardens to Ickenham Hillingdon & Uxbridge is getting the same reaction. The "It won't work" (= "It isn't needed") brigade can't be bothered to think of anything innovative. When it does work and exceeds all expectations, (i.e. Centrals from Uxb stuffed to the brim taking traffic off the A40), they skulk away and find another innovative project to try and stop, pretending they were for it all the time.

It's what they do.