South Kensington very busy?

Oddly I have noticed this too, on passing through, in the mornings, usually ~10:00, so matches.

It was apparent pre-covid, then dropped off, picked up again now.

When I bother to look, there is usually some sort of school party involved in the melee somewhere*** either on or around the exit stairs; these parties seem to me to usually be loaded in the front part of westbounds+++ so at least those are in pole position for shambles around the stairs.

School term I guess it is parties going to the museums - you only need one train to have one party moving slowly or being coralled and you get a knock on queue from later trains, especially if further parties arrive.

Though this week is half term - maybe there is some brats and sprogs with adults attraction on ?


*** some of which are sensibly organised and others of which you have to wonder of the schoolkids would be better at supervision than some of the adults "in charge" ; loading a party of 50+ ONE BY ONE through one set of doors is not good ; getting them through ticket gates ........ (repeat: it is not the kids, nor LU staff, it is the supervising adults .....)

+++ and a reason why I join such trains at Blackfriars in the rear part

Has been very busy for a few months and especially at UK school holiday times, such as last and this week.

Revised plans submitted in June 2022 were again rejected by Kensington and Chelsea Council planning officials

Sigh

That level of congestion sounds similar to what it used to be like during school half terms in 2018/19 (and even February 2020), and half term was definitely the cause of the uptick.

Yes, it is odd.

It's true, the station has always seemed busy when I have used it, and I dare say there may have been a couple of people waiting to use the stairs, but in this case, over the course of two weeks, on three occasions, the was a 'pool' of people, 8-10 deep, around the base of the stairs.

The platforms, on the other hand, seemed to have the usual occupancy, and there was no congestion at the gate-line, meaning the steps were a definite pinch point

Something has changed.

On my travel through the place it apears to be much busier with more stairs queuing than, for reference, pre covid.

Admittedly I do not exit the station, I pass through it, but, also interchange there - if at Blackfriars I board the first westbound and it is a Circle and plenty of seats then take that to South Ken for the next non Circle.

So I do see the queues. IME they are bigger, or slower, than previously.

There’s a lot of students from Imperial College who commute in from West London (Hammersmith area). Imperial also has some new halls in North Acton, roughly housing a 1,200 students probably resulting in an increase of busyness. You’d see a lot of students especially at 08:50 and 09:50 because lectures usually start at 09:00 and 10:00.

I do think the station needs upgrades urgently… the stairs simply can’t deal with the amount of people using the station.

Not just the stairs - the ticket hall needs more exits, congestion in the ticket hall adds to the delays. More ticket gates might help too - but are not a solution on their own.

Interesting ....

.... As that is around the default time I pass through / interchange there; actually about 09:40, Thameslink earlier on permitting me to get to Blackfriars, so it would be drifting towards 09:45, 09:50, given Thameslink's normal operation.

I'm still sure though it appears to me to be busier now than (to give it a reference) pre-covid; I didn't start commuting this route until 2016 so can't comment before that.

There are some really interesting comments on that Ian Visits page - including these:
I agree with the residents who want older heritage style buildings retained and do not want "a hideous modern structure that could be anywhere". But it is important that the older buildings are fit for purpose / not in a state of decay. Buildings which are life-expired do need replacing, although perhaps the older facade can be retained for the newer structure.

One suggestion is for a competition that is open to all to design buildings that are visually attractive, would make the project financially viable and facilitate step-free access to the District & Circle line plus (if possible) the Piccadilly like too (perhaps using the existing lift shafts - or were there steps between the lifts and the platforms?)

Hopefully this will lead to a viable solution - personally speaking I'd like a solution that widened the platform that is to be reopened at the expense of (slightly) narrowing the extra wide island platform. This is because I question whether the reopened platform will be wide enough.

The lifts did offer step-free access to the platforms, although unusually here there were two lower landings since the platforms were built at different levels to allow for the planned junction east of there to the District deep-level line for Mansion House. In fact, part of the westbound platform tunnel for that was built alongside the lifts. So, the lifts would stop at both lower levels. The top station was also at a different level to the District Line station, I believe, as the similar Gloucester Road station pair were. [reference Tiles of the Unexpected, Underground. Author: Rose, Douglas.]