Sigh. Here’s my commute, written up in today’s “I’m a commuter, get me out of here!” feature in G2…

“Passengers often can’t get on trains northbound from south London in the mornings or southbound from Blackfriars station in the evening. They thump on the windows and yell at squashed up people inside to squash up more. Passengers say First Capital Connect has cut some of the peak-hour trains from eight carriages to four, making the trains even more packed.

[...]

First Capital Connect blames the Department for Transport for drawing up the franchise badly and claims it is not allowed, under the terms of the franchise, to buy more rolling stock. The DfT acknowledges it gave the franchise to FCC because it offered good value for money to taxpayers, not necessarily the best service for customers. It is clear that the system, by selling to the highest bidder, gives little incentive to a train operator to lease more rolling stock - quite the contrary, as it wants to maximise profit.”

Meanwhile, in Scotland…

“If you are strap-hanging on train lines in England and value the remains of your sanity, look away now. It will do you no good to read about the record 88% satisfaction rates that Scottish rail commuters report, nor the £1.9bn, seven-year programme to introduce extra carriages, longer platforms and new rail lines across Scotland, or that train operators rarely breach their promise that no one should stand for more than 10 minutes. Even a recent BBC Radio Scotland phone-in on commuting struggled to find hair-raising stories. In fact, several callers bandied words such as “excellent” and “very comfortable”.

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