Credit: @SmoggieWolf
After the Meet the Manager at Sevenoaks yesterday evening, we’re going to the Southeastern Stakeholder Forum in Ashford this evening to have a briefing from Managing Director David Statham on the new Direct Award Contract.
Of course we’ll be asking about:
What else should we be asking about please?
Please flag up the utterly shambolic situation that greets Underground passengers arriving at the Vaults entrance to SER London Bridge:-
* The CIS screens show a baffling list of 12 – 16 train departures leaving bewildered passengers to GUESS whether any go via Sevenoaks and whether they stop there. To avoid causing massive congestion at the entrance to the Vaults, a display showing the full A-Z list of stations MUST be installed before the timetable disruption starts in January. Only with a full A-Z list can passengers see at a glance to which platform they should proceed.
* There’s just ONE ticket machine in the Vaults (often with a queue of up to 15 people). This causes even more needless congestion in this busy area.
* The SER posters and signs still show only an 0845 helpline number, which is often 10 times as expensive to call. This has been ILLEGAL since 13 June 2014.
This event does not appear to be publicised anywhere on Southeastern railways website – http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/
Is it open to the public? How did you find out about it?
Gavin: It’s a periodic event to which councils, passenger groups and other “stakeholders” are invited. It’s not open to the general public – which is why we’re asking for questions!
Lack of Oyster extension to Sevenoaks as part of the new contract. It would bring massive benefits to consumers and seems like a no-brainer.
Paul: Indeed. And Southeastern’s position is increasingly untenable given what others are doing. The new GTR Southern-Thameslink franchise will extend Oyster to Gatwick Airport in the South and Luton Airport in the North!
Hi, could you ask SE management:
– about plans to introduce annual tickets for people on flexible working arrangements commuting to London only fixed number of days per week (2-4). This is inline with latest government recommendations. At the moment they are stuck with purchase of a ticket every day.
– why day return ticket from Sevenoaks to London costs more than return ticket from London to Sevenoaks. Mileage is exactly the same, so they must be charging based on supply/demand! If we accept this this logic – then we may as well double ticket prices between 7-8 in the morning? Fair?
– why there is a sharp increase in price per mile specifically between Sevenoaks and Knockholt – take a difference between annual ticket price from these two station. It is totally unjustified!