The closure will also be of particular concern to local businesses that will be severely affected by a fall in the numbers of potential customers.
Commenting on the abolition of the service in his constituency ourMP Andy Slaughter said:
“This closure will come as an enormous blow to residents and businesses in and around Olympia.
It is outrageous for TFL to close down this valuable link, which is now a major rail interchange, with no public consultation. It is short sighted especially to those with limited mobility who will now have to walk nearly 20 minutes to the nearest underground station – I will be protesting in the strongest terms about these changes.”
You would think this is going to severely affect Boris Johnson's chances of being re-elected in this part of town, which for him is quite serious because previously he's done a lot to build his credibility here by emphasising his role in getting rid of the western extension of the c-charge and helping to kill off the Heathrow third runway. But when people realise one monday morning he's just taken their tube away all of that is likely to count for not much.
Expect Ken to leap on the bandwagon and promise a re-instatement of the service any time soon ...
I could be wrong, but is this really a blow? Sounds like common sense to me - the service was so crap /infrequent that I can't believe many "local residents" really used it. I certaibly never did when I lived near it.
ReplyDeleteAll it did was make people wanting to go to an event at Olympia think "I wish this was at Earl's Court" as they there for 20mins wondering why their train wasn't moving.
If people actually wanted to go somewhere from Olympia they can still use the Overground.
I had a friend who lived on Sinclair Road, a minute from the station, and she never took the tube to Olympia.
ReplyDeleteAnd who takes the tube to Olympia to go shopping? What's the effect on local businesses?
3 trains an hour was bad enough, but now this?
ReplyDeletewhat a joke.
Strange to reduce the service when they are making the exhibition hall larger!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a blow. Ok, so it's not that regular but it's better than nothing at all, and it is quite easy to look up the timetable.
ReplyDeleteAs another comments, they are making Olympia bigger and events aren't just on the weekend - they're pretty much all the time.
It would be far better to extend the line to make it more viable that to terminate it altogether.
I, for one, use it quite regularly and would be very disappointed to see it go.
You may not live here and you may not visit but for those that do this is a vital link as there is no other easy way of reaching Olympia from Earls Court and the rest of the district line. You can go to West Brompton and change to London Overground but that adds at least 20 mins to the journey and isn't that useful as a result. On a regular basis I use the station to bring home shopping and often have heavy bags which I do not want to be carrying up the stairs at West Brompton or anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAs the number and size of events held at Olympia increases (as does the exhibition centre itself) it seems very odd to kill off one of the main services that bring people to the venue.
I'm with Jimmie Smith, I am really sorry that this is plan for the District Line to Olympia. The view seems to be it isn't very good so who cares. I use it most days and while it gets the least priority on the line - cancelled and sent to Ealing Broadway only yesterday - it saves me at least 40 minutes a day travelling when it is running in even passable shape. I have a dodgy ankle and it is a life saver on bad days. I'm all for improvements to the Wimbledon line, I tried the proposed 'new journey' and the plan seems to be that you go to West Brompton and wait for a tube that has enough space to squeeze on to. I felt very sorry for Wimbledonites but not at the cost of my entire tube service. What I find particularly galling is there is no mention of the planned changes at the station, so you could easily not know this is happening. A little official discussion would not hurt anyone.
ReplyDeleteI use this station twice every day. It is a total disgrace for TFL to deliberately run a poor service and then use that as a reason to shut this station down. Its one of only 2 stations with a step-free interchange between rail and tube. Its astonishing that the council, the mayor and TFL all claim to be committed to be improving transport in a congested, polluted city and that they think the solution is to close a tube station down entirely.
ReplyDelete