Abbey Wood station continues to see growth after TfL takeover
Figures for station usage of Abbey Wood station continue to show decent growth over the summer months with TfL now manning the station from first to last train.
Despite no Crossrail services yet, running numbers are up on the year with July seeing growth above 10 per cent:
- June: up 3.7%
- July: up 10.1%
- August: up 5.6%
As TfL have now being in charge for over a year the rapid growth initially seen after all-day staffing begun has lessened. After taking over management of the station in late 2017 growth was as high as 50 per cent – as everyone had to either tap in or buy a ticket (well, except those who rush gates and that’s still pretty common).
What makes this even more noteworthy is the local population has been falling as large parts of Thamesmead have seen residents move out and buildings demolished.
That won’t last long as new homes are now rising in Thamesmead and a tower in Abbey Wood is due to begin before the year is out.
Following that will be new homes at the former Harrow Inn site, Post Office site and PDSA vet site.
One has to wonder why the Minister of Transport cannot see the value of staffing stations? The increased revenue would certainly be enough to bring on a number of full-timers, AND several part-timers to pick up the slack on busy days!
I’d imagine that he relies upon Southeastern to tell him (or realistically the DfT) what the value of staffing stations is, and they have a vested interest in keeping their wage budget down, so….