Elizabeth line again beats record for passenger numbers
Passenger numbers have reached a new high on the Elizabeth line according to Transport for London.
A report on the service before the TfL Board this week states that Thursday 28th September 2023 saw the highest daily total since opening with 738,000 journeys made.
That week also saw the highest total with 4.5 million journeys made.
The popularity of the network has not dampened other TfL modes with the London Overground now back to 2019 levels of usage and the DLR between 80-90 per cent.
It’s not all been plain sailing however with frequent reliability issues owing to software bugs and infrastructure issues, with areas west of London mentioned. Sure enough today (Tuesday 17th October) there are problems due to issues at Acton.
That’s in contrast to national rail in London, where under central government demand services and staffing have been cut. That’s in contrast to TfL’s policy of restoring services to encourage growth.
That is though from a much higher base. Every DLR still has a staff member on board of course. Most Elizabeth line and LO stations have visible staff.
In contrast many, many Southeastern Metro stations are now routinely unstaffed with no passenger-facing staff seen on trains. Dozens of Southeastern stations again have no staffing again today.
Combine that with very scruffy Networker trains – which will remain the bulk of the fleet for years to come – and reduced services ensuring some of the worst services for 50 years, and that contrast is likely to remain until a government in power decides to change tack.
I moved recently and went from taking southeastern to taking the Lizz line, halved my journey time, more comfortable, better cooling, better in every single way, dread having to use SE now. The knock on effects of the constant issues in the west, messing up the east are completely ridiculous, 1 issue this week already and 2 last week is so awful, starting to dread travelling on Lizzy line now though because of delays which lead to overcrowding.
Not surprised that the Liz Line has gained all the passengers, don’t get me wrong it’s not perfect, there’s barely any standing room in the peaks and there are delays, but South Eastern have shot themselves in the foot with them reducing trains and taking away Charing Cross trains