Oystergate: Showdown Time

[admin]

I have updated the video that appears on the frontpage & http://www.sydenham.org.uk/news_oystergate_3.html to a compilation of two arrivals at the station, the original and a busier one on the 15th. Both uploaded by bensonby (thanks).

Admin

[bensonby]

The video still just seems to show the first film... am I doing something wrong?

[admin]

t should begin with a title. If you are not seeing it - your computer is playing a locally cached copy you loaded earlier. Most browsers will force a reload by hitting shift-F5 or ctrl-F5.

HTH
Admin

[bensonby]

I've reloaded it and deleted all ther cookies/temp files and I still see the 1.43 first film

It wont have any effect tha tI'm at a work computer will it?

[admin]

Your corporate system may be cacheing it. I'm afraid I was a bit lazy is not renaming the updated video. The running time is 4:33. You can see the blip version here: http://blip.tv/file/1087403/

Admin

[bensonby]

good stuff.

[danstevens]

i've just watched the video which is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long. This time includes editing and titles.

Is that really such a long time for 1 "heavily loaded" and 1 "lightly loaded" train to empty it's passengers and see them all through the barriers?

don't get me wrong, i'm all for keeping the gate open on platform 2 but if you were to show that video to the lay person i imagine they would think it was par for the course at most stations with barriers.

cheers

Dan.

[bensonby]

i've just watched the video which is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long. This time includes editing and titles.

Is that really such a long time for 1 "heavily loaded" and 1 "lightly loaded" train to empty it's passengers and see them all through the barriers?

don't get me wrong, i'm all for keeping the gate open on platform 2 but if you were to show that video to the lay person i imagine they would think it was par for the course at most stations with barriers.

cheers

Dan.

but compare that to the situation before the barriers were introduced.

It is now far less convenient. Ipso facto the railway company are breaching byelaw no.6

[admin]

i've just watched the video which is 4 minutes and 23 seconds long. This time includes editing and titles.

I did not edit the videos precisely because I did not want to change the timeline which otherwise could mislead. What you see is what I got (from bensonby). I added the titles. You can see the originals by searching for bensonby at blip.tv.

HTH
Admin

[danstevens]

of course it's far less convenient now, im just saying 4 and a bit minutes isn't that long to clear all the passengers from 2 trains.

[Juwlz]

4 minutes?!

You obviously don't know what it feels like to be pathologically late (er, like me), 4 minutes feels like a lifetime when you're in a hurry.

I try not to go to Sydenham Station because the stress would give me a heart attack and I'd come a cropper running over that bridge to catch a train.

[Patch]

i can confidently say that even if they had or even will implement a ticket office over on platform 1.. people will still not be happy, they'll still moan about something or another.

and yes people will be replying to this post saying that people won't moan or at least won't as much but the how point is to stop people moaning, so as i have mention in another post on this topic, it is still a no win situation.

i wonder if forest hill is having this problem or at least a similar problem, because forest hill's ticket office is not that bigger than sydenham ticket office.

[Patch]

something else came to mind.

what did people do before the gate on platform 1 was ever even opened???

i find it quite odd that all because there are now ticket barriers at sydenham that people have such a problem. i bet before they even open the gate on platform 1 people weren't too fussed about it.

[nasaroc]

Forest Hill has two extra barriers i.e. 5 instead of three. The situation there is also helped by the fact that the Perry Vale gate is open from 3pm-8pm.

However, even in FH, Patch, there appear to be loads of "moaners". You just can't stop these people! Have a look on SE23.com. They seem to be objecting to waiting in the pouring rain on the up platform for ten minutes while their tickets are checked. Some of them even seem to object to the gate to Perry Vale being closed for much of the day, so they have to walk over the bridge and back under the subway.

Get straight onto that site Patch and tell them that life wasn't meant to be easy! Haven't these people ever heard of umbrellas and a stout pair of walking shoes?

[bensonby]

something else came to mind.

what did people do before the gate on platform 1 was ever even opened???

i find it quite odd that all because there are now ticket barriers at sydenham that people have such a problem. i bet before they even open the gate on platform 1 people weren't too fussed about it.

Before the platform 1 gate was opened there wasn't a legal requirment to provide equal (or as equal as possible) access to disabled people. Just because people didn't complain about things in the past - it doesn't mean that the situation was satisfactory...

[nasaroc]

I think I've pointed out on this thread before that people certainly were "fussed" about the gate on the up platform being closed for so many years.

There was a ten year campaign to get it opened. Then, as now, the railway operating company ignored the campaign.

Even if this weren't true, I find it a curious argument that because there wasn't any noticeable complaint about something in the past this somehow makes it ineligible for complaint now. This surely would mean that you couldn't campaign to improve anything in SE26 if someone could show that there was no complaint about it previously.

If someone, for example, complained about the state of the curtains at the Naborhood Centre, would it really be an acceptable answer to say: "Well, no-one has complained about that before. You're just a bunch of moaners."

There are (or were) approx 1,200 users of the gate on the up platform each morning. Over 500 of these have signed an on-line petition to reopen the gate. There are quite a lot of "moaners" out there thank goodness. Although I'd prefer to call them responsible local citizens who want to improve access to the station and make their daily lives a little bit easier.

[bensonby]

I'm going to do my best to be down there tonight - but I have to be the other side of croydon to puick up my sister not long afterwards. SO I probably won't be around for long. I'll probably get there around 1800 and hang around for about 15/20 mins...

Who else is coming?

[Patch]

I think I've pointed out on this thread before that people certainly were "fussed" about the gate on the up platform being closed for so many years.

There was a ten year campaign to get it opened. Then, as now, the railway operating company ignored the campaign.

Even if this weren't true, I find it a curious argument that because there wasn't any noticeable complaint about something in the past this somehow makes it ineligible for complaint now. This surely would mean that you couldn't campaign to improve anything in SE26 if someone could show that there was no complaint about it previously.

If someone, for example, complained about the state of the curtains at the Naborhood Centre, would it really be an acceptable answer to say: "Well, no-one has complained about that before. You're just a bunch of moaners."

There are (or were) approx 1,200 users of the gate on the up platform each morning. Over 500 of these have signed an on-line petition to reopen the gate. There are quite a lot of "moaners" out there thank goodness. Although I'd prefer to call them responsible local citizens who want to improve access to the station and make their daily lives a little bit easier.

you said over 500 people have signed a on-line petition to re-open the gate but then, depending on what over 500 means then its rather stupid since a MAJORITY have not signed it.

Anyway goodbye to the Kiosk at Sydenham, looks like that will be shutdown in time.

[Patch]

I think I've pointed out on this thread before that people certainly were "fussed" about the gate on the up platform being closed for so many years.

There was a ten year campaign to get it opened. Then, as now, the railway operating company ignored the campaign.

Even if this weren't true, I find it a curious argument that because there wasn't any noticeable complaint about something in the past this somehow makes it ineligible for complaint now. This surely would mean that you couldn't campaign to improve anything in SE26 if someone could show that there was no complaint about it previously.

If someone, for example, complained about the state of the curtains at the Naborhood Centre, would it really be an acceptable answer to say: "Well, no-one has complained about that before. You're just a bunch of moaners."

There are (or were) approx 1,200 users of the gate on the up platform each morning. Over 500 of these have signed an on-line petition to reopen the gate. There are quite a lot of "moaners" out there thank goodness. Although I'd prefer to call them responsible local citizens who want to improve access to the station and make their daily lives a little bit easier.

you said over 500 people have signed a on-line petition to re-open the gate but then, depending on what over 500 means then its rather stupid since a MAJORITY have not signed it.

Anyway goodbye to the Kiosk at Sydenham, looks like that will be shutdown in time.

also sorry, how many users go through sydenham station everyday using the platform 2 entrance/exit. because far more people go through that way than platform 1. i failed to see how having the gate or another office on platform 1 open for those approx 1,200 people is going to solve the problem at platform 2. that 1,200 is a very SMALL minority.

[nasaroc]

But Patch you surely aren't suggesting that the majority of passengers using Sydenham station don't want easy and direct access to and from both platforms are you?

I doubt whether any more than a small handfull would reject the notion of wider gates at or near the ticket office and a properly constructed barrier worked by Oystercards and tickets on the other platform.

If you seriously believe that we don't want to go down this route, then why don't you start a campaign and collect signatures to keep the status quo and reject the notion of easy and better access?

I doubt if you could collect more than a dozen signatures for such an unpopular position.

But best of luck in your campaign.

Personally, I'm backing the mayor and the passengers. And I'm confident that our campaign will be successful.