|
16/01/2008 11:54:52
|
Dunc
Posts 13
|
Closing time – for the journey home?
Well, we’ve passed another Christmas. And another New Year. We’ve all got a few new stories to tell (hopefully good!), and a possibly a few bruises to nurse. Either way – best wishes from Fluid Trade to everyone for the New Year.
According to information being published, this festive period was substantially quieter than usual. Between the “credit crunch” and slow consumer spending, the new anti-smoking laws, and a general lack of consumer confidence, a recent survey showed venues revenues were down as much as 24% over December. But what about the increased opening hours? Surely with people in for longer, revenues can only go up?
Which brings me to the point of this month: getting home. I used to be based well within staggering distance from some great bars and pubs; I’m now south of the river. My first Christmas bash this year was in early December, and at 2am I found myself standing outside a very closed Waterloo station, with massive queues for night busses and absolutely no hope of getting a taxi.
It took me nearly an hour to get into a cab, and it occurred to me that while we’re slowly coming into line with Europe and the rest of the world for opening times, we’re still a million miles away for public transport in a major city. New York runs 24 hour. Paris runs till 2.15 on weekends and holidays. Munich only closes from 2am to 4am on Weekends. So why can’t we get it right?
Apparently, one of the biggest hitches in London is that most lines only have one track. In places like New York, express tracks allow trains to be routed around maintenance. There is also the issue of increased salary requirements for station staff (ed: like they’re not paid enough already) who would have to do all night shift work, and issues with security; in a city that’s long been a terrorist target, it’s not just drunk and abusive commuters that could instigate havoc at 3am when there’s no-one around.
On the flipside, we seem to be seeing increased maintenance works which is causing havoc on even normal opening hours. Surely it’s overdue we do something about our lack of contingency? Maybe throw in some air conditioning while we’re at it? No business that’s not a monopoly would’ve folded if they were running the way London underground has been! There’s a great quote on Wikipedia if you chose to believe it; according to the Freedom of Information act, the average commuter wasted three days, 10 hours, 25 minutes in 2006 due to delay, excluding missed connections. That’s a good proportion of your life that you’re spending in a tunnel breathing graphite dust!
So, this year I chose (where possible) to keep an eye on my watch when I was celebrating Christmas. And because of that, my hosts probably saved a good few hundred pounds and the great venues they chose effectively lost revenue.
London is an international city that needs to keep opening hours in line with the civilised world, but to do so need to keep supporting services up to standard. I’ve just picked up on one aspect here, but I think that by failing to maintain support services is detrimental, and hurts venues that are trying to offer better levels of service.
What do you think?
|
|
18/05/2008 23:30:26
|
Tim Anders
Posts 19
|
Public transportation lacks something 2 b desired everywhere. It seems that it would b in the best interest of taxi companies to provide some kind of service during closing time; whoever fills this gap is gonna make a nice chunk of change.
|
|
19/05/2008 18:24:06
|
Gloria
Posts 27
|
I would think that public safety should be in the forefront of the city's mind. More modes of transportation and less down time for that transportation due to maintenance or the like of course would be ideal, but is that something that the city is really concerned about? Are there any statistics out there regarding how many people get hurt/killed because of leaving a pub drunk and driving home, etc.?
|
|
25/05/2008 17:40:18
|
Leslie Andrews
Posts 23
|
It would be great if the pub could run some sort of taxi service, kinda like delivery pizza. Delivery of drunken individual to home, brilliant!
|
|
26/05/2008 18:44:12
|
Gloria
Posts 27
|
I agree with Leslie; when government fails to give the people what they need, the private sector should take the opportunity they leave behind. Private companies could work with bar owners to provide take home service for the crowd after closing time.
|
|
29/05/2008 16:32:05
|
Tim Anders
Posts 19
|
That would create a niche, wouldn't it? That's what I call personal service!
|
|
01/06/2008 01:13:35
|
Leslie Andrews
Posts 23
|
It would seem like a taxi service would be doing a good deed for the community as well; less drunken drivers is a good thing.
|
|
01/06/2008 21:20:50
|
Arthur W.
Posts 7
|
Aren't bars required by law in the US to call a cab if the person is too drunk to drive?
|
|
27/06/2008 14:26:36
|
Jenny Bean
Posts 4
|
This seems to a problem everywhere. My sister lives in the states, and the city she lives in had a shooting over the weekend outside of a club when it was closing time and now the city hall is trying to get owners to stagger their closing times.
|
|
01/07/2008 15:01:22
|
A.B.
Posts 10
|
I don't think the problem is unique to the London downtown; other large cities all over the world have it, it's just how do we deal with it?
|
|
pages:
1 |
|---|