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A Seat For Every Commuter
10.09.07
Prompted by reports of cattle-truck journeys and pregnant women advised not to travel, the Evening Standard launched its campaign for A Seat For Every Commuter.
Some rail commuters are forced to stand all the way during a 60 mile long-distance commute while Britain's top 10 overcrowded "standing room only" services all start or finish in London, inflicting daily misery on hundreds of thousands of commuters.
The findings came after the senior civil servant in charge of railways told MPs it was "not unacceptable" to stand at peak times.
Passenger group London TravelWatch backed the campaign, and chairman Brian Cooke launched an online petition demanding an end to overcrowded commuter trains.
An Early Day Motion calling on the Government to guarantee a seat for anyone with a journey of more than 20 minutes received the support of 58 MPs from all the major parties.
The campaign's first victory came in March, when Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander announced the Government would provide 1,000 more carriages, the equivalent of tens of thousands of extra seats.
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Reader views (26)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
A more constructive, 21st-century proposal would be to encourage telecommuting. A seat for every commuter? What a ridiculous idea. Nowhere has it ever been achieved -- because it can't. duh.
- Alan, Islington
I am sick of people saying "pregnant women should not travel on the Tube in rush hour". All I can say is I wish these people were my boss and would allow me to change my working hours just before I am about to take at least 6 months off work! Are these people really living in the real world?
AS for Holly and her get a backbone haha are you sure you had a human baby? You may have had a lovely pregnancy and felt on top of the world and even been able to run a marathon the day before the birth - remember other women are not as lucky as you and feel sick constantly and feel faint most of the time - let's hope you are as lucky next time you are pregnant.
Have we all really got that sad in London that we can't even give up our seat on the Tube for someone that is in more of a need be it pregnant or elderly or on crouches etc., just because they are on the Tube at the same time we finish work?
I am also completely at a loss at the guys that say "oh well it's not my fault you're pregnant" haha you guys are amazing and I hope for your own sake that you never end up needing a seat on the Tube.
Don't you just love London nowadays!
- Tracy, Ealing
If we were animals being transported there would be specific rules governing the process... whatever happened to Health & Safety, because the way they crowd us into trains and onto the tube (with no cooling in summer) seems irrational and unsafe, save from a commercial perspective.
- Gary Langton, Rowledge, Farnham
