- New polling shows only 14 per cent of London’s commuters now back Grayling over rail devolution
- Commuters also overwhelmingly back rail devolution – 58 per cent think TfL should have more control
- MPs from all parties call on the Prime Minister to intervene
New polling has revealed that passengers across London and the wider commuter belt are turning against the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, over the ongoing chaos on commuter rail lines into London. Just 14 per cent of London’s commuters now back him over this decision to keep London commuter lines in control of the train operating companies.
This follows the news last week that in the last period Govia Thameslink, which runs Southern and other London commuter services, had the worst performance of any rail operator in more than a decade. Passengers have been left frustrated by Grayling’s decision to break the Government’s promise to hand over control of inner-London commuter services to TfL, who have set out a business case to provide a better service, fewer delays and frozen fares.
The polling, conducted by Yougov for the Greater London Authority shows that 52 per cent of commuters across London believe that Chris Grayling took the wrong decision and should have given TfL control over the struggling commuter lines.
In general 58 per cent think TfL should have more control of commuter rail lines, with only 5 per cent saying they should have less control.
The new figures come as a cross-party group of MPs wrote to the Prime Minister urging her to review Chris Grayling's decision. The letter was signed by Conservative MPs Tania Mathias and Bob Neill, Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake and eleven Labour MPs.
This further demonstrates that commuter rail devolution is supported by MPs, Councils and Assembly Members from all parties inside London and the wider commuter belt. TFL's plans are supported by Conservative Councils outside London including Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire and Sevenoaks. The London Assembly has also passed a unanimous motion calling on Chris Grayling to change his mind.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The Government is failing commuters with a terrible service, constant delays and cancellations while fares are increasing every year.
"Commuters deserve to be able to get to work and back on a reliable train service.
"This polling clearly demonstrates that commuters want the Government to give control of commuter rail lines to TfL, so they can get the more frequent, reliable and affordable service that they deserve.
"Conservative MPs and Councils are also calling on the Government to review the decision taken by Chris Grayling the current Transport Secretary who went back on the previous promise made by his predecessor Patrick McLoughlin.
"It's time for the Transport Secretary to stop burying his head in the sand and listen to what commuters want. This is much more important than party politics – it is about people’s jobs, time with their family and quality of life."
Notes to editors
The poll was conducted by YouGov Plc. Results are based on interviews with 1,000 London residents aged 18+. Interviews were carried out online between 19 and 22 December 2016. The data has been weighted and is representative of all London adults. Topline results and data tables are available on London Datastore: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/gla-poll-results
The Mayor has submitted a ninety-nine page business plan for TfL to take control of the inner-London sections of commuter lines currently run by Southern, Southeastern and South West franchises.
It promised more trains, higher capacity, fewer delays and cancellations, fewer days lost to strikes, more staff at stations, Oyster card access at every station and a freeze on all fares for four years. Ninety five percent of the stations TfL want to control are inside London, with just a handful outside where trains are turned around. TfL made the same changes to the London Overground line when they took control of the line from the DfT in 2008, transforming it from one of the worst in the country to one of the best.
TfL running the inner-London routes would allow the government to focus their resources on longer-distance services, leading to a better service for all commuters.
Performance data for Southern, Southeastern and South West services show they are amongst the worst performing rail lines in the country. In November and December, only 56 per cent of trains arrived on time on the Southern mainline route.
Earlier this month Chris Grayling broke a Department for Transport (DfT) promise to hand over control of inner-London commuter services to Transport of London (TfL), which was agreed in January by his predecessor, Patrick McLoughlin, and the previous Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Grayling told the commons that he would not give control of the inner-London section of Southeastern services to TfL when the franchise comes up for renewal next year. The next day a letter emerged, sent from Chris Grayling to Boris Johnson in 2013, in which the now Transport Secretary outlined his opposition to rail devolution because of his desire to 'keep commuter lines out of the clutches of a future Labour Mayor'.
Politicians from all parties were enraged by the Transport Secretary's decision, leading to the widely-respected Conservative MP, Bob Neill, to call on Chris Grayling to resign, warning that the decision may be open to a judicial review. Neill said 'it's pretty clear he has a dogmatic opposition to rail devolution and that’s not a legitimate basis to take a decision'.
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Cross-party APPG letter:
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing as London Parliamentarians to register our dismay at the Transport Secretary’s decision to reject Transport for London’s (TfL’s) business case for rail devolution.
We urge you to review the Transport Secretary’s decision and ask that TfL’s business case is now urgently re-assessed by the Department for Transport and the Treasury so as to objectively evaluate the full benefits of the proposals.
The joint Department for Transport–TfL proposals for transferring inner suburban rail services to the Mayor of London and TfL, published earlier in the year, attracted widespread approval from inside and outside London, including from Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire County Councils. This support continued through the Mayoral election campaign when MPs from all sides in London campaigned for rail devolution. This is because for far too long commuters have suffered unacceptable delays, cancellations and poor customer service and are keen to see their own services transformed like those of the London Overground and TfL Rail.
Contrary to what the Transport Secretary said in the House of Commons, TfL’s business plan clearly demonstrates how they would improve the frequency and capacity of services on the Southeastern network – and indeed provided proof from the TfL Rail network of how a very similar package of improvements has quickly achieved results. We are assured by TfL that there is still time for this decision to be reconsidered, and for suburban Southeastern services to be devolved to TfL within the current franchising programme.
The APPG for London has expressed strong and long-standing, cross-party support for these proposals. We will continue to press for control of suburban rail services to be devolved to the Mayor and TfL, working in partnership with adjacent local authorities, in the best interests of commuters and the London and wider south-east economy.
Full list of signatories:
1. Steve Reed MP OBE
2. Bob Neill MP
3. Heidi Alexander MP
4. Lord Berkeley OBE
5. Tom Brake MP
6. Karen Buck MP
7. Vicky Foxcroft MP
8. Mike Gapes MP
9. Baroness Hanham CBE
10. Lord Harris of Haringey
11. Helen Hayes MP
12. Dame Margaret Hodge MP DBE
13. Baroness Jones of Moulsecomb
14. Lord Kennedy of Southwark
15. Lord Kerslake
16. Baroness Ludford
17. Tania Mathias MP
18. Matthew Pennycook MP
19. Joan Ryan MP
20. Andy Slaughter MP
21. Gareth Thomas MP
22. Lord Tope CBE
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Londoner - case study:
Nicki Palmer, Office Manager, regeneration consultancy Primera Corporation
Nicki , who works for a regeneration consultancy, lives in Sanderstead, two stops south of Croydon, and commutes to Victoria and also several other locations in Central London each day using Southern rail services.
Over recent months, as Southern’s train service has deteriorated, she has felt the full force of the poor service on her day-to-day life and her ability to do her job:
“The constant delays and planned and last minute cancellations mean I have to adjust my day, departure and arrival station accordingly. When this happens, my journey is totally compromised and really impacts my work-life balance: collecting my children, dropping them off.”
Impact on work
The two recent drivers’ strike days (13 and 14 December) gave Nicki no other option but to work from home, missing two critical Board meetings on both days.
She has also had to stay and work from home on days when the trains are so overcrowded that three or four have gone past with no possibility of getting on-board. Nicki is realistic about the impact and cost of these delays:
“If I spend two hours each way travelling, that’s four hours work I can produce at home. I’m just grateful that I am in the lucky position of being able to work at home at all.
“If I am late for work, I endeavour to make up the time or work additional time at home. But it definitely impacts significantly on my life away from work.”
And while Nicki benefits from an understanding employer, she, like many, is worried at the impact on her career the longer the poor service provided by Southern Rail continues:
“I would hope that it doesn’t impact on my career, however missing Board meetings isn’t exactly the way forward. Also, I miss critical discussions which assist me in my role.”
Impact on family and home life
Nicki is clear on the wider effects of both the Southern driver strikes and the “dreadful normal service” on her home life: missing time with her three children at the end of the day; adding to an already stressful working day trying to match up connections with trains from other stations, and frequently missing them due to the slow service.
“When I get home, I have to cook for my children. They are eating later and later and whoever is looking after them can’t get away at the time I said I would be home.
“The trains are often cancelled once you’ve joined them at Victoria - or then cancelled part-way through the journey as they are running so late. That means significant hanging about and time spent simply trying to rejig my journey and get home at the end of my day”.
Where next?
Like many commuters using Southern, Nicki is adamant action needs to be taken now to improve her rail service, and thinks that giving Transport for London powers over Southern and other commuter services into London could be the solution – “they can’t get much worse”. She finishes:
“I think reliability and comfort of travel is the highest priority (behind safety of course) for the travelling public. If TfL can deliver the activity on the Southern network that they have achieved elsewhere, we would have a magnificent service.”