Glasgow Subway Discussion

[GaryMcEwan]

It's recently been announced that SPT will keep the subway open for longer during the duration of the Commonwealth Games...

6.30am - 11.30pm - Monday to Friday
6am - 1am - Saturday and Sunday.

More Info Here...

The Glasgow Subway will offer an “enhanced service” during the Commonwealth Games with trains running until 1am at weekends.

There will also be no differentiation between peak and off-peak times for the duration of the Games.

That means the entire SPT subway timetable, from July 23 to August 3, will be treated as a peak time service, usually reserved for busy periods when people are travelling to and from work.

During the Games window travellers can expect trains roughly every four minutes from 6:30am until 11:30pm Monday to Friday, and 6am-1am Saturday and Sunday. The usual off-peak service has trains departing at approximately eight-minute intervals.

This will come as welcome news to travellers like @Blondi_SOS, the Twitter user below. As you can see, her Tweet questioning whether 6pm was a late enough closure time for the Subway on a Sunday was endorsed over 150 times at time of publication.

Yes it's good that SPT are taking this initiative, but what's stopping them doing this all the time?

I mean closing the Subway at 6pm on a Sunday is just sheer silliness these days...

 

[Strathclyder]

Bump...

The St. Enoch station refurbishment is gathering pace:

St Enoch Subway station modernisation works ramp up

Passengers have told us they love the new look following the completion of the first phase of its £5.3 million renovation. The major makeover to our flagship city centre station is part of a £288 million modernisation programme across the network.

St Enoch’s, one of the biggest and busiest of our 15 stations, serves almost two million passengers per year. It has a brand new station office combined with a travel centre now in operation.

Complex construction work to install a lift and stunning new glass canopy work is underway. For the next few months there are hoardings in place around the station exterior but don’t let that put you off. St Enoch Subway will remain operational and SPT is working with contractors to minimise disruption for passengers. Staff are also on hand to help.

Modernisation work updates will be posted on our website and passengers can also keep up to date with travel news @GLASubwayTravel and via notices in station.

http://www.spt.co.uk/2014/08/st-enoch-subway-station-modernisation-works-ramps-up/

 

[St Rollox]

6pm on a Sunday.

It didn't used to open at all on Sunday.

The powers that be wouldn't pay the workers wages.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Yeah both entrances at St. Enoch are boarded up obviously for them to start the work. It's going to look quite smart when it's finished. I hope they are going to do them all at some point...

6pm on a Sunday is still a bit of a joke in this day and age, only reason they opened longer on a Sunday during the Games was that they finally got an extra payment from SPT for doing it...

 

[St Rollox]

There was also the point that for most of the 20th century Glasgow and Scotland used to completely close down on a Sunday.

No pubs open till the late 1970s
First football league game circa 1974.
Shops forget it, maybe the odd cafe or garage.
Funny enough i remember the bingo and cinemas being open.

I hated Sundays.

 

[Strathclyder]

Yeah both entrances at St. Enoch are boarded up obviously for them to start the work. It's going to look quite smart when it's finished. I hope they are going to do them all at some point...

Buchanan Street is staying as is, as the far as the canopies on street level are concerned.

 

[Bald Rick]

Perhaps it's just not used on Sunday evenings? It's certainly not on Thursday evening, ie tonight at 2045, me and a chum were 50% of the custom on board a clockwise service from St Enoch. Bizarrely both origin and destination stations had two staff at ticket counters.

When it goes driverless I suspect it will open later on Sundays though.

 

[NotATrainspott]

Perhaps it's just not used on Sunday evenings? It's certainly not on Thursday evening, ie tonight at 2045, me and a chum were 50% of the custom on board a clockwise service from St Enoch. Bizarrely both origin and destination stations had two staff at ticket counters.

When it goes driverless I suspect it will open later on Sundays though.

After the King's Cross fire it was made mandatory for all subterranean stations to have two staff members on duty at all times when passenger trains are calling at the platform. On the subway that means they have 30 staff minimum just to be allowed to open the stations, let alone drive the trains. Even after a move to driverless this wouldn't change.

 

[Bald Rick]

After the King's Cross fire it was made mandatory for all subterranean stations to have two staff members on duty at all times when passenger trains are calling at the platform. On the subway that means they have 30 staff minimum just to be allowed to open the stations, let alone drive the trains. Even after a move to driverless this wouldn't change.

In which case wouldn't it be better to have the staff out and about checking the station and helping passengers, rather than sitting behind a large expanse of toughened glass?

 

[NotATrainspott]

In which case wouldn't it be better to have the staff out and about checking the station and helping passengers, rather than sitting behind a large expanse of toughened glass?

If we're copying Boris then yes, that does logically follow. The network is small, simple and not-busy that some of the reasons that apply in London don't really apply here. The stations are so small that you would have difficulty in finding something for one person to do, let alone two of them.

 

[Carlisle]

There was also the point that for most of the 20th century Glasgow and Scotland used to completely close down on a Sunday.

No pubs open till the late 1970s
First football league game circa 1974.
Shops forget it, maybe the odd cafe or garage.
Funny enough i remember the bingo and cinemas being open.

I hated Sundays.

Stornaway is the same today

 

[jopsuk]

That's because Stornoway is still IN the late 1970s!

Ahem.

But yes, if Glasgow is a truly modern city, it could do with longer Subway hours.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Some form of proper timetable would also be appreciated - currently all I can find via SPT's site is first and last time from (I think) St Enoch and Ibrox () and the service frequency. No indication of journey time between stations, or indeed when peak frequency begins and ends!

 

[scotsman]

Some form of proper timetable would also be appreciated - currently all I can find via SPT's site is first and last time from (I think) St Enoch and Ibrox () and the service frequency. No indication of journey time between stations, or indeed when peak frequency begins and ends!

I've never seen the same for London Underground...

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I've never seen the same for London Underground...

Just about every Tube station platform I've been on has had station-to-station journey time information and frequency summary posters, though granted 'Every 2-8 minutes' as occurs in some locations isn't ideal. That said I'm sure these also used to be available online as pdf files, but I can't locate them since TfL rejigged their site over summer And with all due respect, the Subway is an incredibly more straightforward and basic system than the Tube, I wouldn't have thought it would be too much trouble to provide even a basic timetable at each station.

 

[sng7]

I agree the lack of timetable is a pain but as far as i can remember there is (or was until very recently) posters at the station telling you whether to take the inner or outer with the approximate journey time from that station

 

[Blindtraveler]

Has the contract for new stock been tendered yet?

 

[Strathclyder]

Has the contract for new stock been tendered yet?

Haven't heard anything for a while in regards to new rolling stock. Hopefully, something will emerge in the next few months.

 

[Bunting14]

Im in Glasgow next week and intend to do a full circuit of the subway. Can I ask:

How long is the round trip

Do the trains lay over at a specific station for a crew change

Is the clockwise route any more/less interesting than the anti clockwise route.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Im in Glasgow next week and intend to do a full circuit of the subway. Can I ask:

How long is the round trip

Do the trains lay over at a specific station for a crew change

Is the clockwise route any more/less interesting than the anti clockwise route.

Each round trip roughly takes 24 minutes which covers all 15 stations, both circles are interesting but it just depends on which way you go.

A crew change (which is just the driver ) is almost immediate as at peak times a train is every 5 minutes. But it seems to occur at the main principal stations, ie Buchanan Street, St Enoch and Govan...

 

[table38]

The Outer Circle (clockwise) is about 0.001% more interesting because you have an ever-so slightly better view of the junction up to the depot between Ibrox and Govan.

And arguably you are getting slightly more track in

When I was up there a few weeks ago, the disposable paper NFC tickets threw me for a second as I was looking for a slot to put them in at the gates

 

[Mojo]

I've never seen the same for London Underground...

In addition to the posters on platforms and in ticket halls which Matt mentions and which detail the frequencies, times of first/last train, and average journey times, this information is also available on the TfL website https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/timetables/

 

[Strathclyder]

A crew change (which is just the driver ) is almost immediate as at peak times a train is every 5 minutes. But it seems to occur at the main principal stations, ie Buchanan Street, St Enoch and Govan...

In my experience, trains have only paused at Govan.

 

[HA25322]

Did the Subway over the last couple of days.
Covered it on the Sunday where there were about 3 trains on each line running.
However on the Monday there was 6 in each direction.
They all had turn numbers in the front cab so it was easy to work out the turns.
See this https://www.flickr.com/photos/16113768@N02/15014063197/ which clearly shows 14.
On Monday between the hours of 16.30 & 17.20 I noted the following.

Outer Circle were number 1 - 6 and inner numbered 11 - 16.

The following were noted:-

Turn 1 had 106, 202, 120.
Turn 2 had 123, 115, 112.
Turn 3 had 114, 128, 107.
Turn 4 had 103, 206, 113.
Turn 5 had 121, 204, 108.
Turn 6 had 127, 102, 116.

Turn 11 had 101, 208, 111.
Turn 12 had 131, 133, 117.
Turn 13 had 109, did not have a number but was either 201 or 203 by deduction, 124.
Turn 14 had 125, 105, 126.
Turn 15 had 104, 207, 118.
Turn 16 had 132, 205, 119.

In respect of turn 13 and the middle car, I stood right next to it and there was no identification whatsoever on it. Not even inside. Glad 201 or 203 were not the last piece I required for haulage.

A good system though that is easy to bash.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Next time you're going to do the Subway, bring a few mates and do a 'Sub Crawl.' (Regular users of the Subway know exactly what this is!)

 

[HA25322]

Next time you're going to do the Subway, bring a few mates and do a 'Sub Crawl.' (Regular users of the Subway know exactly what this is!)

You will have to let me know where the tea rooms are then please.

 

[theblackwatch]

In respect of turn 13 and the middle car, I stood right next to it and there was no identification whatsoever on it. Not even inside. Glad 201 or 203 were not the last piece I required for haulage.

I'm pretty sure there is a trailer car which is out of action long-term. I will attempt to find out which one it is.

 

[Bill EWS]

Everytime I have used the Glasgow Subway it claims that there is a train every eight minutes. I am sure there are times when that doesn't work to plan but on the main I can say that everytime I have used it, it hasn't been much more than a 5-6 minute wait.

 

[Strathclyder]

Everytime I have used the Glasgow Subway it claims that there is a train every eight minutes. I am sure there are times when that doesn't work to plan but on the main I can say that everytime I have used it, it hasn't been much more than a 5-6 minute wait.

It sounds like you've been using it in the peak hours. Off-peak, it's usually every 8-10 minutes.

 

[jopsuk]

On an 8-10 minute frequency the majority of passengers will wait less than 4-5 minutes, assuming a steady flow of passengers onto the platform.