When should we stop buying new cars?

[bigbob]

Just a mention on public transport overcrowding. In the North, the only public transport we have is trains (buses are beyond pointless). Commuting services on trains are only back to carrying circa 60% of what they were pre covid, its a very long way from the overcrowding we used to see (I work in the industry).

I've been back in the City a bit over the autumn and it seems a quieter especially on a Friday. Any regular commuters comment on train load in/out of London?

 

[Ebenezer]

Mondays and Fridays much quieter on the early trains to London. Friday evening things are busy with weekend travellers too. However, never had to stand since COVID and now need to double up quite often and ask people to move their bags!
Eb

 

[will-w]

Just a mention on public transport overcrowding. In the North, the only public transport we have is trains (buses are beyond pointless). Commuting services on trains are only back to carrying circa 60% of what they were pre covid, its a very long way from the overcrowding we used to see (I work in the industry).

In the South East, commuting in and out of London it's the opposite.

The train companies quote that the demand is 80% of pre-Covid levels; what they don't like to acknowledge is that the peak commuter services are run with 8 coaches now, where as they used to be 12.

In my team we use Southeastern, Southwestern and Southern rail and they are all standing room only for a majority of the route. I counted 35 people standing in my carriage on the way home Tuesday afternoon, and I left before peak rush hour!

 

[GeoffCapes]

A mate of mine who works in insurance has been told that come the first working day of January he has to go back to working in the City along with the rest of the company.
No more working from home.

He's been working from home since the first lockdown. And been promoted twice!

 

[Delmonte]

In the South East, commuting in and out of London it's the opposite.

The train companies quote that the demand is 80% of pre-Covid levels; what they don't like to acknowledge is that the peak commuter services are run with 8 coaches now, where as they used to be 12.

In my team we use Southeastern, Southwestern and Southern rail and they are all standing room only for a majority of the route. I counted 35 people standing in my carriage on the way home Tuesday afternoon, and I left before peak rush hour!

12 cars??? 8 cars????? Don't know yer born ar kid!
2 or 3 cars on all ours. Very, very occasionally 4....
And that was pre covid too... turning commuters away at stations because train too full, was not unheard of...

 

[CatmanV2]

A mate of mine who works in insurance has been told that come the first working day of January he has to go back to working in the City along with the rest of the company.
No more working from home.

He's been working from home since the first lockdown. And been promoted twice!

There are, and always will be, distinct advantages in working in an office (or at least in the same physical space as the people you work in). There are advantages in WFH as we, but many organisations appear to be moving towards the (to me) logical end point of a proper hybrid environment where you can work wherever, but at times you are expected to be with your teams. (If such you have)

C

 

[will-w]

There are, and always will be, distinct advantages in working in an office (or at least in the same physical space as the people you work in). There are advantages in WFH as we, but many organisations appear to be moving towards the (to me) logical end point of a proper hybrid environment where you can work wherever, but at times you are expected to be with your teams. (If such you have)

C

Agreed, it needs to be a balance really - but only in instances where you are working in a team with a common target or task.

For me my perfect balance would be 3/4 days at home, 1/2 in the office. But that's coming from someone that has spent 3.5 hours a day commuting into London and back whilst most of the world has been furloughed or working from home.

 

[CatmanV2]

Agreed, it needs to be a balance really - but only in instances where you are working in a team with a common target or task.

Well I think that applies to very nearly everyone at work

For me my perfect balance would be 3/4 days at home, 1/2 in the office. But that's coming from someone that has spent 3.5 hours a day commuting into London and back whilst most of the world has been furloughed or working from home.

No argument here

C

 

[will-w]

Well I think that applies to very nearly everyone at work

There are many roles which skip this, especially in the IT space.

I've been looking at a couple of technical pre-sales opportunities which are permanently work from home; you work with X number of companies as a sole contact, so zero need to really communicate with other people in your team who have other companies as their target.

That aside, working from home has really benefited organisations as they have been able to reach out to a pool of talent that they otherwise would not have had access to.

I have had the rather tedious task of trying to recruit people with a requirement to be 5 days a week on site in London. The selection has been dire - no one is interested as they do not want to commute, and the people you're left with are usually not worth interviewing.

Going forwards companies which support remote or hybrid as a minimum working will find that they have a good selection of talented people, whereas the old "in the office only!" managers will be left with a very limited selection of people.

 

[CatmanV2]

I've been looking at a couple of technical pre-sales opportunities which are permanently work from home; you work with X number of companies as a sole contact, so zero need to really communicate with other people in your team who have other companies as their target.

Well, I've never seen a pre-sales techie not as part of a pre-sales team, who also has backup of other techies. Maybe that's just an industry segment I've never worked in. But slightly tongue in cheek all employees of a company surely have a common target: success of the company. <shrug>

C

 

[will-w]

Well, I've never seen a pre-sales techie not as part of a pre-sales team, who also has backup of other techies. Maybe that's just an industry segment I've never worked in. But slightly tongue in cheek all employees of a company surely have a common target: success of the company. <shrug>

Yes but you don't need to be sitting on their laps

The example I'm using their SA's deal with say 4 customers solely, along with an account manager. They do the same thing as Bill and Bob also in the team, but they have different customers so zero involvement on a daily basis. Any specialist SA's would be in another team so likely not on the same floor, or even building.

Having a permeant work from home culture obviously hasn't harmed them.. They had a $12.85 billion turnover in the last FY

 

[GeoffCapes]

I go into the office so I don’t have to work at home!

 

[j s pollo]

[QUOTE="will-w, post: 957728, member: 4707" bringing people back into the office, and public transport is back at pre-Covid levels of overcrowding.

My work can only be done in one room in the world and by an extremely limited number of people. No outsourcing, no work from home, and a requirement to travel to an extremely unpleasant place to drive, with congestion charge and £42 parking charge a day. Add on the additional fee because you’re driving an old ******* that doesn’t meet the emission requirements and it’s simply unattainable.
[/QUOTE]
Another easy fix to get around parking congestion charges buy one of them disabled electric three wheeler things which will fold up and fit in the boot of your Maserati and use that to blast round London hey you may start a new trend.

 

[will-w]

Another easy fix to get around parking congestion charges buy one of them disabled electric three wheeler things which will fold up and fit in the boot of your Maserati and use that to blast round London hey you may start a new trend.

I have a folding bike that fits in the boot. Ironically my second train in London itself isn’t that busy, it’s the one in and out of London which is busy.