Gatwick Express to remain! (Storm in a teacup?)

According to today's newspaper

The Gatwick Express will NOT be withdrawn.
It's frequency will INCREASE.
It will run SIX times per hour instead of four
BUT instead of going Victoria - LGW - Victoria nonstop,
It will in future make ONE stop on the way to LGW and
then continue to Brighton before making the return journey.

Sounds like all the fuss has been a publicity
disaster in a teacup.

(Unless, of course, you know better!)

Not quite. To quote from the Guardian article

"The proposed timetable, released yesterday, would mean that trains
between London Victoria and Gatwick would all stop at East Croydon and
take two minutes longer to reach the airport. Losing the dedicated
service would also reduce the amount of time trains stop at the
platform. At rush hour, it would mean waiting passengers, burdened with
luggage, having only a few minutes to scramble aboard trains full of
commuters, rather than the 10 minutes or so Gatwick express services
currently wait in the station."

The reduction of loading time will clearly make the service unfunctional
at any peak period.

wrote:

According to today's newspaper

The Gatwick Express will NOT be withdrawn.
It's frequency will INCREASE.
It will run SIX times per hour instead of four
BUT instead of going Victoria - LGW - Victoria nonstop,
It will in future make ONE stop on the way to LGW and
then continue to Brighton before making the return journey.

Sounds like all the fuss has been a publicity
disaster in a teacup.

(Unless, of course, you know better!)

"Frank F. Matthews" wrote
Not quite. To quote from the Guardian article
"The proposed timetable, released yesterday, would mean that trains
between London Victoria and Gatwick would all stop at East Croydon and
take two minutes longer to reach the airport. Losing the dedicated
service would also reduce the amount of time trains stop at the
platform. At rush hour, it would mean waiting passengers, burdened with
luggage, having only a few minutes to scramble aboard trains full of
commuters, rather than the 10 minutes or so Gatwick express services
currently wait in the station."
The reduction of loading time will clearly make the service unfunctional
at any peak period.

wrote:

According to today's newspaper
The Gatwick Express will NOT be withdrawn.
It's frequency will INCREASE.
It will run SIX times per hour instead of four
BUT instead of going Victoria - LGW - Victoria nonstop,
It will in future make ONE stop on the way to LGW and
then continue to Brighton before making the return journey.
Sounds like all the fuss has been a publicity
disaster in a teacup.
(Unless, of course, you know better!)

So there are allegedly two minus points:-
1 A two minute stop enroute
2 The train does not sit at LGW
BUT:-
1 The more frequent service means that on average
passengers get to Gatwick SOONER than before.
2 Most other trains stop only briefly at most other
stations - not least for Airtrain Newark and Airtrain JFK
- and how have Thameslink passengers managed to cope with
this alleged problem?

I STILL think all the fuss is a storm in a teacup.