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Original poster

Commuting from Winchmore hill / Wanstead - do you get a seat?

18 replies

Mum1414 · 02/05/2021 22:56

Hi everyone - first time poster here!

I have a fairly specific question about commuting. We're currently looking to buy a house in one of the areas of Wanstead / Winchmore Hill / Palmers Gree, and wondered what the chances of getting a seat are from each (central line in Wanstead and train line for the latter two) in the mornings if you get it at 07:15-07:30 or so?

It's tough to imagine when things will get back to normal again but of course I'm referring to pre-Covid times when everyone travelling to work. Who knows what commuting will look like 12 months from now (will volume be less if WFH becomes more of a thing...etc), but based on your experience from beforehand what were the chances of you getting a seat in the mornings from these locations at this time? And if a seat was quite rare, what is your perceived time cut-off, e.g. would 06:45 give you a solid chance of a seat?

Thanks!

OP posts:

PigletJohn · 03/05/2021 08:25

When I lived in Wanstead, I never got a seat in the morning.

AmazingGrapes · 03/05/2021 08:31

My partner commuted from wAnstead Pre covid. He says he can’t really remember but he thinks you get a seat now and again.

There are 2 stations in Wanstead - wAnstead and Snaresbrook - so you have options. The problem is there are so many stations before wAnstead/Snaresbrook (on 2 different branches) that seats are likely to be full. Having said that, a lot of people get off and change at Stratford so you can position yourself to jump into a seat.

Lozza70 · 03/05/2021 16:51

No seats at Snaresbrook in the morning, you might get one at South Woodford at a push. Need to be somewhere at the start of the line. Walthamstow??

ilovetomatoes · 03/05/2021 17:02

Very little chance at Wanstead in the morning. Central line is always packed. Maybe things might ease up once crossrail finally opens but I doubt it.

Vintagevixen · 03/05/2021 20:21

I lived in Wanstead for 13 years and commuted in earlier than most as I'm a nurse. Even when I got the tube at 06.45 I would never get a seat when I got on. Lots of people would get out at Stratford though so if I stood in the section between seats I would sometimes get one.

EnfieldLady · 03/05/2021 23:04

Gordon Hill probably, Enfield Chase possibly, Winchmore Hill probably not, Palmers Green no.
If you could use the other line going from Enfield Town into Liverpool St, it's the end of the line so you can always get one. Then swap onto the Victoria line at Seven Sisters and wait for a fresh train and you'll get one all the way into the West End.

LondonStone · 04/05/2021 00:26

DH says no to Wanstead unfortunately and it was his route for years.

TheFutureDoesntWork · 04/05/2021 00:48

I always got a seat on the moorgate train from Palmers Green. As a pp said you can switch to tube at Finsbury Park for either Victoria or Piccadilly. Or for the other overground to king's cross. Or change at Highbury for Hackney etc or indeed some points West. Depends where you want to go really if that line works for you but for me it had useful interchanges and it's not a bad journey time. All the usual caveats of overground vs tube apply ofc.

HairyPits · 04/05/2021 01:03

I used to change at Finsbury Park and/or Kings Cross from the train to the tube.
It was so busy, with everyone tightly packed and shuffling down all the stairs.
You would eventually get onto the tube platform and you’d have to wait for 2 or even 3 trains to come through, before you were close enough to the front to get onto a tube. I would stand there trying not to cry with the crush of people all around, so close, but so not-there (as far as anyone else was concerned) as well.
I did it for more than 5 years..........I hated it. It feels like another lifetime away now, but I remember it clearly too.

chipsarnie · 04/05/2021 10:30

Pre-WFH I needed to be in the office (in The City) at 7am. Got so sick of the demeaning 6.30am crush on the Central Line one stop along at Leytonstone that I started cycling to Stratford, and jumped on the overground train to Liverpool street. It was always empty because loads of people get off at Stratford.

Obviously, it depends where your destination is.

Wanstead is very nice place to live, by the way.

pinksnowball · 04/05/2021 10:35

I used to commute from Wanstead. I think there was one Friday in about 4 years of commuting where I got a seat

As others have said though, a lot of people do get off at Stratford so I often used to get a seat there.

Hyperion100 · 04/05/2021 10:38

Rarely if ever at Snaresbook. I only commute to Bank though so not too bad.

BanningTheWordNaice · 04/05/2021 10:39

I used to commute from Leyton and would go stand between the seats so that sometimes I’d get a seat at Stratford. Occasionally on a Friday morning I’d get a seat at Leyton.

Original poster

Mum1414 · 04/05/2021 23:37

Thanks everyone for your replies! A shame that a seat is very unlikely in all of Wanstead / Winchmore Hill / Palmers Green but very useful to know.

Follow-up question: if you don't get a seat are you at least guaranteed to get on the first train that comes? I.e. is there ever a case when it's so busy on the platform and the carriages are already so full of people that you can't get on the first one and have to wait for the 2nd-3rd train to come by before you can get on?

OP posts:

Vintagevixen · 05/05/2021 06:52

@Mum1414

Thanks everyone for your replies! A shame that a seat is very unlikely in all of Wanstead / Winchmore Hill / Palmers Green but very useful to know.

Yes I'm afraid that happened often particularly if there were even mild delays up line eg even at Leytonstone which is only one stop up from Snaresbrook.

If you got severe delays - forget it! Even the local buses to Stratford were rammed.

As others have said Wanstead /Snaresbrook are lovely places to live but for commuting you have to remember you have a large part of Essex getting on the central line before you! Whether the Elizabeth line opening will make a difference who knows. I used to commute home around 9pm after a shift and even then it was often rammed.

Puppylucky · 05/05/2021 07:14

Agree with all the Wanstead comments above. Wanstead is lovely but the Central line is /was permanently rammed. To make things worse there are no buses to anywhere closer into Central London than Stratford meaning that you are pretty much screwed if there are problems on the tube.

pinksnowball · 05/05/2021 10:24

Maybe I'm misremembering as it was a few years ago now but I think it was rare that I couldn't get on the first train that arrived at Wanstead 🤔 Although I didn't get a seat.

I used to travel on the earlier side, 7-7.30am so maybe that made a difference.

AmazingGrapes · 05/05/2021 19:08

DH says you always get on the first train at Snaresbrook at 7:30-7:45 but at wAnstead you sometimes have to wait.

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