The network of services operated by Southern includes local suburban ("Metro") services in South London and regional services extending into the southern Home Counties. The other five (170416-420) remain in Scotland on sub-lease to Abellio ScotRail and were scheduled to move to Southern in 2018. Following the end of British Rail, Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Four (170421-424) moved to Wolverton railway works in 2015 and were reconfigured as two two-carriage and two four-carriage Class 171s. The last of the Class 460 Junipers were withdrawn in September 2012. Southern was criticised for major changes to its timetables in December 2007 and December 2008. As of May 2020, the off-peak Monday-Saturday service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), consists of:[56]. Southern had the most dissatisfied passengers in Britain three years in a row, according to the national rail passenger surveys 2016, 2017 and 2018. This deal means that the government pays £38 million for lost revenue and £15 million in compensation to passengers. Hove, Portslade, Southwick, Shoreham-by-Sea, Lancing, Worthing, West Worthing. In December 2007, Southern changed the arrangement for the splitting of services to and from London Victoria on the Arun Valley Line, opting to split trains at Horsham rather than Barnham. Southern said this would allow the conductor to concentrate on the passengers, but the RMT and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) unions said that it was an attempt to make conductors unnecessary and would be unsafe. [72][73], In January 2016, Transport for London announced a proposal to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021 through a partnership with the Department for Transport to form a new suburban metro service. The rail safety regulator, the Rail Standards and Safety Board has said that "We have 30 years of data which we have analysed. Southern has been working with Transport for London and the Department for Transport to change this, and the Oyster card readers should be compatible by December 2013.[82]. Copyright © Govia. [47], In 2016, Southern altered its method of door operation, with control of the doors moving from the conductor to the driver. In addition, new late-night services were introduced from London on Friday and Saturday nights with last trains leaving central London at around 00:30. The management contract meant that GTR did not have the incentive to resolve strikes as a normal franchisee would have, as the government lost money from strikes rather than GTR. The Key is a smartcard similar to Transport for London's Oyster card. Our Key Smartcard is a great option to minimise social contact. The RMT union general secretary Mick Cash said the government had permitted GTR to introduce the emergency timetable, but that it was "nothing to do with staff sickness and everything to do with gross mismanagement of this franchise and the failure to employ enough guards and drivers. [52] Commentators argue that the government gave a management contract rather than a normal franchise to GTR in order to push through DOO. Brighton & Hove Buses also uses The Key on its buses but it is not possible to use a B&H bus key on Southern and vice versa at the moment unless using Plusbus.