Commuters from Maze Hill have seen outrageous fare increases over the years as South Eastern introduced a Zonal Fare pricing strategy.

Southeastern publicity for recent timetable changes promoted them as providing a better service but the picture is a mixed one locally. Off peak those using Maze Hill and Westcombe Park no longer have direct services to Charing Cross while at Blackheath although there are more off peak services, the number of trains in the crucial peak time have been cut. Southeastern say they have been obliged to do this by contractual requirements imposed by the Labour Government. A petition to the Prime Minister has produced no improvement to the service.

In response to enquiries from local resdients about problems with the changes to the train timetables at Blackheath Station, Parliamentary Candidate for Greenwich and Woolwich and Leader of Greenwich Conservatives Cllr Spencer Drury commented:
"Local Conservatives have been raising issues over these changes for some time, but South East Trains (SET) did their best to hide the true impact at Blackheath by distorting the amount of trains moving from one time (peak or off-peak) to another, which made it difficult to figure out exactly what the impact would be.

In a meeting with Network Rail, David Gold raised concerns about the overcrowding on many  trains to and from central London at peak times. He sought assurances that longer platforms and more rolling stock would be introduced to improve the comfort of hard pressed commuters. He also met with Transport for London to press the issue of the Blackwall Tunnel tidal flow. David also raised the issue of poor behaviour on trains and buses.

It is two years since local Conservatives highlighted the 24.5% increase in annual season ticket prices to Maze Hill. Now Southeastern trains are removing the direct service from London Charing Cross during the evening rush hour – starting 13th Dec from 18.34 until 21.26 there will be no  direct services serving Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill or Westcome Park stations. While Southeastern do appear to have increased the number of trains overall, most of them are during the off-peak hours for the Slade Green service.