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Post by george on Aug 22, 2019 20:02:29 GMT
Talking about 20mph speed limits kew road has now got one as of this week. That's a shame. My best ride on a 19 plate VH was pelting up Kew Road I literally avoided the 19 Plate VHs for ages because I thought they had the speed limiter technology haha.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Aug 22, 2019 20:03:32 GMT
If its not ISA, its on board vehicle recorders which will bite drivers in the ar*se. Its all well and good doing 30mph along the Uxbridge Road (new 20 limits) in Ealing Common at 0030 but you will ultimately get called in for it. Driving at 20 down there while roads are clear is frightening more than anything with some of the dangerous overtakes that occur. Then you have a few passengers who think your taking the pi*ss driving so slow! Well at the moment TfL sends the 10 fastest drivers per month over the speed limit to each garage, based on data from ibus tracking. This is regardless of ISA, started some time this year, it hasn't gone down well either.
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Post by 6HP502C on Aug 22, 2019 20:26:40 GMT
Talking about 20mph speed limits kew road has now got one as of this week. I'm not surprised. When doing Stratford to Richmond I was following a N65 and gave up, that SP was flying along at more than 50mph along there! I would take a ride on that route if it had more interesting buses on it. And yes, TfL knows whenever any bus speeds nowadays so the days of white knuckle bus rides are virtually done.
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Post by george on Aug 22, 2019 20:32:16 GMT
Talking about 20mph speed limits kew road has now got one as of this week. I'm not surprised. When doing Stratford to Richmond I was following a N65 and gave up, that SP was flying along at more than 50mph along there! I would take a ride on that route if it had more interesting buses on it. And yes, TfL knows whenever any bus speeds nowadays so the days of white knuckle bus rides are virtually done. I think SPs are good buses but as you are a driver you probably have a better reason than me on why you don't like them.
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Post by bn12cny on Aug 22, 2019 20:56:13 GMT
content.tfl.gov.uk/operating-coaches-in-london.pdfIt quite clearly states you can pick up/drop off at bus stops, also if the company runs a school service in effect you are a bus and can wait for children and park at Bus Stops because under safeguarding act, that’s why all coach drivers whom does school routes need to be enhanced DBS checked and get permission from the local council to drive the routes, therefore no fines will be issued if waiting at bus stops on any school services, from taking to and from school or swimming, sports field contracts I don’t wish to get into an argument about it but with my biased bus driver hat on, I read this: as coaches not being allowed to use bus stops in London since many are marked ‘No stopping except buses’. Of course, some coaches, mainly those on school work, are classed as buses so perhaps this is how the coaches manage to stop in bus stops And I agree with you on sightseeing buses. There are so many appearing on London’s streets that you wonder how they make any money and if they are not following the rules regarding parking and waiting should be duly punished. I’m just glad I don’t drive in Central London - really don’t need the hassle! No arguments indeed with you or any bus drivers, I will drop at bus stops just to alight passengers after I leave straight away but dedicated coach drop off in London the sightseeing buses are parked up all day, where can I drop the passengers and why are they not getting tickets? If I parked here, I will be ticketed, anyway off to Cambridge and Birmingham tomorrow so no stress of London. I’m overnight at Holiday Inn City AirPort so if you are passing say hi, the white coach outside the hotel is mine and leave 08:30 tomorrow morning
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Post by 6HP502C on Aug 22, 2019 21:17:42 GMT
I'm not surprised. When doing Stratford to Richmond I was following a N65 and gave up, that SP was flying along at more than 50mph along there! I would take a ride on that route if it had more interesting buses on it. And yes, TfL knows whenever any bus speeds nowadays so the days of white knuckle bus rides are virtually done. I think SPs are good buses but as you are a driver you probably have a better reason than me on why you don't like them. They are lovely to drive I just don't find them particularly exciting as a passenger. From that generation I prefer the grunt of the E400 or DB300.
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Post by DT 11 on Aug 22, 2019 21:42:19 GMT
I have some things to rant about here regarding my recent experience on my bus travels. So I was able to go home early from work but still had to call into a meeting from home later. I figured I'd have enough time to get the bus back home as I had an hour and a half spare time. It normally takes me just over an hour to and from the office. Anyway, I boarded a 172 from Aldwych just in the nick of time. We later arrived at New Cross Bus Garage where the driver was changing over. The driver got out the cab and off the bus but there was no driver to take over. Normally drivers here take a while to get to the bus stop to take over the bus, so I figured this was one of these cases. Thankfully a controller was at the bus stop and called in (to the control room I assume) to check what was going on. This was not good enough for me as I had to make my meeting so I got off the bus and went to the bus stop further ahead (for buses going towards Lewisham). There was already a 21 ready and waiting at the stop, but it was simply just doing that. Waiting for the driver to come and change over. I saw this and saw a 436 coming behind and thought 'okay, I'll jump on this'. I did just that, only to hear the 'The driver has been instructed...' announcement. It was just getting silly at this point. I had to constantly look behind to see if there was any other bus I could take. I saw a 171 arrive but looked like that was also about to change over too, so I didn't take my chances. I asked the 436 driver how long she'd be waiting for and I was told 4 mins. I saw the 21 driver had finally arrived and quickly jumped on to that bus and we left shortly after. Bare in mind that this 21 arrived at the stop a minute or two before my 172 did! The things that really annoyed me were: a) Why do the NX route drivers take so long to even get to their bus to change over? This is quite a regular thing here. I mean no disrespect to the people who work at the garage (they do a fantastic job), but this is pretty silly now. b) Why do drivers not announce how long they are waiting for? Ideally there should be a mandatory option for drivers to enter in the number of minutes they're waiting for so the time can be announced automatically. It's quite annoying having to sit there without knowing if it's worth jumping on another bus. I usually tell them how long I’m waiting for over the PA, there really is no need to select how many minutes. In fact it isn’t an option to choose how many minutes. Those who don’t listen then thats there problem because there is always one. The 160 has lots of running time during the peaks that isn’t needed in the school holidays, I always explain over the PA that I must run the bus on time and that there is less traffic on the road during school holidays and no one comes up asking questions because I’ve told them what’s going on. In addition for the last few weeks the 160 towards Sidcup has not been serving Middle Park or Kingsground, instead following the 321, B15 & B16 via Eltham Hill. Have to loose 8-10 minutes, so what I do is park at the first stop on Eltham Hill and advise people how long the bus will wait and that they can get as many buses in an hour for £1.50 if the bus is delaying them. The ones who get the message immediately start looking for the 321, but still after announcing that I get stupid questions after turning the engine off after explaining what’s happening. Overall of it was on normal route they wouldn’t be getting anywhere any faster! -Is this the last stop? -Are you going to Eltham? “Yes I did just announce I’m waiting for 10 mins”, this was after 8 people had already got off and got the 321! This person got off and waited for the next 321 which arrived a minute before I left that stop! -Is the bus brokendown? -Why are we not going anywhere? “I just announced twice I’m waiting for 10 mins” “I can hear my own voice loud on the PA as well” When will it be going back to normal route?
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Post by vjaska on Aug 22, 2019 22:00:53 GMT
If its not ISA, its on board vehicle recorders which will bite drivers in the ar*se. Its all well and good doing 30mph along the Uxbridge Road (new 20 limits) in Ealing Common at 0030 but you will ultimately get called in for it. Driving at 20 down there while roads are clear is frightening more than anything with some of the dangerous overtakes that occur. Then you have a few passengers who think your taking the pi*ss driving so slow! I could rant for years about Ealing Council but I'll keep this post short. A blanket 20mph speed limit is excessive. There are benefits of 20mph speed limits, and I'm not disputing that but having every road at 20 is crazy. Hounslow Council are far more sensible, and have identified roads where 20mph speed limits are necessary. They’re not the only borough to have taken the stupid approach to this kind of thing - Camden, Harringey, Islington, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets & Wandsworth off the top of my head have all implemented borough wide 20mph zones that are a waste of money and don’t make the roads any safer - I’d argue it’s made it worse in fact.
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Post by northken on Aug 22, 2019 22:14:20 GMT
content.tfl.gov.uk/operating-coaches-in-london.pdfIt quite clearly states you can pick up/drop off at bus stops, also if the company runs a school service in effect you are a bus and can wait for children and park at Bus Stops because under safeguarding act, that’s why all coach drivers whom does school routes need to be enhanced DBS checked and get permission from the local council to drive the routes, therefore no fines will be issued if waiting at bus stops on any school services, from taking to and from school or swimming, sports field contracts I don’t wish to get into an argument about it but with my biased bus driver hat on, I read this: as coaches not being allowed to use bus stops in London since many are marked ‘No stopping except buses’. Of course, some coaches, mainly those on school work, are classed as buses so perhaps this is how the coaches manage to stop in bus stops And I agree with you on sightseeing buses. There are so many appearing on London’s streets that you wonder how they make any money and if they are not following the rules regarding parking and waiting should be duly punished. I’m just glad I don’t drive in Central London - really don’t need the hassle! The key is 'local buses'. For road signage purposes, coach = bus, but if it is undertaking private hire work then, very generally, it is not a local bus. Those sightseeing buses are local buses and thus can stop at all bus stops. What is barmy is that taxis can stop at bus stops marked for local buses, but coaches can't! At least coaches can use Bank Junction and they can't haha.
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Post by busaholic on Aug 22, 2019 22:18:12 GMT
I have some things to rant about here regarding my recent experience on my bus travels. So I was able to go home early from work but still had to call into a meeting from home later. I figured I'd have enough time to get the bus back home as I had an hour and a half spare time. It normally takes me just over an hour to and from the office. Anyway, I boarded a 172 from Aldwych just in the nick of time. We later arrived at New Cross Bus Garage where the driver was changing over. The driver got out the cab and off the bus but there was no driver to take over. Normally drivers here take a while to get to the bus stop to take over the bus, so I figured this was one of these cases. Thankfully a controller was at the bus stop and called in (to the control room I assume) to check what was going on. This was not good enough for me as I had to make my meeting so I got off the bus and went to the bus stop further ahead (for buses going towards Lewisham). There was already a 21 ready and waiting at the stop, but it was simply just doing that. Waiting for the driver to come and change over. I saw this and saw a 436 coming behind and thought 'okay, I'll jump on this'. I did just that, only to hear the 'The driver has been instructed...' announcement. It was just getting silly at this point. I had to constantly look behind to see if there was any other bus I could take. I saw a 171 arrive but looked like that was also about to change over too, so I didn't take my chances. I asked the 436 driver how long she'd be waiting for and I was told 4 mins. I saw the 21 driver had finally arrived and quickly jumped on to that bus and we left shortly after. Bare in mind that this 21 arrived at the stop a minute or two before my 172 did! The things that really annoyed me were: a) Why do the NX route drivers take so long to even get to their bus to change over? This is quite a regular thing here. I mean no disrespect to the people who work at the garage (they do a fantastic job), but this is pretty silly now. b) Why do drivers not announce how long they are waiting for? Ideally there should be a mandatory option for drivers to enter in the number of minutes they're waiting for so the time can be announced automatically. It's quite annoying having to sit there without knowing if it's worth jumping on another bus. I usually tell them how long I’m waiting for over the PA, there really is no need to select how many minutes. In fact it isn’t an option to choose how many minutes. Those who don’t listen then thats there problem because there is always one. The 160 has lots of running time during the peaks that isn’t needed in the school holidays, I always explain over the PA that I must run the bus on time and that there is less traffic on the road during school holidays and no one comes up asking questions because I’ve told them what’s going on. In addition for the last few weeks the 160 towards Sidcup has not been serving Middle Park or Kingsground, instead following the 321, B15 & B16 via Eltham Hill. Have to loose 8-10 minutes, so what I do is park at the first stop on Eltham Hill and advise people how long the bus will wait and that they can get as many buses in an hour for £1.50 if the bus is delaying them. The ones who get the message immediately start looking for the 321, but still after announcing that I get stupid questions after turning the engine off after explaining what’s happening. Overall of it was on normal route they wouldn’t be getting anywhere any faster! -Is this the last stop? -Are you going to Eltham? “Yes I did just announce I’m waiting for 10 mins”, this was after 8 people had already got off and got the 321! This person got off and waited for the next 321 which arrived a minute before I left that stop! -Is the bus brokendown? -Why are we not going anywhere? “I just announced twice I’m waiting for 10 mins” “I can hear my own voice loud on the PA as well” When will it be going back to normal route? I wonder how your 160 compared timewise from the occasion over fifty years ago when my 160, caught up in impenetrable smog during its journey from Catford, resorted to the conductor walking with a flare in front of the bus from Westhorne Avenue to Eltham High Street via Eltham Hill, the only occasion I ever knew a 160 to use the thoroughfare. I believe it was the same day,in the a.m. peak, when all nine allocated 160s were present on Eltham High Street at the same time, five in one direction and four in the other, all nose-to-tail, the most extraordinary occurrence I ever witnessed on London's buses.
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Post by ronnie on Aug 22, 2019 22:48:51 GMT
If its not ISA, its on board vehicle recorders which will bite drivers in the ar*se. Its all well and good doing 30mph along the Uxbridge Road (new 20 limits) in Ealing Common at 0030 but you will ultimately get called in for it. Driving at 20 down there while roads are clear is frightening more than anything with some of the dangerous overtakes that occur. Then you have a few passengers who think your taking the pi*ss driving so slow! I could rant for years about Ealing Council but I'll keep this post short. A blanket 20mph speed limit is excessive. There are benefits of 20mph speed limits, and I'm not disputing that but having every road at 20 is crazy. Hounslow Council are far more sensible, and have identified roads where 20mph speed limits are necessary. Exactly. There are some roads where it makes sense but every road (including dual carriageways) is just people not applying their brain
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Post by lwldriver on Aug 22, 2019 23:47:19 GMT
I have some things to rant about here regarding my recent experience on my bus travels. So I was able to go home early from work but still had to call into a meeting from home later. I figured I'd have enough time to get the bus back home as I had an hour and a half spare time. It normally takes me just over an hour to and from the office. Anyway, I boarded a 172 from Aldwych just in the nick of time. We later arrived at New Cross Bus Garage where the driver was changing over. The driver got out the cab and off the bus but there was no driver to take over. Normally drivers here take a while to get to the bus stop to take over the bus, so I figured this was one of these cases. Thankfully a controller was at the bus stop and called in (to the control room I assume) to check what was going on. This was not good enough for me as I had to make my meeting so I got off the bus and went to the bus stop further ahead (for buses going towards Lewisham). There was already a 21 ready and waiting at the stop, but it was simply just doing that. Waiting for the driver to come and change over. I saw this and saw a 436 coming behind and thought 'okay, I'll jump on this'. I did just that, only to hear the 'The driver has been instructed...' announcement. It was just getting silly at this point. I had to constantly look behind to see if there was any other bus I could take. I saw a 171 arrive but looked like that was also about to change over too, so I didn't take my chances. I asked the 436 driver how long she'd be waiting for and I was told 4 mins. I saw the 21 driver had finally arrived and quickly jumped on to that bus and we left shortly after. Bare in mind that this 21 arrived at the stop a minute or two before my 172 did! The things that really annoyed me were: a) Why do the NX route drivers take so long to even get to their bus to change over? This is quite a regular thing here. I mean no disrespect to the people who work at the garage (they do a fantastic job), but this is pretty silly now. b) Why do drivers not announce how long they are waiting for? Ideally there should be a mandatory option for drivers to enter in the number of minutes they're waiting for so the time can be announced automatically. It's quite annoying having to sit there without knowing if it's worth jumping on another bus. Speaking as a NX driver its understandable that passengers do get annoyed at the changeovers that occur outside the garage for routes 21, 171, 172, 436, 453 & N171. We are given ample time to reach the changeover point however one big issue we face is crossing New Cross Road. Also as you can imagine there are several routes that changeover and all are high frequency routes with a lot of buses on them (i.e 453) so at times it is inevitable that a majority of buses are changing drivers at the same time so I fully understand your experience. What doesn't help is a few things, as it is the school holidays traffic is quieter so there is quite a bit of early running going on. The general rule is to not get to the changeover point more than 3 minutes early but of course you can’t expect the next driver to be there 3 minutes early as they aren't exactly expected to be there then but to be fair the majority of drivers do get there a couple of minutes before to changeover. Unfortunately some drivers as is the case elsewhere are a law into themselves, they always arrive to the changeover point early (I have personally had a 453 driver arrive to the point 8 minutes early than the changeover time which just takes the biscuit shall we say) and then you have the same drivers who always arrive late when taking over a bus. Its sad to hear of your experience as it puts our company and garage in a bad light and I apologise on their behalf for your bad experience. As for your comment regarding the lack of announcements, we are constantly being reminded by management for need to do PA announcements to engage with passengers regarding delays or diversions of any sort to the journey. I hope this helps to restore your faith in NX operations.
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Post by ronnie on Aug 23, 2019 0:19:04 GMT
Annoying end to the day of end to ends. - penultimate 296 went out of service at marks gate (heading to ilford Broadway) due to a mechanical issue - 30 min lost till the next (last) bus - I was in a DD which got changed into a single decker as a result - just missed an N25. Hence missed the last D8 of tye day from Stratford - left the next 86 as I wouldn’t have made the D8 from Stratford. Got the next N25 (7 min away) - reached Mile End only to see that the last D6 had left 6 minutes early!!! - endured another 15 min wait for the N277.
At times doing end to ends can be a wretched job
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Post by vjaska on Aug 23, 2019 1:28:09 GMT
I don’t wish to get into an argument about it but with my biased bus driver hat on, I read this: as coaches not being allowed to use bus stops in London since many are marked ‘No stopping except buses’. Of course, some coaches, mainly those on school work, are classed as buses so perhaps this is how the coaches manage to stop in bus stops And I agree with you on sightseeing buses. There are so many appearing on London’s streets that you wonder how they make any money and if they are not following the rules regarding parking and waiting should be duly punished. I’m just glad I don’t drive in Central London - really don’t need the hassle! The key is 'local buses'. For road signage purposes, coach = bus, but if it is undertaking private hire work then, very generally, it is not a local bus. Those sightseeing buses are local buses and thus can stop at all bus stops. What is barmy is that taxis can stop at bus stops marked for local buses, but coaches can't! At least coaches can use Bank Junction and they can't haha. I'll have to check my local bus stops but there was at least one on Brixton Hill which specifically stated except LT buses and this was long after LT had disappeared in name. As the A23 is a red route, no stopping other than local buses is allowed anyway and this applies to coaches on private hire work as you say as Mitcham Belle were not allowed to stop on Brixton Hill once the red route was introduced and had to use yellow route Brixton Water Lane instead.
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Post by bn12cny on Aug 23, 2019 6:11:03 GMT
The key is 'local buses'. For road signage purposes, coach = bus, but if it is undertaking private hire work then, very generally, it is not a local bus. Those sightseeing buses are local buses and thus can stop at all bus stops. What is barmy is that taxis can stop at bus stops marked for local buses, but coaches can't! At least coaches can use Bank Junction and they can't haha. I'll have to check my local bus stops but there was at least one on Brixton Hill which specifically stated except LT buses and this was long after LT had disappeared in name. As the A23 is a red route, no stopping other than local buses is allowed anyway and this applies to coaches on private hire work as you say as Mitcham Belle were not allowed to stop on Brixton Hill once the red route was introduced and had to use yellow route Brixton Water Lane instead. [ On red routes you can stop and pick up on bus stops it says even on the leaflet, there should be greater clarification because some people knows the rules some don’t, but this still doesn’t highlight the original question why are sightseeing buses are allowed to park up all day on designated coach drop off bays and why are they parking up on red routes and causing mayhem?
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