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Post by romfordbuses on Oct 5, 2012 20:19:26 GMT
Well after having done a return trip today, I think the E20's going to do well once it picks up Got the 13:20 from Stratford which turnt up about 13:35 and nearly cried at the sight of the Dart running it Nice chat with the driver who has to be one of the nicest drivers I've come across and we was at Redbridge by 13:41 and off the M11 by 13:48 (I never ever ever want to experience a Dart along the M11 ever again.) Debden Broadway was reached at 13:52 2 mins behind schedule then reaching Church Hill, Homebase bang on time. The next part of the journey was the worst, A rather large hill and we was crawling up at about 5 mph at the max After this we was flying along running early until we got to Waltham Abbey where the drivers phone kept ringing, We he pulled over at Tyler's Cross he had to give the bus other to another driver because of some license issue (I only caught "only some of us have the right license") which made us late again reaching Staple Tye at 14:43 and arrival into Harlow on time. Decided to let the Dart go and wait 1 hour 30 (Harlow is a DUMP!) for TP1 to come back and get the 16:30 departure which turnt up at 16:42 and to my surprise must of loaded 45+ people. Pretty uneventful journey flying along the country lanes often straddling across both sides of the road to cut corners until we got to Loughton where there was gridlock, When we finally got to Debden the bus was meant to be leaving Stratford which meant some erratic driving along the M11 and A12 and some thrash from TP1 being worked to the max. Arrival at Stratford was 18:35 the time it was due in Waltham Abbey Very nice journeys, TWH's drivers are a friendly bunch, Hope they do well
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2012 22:08:28 GMT
Well after having done a return trip today, I think the E20's going to do well once it picks up Got the 13:20 from Stratford which turnt up about 13:35 and nearly cried at the sight of the Dart running it Nice chat with the driver who has to be one of the nicest drivers I've come across and we was at Redbridge by 13:41 and off the M11 by 13:48 (I never ever ever want to experience a Dart along the M11 ever again.) Debden Broadway was reached at 13:52 2 mins behind schedule then reaching Church Hill, Homebase bang on time. The next part of the journey was the worst, A rather large hill and we was crawling up at about 5 mph at the max After this we was flying along running early until we got to Waltham Abbey where the drivers phone kept ringing, We he pulled over at Tyler's Cross he had to give the bus other to another driver because of some license issue (I only caught "only some of us have the right license") which made us late again reaching Staple Tye at 14:43 and arrival into Harlow on time. Decided to let the Dart go and wait 1 hour 30 (Harlow is a DUMP!) for TP1 to come back and get the 16:30 departure which turnt up at 16:42 and to my surprise must of loaded 45+ people. Pretty uneventful journey flying along the country lanes often straddling across both sides of the road to cut corners until we got to Loughton where there was gridlock, When we finally got to Debden the bus was meant to be leaving Stratford which meant some erratic driving along the M11 and A12 and some thrash from TP1 being worked to the max. Arrival at Stratford was 18:35 the time it was due in Waltham Abbey Very nice journeys, TWH's drivers are a friendly bunch, Hope they do well Yes most of the staff at TWH all seem friendly. Don't envy you waiting 1hr30 at Harlow!. And 45+ passengers? Must be a record for TWH lol - where did they mostly travel to, and did many people travel to/from Stratford? I'm desperate to try the route out, but i'm down in Kent mostly these days.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2012 22:23:40 GMT
Well after having done a return trip today, I think the E20's going to do well once it picks up Got the 13:20 from Stratford which turnt up about 13:35 and nearly cried at the sight of the Dart running it Nice chat with the driver who has to be one of the nicest drivers I've come across and we was at Redbridge by 13:41 and off the M11 by 13:48 (I never ever ever want to experience a Dart along the M11 ever again.) Debden Broadway was reached at 13:52 2 mins behind schedule then reaching Church Hill, Homebase bang on time. The next part of the journey was the worst, A rather large hill and we was crawling up at about 5 mph at the max After this we was flying along running early until we got to Waltham Abbey where the drivers phone kept ringing, We he pulled over at Tyler's Cross he had to give the bus other to another driver because of some license issue (I only caught "only some of us have the right license") which made us late again reaching Staple Tye at 14:43 and arrival into Harlow on time. Decided to let the Dart go and wait 1 hour 30 (Harlow is a DUMP!) for TP1 to come back and get the 16:30 departure which turnt up at 16:42 and to my surprise must of loaded 45+ people. Pretty uneventful journey flying along the country lanes often straddling across both sides of the road to cut corners until we got to Loughton where there was gridlock, When we finally got to Debden the bus was meant to be leaving Stratford which meant some erratic driving along the M11 and A12 and some thrash from TP1 being worked to the max. Arrival at Stratford was 18:35 the time it was due in Waltham Abbey Very nice journeys, TWH's drivers are a friendly bunch, Hope they do well Yes most of the staff at TWH all seem friendly. Don't envy you waiting 1hr30 at Harlow!. And 45+ passengers? Must be a record for TWH lol - where did they mostly travel to, and did many people travel to/from Stratford? I'm desperate to try the route out, but i'm down in Kent mostly these days. Unless you have £6 for a Single or £8 for a return then be my guest ;D I'm sure you'd have a fab time on either the Dart or TP1/38..
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Post by romfordbuses on Oct 6, 2012 9:44:33 GMT
I can guarantee you won't have a fab time on the dart. ;D However TP1 is brilliant! The wait in Harlow wasn't that bad, Was interesting to see how many ex-London buses were in use. Also saw a 501 Volvo on the 724 and a absolute shed (Volvo Citybus?) on a school route which looked like it's roof dome had whacked something and they'd just taped it up...Although it did sound rather meaty! Most of the people were off by Waltham Cross/Abbey (I got lost as to where I was, TWH need iBus ;D ) and were mainly school kids, I did nearly persuade a nice girl at Harlow who was going to Loughton to get the E20 but the 541 turned up There was 3 people including me that got off at Stratford with two getting back on. I must agree with what the Dart driver said and say that the Debden - Stratford section is likely to become a Weekend extension like with the X5 and Romford, Shame if it would become that...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2012 16:48:48 GMT
Yes would be a shame if the Stratford extension became weekend only, however I think most of the customers will be at weekends anyway.
With the X5, it was a shame they reduced it to Saturday only, especially as now Blue Triangle will be doing it on Mon-Fri.
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Post by romfordbuses on Oct 6, 2012 17:04:37 GMT
Another thing I noticed at Harlow was a young lad walking around stand 5/6 giving out the publicity leaflets and quite a few people saying they'd use it. TWH might get a few people from the Stratford end by handing some out around Stratford...Mind you Harlow isn't the most sellable of places ;D Indeed. It's funny how BT feel there's a need for it yet TWH have reduced to Saturday only I would of liked the X5 yesterday, It took me 4 hours in the end to get home from Harlow by bus
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Post by vjaska on Oct 6, 2012 19:16:26 GMT
Indeed. It's funny how BT feel there's a need for it yet TWH have reduced to Saturday only I would of liked the X5 yesterday, It took me 4 hours in the end to get home from Harlow by bus Maybe TWH haven't got the dosh to carrying on running it on other days than Saturday.
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Post by snoggle on Oct 6, 2012 21:27:41 GMT
Indeed. It's funny how BT feel there's a need for it yet TWH have reduced to Saturday only I would of liked the X5 yesterday, It took me 4 hours in the end to get home from Harlow by bus Maybe TWH haven't got the dosh to carrying on running it on other days than Saturday. The problem is that very few operators in deregulation land have enough money to tolerate short term losses while patronage builds up. It takes months, if not years, for bus routes to become established and even the big groups can't sustain the losses. This is why the special "pump priming" fund, that the last government had which provided short term support, helped get a lot of successful services off the ground. I will be amazed if the E20 lasts 3 months. The whole Harlow - Waltham Abbey - Loughton / Debden corridor has turned into cowboy country in recent years. I am surprised any route has any passengers given the ridiculous turnover of routes and operators. Harlow has become a "dustbin" type of operation where any old rubbish will do - even Arriva had to extricate themselves and hand over to their "bargain basement" outfit (TGM) to try to keep afloat. I would hate to have to rely on buses in Harlow - it just seems like a complete shambles with far too many operators trying to scratch a living. What it needs is one decent operator who can bring some stability to the network and get some quality and reliability to try to provide something that passengers might find attractive. It would be fascinating to see what Ensign or Stagecoach could make of the place given time and some short term financial support. I used Arriva's old 500 service out of Romford to Epping not long before Arriva killed it off. The bus I used wasn't very busy but it was a Sat AM jny but the 500 going into Romford was heaving full. I am sure there is a market for a reliable service in the Harlow - Epping - Romford corridor but it needs a lot of work to restore confidence given the chopping and changing for the last 10 years or so. It would also need money to ensure a good all round, daily timetable that people would be prepared to trust. This is one reason why TfL's network works - there is usually an all day, every day service. However all the above is a lovely theory - there's no money to make buses better in Harlow so the useless bargain basement set-up will carry on.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2012 22:48:27 GMT
Bus operations around Harlow have certainly worsened over the last few years, probably related to the recession. It will be interesting to see how things will change for Harlow in the next few years - it can't really get much worse!
I certainly think there is a market for the Harlow - Epping - Romford corridor. The 500 was well used even up to its final days, and plenty of people visit Romford from the west Essex area. This is why I hope the new 575 in November will be a success. Will be great to have Go-Ahead in Harlow, even if it is just a few journeys a day. I'm waiting for the day Go-Ahead or Stagecoach take over the Harlow town services, but that is incredibly wishful thinking! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2012 23:05:25 GMT
I do recall when being in Harlow a couple of days ago I saw a few old V Reg buses which seemed decent enough. Funny enough I did see DP26 a former metroline bus which still carried PA codes but had Centra London on the rear bonnet.
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Post by TA1 on Oct 6, 2012 23:13:23 GMT
That V reg dart was seen blinded for the E20 only, sitting in the layby on the Eastern Avenue yards from Redbridge station on the eastbound carriageway at approximately 15:35pm yesterday afternoon
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Post by VPL630 on Oct 7, 2012 7:49:10 GMT
It was broken down
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Post by TA1 on Oct 7, 2012 8:05:42 GMT
It was broken down Was my initial thought, although I swayed to think otherwise as the bus had no hazards on. Do you know where it gave up the ghost?
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Post by VPL630 on Oct 7, 2012 8:21:59 GMT
Right, so I decided to try the E20 out Saturday (7/10/12) since I had nothing else to do, Please ignore any spelling mistakes After riding 10155 on the 86 down to Stratford and then killing time in the Apple Store in Westfeild, I waited for the 1450 departure from Stratford, I paid my £5 child ticket (Didn't actually get a ticket as the ETM was not working ). I will say I must of had one of the friendliest drivers as well, dressed smart, at 1513 we left Stratford in TP38 knowing that this bus would now run late through the whole route but anyway we get to Debden for the Driver changeover where we get another friendly driver who does apologize for the delay but off we went just under 15 late with the bus being hammered but a bit too hard as just after Loughton Homebase on Baldwins Hill the throttle Linkage basically snapped now what was funny about this was that the same driver in the same bus TP38 broke down in the same place that he already had this morning on his first trip. He calls an engineer takes 20 mins to arrive and about 10 to fix the bus, by this time as I was the the only person going to Harlow and well TP 38 should of already left Harlow for the 1630 departure by now so it just did a short to Waltham Abbey, My driver called the Driver on the X5 to pick me up free of charge but that Never turned up so I waited for the Next E20 which was TP1, no fair was paid as this driver knew that I had been on the broken down bus. off we go as I thought if this bus could make up some time I would be able to get the last 21 home from Harlow which would leave at 1800 (E20 is timetabled to leave Harlow at 1750 for Stratford ) but as we were already 30 mins late I had doubts about this, we Battered on flying down the country lanes at great speed, was a fun ride and it is a great route I will say just needs a time table with another 25 mins added to the running time and Stand time at Stratford anyway we made it to Harlow at 1813, I go to check if anyone knows if the last 21 has departed as this is usually late as well but no, it departed bang on time so E20 it was back to Loughton to Get the Central line and Train from Stratford, The bus was so late now that it didn't even go to Stratford just did a short to Loughton then went back to the Depot, Paid my £1 fare off we went at a great speed, TP1 was a bit slower than TP38 but it did the job, Not long after leaving Harlow the driver comes up and tells everyone we are stopping for fuel as the bus will be going back to the depot after, We get to the petrol station, he fills up, he buys everyone on board (5 people and me) a cadburys Chocolate bar , we leave and thrash it down to Loughton, dropped us off, said sorry but the service has been abandoned tonight people. Oh well going to to try it again today and try not to get caught out ;D ;D ;D
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Post by VPL630 on Oct 7, 2012 8:23:52 GMT
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