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Post by DT 11 on May 11, 2014 7:14:22 GMT
Good post Thanks, took me a while to get ready I actually started it a few months ago. Not much happening in South East London for a while now so won't be much from me, but others from the team may post. I do try to make posts as interesting as possible.
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Post by snoggle on May 13, 2014 23:18:26 GMT
Spotted today at North Greenwich was this Night Bus Connections Poster which shows the N436 route number (look for Chislehurst). This shows the number was given very serious consideration. There are also posters showing N136 at North Greenwich.
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Route 136
May 17, 2014 11:54:40 GMT
via mobile
Post by Nathan on May 17, 2014 11:54:40 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not...
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Post by Mokujin on May 17, 2014 12:03:51 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not... I think the extension is effective but more people use it at certain times during the day. I would have expected that the 343 wouldn't continue to be so overcrowded as the 136 now runs alongside the 343. Maybe residents of East Street have not adapted to the 136 yet.
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Route 136
May 17, 2014 12:16:21 GMT
via mobile
Post by vjaska on May 17, 2014 12:16:21 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not... I think the extension is effective but more people use it at certain times during the day. I would have expected that the 343 wouldn't continue to be so overcrowded as the 136 now runs alongside the 343. Maybe residents of East Street have not adapted to the 136 yet. I rode it on the first day early on the Saturday morning and it was packed - from Catford, I rode another 136 to TL & that too was busy. Same with the one me & 'DW498' used - wasn't empty at all so I agree with you that it depends in the time of day really.
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Post by M1104 on May 17, 2014 12:21:01 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not... Many punters at the Elephant may be assuming the 136 travels via Camberwell instead of north Peckham and as a result letting the bus go by and choosing to board the 343. It's still early days for the extension and it will be more established in time. Another factor is that the 136 driver may have been punching the 343, it does have a great advantage for that opportunity.
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Post by Nathan on May 17, 2014 14:48:10 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not... Many punters at the Elephant may be assuming the 136 travels via Camberwell instead of north Peckham and as a result letting the bus go by and choosing to board the 343. It's still early days for the extension and it will be more established in time. Another factor is that the 136 driver may have been punching the 343, it does have a great advantage for that opportunity. How do you mean 'punching'?
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Post by titan1mike on May 17, 2014 14:52:32 GMT
Sitting behind the 343 and not overtaking so the 343 is picking most people up while the 136 plods behind empty. I do it to the 25s and they do it to me.
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Post by snoggle on May 17, 2014 14:53:18 GMT
Many punters at the Elephant may be assuming the 136 travels via Camberwell instead of north Peckham and as a result letting the bus go by and choosing to board the 343. It's still early days for the extension and it will be more established in time. Another factor is that the 136 driver may have been punching the 343, it does have a great advantage for that opportunity. How do you mean 'punching'? I believe it refers to the tactic of running behind a late and full bus and refusing to overtake. The front bus gets later and later and the one doing the "punching" lolls along behind picking no one up and probably not being late itself. A nice way to have an easy trip until a few stops before the terminus when you hurtle past the late bus and go "ya boo sucks" when you arrive spot on time at the terminus. I am sure the resident drivers will fine tune my description as necessary.
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Post by vjaska on May 17, 2014 15:29:53 GMT
I took the 343 from New Cross Gate to E&C. When I saw a few 136s in the North Peckham/Walworth areas (heading in the other direction), most of them were pretty next to empty. I literally saw 1 empty 136 about 1 minute behind a very crowded 343 bus about 3 times. I just wonder if the extension is proving to be effective or not... Many punters at the Elephant may be assuming the 136 travels via Camberwell instead of north Peckham and as a result letting the bus go by and choosing to board the 343. It's still early days for the extension and it will be more established in time. Another factor is that the 136 driver may have been punching the 343, it does have a great advantage for that opportunity. According to a few people at the Catford Garage Open Day, it's been the other way - 343 drivers punching the 136's lol.
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Post by southlondonbus on May 17, 2014 17:24:55 GMT
I took it today and there was about 15 people on it to Elephant. Give it time for Lewisham to realise that there is now a direct bus to Elephant
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Post by 6HP502C on May 17, 2014 19:17:26 GMT
How do you mean 'punching'? I believe it refers to the tactic of running behind a late and full bus and refusing to overtake. The front bus gets later and later and the one doing the "punching" lolls along behind picking no one up and probably not being late itself. A nice way to have an easy trip until a few stops before the terminus when you hurtle past the late bus and go "ya boo sucks" when you arrive spot on time at the terminus. I am sure the resident drivers will fine tune my description as necessary. Not forgetting the final step - overtaking the rammed bus at the busiest stops on the route
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Post by guybowden on May 17, 2014 19:58:22 GMT
How long do we have to wait for figures to be released on loadings and lost mileage etc etc?
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Post by snoggle on May 17, 2014 20:20:29 GMT
How long do we have to wait for figures to be released on loadings and lost mileage etc etc? You won't see loadings info for May 2014 until December 2015 given TfL have only committed to publish patronage numbers on an annual basis for their financial years which run April to March. We're currently in 2014/15 financial year and that doesn't end until March 2015 and it seems it takes them 7 months to collate the detailed info for release. I really hope they will speed things up but I'm not going to hold my breath. The EWT / lost mileage stats are published quarterly so we're in Q1 2014/15 so I imagine the stats will appear sometime in Q2 - probably August or September. You will only get a small snapshot for the 136 post extension to Elephant in Q1 data. It will probably take until Q3 until you can see any sort of trend or effect in the data as a result of the extension.
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Post by DT 11 on May 17, 2014 22:07:24 GMT
I had to use the 136 this evening whilst coming back from Euston at around 8 am, it came 4 minutes after a 343 and at Elephant & Castle Station about 40 odd people boarded even though a 343 already went past, the 343 was also quite loaded. Funny enough it was the same enthusiast bus driver who was driving my bus again immediately spotted me from the stop, those I spoke to on here at the TL open day know that was my story of the day randomly meeting this driver twice on his 1st and 2nd Half.
In addition from my own observations the 136 normally arrives after the 343 in Peckham as well as Elephant. 343 is more frequent so it's more likely a 136 will be right behind a 343. The 136 & 343 reminds me of the 208 vs 320 Olympics where most of the time the 320 always beats the 208 at both ends simply because most of the time it punches the 208 and the poor sods at TB get the people who can't be asked to wait for a 320.
Abellio drivers best not to attempt to delay driver changeovers as they run the more frequent service and not many are used to the 136 yet so will board the 343, the people who live directly along the estates will be the first common users as they know it is on their doorstep. Leaving any gap in the 343 will result in the next 3 buses being busier between 3-4 as this happened on Thursday when a 343 from City Hall turfed all passengers off outside the station and I got on a packed 136 with new and turfed passengers.
I personally think it will not remain like this very long simply because the 136 has now created strong links from North Peckham directly into Lewisham, the 136 is also an alternative to the 12 & 171 which takes 4 minutes longer between Peckham & Elephant. In about a year I suspect the 136 will be the busier route with the 343 usage slightly reducing or even both as well as the 42 becoming even busier, which needs double deckers imo. Also to add on I think some may use the route from Lewisham - Elephant & Castle and forget about interchanging at Bricklayers Arm's off route 21.
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