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Post by busdryver on Oct 27, 2011 2:47:41 GMT
But if the contract is awarded as, say, 10 + 1 spares, why would you buy a second one, at around £150,000, and then try to get TfL to add the additional equipment that they were not expecting...
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Post by busdryver on Jul 17, 2011 17:05:02 GMT
Taken from the the Metrobus facebook page: Transport for London have revealed that five of the top ten performing low frequency routes in London are operated by us - routes 127, 359, R7, T32 & X26. Well Done Metrobus Also looking at the B14 tender result, the latest tender had 2 bidders with Metrobus bidding more, but gaining the contract because of "Higher quality expected from award", was this awarded when TfL were using the Quality testing thing. Well it's hardly difficult to get the 359 and R7 running well - If you can't get those on time, what can you do... And as for the B14, is it any wonder when the other tenderer was likely to be Arriva from Dartford - Anything is better than them!
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Post by busdryver on May 6, 2011 19:09:04 GMT
Think this is the right place for this; I rarely wander into this part of the forum! 17417 and 17418 appeared at Bromley yesterday and indeed one or the other of them may well have run a school bus today (saw it in Bromley North with 638 on the back blind) Additionally, our iBus room were asking for volunteers to go over to Rainham this evening to pick up another couple of buses so there may well be some more new arrivals at Bromley I saw 17417 heading through Lewisham on a Catford route this evening, so appears to have moved up there.
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Post by busdryver on Sept 17, 2010 8:12:54 GMT
ah is this the same reason for the 320 being changed to Three Two O? or will it be a permanent announcement It was reported on another group that all of these are an error, and they will return to their former announcements soon... It will be three-twenty, and two-one-four etc.
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Post by busdryver on Apr 16, 2010 6:37:23 GMT
Great Customer Service! I use the PA to my advantage, as it saves all the bellyaching when passengers don't know what's happening. The diversion announcement says 'Please listen for further announcements' at the end, but most of the time it is played on its own. As for the 'we are being held' message, I'm glad to see the back of it, especially where it was being played one stop before the terminal, just so the driver wouldn't get booked for running early! Much better to regulate yourself, and make sure you get to the terminal at about the right time. Nothing you can do about that, especially on the route 3 (and possibly all the other routes along regent street) as when you get to piccadilly circus, you only have one bus stop to play with, and approx. 6 minutes to get to the next timing point which is oxford circus. The unpredictable traffic there means you can't take any chances. Another good thing about the ibus message is when you serve a busy bus stop (such as brixton station) and are running early, you can easily let passengers already onboard know of your intentions while dealing with other passengers trying to board and ask questions at the same time. It would be very difficult or unprofessional to let passengers know via the PA system that the bus is running early while passengers are boarding. As for diverting, if its a long diversion then I let passengers know. A small diversion or one that is regular then I don't bother. Not great customer service I know but sometimes when using the PA I get my words in a twist A diversion annoucment of some sort is better than nothing. Definately something to work on But why do you even bother to run to the schedule - If you are on time at Piccadilly Circus, then there is nothing you can do if you've got too much time on the way to Oxo. Nothing annoys passengers more than sitting just before where they want to go waiting for you to kill time. The operator I work for make it clear that as long as you are running to the correct headway (note - not *on time*), then just carry on, and sort yourself out when you get to the terminal.
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Post by busdryver on Apr 15, 2010 6:45:16 GMT
Thats daft. What about passengers who can't hear what drivers say via the PA And if they get rid of the messages then I certainly won't be using the PA. Us drivers will just go back to the old way of just sitting there with a newspaper! Great Customer Service! I use the PA to my advantage, as it saves all the bellyaching when passengers don't know what's happening. The diversion announcement says 'Please listen for further announcements' at the end, but most of the time it is played on its own. As for the 'we are being held' message, I'm glad to see the back of it, especially where it was being played one stop before the terminal, just so the driver wouldn't get booked for running early! Much better to regulate yourself, and make sure you get to the terminal at about the right time.
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Post by busdryver on Apr 4, 2010 16:22:21 GMT
And what would that be exactly?? There's a few of us on here from East London The EL1 and EL2 DO serve the exact same routing between Ilford and Thames View Estate. The ONLY difference between the two is that the EL1 STOPS at Thames View Estate and the EL2 continues on to Dagenham Dock. Now I'm not sure I see the problem with how the routes work. For your reference: EL1 in IlfordEL2 in IlfordNow please tell us all what that says about East Londoners I know theres east londoners here, I was joking But seriously, why dont they just fuse it into one route, name it EL1? whats so special about terminating at thames view estate? wouldnt it be better and more cost effective just to have one route then? i just cant get my head around it really. Its just like having the 207 from hayes to white city, but with a side route, 207A with the same freq and route but operating as far as ealing broadway to white city It's all about preparing for the future. When the EL1 and EL2 are modified to go to different places, as the development moves on, the principle of two routes is already set. At that point you don't have to split the route, and reduce the frequency. It is also easier to explain that the EL1 runs 24 hours, but the EL2 only during the day.
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Post by busdryver on Apr 4, 2010 12:25:00 GMT
Im slightly confused over the bus services operating this Easter Sunday. In Essex, NO bus services are operating I think (The Traveline timetables say a Sunday service is operating on Good Friday and BH Monday, but no mention of Sunday services). Also, TfL have no mention about services over Easter. Im guessing London Buses are still running, but not sure. Oh they'll be running (TfL buses) - it's Christmas Day you're thinking about (the one day they don't run at all). nope, but I'm just saying theres no point of having a route which overlaps like EL1 and EL2 Thing is the EL1 and EL2 are actually run as one route, sharing the same buses and same running numbers etc - refer to Egg's post[/quote] And they are both going to be altered as the Barking Reach development goes further. Therefore, I think it is sensible the way it is at the moment - rumour has it that there will be EL3 as well (replacing the 387)
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Post by busdryver on Mar 11, 2010 17:13:26 GMT
I've done a few garage roadshow visits recently, and from what i understand (this is from the people upstairs who are involved in making these decisions), various announcements were removed from ibus annoucnements to try and reduce any possible assaults and conflict between staff and passengers from the use of these announcements. So the yobs win? and also it was explained that iBus has a PA system, which should encourage drivers to use their voice - not rely on a set of messages that could be seen as a cheap way out (for example: the bus will be held for a short while during a driver changeover, which resulted in the drivers just disappearing off and leaving the bus unattended, as 'we did tell the passengers'.)
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Post by busdryver on Feb 20, 2010 14:49:42 GMT
Not not think an decision has been made / announced yet. Think there are only 6? E200, the rest being Mini Pointers. The P13 is currently just a wish list! Yep, there are only six, 8101-6. Anyway, it makes sense to move older stock over to the West like 8007-8 to join their sisters and the oldest MPD's. They are heading west to replace old vehicles on the H26 (which was awarded on new vehicles). Then nine new 9.3m buses will arrive for the 100 (picking up the new vehicle order from the H26 and adding a couple more for standardisation)
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Post by busdryver on Jan 3, 2010 10:24:53 GMT
Does the stop in Fairfield Road have a 205 Alighting Point number on it - That could be the issue...
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Post by busdryver on Dec 6, 2009 18:14:17 GMT
Well at the end of the day its Arriva's loss as they are paying customers Not really! It is TfL's loss as Arriva is payed to operate the route. But seriously though I have always wondered if buses are meant to stop when there are last minute diversions. Not really - the 402 is a commercial service operated by Arriva, so any fares taken would have gone straight in to Arriva's pockets.
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Post by busdryver on Dec 4, 2009 13:26:12 GMT
I never use the PA system just as i wont use an answer machine i'll just shout and if they dont get the message then ah well never mind lol. we had a road show visit the yard a while back and took comments on the i-bus and revenue issues needless to say i raised the issue of there being no "turn that bloody music off" message, and that a few other messages are pointless. ie everyone knows its illegal to smoke on a bus knowing this do they think an automated voice is gonna make a difference. What great customer service! I suppose you'll also not tell people that stops are closed (it's more fun just to drive past), that you're on diversion (that'll teach 'em for travelling on my bus) etc.
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Post by busdryver on Aug 26, 2009 8:19:40 GMT
Mark, All systems are prone to bugs and failures and iBus relies on a lot of things such as tracking, signals etc. Obviously the 208s iBus has had quite a large bug with its system and until its fixed theres nothing the public can do except be patient and wait. From what has been said, it appears that the fault was with the operators' schedule, and nothing wrong with ibus.
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Post by busdryver on Aug 24, 2009 11:19:12 GMT
Problems again today I did an early morning shift on the 208s and while the announcements and destinations were all called correctly, the system insisted I was on later trips than I actually was and therefore I wasn't getting any schedule deviation or headway information. Eventually, the system stopped working altogether We had a similar problem when I drove too; It was explained to me that the company had sent in the schedule with the trip numbers the wrong way round, resulting in the system getting very confused! It was fixed on the normal update, which I believe is every two weeks, with one due this coming weekend.
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