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Post by busman on Dec 12, 2023 16:34:39 GMT
Southeastern introduce 100 additional trains per weekRail operator Southeastern has introduced 100 extra trains per week as part of new timetable changes.www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67663923 I’ve only glanced at the timetable to see the frequency at Plumstead and Albany Park looks better than it did in 2022. But until the DfT reinstates Charing Cross services on the Greenwich line, SouthEastern trains are dead to me.
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Post by busman on Dec 11, 2023 17:35:03 GMT
As I mentioned above, SL3 will be using LTs and the service is due to commence from 24th February 2024. Thanks for the update. Do you know anything about alternative lines of route in the event of traffic? For example, in the morning peak it is faster to use Hurst Road and Station Road rather than Foots Cray Lane and Faraday Avenue to get to Sidcup Station. Would be great if drivers have flexibility to chop through that traffic by swapping between the 269 and 229 line of route.
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Post by busman on Dec 11, 2023 17:18:58 GMT
I'm one of the few New Routemaster fans on this forum, so I'm delighted that finally one of my local routes will be LT operated. Nevertheless, I still feel regret that it's not the 53, as that route would benefit much more from two staircase/three door buses. Anyway, I'm excited about the SL3 starting in February. Me too, I actually like LTs once they enabled windows to open on the original batch. The 2 stairwells and 2 exits will help speed up dwell times during peak hours. I can see Abbey Wood Station being a very popular stop. Really looking forward to riding this route 😎
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Post by busman on Dec 7, 2023 9:53:03 GMT
Seems like TfL can’t win here. After years of carnage and cuts thanks to the initial pain of Boris Johnson’s legacy, TfL are now in a position where once again they can spend money on bus improvements. Yet people here are criticising them for it. Perhaps we have been conditioned to look for ways to make cuts to bus services by what has happened in the last 7 years or so as that was TfLs modus operandi for a period of managed decline. Whilst we continue to imitate that way of thinking, TfL appears to have shifted their thinking in line with their financial position and so should we. Managed decline was never the preferred option and is never going to get more people onto public transport.
To attract passengers away from their cars, buses need to be frequent, fast and get to convenient destinations. The SL7 and other Superloop services does exactly that. In an era where people put a destination into their phone map which calculates the best journey times across different modes of transport, the difference between waiting 5 minutes for the next bus vs. 20 minutes is significant. Right now a journey between Bromley and Sutton is roughly 25 minutes faster by car. Once the SL5 starts, bus journey times will become more competitive with car times. But frequencies need to be high enough on both connecting routes to reduce waiting times when interchanging between SuperLoop routes to enable that type of journey.
As for the SL7, I’ve seen healthy loadings in and out of Heathrow at various times of the day, but admit I have not observed the route between Kingston and Croydon. TfL have all the data and they are not exactly slow to make frequency reductions if capacity is excessive. They need to allow time to observe how people change their travel habits with the new routes and improved frequency- especially with the ULEZ expansion. I’m sure TfL are looking at the data and if it justifies a frequency reduction they will do it.
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Post by busman on Dec 5, 2023 19:29:30 GMT
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Post by busman on Dec 5, 2023 14:26:28 GMT
I spend a significant amount of time in Switzerland and cannot see another thread dedicated to this country. Public transport here is incredible with full coordination between bus, tram, train and cable car timetables throughout the country. This weekend, 10.12.2023 marks a significant amount of change to bus services in my local canton of Zug: 1. Bus numbers are being changed to 3 digit numbers beginning with a 6, to comply with imminent Swiss legislation that states bus numbers must be distinct between each region. For example Line 1 becomes 601, line 43 becomes 643 etc. 2. Bus terminals in Zug main city are being standardised with more routes terminating at the main station square. At present many routes have significant scheduled dwelling times at Metalli (the main shopping centre) to ensure interchange with connecting long distance train services. Much (if not all) dwelling times are eliminated by directing more routes to terminate at the station main square (Zug Bahnhofplatz) and also through clever swapping of the southern termini between routes 3 and 11. 3. Massively improved services into Ägerital region. This is a picturesque region in the canton of Zug, once served long ago by a railway station. The rail line has long since closed and the population is now reliant on car or bus to travel into surrounding region. The main service, Line 1, took 3 different routings into Zug depending on the time of day. This has now been split into 2 routes - 601 and 612, and with enhanced running hours - especially welcome for the 601 which is a Monday to Friday with flow peak express on one of the 3 route variants (similar to the X68/SL6), which will now run all day morning until night 7 days a week. Routes 609, 610, and 634 get all day services too. 4. Colour coding and fonts on bus stop and information on bus displays adjusted to comply with disability legislation. In addition there are many other smaller adjustments such as earlier and later first and last buses, improved frequencies and small adjustments such as commuter route Line 16 which will start and end one stop further at the Dammstrasse end of Zug station enabling more convenient travel for many workers in that area. How has the rollout of these various changes been handled so far? With Swiss efficiency as you can imagine. -Bus stops started to receive new numbers 3 weeks ago. Timetables are yet to be swapped out, but I imagine that will happen on Friday or Saturday. - Detailed articles at the front of local newspapers since Early November. These newspapers are delivered for free to every household. Some are weekly, others monthly. - Every household received a mini booklet detailing the 2024 timetable and routing updates for the region which also included schematics of stopping arrangements in each main interchange area. - Clear information on the ZVB (Zug bus company) website (in German, but just hit translate in your browser if needed). Btw “Zug” translates as “Train” in English, just to make things confusing 😉: www.zvb.ch/fahrplan/fahrplanwechsel-information/
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Post by busman on Dec 5, 2023 11:47:45 GMT
haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/sl5-superloopSL5 consultation report published. To go ahead but with number of stops in Bromley cut from 4 to 3, with an additional stop at Barnfield Wood Road thrown in and stop in Croydon changed to Park Street not Fairfield Halls. All fairly sensible to me. Thanks for the update. I wonder if TfL will do something smart to make bus interchange faster and safer by coordinating timetables across SL routes during early morning and late evening, when buses are less frequent and journey times more predictable. For example, it would be nice if an SL3 from Thamesmead was timed to arrive at Bromley North around 5 minutes prior to a Croydon-bound SL5 from the designated interchange stop. Same in the opposite direction. It would not make for a pleasant passenger experience (particularly for vulnerable people) if their connecting Superloop bus departs a minute before they arrive and they have a long wait until the next bus. Without direction from TfL, this will happen in some cases by default.
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Post by busman on Dec 4, 2023 17:23:25 GMT
In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations. A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach. Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups. Fair play to Mr. Blackburn, Go Coach seems like a very well run outfit. Hopefully the new owners continue along the same path.
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Post by busman on Dec 4, 2023 7:44:52 GMT
What’s up with the digital rear display on the 72 plate BCEs on the 183? Seen 3 in a row today at Golders Green with nothing except 3 small squares displayed on the rear. Front and side were programmed correctly. Enough space is present to display the number and destination on those rear displays, something not seen in London since routemaster days. I noticed when I was in Kingston the other day that the 111s also weren’t using the long rear display. Perhaps TfL have quietly dropped it like the phone holders. Surely it is a matter for the operator to program the blind’s properly? Unless it isn’t possible to fit the full display that TfL have specified for each turning point.
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Post by busman on Dec 3, 2023 14:26:44 GMT
What’s up with the digital rear display on the 72 plate BCEs on the 183? Seen 3 in a row today at Golders Green with nothing except 3 small squares displayed on the rear. Front and side were programmed correctly. Enough space is present to display the number and destination on those rear displays, something not seen in London since routemaster days.
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Post by busman on Nov 24, 2023 18:58:49 GMT
The 244 has used double deckers in the past and the fact TfL were considering it at the very least suggests they could pass through once pruning is done Yeah but it's not just prunin it's all slanted hill upwards doubles could get through at a struggle but it would take longer then a SD and would probably slow the route down plus there's a lot of parked cars I can’t see that deckers will have any more problems with parked cars than current buses along the route. I would be more concerned with low branches and the left turn from Herbert Road onto Plumstead Common Road. Clearance between the upper deck and the traffic light must be pretty tight at that junction.
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Post by busman on Nov 22, 2023 21:39:55 GMT
This is a waste. Just extend the SL3 to Woolwich non-stop from Thamesmead. There are bus lanes in place along most of the route. Job done. Take the remaining £22.5 million and buy an extra boat for the Woolwich Ferry. Or just use the existing network here - the 472 already has very few stops between Plumstead and Thamesmead. I'm not sure a superloop-style service would be much quicker? Regarding the ferry, would perhaps be better to instead introduce an alternative ferry somewhere further to the east? The issue with the existing/planned road crossings in this area is that they all parallel rail crossings - which are suitable alternatives for many journeys. The Silvertown/Blackwall tunnels and the Woolwich Ferry are all close by to the Jubilee line, Elizabeth Line and DLR tunnels. A ferry linking Barking Riverside to Thamesmead would be ideal. No more ferry crossings. No no no no noooo. Ferries are not 24:7, do not provide reliable crossing times, are vulnerable to poor weather, staff shortages, strikes, and technical problems. Such unreliability does not drive economic growth and unlock opportunities for Thamesmead and other areas of potential either side of the Thames. We need another bridge or tunnel between Dartford and Silvertown. Do it properly or not at all, but that is not the UK’s way of thinking these days. Also a non-stop service between Thamesmead and Woolwich would be considerably faster than a 472 during the day. But the glorified bus with rubber tyres thingy will have more stops than that and will end up being not much faster than a 472. As someone local to the area and a transport enthusiast I should be excited about the announcement, but even I can see absolutely no need for a rapid bus transit. The council has always campaigned for one, but since the Lizzie Line opened the need has decreased. Abbey Wood is by far the better option for travel to and from Thamesmead. Sainsburys, Morrisons, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi are all in Thamesmead or Abbey Wood for shopping. However, Thamesmead and Abbey Wood still has no banks. Neither does Plumstead since Barclays left a few years ago. There were 3 banks in Plumstead when I first moved to the area. So maybe people who need to physically get to a bank branch would love a rapid transit thingy. But currently there is zero hardship suffered jumping on a 472 especially since it now runs direct past Belmarsh. Like I said, extend the SL3 to Woolwich non-stop et voila you have something that will be even faster to and from Thamesmead.
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Post by busman on Nov 22, 2023 16:57:23 GMT
The Chancellor's Autumn Statement (22nd November 2023) has offered £23 million of funding towards a rapid bus transit between Woolwich and Thamesmead, subject to Business Case Approval. Whilst TfL welcomes the announcement of funding for the bus transit, it notes that this was only seen as an intermediate measure to kick-start housing development, in advance of the DLR extension to Thamesmead being constructed. There has been no mention in the Statement of funding for the DLR extension, or for other projects which could be affected by TfL's projected £500 million in investment funding that it had hoped would be covered. This could put TfL's investment strategy for 2024/2025 and beyond at risk. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/government-offers-23-million-for-rapid-bus-link-connecting-woolwich-to-thamesmead-67592/This is a waste. Just extend the SL3 to Woolwich non-stop from Thamesmead. There are bus lanes in place along most of the route. Job done. Take the remaining £22.5 million and buy an extra boat for the Woolwich Ferry.
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Post by busman on Nov 21, 2023 12:16:09 GMT
I may have missed it, but does anyone have an update on what’s happening with the SL5 consultation response? It’s gone awfully quiet on that route compared to the others. There's some stuff going on in the background but I would imagine stuff will become clearer in time Not surprised. It’s a bit of an outlier from the other routes. Ideally it would be merged with the SL3 and decked, but it has to be a single decker due to low bridges in the area which limits the potential to merge with another SL route. Width restrictions at West Wickham make Red Lodge Road a non-starter unless the restrictions are not associated with vehicle weight. Decking the route via other roads will probably mean diverting it closer to the tram which will negate the benefits of a fast service to Croydon. If the SL4 is planned to be single deck, it could be merged for a Canary Wharf - Bromley - Croydon route. But that would mean delayed launch and some rethinking of the stopping pattern of the SL4 between Grove Park and Shooters Hill. Poor old SL5.
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Post by busman on Nov 21, 2023 12:02:57 GMT
I may have missed it, but does anyone have an update on what’s happening with the SL5 consultation response? It’s gone awfully quiet on that route compared to the others.
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