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Post by snoggle on May 10, 2017 12:53:45 GMT
You beat me to it by minutes as I'm just reading your article elsewhere about the CMX1. This is an interesting idea but I wonder whether it is really an Uber beater. I assume that is what it is trying to do - provide an alternative to Uber from the Highbury / Mildmay Park area to "night life central" at Shoreditch. A 12 minute *maximum* headway using what looks to be Enviro 200s (largest possible vehicles) from 2100 to 0430 is also pretty ambitious. I wonder if the timing points in the timetable are also the only stops? Given the variable route options either side of Dalston Kingsland I assume they must be or else people might be waiting a long time at intermediate stops if the bus has to divert. A lot of unanswered questions (e.g. fares, tickets, payment methods) about how this would work but it's over to TfL to see if they grant the permit or not. |
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Post by busman on May 10, 2017 12:57:51 GMT
This looks great. Perfect operating times along a route with a very busy night time economy. I love the idea of a variable route based on passenger need and traffic. I was in Grenada (Caribbean) about 10 years ago and the buses ran a similar way. Buses were small, had an operative on board in addition to the driver and the route would vary depending on where passengers were headed or wanted to be picked up. The buses also played reggae or soca music, but I can't see that proposed anywhere in the Impact consultation 😛 |
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Post by stuckonthe486 on May 10, 2017 13:36:30 GMT
You beat me to it by minutes as I'm just reading your article elsewhere about the CMX1. This is an interesting idea but I wonder whether it is really an Uber beater. I assume that is what it is trying to do - provide an alternative to Uber from the Highbury / Mildmay Park area to "night life central" at Shoreditch. A 12 minute *maximum* headway using what looks to be Enviro 200s (largest possible vehicles) from 2100 to 0430 is also pretty ambitious. I wonder if the timing points in the timetable are also the only stops? Given the variable route options either side of Dalston Kingsland I assume they must be or else people might be waiting a long time at intermediate stops if the bus has to divert. A lot of unanswered questions (e.g. fares, tickets, payment methods) about how this would work but it's over to TfL to see if they grant the permit or not. Yeah, it's interesting, but quite how it'll work on the ground is one thing. Would it be free again? Cash handling wouldn't be much fun, so maybe it'd be contactless payments, although finding a reliable system might not be easy. I had a ride on the CMX1 yesterday (one of the three buses was out of service because the router had broken!) and had a chat with the chap on board, who talked about the night bus idea. I wonder if it'll work better from a Night Tube stop with a bigger-than-usual catchment area (North Greenwich, Finsbury Park, maybe Walthamstow Central) purely to get people home rather from one venue to another. They're obviously making an interpretation of how people use their app and basing this experiment around it - they'll either find they've hit an untapped market, or they'll retreat quietly having bagged a nice bit of publicity. |
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Post by redexpress on May 10, 2017 14:36:27 GMT
You beat me to it by minutes as I'm just reading your article elsewhere about the CMX1. This is an interesting idea but I wonder whether it is really an Uber beater. I assume that is what it is trying to do - provide an alternative to Uber from the Highbury / Mildmay Park area to "night life central" at Shoreditch. A 12 minute *maximum* headway using what looks to be Enviro 200s (largest possible vehicles) from 2100 to 0430 is also pretty ambitious. I wonder if the timing points in the timetable are also the only stops? Given the variable route options either side of Dalston Kingsland I assume they must be or else people might be waiting a long time at intermediate stops if the bus has to divert. A lot of unanswered questions (e.g. fares, tickets, payment methods) about how this would work but it's over to TfL to see if they grant the permit or not. "Consultation Unavailable"... guess I should have been here an hour earlier  Sounds very interesting though. TfL never responded adequately to the explosion of nightlife around Shoreditch, with Uber being the main beneficiary these days, so it's not surprising that Citymapper are starting there. I know they're still just testing the waters, but it's interesting that a tech firm like Citymapper are willing to put money into proper *public* transport. Any form of public transport that puts a dent into Uber's virtual monopoly is fine with me. |
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Post by snoggle on May 10, 2017 15:25:06 GMT
You beat me to it by minutes as I'm just reading your article elsewhere about the CMX1. This is an interesting idea but I wonder whether it is really an Uber beater. I assume that is what it is trying to do - provide an alternative to Uber from the Highbury / Mildmay Park area to "night life central" at Shoreditch. A 12 minute *maximum* headway using what looks to be Enviro 200s (largest possible vehicles) from 2100 to 0430 is also pretty ambitious. I wonder if the timing points in the timetable are also the only stops? Given the variable route options either side of Dalston Kingsland I assume they must be or else people might be waiting a long time at intermediate stops if the bus has to divert. A lot of unanswered questions (e.g. fares, tickets, payment methods) about how this would work but it's over to TfL to see if they grant the permit or not. "Consultation Unavailable"... guess I should have been here an hour earlier Sounds very interesting though. TfL never responded adequately to the explosion of nightlife around Shoreditch, with Uber being the main beneficiary these days, so it's not surprising that Citymapper are starting there. I know they're still just testing the waters, but it's interesting that a tech firm like Citymapper are willing to put money into proper *public* transport. Any form of public transport that puts a dent into Uber's virtual monopoly is fine with me. The proposed route is essentially a 277 from H&I tube to Dalston then a 67 to Aldgate. It would have to divert off Balls Pond Rd to reach the 236's route to allow turns on to and off Dalston High St as you can't do that by Dalston Junction station. There are variable route options to run via the 393/236 via Highbury New Park / Newington Green and to divert off Kingsland Road via side roads to reach Queensbridge Rd and then head west again to regain Kingsland Road. Nothing overly thrilling in that although a couple of roads are currently not served by buses so quite how running E20Ds down there at a drop of a hat in the middle of the night will go down is anyone's guess. The consultation also said the route would serve local stops subject to agreement with TfL but with so much variability possible those routes are going to be limited to parts of Canonbury, Dalston and then Shoreditch to Aldgate via Commercial Street. I suspect that a route that did wander round some of the back roads in Dalston as well as serving shops and stations might actually work reasonably well. Whether you need "smart" buses to do that I don't know. |
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Post by enviroPB on May 10, 2017 17:21:52 GMT
"Consultation Unavailable"... guess I should have been here an hour earlier Sounds very interesting though. TfL never responded adequately to the explosion of nightlife around Shoreditch, with Uber being the main beneficiary these days, so it's not surprising that Citymapper are starting there. I know they're still just testing the waters, but it's interesting that a tech firm like Citymapper are willing to put money into proper *public* transport. Any form of public transport that puts a dent into Uber's virtual monopoly is fine with me. The proposed route is essentially a 277 from H&I tube to Dalston then a 67 to Aldgate. It would have to divert off Balls Pond Rd to reach the 236's route to allow turns on to and off Dalston High St as you can't do that by Dalston Junction station. There are variable route options to run via the 393/236 via Highbury New Park / Newington Green and to divert off Kingsland Road via side roads to reach Queensbridge Rd and then head west again to regain Kingsland Road. Nothing overly thrilling in that although a couple of roads are currently not served by buses so quite how running E20Ds down there at a drop of a hat in the middle of the night will go down is anyone's guess. The consultation also said the route would serve local stops subject to agreement with TfL but with so much variability possible those routes are going to be limited to parts of Canonbury, Dalston and then Shoreditch to Aldgate via Commercial Street. I suspect that a route that did wander round some of the back roads in Dalston as well as serving shops and stations might actually work reasonably well. Whether you need "smart" buses to do that I don't know. Well we had 24 hour operation on the 236 and that's nowhere to be seen now. And that's how I view it, a replacement for the N236 with 2 out of 3 southbound variants using Queensbridge Road. I'll drum this mantra till I'm blue in the face; all Citymapper is doing is using their data, both quantative and qualitative (aka feedback) and fusing it together for a final outcome. It may seem a distant fallacy in TfL land to listen to its customers, but that's the only niche I see Citymapper taking full advantage of here. If the 236 was 24/7, then there'd probably be no business case for this route. |
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Post by T.R. on May 10, 2017 19:20:23 GMT
I saw a couple of these on Waterloo Bridge earlier. In terms of loading,... there were more people on it than I ever saw on the last 'new' Sprinter route (705)  |
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Post by snoggle on May 10, 2017 21:45:08 GMT
I saw a couple of these on Waterloo Bridge earlier. In terms of loading,... there were more people on it than I ever saw on the last 'new' Sprinter route (705) Judging from Twitter there has been a bit more interest today. I've seen some photos of one of the minibuses with a near capacity loading. How many were just "geeking out" and how many were making a legitimate journey is impossible to say. If nothing else Citymapper have generated a lot of "interest" for a two day initiative. |
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Post by redbus on May 10, 2017 22:15:34 GMT
I was 'in town' today, so I had to divert to Waterloo and give the CMX1 a round trip. I think Citymapper have done an excellent job, the bus interior was good with 2 - 1 seating arrangement, so 3 seats abreast. I particularly liked the screen giving real time information, much better than the TfL iBus LED offering. A personal like was the lack of announcements. A nice ride all round. The bus had about six people on board when it arrived a Waterloo, and all but one got off. I boarded and the two of us on the bus were both giving it a try rather than being serious passengers. As we went round a few more passengers boarded and it got back up to six passengers split evenly between people such as myself giving it try, and those genuinely using it as part of their commute home.
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Post by Hassaan on May 11, 2017 23:46:54 GMT
On Wednesday I managed to travel on the second bus of the day, as I happened to be nearby (would have been on the first, but I gave up waiting for it, and guess what I saw after boarding the 388…  ). I did about 1 and a half rounders, from Blackfriars (North) to Waterloo Bridge. At first I was the only passenger, but then a photographer joined (think he was an enthusiast), and at the end a slightly clued up passenger. The Citymapper guy on the bus said that they had to remove a couple of stops on Fleet Street overnight after a TfL request (they said it was causing congestion or something), so on Wednesday there was no stop between Blackfriars Station (North) and Royal Courts of Justice. I boarded it not expecting much from the breadvans ( ), having remembered my two journeys on the school minibus a few years ago. However, ride quality was good (although wasn't tested by humps), the engine was quiet, and the gear changes were smooth (think it had an automatic gearbox, should have remembered to ask ). The handbrake was loud, and needed to be applied in order to open the doors. There were no opening windows so I wonder what conditions were like later in the day? Some bottles of water were placed on the bus just in case. The seats were exactly the same as those found in London United and Stagecoach Citaros. They do have fleet numbers outside, in really tiny letters immediately above the nearside headlight cluster. Another favourite touch was the "bus with a smiley face" logo Citymapper used for it  flic.kr/p/UFdQfPRemember this photo of ex-Abellio 8557 posted in a thread recently? I'm 99% sure it is theirs. Not only does the green livery look the same, but also look at the colours inside, which appear to be the same green moquette and silver handrails as the vans. |
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Post by snoggle on Jul 5, 2017 21:53:08 GMT
in the latest Customer Services Cttee papers there is one on "future mobility business models". This covers Demand Responsive Transport and is well worth reading. It seems there is a veritable queue of new entrants lining up to try to operate DRT style services in London. content.tfl.gov.uk/csopp-20170713-part-1-item10-future-mobility-business-models.pdfThis would appear to be a rather crucial element of the paper. No one is going to be allowed a free for all. |
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Post by snoggle on Jul 20, 2017 14:51:10 GMT
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Post by snoggle on Sept 8, 2017 12:43:58 GMT
Time to head to Highbury and Islington tonight. Citymapper's new Night Bus CM2 starts tonight. content.citymapper.com/news/1834/cm2-night-riderShame I can't use it as I don't have a functional contactless bank card and Oyster isn't accepted. medium.com/citymapper/cm2-night-rider-our-first-commercial-bus-route-d9d7918be899And if you want to see how to be "funky" and "hip" and still convey your rules and regs then have a look at the FAQ section for the CM2. Very smartly and concisely written - a world away from TfL's legalease approach to explaining how things work. Even the Terms of Carriage are cleverly written but actually out of date for the CM2 which is not a free service. CMX1 in Central London was. |
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Post by cc2005 on Sept 8, 2017 12:55:24 GMT
Time to head to Highbury and Islington tonight. Citymapper's new Night Bus CM2 starts tonight. content.citymapper.com/news/1834/cm2-night-riderShame I can't use it as I don't have a functional contactless bank card and Oyster isn't accepted. medium.com/citymapper/cm2-night-rider-our-first-commercial-bus-route-d9d7918be899And if you want to see how to be "funky" and "hip" and still convey your rules and regs then have a look at the FAQ section for the CM2. Very smartly and concisely written - a world away from TfL's legalease approach to explaining how things work. Even the Terms of Carriage are cleverly written but actually out of date for the CM2 which is not a free service. CMX1 in Central London was. The second link says that buses will be serviced by Tower Transit  - I suppose from LI - nice that buses are in TT green Would be interesting to see whether these are ex-TT buses, and whether they have TT fleetnumbers |
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Post by snoggle on Sept 8, 2017 13:12:07 GMT
Time to head to Highbury and Islington tonight. Citymapper's new Night Bus CM2 starts tonight. content.citymapper.com/news/1834/cm2-night-riderShame I can't use it as I don't have a functional contactless bank card and Oyster isn't accepted. medium.com/citymapper/cm2-night-rider-our-first-commercial-bus-route-d9d7918be899And if you want to see how to be "funky" and "hip" and still convey your rules and regs then have a look at the FAQ section for the CM2. Very smartly and concisely written - a world away from TfL's legalease approach to explaining how things work. Even the Terms of Carriage are cleverly written but actually out of date for the CM2 which is not a free service. CMX1 in Central London was. The second link says that buses will be serviced by Tower Transit - I suppose from LI - nice that buses are in TT green Would be interesting to see whether these are ex-TT buses, and whether they have TT fleetnumbers I thought they were ex Abellio E200s that have been refurbed and painted green - been discussed here before I'm sure. I doubt LI has anything to do with it. Don't Impact Group have a garage in NW London? That's where it'll work from I assume. |
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- I suppose from LI - nice that buses are in TT green