General Enquiries

[snoggle]

Aug 5, 2015 11:47:54 GMT @dlpnorth said:

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, but not new to London Buses, been an enthusiast since I can remember, based in the Arriva operational area of Edmonton/Enfield Borough.

One thing i wanted to ask, why are we the only city in the world to curtail buses midway along the route? If we're not enlighten me. I understand it could be a few factors, bad scheduling, mechanical issues (inevitable) or other non-deductable causes such as ill passenger, RTC etc, but still why is it acceptable? Imagine if Sainsburys trucks got curtailed due to M25 traffic

Thanks

We're quite clearly not the only place that has curtailments. Birmingham uses suffix letters to indicate short workings on its routes and not all of them are scheduled. I suspect that operators are more likely to cancel complete trips outside London where there are traffic / vehicle problems. I see Stagecoach Northeast's tweets and they have daily problems with breakdowns, traffic delays, services starting part way along a route etc.

There may be a slight difference in the consequences of part terminating routes between TfL's regime and a deregulated one. TfL will typically aim, on high frequency services, to maintain headway and that gives controllers the option to curtail buses to fill gaps in service. It's harder on low frequency routes where a curtailment may result in the bus being declared as not running at all. I believe the Traffic Commissioners will look to see that deregulated operators run both the full timetable and meet the punctuality window in terms of early / late running. You could argue that the deregulated regime is tougher than TfL's but then the consequences for the companies are different and the objectives of each regime also differ. I suspect that if TfL demanded full operation of the timetable and near perfect timekeeping that the risk premium on contract prices would be enormous simply because London's network is so busy and so unpredictable. The other consequence would be that bus timetables would have ludicrous amount of slack built it so it was close to impossible to run late. The problem with that is that today's slow journeys would be even slower and passengers would probably divert to rail routes or drive cars if buses got much slower.

[sid]

H

Aug 5, 2015 11:47:54 GMT @dlpnorth said:

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, but not new to London Buses, been an enthusiast since I can remember, based in the Arriva operational area of Edmonton/Enfield Borough.

One thing i wanted to ask, why are we the only city in the world to curtail buses midway along the route? If we're not enlighten me. I understand it could be a few factors, bad scheduling, mechanical issues (inevitable) or other non-deductable causes such as ill passenger, RTC etc, but still why is it acceptable? Imagine if Sainsburys trucks got curtailed due to M25 traffic

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

If a bus is running late the only way to get it back on time is to curtail it or run it out of service to wherever it needs to be so I would imagine all operators curtail buses.

I would imagine Sainsburys lorries get curtailed if a driver cannot get to their destination and back within their driving hours due to unforseen circumstances.

[Madstuntman]

Aug 19, 2015 10:18:54 GMT sid said:

H

Aug 5, 2015 11:47:54 GMT @dlpnorth said:

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, but not new to London Buses, been an enthusiast since I can remember, based in the Arriva operational area of Edmonton/Enfield Borough.

One thing i wanted to ask, why are we the only city in the world to curtail buses midway along the route? If we're not enlighten me. I understand it could be a few factors, bad scheduling, mechanical issues (inevitable) or other non-deductable causes such as ill passenger, RTC etc, but still why is it acceptable? Imagine if Sainsburys trucks got curtailed due to M25 traffic

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

If a bus is running late the only way to get it back on time is to curtail it or run it out of service to wherever it needs to be so I would imagine all operators curtail buses.

I would imagine Sainsburys lorries get curtailed if a driver cannot get to their destination and back within their driving hours due to unforseen circumstances.

I am no longer a bus driver, I now drive lorries. I have returned a truck complete with load back to the yard after a breakdown... Just saying!! Also I have driven buses outside London and buses get cut all the time when late. London is not unique in this.

[Deleted]

Thanks all for the clarification - One thing I'm learning is the inner workings to transport / logistics.

[londonbusboy]

Sept 11, 2015 10:56:23 GMT @dlpnorth said:

Thanks all for the clarification - One thing I'm learning is the inner workings to transport / logistics.

The other way of looking at a bus being curtailed is yes it will inconvenience those passengers but it should inconvenience less passengers later

[Deleted]

Or from controllers I work with, they all say they're all 10 late until one gets later and then the trouble starts, but if they're a11 10 late, curtailing one will cause more issues. You notice that it's about 2% of the daily mileage out of the expected 100% TfL want operated. Example the E6, on paper it looks terrible, but the figures it's still 80-90% not great but not as bad.

[Deleted]

Hi, 
Do any of you know the website "London Buses by Adam"?
I have been trying to send them pictures of buses for quite a while now, and I've got no reply or any sort of uploads. 
Have any of you uploaded things to their website? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

[vjaska]

Oct 31, 2015 14:46:38 GMT YX10FFN said:

Hi, 
Do any of you know the website "London Buses by Adam"?
I have been trying to send them pictures of buses for quite a while now, and I've got no reply or any sort of uploads. 
Have any of you uploaded things to their website? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks

Adam is a busy person I know that much.

[Deleted]

Does anyone know where the 332 and 436 stand at Paddington, because of the crossrail works at Paddington and many other nitty gritty things.

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2015 11:47:56 GMT YX10FFN said:

Does anyone know where the 332 and 436 stand at Paddington, because of the crossrail works at Paddington and many other nitty gritty things.

The 332 stands on Bishop's Bridge Road and the 436 stands on Sussex Gardens (?) - Street where all routes towards Paddington turn right to serve St Mary's Hospital

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2015 13:30:26 GMT @aechha1 said:

Nov 15, 2015 11:47:56 GMT YX10FFN said:

Does anyone know where the 332 and 436 stand at Paddington, because of the crossrail works at Paddington and many other nitty gritty things.

The 332 stands on Bishop's Bridge Road and the 436 stands on Sussex Gardens (?) - Street where all routes towards Paddington turn right to serve St Mary's Hospital

Okay thanks-You are right about the 436 thing-Just checked on Google Street View dated June 2015 and you see 2 Gemini 2s and one Enviro 400. 
It stands just north of the junction with Sussex Place

[snoggle]

Nov 15, 2015 11:47:56 GMT YX10FFN said:

Does anyone know where the 332 and 436 stand at Paddington, because of the crossrail works at Paddington and many other nitty gritty things.

436 is on Sussex Gardens and actually doesn't reach Paddington Station at all. It throws people off two stops short as I noticed today going past on the 27. On s/b trips it does serve Paddington Station on Praed St.

The 332 stands on Bishops Bridge Road near where the taxis emerge from Paddington Station rank.

The 205 ends / stands / starts in Cleveland Terrace just off Eastbourne Terrace - if you believe Countdown. Certainly stands there.

[northken]

Are passengers allowed a transfer ticket if a bus has an incorrect blind destination?
I'm asking as now and again the buses on the 70 display the wrong destination and so on the Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's loop, where buses in both directions both stop at Kensal House on both sides of the road, people can be taken in the wrong direction (for them). It doesn't help either than TfL forgot to add the loop's stops back to iBus after the area's gas works finished.

[vjaska]

Dec 20, 2015 17:03:34 GMT northken said:

Are passengers allowed a transfer ticket if a bus has an incorrect blind destination?
I'm asking as now and again the buses on the 70 display the wrong destination and so on the Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's loop, where buses in both directions both stop at Kensal House on both sides of the road, people can be taken in the wrong direction (for them). It doesn't help either than TfL forgot to add the loop's stops back to iBus after the area's gas works finished.

I've been given transfer tickets in the past when a bus has an incorrect blind and/or I-Bus destination. I mean, I've no problem if the driver gets a turn, changes the blind and plays the infamous 'the destination of the bus has changed' message but I do when none of those are done. Obviously, if he displayed a turn on the blinds when I boarded, I wouldn't ask for a ticket.

[Deleted]

Which single bus stop has the most routes stopping at it?
Alternatively, several examples of bus stops with a very high number of routes stopping at it, or two separate bus stops very close together with several routes between them.