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Post by yunus on Apr 14, 2024 21:12:09 GMT
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Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 15, 2024 8:58:41 GMT
I have just found out that 366 and 488 have special arrangements in which you can stay on the terminating bus at Bromley by Bow or Redbridge respectively (or get on the bus in front) and continue your journey. That makes sense for 366 but what is the benefit for 488? It is a legacy working after the S2 was withdrawn in 2008. Buses used to loop in both directions to serve the Tesco and the station, but primarily the latter is likely why the arrangement is in place. Put it this way; an able bodied and fit person like myself detests the mere thought of using that subway, let alone anyone with mobility issues or kids or bag-loads of heavy shopping. No amount of lighting can make using that underpass pleasant. I agree, Imagine meeting Sadiq in that subway in the night; very scary thought to give anyone nightmares
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Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 15, 2024 9:00:18 GMT
As much as I despise Khan, I think it is the way forward. I always was peeed off with the end of London Transport being torn apart and the way it was then sold off in chunks in 1994. This year would be 30 years since it was sadly gone.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 15, 2024 9:02:05 GMT
I am not sure exactly what benefits it will bring. Bus services are specified to minute detail in the tender document, and having competing bus companies can bring a lower price. What perhaps could change is TfLs tolerance when bus companies don't perform as well as they might on a route. It is all very well having financial penalties but when triggered that does not improve the service for passengers. What would a state controlled bus company do differently? What would it bring to the table that would benefit passengers? I am not against it as such, but it is has to have positive benefits for passengers. What happens if it fails to meet performance targets for a route, there may be less desire to penalise it than a private company. The problem with this is though, services are run to make money and give two shits about customer service. Hence why we have things like reduced level of service etc. Buses held up over 5 mins etc in service to be regulated to close gaps behind.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 15, 2024 9:04:32 GMT
I'd be interested to see how this would work with RPI checks for instance as I was under the impression that the system reset at each end, wiping out records of taps of the previous journey? Is there a special arrangement for these routes on the technical side?
I'm not sure that the ticket machine is involved when it comes to RPI checks - I haven't any personal involvement with it, but would expect that the gadget the RPI's carry can show when and where the card was last tapped in. That's what shows up on the journey history online if you have an Oyster card (so it's not wiped off the central system at the end of each journey) - I don't know if it records (and lets RPI see) things like bus fleet number and / or journey number as well.
There are a few routes with a loop terminus and a 'hesitation point' where the bus 'officially' changes from the journey from A to B in to the journey from B to A but passengers can and do travel on journeys that cross the 'terminus' point.
The first one that comes to mind is route B15, where there's a loop round the Horn Park Estate, west of Eltham, but the 'terminus' is the first stop on the estate (although the second stop on the loop), so anyone travelling from the Bexleyheath direction to a stop further round the estate will technically be travelling on two 'journeys' on a single 'tap' but that's how loop terminus arrangements work.
It shows the last 8 transactions on any card
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Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 15, 2024 9:08:46 GMT
Hi folks So something really came to my head about some particular years and how major changes occurred in that year. So let's start with 1992, I think that year was a big change involving a lot of Central London buses where a lot of diversions and splits occurred. 1993 was the Newham changes, 1994 was when the privatisation occurred. 1999 now this one and 2003 (I'll come to that in a bit) was a very big one. It involved the Jubilee line extension, the DLR extension. The low floor revolution was really taking it's foothold from this point 2000 the tramlink and Croydon bus changes 2003 was the year the congestion charge was introduced along with some new routes, 30th August 2003 being a famous date for a lot of bus changes on that day. Some in South London, others in East London. 2005 being the last year that step entrance buses were allowed to roam the streets of London 2010 being the last year that the overlapping service was the norm 2011 being the year that the roundels came back onto the London buses and bendy buses being removed from the London streets 2014 being the year of the bus and the time being displayed on the buses. 2019 the Central London bus changes again!! That's all I can think of from the top of my head If there's anymore please feel free to add some. 1993 also saw Ilford/Barking netwoek area changes. 1988 saw similar with Walthamstow area changes
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Post by southlondon413 on Apr 15, 2024 9:33:44 GMT
I am not sure exactly what benefits it will bring. Bus services are specified to minute detail in the tender document, and having competing bus companies can bring a lower price. What perhaps could change is TfLs tolerance when bus companies don't perform as well as they might on a route. It is all very well having financial penalties but when triggered that does not improve the service for passengers. What would a state controlled bus company do differently? What would it bring to the table that would benefit passengers? I am not against it as such, but it is has to have positive benefits for passengers. What happens if it fails to meet performance targets for a route, there may be less desire to penalise it than a private company. The problem with this is though, services are run to make money and give two shits about customer service. Hence why we have things like reduced level of service etc. Buses held up over 5 mins etc in service to be regulated to close gaps behind. I just don’t see TfL throwing money at the network if they took full control. If anything they’d have to make cutbacks to pay the private operators for their facilities, vehicles and admin costs. Unless, and I know it is early planning by Khan, TfL plans to open its own depots and directly compete against the private operators through a Chinese wall they will likely have to pay out hundreds of millions to takeover existing operations. Either way it won’t be cheap to do. TfL is better off tightening control, creating a singular bus identity and reducing the private operators to just managing staff and the facilities. Leave iBus control, route management, timetables etc to TfL staff.
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Post by redbus on Apr 15, 2024 15:10:20 GMT
The problem with this is though, services are run to make money and give two shits about customer service. Hence why we have things like reduced level of service etc. Buses held up over 5 mins etc in service to be regulated to close gaps behind. I just don’t see TfL throwing money at the network if they took full control. If anything they’d have to make cutbacks to pay the private operators for their facilities, vehicles and admin costs. Unless, and I know it is early planning by Khan, TfL plans to open its own depots and directly compete against the private operators through a Chinese wall they will likely have to pay out hundreds of millions to takeover existing operations. Either way it won’t be cheap to do. TfL is better off tightening control, creating a singular bus identity and reducing the private operators to just managing staff and the facilities. Leave iBus control, route management, timetables etc to TfL staff. I suspect what the Mayor could do if he was so inclined is simply have an in-house company with its own facilities, garages, staff, buses etc and they would simply take over routes at end of contract. No need then to pay out anything to existing operators unless assets such as garages etc are bought.
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Post by southlondon413 on Apr 15, 2024 15:16:15 GMT
I just don’t see TfL throwing money at the network if they took full control. If anything they’d have to make cutbacks to pay the private operators for their facilities, vehicles and admin costs. Unless, and I know it is early planning by Khan, TfL plans to open its own depots and directly compete against the private operators through a Chinese wall they will likely have to pay out hundreds of millions to takeover existing operations. Either way it won’t be cheap to do. TfL is better off tightening control, creating a singular bus identity and reducing the private operators to just managing staff and the facilities. Leave iBus control, route management, timetables etc to TfL staff. I suspect what the Mayor could do if he was so inclined is simply have an in-house company with its own facilities, garages, staff, buses etc and they would simply take over routes at end of contract. No need then to pay out anything to existing operators unless assets such as garages etc are bought. The private companies have enough difficulty securing land for new depots so that may be a non-starter for TfL. The private companies will want paying off for their depots, equipment and anything else. Worst case they just sell to developers and take their equipment elsewhere. TfL could use CPOs but I think it would get messy and I’d expect the private operators to challenge it in the high court. I don’t think it will be an easy process to completion.
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Post by wirewiper on Apr 19, 2024 18:19:37 GMT
This weekend (20/21 April) is a big one for events, and transport disruption especially on the buses. Also Thameslink has no service on the Central Core. London and its transport will rise to the occasion, though, it always does. I wouldn't be surprised to see passengers numbers at record levels on the Underground this weekend.
The biggie of course is the London Marathon on Sunday, which will cause buses throughout Central and South-East London and in Tower Hamlets to be diverted, curtailed or suspended completely from early morning until mid-afternoon.
On Saturday there will be a mini-marathon in the St James' Park area.
There are two protest marches on Saturday. One runs from Millbank to Temple Place and takes in Parliament Square, Whitehall and Embankment. A later march is from Portland Place to Victoria Embankment.
The O2 has concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Wembley Stadium hosts FA semi-final matches on both days and a womens' 6 Nations Rugby match on Saturday.
Lastly, there are religious and ceremonial events in Trafalgar Square on both days.
Whew! A big shout-out to all the transport workers on duty in London this weekend.
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Post by wirewiper on Apr 20, 2024 8:50:19 GMT
I suspect what the Mayor could do if he was so inclined is simply have an in-house company with its own facilities, garages, staff, buses etc and they would simply take over routes at end of contract. No need then to pay out anything to existing operators unless assets such as garages etc are bought. The private companies have enough difficulty securing land for new depots so that may be a non-starter for TfL. The private companies will want paying off for their depots, equipment and anything else. Worst case they just sell to developers and take their equipment elsewhere. TfL could use CPOs but I think it would get messy and I’d expect the private operators to challenge it in the high court. I don’t think it will be an easy process to completion. It's been done before though. The London Transport Act 1933 gave the newly-formed London Passenger Transport Board the power to buy out other bus companies, municipal tramways (including the London County Council's) and the Metropolitan Railway to create a near-monopoly for London's transport. And at the time LTPB wasn't even publicly-owned, it was a private company. In Greater Manchester, assets have been acquired and transferred to other companies or to Transport for Greater Manchester as part of the transition to franchising. This is not necessarily disadvantageous to the bus operators; Rotala was paid £30.1 million for vehicle and property assets that had an estimated book value of £24 million.
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Post by Alexis on Apr 21, 2024 21:49:24 GMT
Was driving the 1 today and the number of people waiting at Aldwych for buses that had been pulled away from the area was honestly ridiculous. It's bad enough that the only publicity TfL bothers with is posters to look online but even the information there wasn't all up to date.
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Post by redbus on Apr 21, 2024 21:55:33 GMT
Was driving the 1 today and the number of people waiting at Aldwych for buses that had been pulled away from the area was honestly ridiculous. It's bad enough that the only publicity TfL bothers with is posters to look online but even the information there wasn't all up to date. Which buses were people waiting for?
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Post by greenboy on Apr 21, 2024 22:39:58 GMT
Was driving the 1 today and the number of people waiting at Aldwych for buses that had been pulled away from the area was honestly ridiculous. It's bad enough that the only publicity TfL bothers with is posters to look online but even the information there wasn't all up to date. I've seen this many times before when there's disruption in Central London, people waiting for buses that were never going to turn up and no information whatsoever.
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Post by M1104 on Apr 22, 2024 9:05:24 GMT
Was driving the 1 today and the number of people waiting at Aldwych for buses that had been pulled away from the area was honestly ridiculous. It's bad enough that the only publicity TfL bothers with is posters to look online but even the information there wasn't all up to date. I've seen this many times before when there's disruption in Central London, people waiting for buses that were never going to turn up and no information whatsoever. Similar situation when Mitcham Road was closed at Tooting Broadway, the countdown system still active at the bus stop. On the flip side of that situation many waiting punters didn't seem to notice the tell tale signs hidden in plain sight, ie the huge reduction of traffic (to almost nothing) and the nearby road blockade causing some traffic to turn around.
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