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Post by busaholic on Apr 1, 2018 22:36:00 GMT
With reference to another route Robert says 'timetable change in order to reduce reliability'. Many a true word...
I'm sure it is a cock-up by the schedulers, rather than a conspiracy, but your word 'shoddy' befits the situation.
The schedulers only go by the spec London Buses send them. When I said schedulers, I was not excluding London Buses input, or lack of. One hand not knowing what the other hand's doing, and all that.
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Post by COBO on Apr 3, 2018 21:01:24 GMT
I don’t know why can’t the 220 can’t have extras before and after a match at Craven Cottage Stadium. The 220 is normally not that busy at 2200 but during match time it is heaving.
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Post by busman on Apr 5, 2018 12:17:06 GMT
Riding buses through central London is a miserable experience these days. Well, at least through Holborn/Leicester Square/Piccadilly. During the day I can walk faster between Holborn and Piccadilly than a bus. I bailed out of a trip earlier in the week on a 19 and I just endured a trip on the 38. Suffice to say the return leg will be via the Piccadilly Line.
I really feel for 19 and 38 drivers it must be painful having to sit in that traffic all day. I usually only use buses in zones 2-4 so this is a surprise to me as 15-20 years ago in my crazy bus hopping days getting through central London on a bus was a breeze.
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Post by vjaska on Apr 5, 2018 12:29:06 GMT
Riding buses through central London is a miserable experience these days. Well, at least through Holborn/Leicester Square/Piccadilly. During the day I can walk faster between Holborn and Piccadilly than a bus. I bailed out of a trip earlier in the week on a 19 and I just endured a trip on the 38. Suffice to say the return leg will be via the Piccadilly Line. I really feel for 19 and 38 drivers it must be painful having to sit in that traffic all day. I usually only use buses in zones 2-4 so this is a surprise to me as 15-20 years ago in my crazy bus hopping days getting through central London on a bus was a breeze. That’s what happens when politicians ignore the problem of congestion and why many routes had to be cut back regardless of whether people think it’s right to do so or not in order to preserve reliability. Unless politicians get real which probably won’t happen anytime soon, congestion will simply rise and bus travel in London in general will become even unviable starting with Edgware Road when Oxford Street is pedestrianised.
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Post by ronnie on Apr 5, 2018 13:25:15 GMT
Riding buses through central London is a miserable experience these days. Well, at least through Holborn/Leicester Square/Piccadilly. During the day I can walk faster between Holborn and Piccadilly than a bus. I bailed out of a trip earlier in the week on a 19 and I just endured a trip on the 38. Suffice to say the return leg will be via the Piccadilly Line. I really feel for 19 and 38 drivers it must be painful having to sit in that traffic all day. I usually only use buses in zones 2-4 so this is a surprise to me as 15-20 years ago in my crazy bus hopping days getting through central London on a bus was a breeze. That’s what happens when politicians ignore the problem of congestion and why many routes had to be cut back regardless of whether people think it’s right to do so or not in order to preserve reliability. Unless politicians get real which probably won’t happen anytime soon, congestion will simply rise and bus travel in London in general will become even unviable starting with Edgware Road when Oxford Street is pedestrianised. And don't forget the incessant roadworks, which add to the congestion. In the "good old days" when the aldgate gyratory was being taken apart, it once took me 45 minutes in a 205 to go from Fieldgate street to Duke Street (3 stops). The City seems more like a construction zone at times... I can't remember the last time I didn't see roadworks on London Wall!
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Post by busman on Apr 5, 2018 18:07:51 GMT
Riding buses through central London is a miserable experience these days. Well, at least through Holborn/Leicester Square/Piccadilly. During the day I can walk faster between Holborn and Piccadilly than a bus. I bailed out of a trip earlier in the week on a 19 and I just endured a trip on the 38. Suffice to say the return leg will be via the Piccadilly Line. I really feel for 19 and 38 drivers it must be painful having to sit in that traffic all day. I usually only use buses in zones 2-4 so this is a surprise to me as 15-20 years ago in my crazy bus hopping days getting through central London on a bus was a breeze. That’s what happens when politicians ignore the problem of congestion and why many routes had to be cut back regardless of whether people think it’s right to do so or not in order to preserve reliability. Unless politicians get real which probably won’t happen anytime soon, congestion will simply rise and bus travel in London in general will become even unviable starting with Edgware Road when Oxford Street is pedestrianised. Most of the vehicles were buses or trade vehicles. I’m really not sure what politicians can do about that.
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Post by vjaska on Apr 5, 2018 18:17:55 GMT
That’s what happens when politicians ignore the problem of congestion and why many routes had to be cut back regardless of whether people think it’s right to do so or not in order to preserve reliability. Unless politicians get real which probably won’t happen anytime soon, congestion will simply rise and bus travel in London in general will become even unviable starting with Edgware Road when Oxford Street is pedestrianised. Most of the vehicles were buses or trade vehicles. I’m really not sure what politicians can do about that. Plenty of cars still travel through Central London and are part of the problem as well - some sort of road charging (not the Congestion Charge) or actual limiting on people using cars and similar vehicles will have to come in at some point otherwise London will ground to a halt.
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Post by busaholic on Apr 5, 2018 20:37:36 GMT
That’s what happens when politicians ignore the problem of congestion and why many routes had to be cut back regardless of whether people think it’s right to do so or not in order to preserve reliability. Unless politicians get real which probably won’t happen anytime soon, congestion will simply rise and bus travel in London in general will become even unviable starting with Edgware Road when Oxford Street is pedestrianised. Most of the vehicles were buses or trade vehicles. I’m really not sure what politicians can do about that. Those days of yore you quoted, fifteen to twenty years ago, did not see all those vans delivering goods ordered on the internet, be they small packages or a week's shopping from Ocado, blocking one lane. On the subject of road lanes, there were lots more of them years ago too: road capacity for motor vehicles has declined by 20% in the last few years in central London. Many have been given over either in part or in their entirety to cyclists, of course, even though there is a pronounced lack of cycling activity on many of them e.g. Embankment or Blackfriars Road for most of the day. Uber have also made an impact: when does their ban take effect, or was it all hot air?
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Post by bookd on Apr 5, 2018 22:22:52 GMT
I read an interesting article the other day regarding Grosvenor Estates; they found that they had numerous delivery vehicles to their Mayfair offices both for their own goods and items ordered by staff for delivery to their works address. To solve this they have established a base on the outskirts where everything is to be delivered and then taken into the centre on one electrically powered van each day. They acknowledge that this will just move the traffic elsewhere but it may help in Central London if others followed their example.
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Post by COBO on Apr 6, 2018 12:26:02 GMT
Where does RP get there drivers for the 220 from? Most of them incompetent. Most of them don’t know what they are doing or were they are going. I don’t how many times I’ve been on a 220 and driver has taken the wrong turning or served the wrong stop. It’s just terrible. I’m on a 220 bound for Wandsworth and the driver takes the wrong turning out of Hammersmith Bus Station. So he round the roundabout and goes back into the bus station to take the right exit. I thought that the driver would have gone all the way round the roundabout and then onto Fulham Palace Road to avoid confusing the passengers already at the bus station and to avoid delays. I have even seen a out of service not switch of it’s Ibus. So it’s Still showing on the countdowns confusing the passengers.
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Post by VPL630 on Apr 7, 2018 14:06:44 GMT
So our Mercs have an auto kneel feature so the bus lowers automatically when you open the doors depending on what bus I’m driving depends if I leave the feature on or turn it off as some of them are really slow to raise back up and the brake won’t release until they are happy that they are raised which can be anything up to around 30 seconds, anyway today I had it on, I pulled up to a stop today and this elderly woman boards and says out loud as if to make a point “I’m not so old you have to lower the bus for me” tutts and walks past, not in a jokingly way or anything, in a rude way as if I’ve done something wrong, just more proof you can’t do anything right
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Post by snoggle on Apr 7, 2018 14:22:34 GMT
So our Mercs have an auto kneel feature so the bus lowers automatically when you open the doors depending on what bus I’m driving depends if I leave the feature on or turn it off as some of them are really slow to raise back up and the brake won’t release until they are happy that they are raised which can be anything up to around 30 seconds, anyway today I had it on, I pulled up to a stop today and this elderly woman boards and says out loud as if to make a point “I’m not so old you have to lower the bus for me” tutts and walks past, not in a jokingly way or anything, in a rude way as if I’ve done something wrong, just more proof you can’t do anything right You should know what the lovely general public are like by now.
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Post by galwhv69 on Apr 7, 2018 14:27:43 GMT
So our Mercs have an auto kneel feature so the bus lowers automatically when you open the doors depending on what bus I’m driving depends if I leave the feature on or turn it off as some of them are really slow to raise back up and the brake won’t release until they are happy that they are raised which can be anything up to around 30 seconds, anyway today I had it on, I pulled up to a stop today and this elderly woman boards and says out loud as if to make a point “I’m not so old you have to lower the bus for me” tutts and walks past, not in a jokingly way or anything, in a rude way as if I’ve done something wrong, just more proof you can’t do anything right I wish there was a way to report passengers so for example if they have some sort of discount it gets taken away
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Post by DT 11 on Apr 7, 2018 18:52:12 GMT
So our Mercs have an auto kneel feature so the bus lowers automatically when you open the doors depending on what bus I’m driving depends if I leave the feature on or turn it off as some of them are really slow to raise back up and the brake won’t release until they are happy that they are raised which can be anything up to around 30 seconds, anyway today I had it on, I pulled up to a stop today and this elderly woman boards and says out loud as if to make a point “I’m not so old you have to lower the bus for me” tutts and walks past, not in a jokingly way or anything, in a rude way as if I’ve done something wrong, just more proof you can’t do anything right How ungrateful. What I really dislike is when people give funny looks when stopping in the entire box instead of the flag. I ignore them because at a lot of stops they are stupidly positioned and people wait at them where the is a whole yellow box in the road which shows “Bus Stop”. If another bus is behind me I generally make space for other buses. One ridiculous stop is Bexleyheath Clock Tower Stop for 132 229 269 492 B12 N21 where pretty much most drivers stop at the stop flag and no other buses can serve it and when busy creates long queues in the whole market place into the main road, there is space for 2 when you pull up further all because an idiot placed the flag in a stupid place, then TFL are on about pollution and air quality etc all because brainless idiots cannot put stop flags in logical places . At all times if nothing is there I go right forward to make space. Overall to reduce congestion at Bexleyheath the 269 & B13 could serve the same stop as the 96 because there turning right to go to Bexleyheath Library From there and B12 to Joydens Wood the 401 moved to the other stop served by the 89 96 422 486 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16. Pretty pointless the 96 to Bluewater having a stop of its own then the two other stops are overcrowded, really need to reorganise the stopping arrangements at Bexleyheath and how it has managed like this for so long is ridiculous.
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Post by sid on Apr 7, 2018 20:19:22 GMT
So our Mercs have an auto kneel feature so the bus lowers automatically when you open the doors depending on what bus I’m driving depends if I leave the feature on or turn it off as some of them are really slow to raise back up and the brake won’t release until they are happy that they are raised which can be anything up to around 30 seconds, anyway today I had it on, I pulled up to a stop today and this elderly woman boards and says out loud as if to make a point “I’m not so old you have to lower the bus for me” tutts and walks past, not in a jokingly way or anything, in a rude way as if I’ve done something wrong, just more proof you can’t do anything right How ungrateful. What I really dislike is when people give funny looks when stopping in the entire box instead of the flag. I ignore them because at a lot of stops they are stupidly positioned and people wait at them where the is a whole yellow box in the road which shows “Bus Stop”. If another bus is behind me I generally make space for other buses. One ridiculous stop is Bexleyheath Clock Tower Stop for 132 229 269 492 B12 N21 where pretty much most drivers stop at the stop flag and no other buses can serve it and when busy creates long queues in the whole market place into the main road, there is space for 2 when you pull up further all because an idiot placed the flag in a stupid place, then TFL are on about pollution and air quality etc all because brainless idiots cannot put stop flags in logical places . At all times if nothing is there I go right forward to make space. Overall to reduce congestion at Bexleyheath the 269 & B13 could serve the same stop as the 96 because there turning right to go to Bexleyheath Library From there and B12 to Joydens Wood the 401 moved to the other stop served by the 89 96 422 486 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16. Pretty pointless the 96 to Bluewater having a stop of its own then the two other stops are overcrowded, really need to reorganise the stopping arrangements at Bexleyheath and how it has managed like this for so long is ridiculous. I agree about the clock tower stop and the situation has been made worse with the 422 now setting down there and it can take a while to unload. I'm not sure about moving the 269 to the 96 stop as it's busy enough already and would remove the common stop with the 229.
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