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Post by sid on Sept 6, 2018 21:50:58 GMT
So today I did another day on the 428s. In general it was quiet most of the day other than rush hour. Twice during the day left Bluewater with probably 1 or 2 people as most people now wait for the 96. On one particular trip traffic was building up on Watling Street and when arriving at Bluewater I still had 1 passenger left, she came up to me and said "Why don't you use that Bus Lane it's taken 12 minutes longer to get here". So I said the 428 isn't allowed to use the Fastrack Lanes, the 96 is the only red bus that can use it, the 96 was re-routed to serve Darent Valley Hospital in December 2017 using the Fasttrack Lane. She then asked me about the 428 & 492 no longer going to Bluewater. So I said the 428 will no longer be coming here from 2019 anyways so they won't send it through the Fasttrack, it will run from Erith - Crayford and mentioned an online petition. So I said online petitions won't stop anything from going ahead because Kent County Council is not a London Borough. Overall if the 492 did become reality. Would make sense to run the 428 between Erith - Dartford from Crayford via the Station Road, Chastillion Road, Princes Road & Shepherds Lane. That would be a good idea, keeping the 428 going to Dartford via the 492 route from Crayford if that gets cut back. It does seem ridiculous that all buses can't use the bus slope in and out of Bluewater including the 477. The 96's seem to be going via Watling Street now rather than Park Road? |
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Post by Hassaan on Sept 6, 2018 23:22:06 GMT
And there is probably a good chance the driver departed early from the beginning  I have a similar issue with Metroline on the 120 in the evenings when the route is every 15 minutes. Leaving the first stop early should just not happen, we passengers don't care if the timetable is too tight further down the route. On Saturday the 2305 from Northolt departed 3 minutes early, which is bad enough, but when his leader was 3 minutes late at the time (and continued to lose time). Luckily the guy got regulated for 2 minutes and then lost another minute, so I didn't miss the bus at Southall Station as it was on time. Even earlier in the day many of the drivers seem to depart whenever they want, although as it is a high frequency route I can live with it around that time. London United drivers almost never departed more than a few seconds early. LU were just as bad in my opinion. At least with metroline there’s a guarantee your bus will show up. Oh dear, that's not good  maybe they curtailed buses at White Hart as the 282 exists for local passengers? The Metroline equivalent was Norwood Green but not seen that since before the summer holidays. I don't normally go north of Southall Town Centre these days (actually, even reaching there seems rare these days as there is a good chance I'll be using the train  ). I do think I'm probably more critical of Metroline than London United (or Abellio) although over the last year I've also become less tolerant of public transport problems in general. Becoming a grumpy old sod at the age of 23?!   The two times I've taken the bus between 0700-0800 on a Saturday, when it still runs every 20 minutes: 7 July, 0704 from Norwood Green (0650 from Hounslow, running number 6): Bus was about 12 minutes late at Norwood Green after a 5 minute late start from Hounslow, having lost 10-15 minutes on the previous trip  . 18 August, 0744 from Norwood Green (0730 from Hounslow, running number 1): The bus departed Hounslow on time but was already 5 minutes early by my stop. Good job I kept an eye on it, although still would have been game over if no one else was already at the stop, as I wasn't expecting it to be that early! During the day I can live with them departing whenever they want. It is the evenings where it gets annoying, especially now that winter will be coming soon 😓 (that bridge at Southall station is very exposed to the wind, probably just end up going via Hounslow more lol). |
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Post by 6HP502C on Sept 7, 2018 0:39:40 GMT
I am clearly in a minority here, but if I am going for a bus at a particular time, I always try to arrive a couple of minutes early (if possible), in case the bus is early. There's always the possibility of a couple of minutes difference between the clock the bus driver sees and the clock I am looking at. Nowadays I can make the timing closer thanks to iBus, so that's a definite improvement. Having said the above I expect the bus driver to run to time and not be early. I also arrive at bus stops at least 2.5 minutes early where low frequency routes are concerned. I use Countdown to aid this judgement, though there are problems with doing this at night and times of day when buses are starting in service. Low frequency routes are permitted to run up to 2.5 minutes early and 5 minutes late. Rightly or wrongly, it is permitted for buses to run that early so it will continue to happen. |
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Post by DT 11 on Sept 7, 2018 5:52:24 GMT
So today I did another day on the 428s. In general it was quiet most of the day other than rush hour. Twice during the day left Bluewater with probably 1 or 2 people as most people now wait for the 96. On one particular trip traffic was building up on Watling Street and when arriving at Bluewater I still had 1 passenger left, she came up to me and said "Why don't you use that Bus Lane it's taken 12 minutes longer to get here". So I said the 428 isn't allowed to use the Fastrack Lanes, the 96 is the only red bus that can use it, the 96 was re-routed to serve Darent Valley Hospital in December 2017 using the Fasttrack Lane. She then asked me about the 428 & 492 no longer going to Bluewater. So I said the 428 will no longer be coming here from 2019 anyways so they won't send it through the Fasttrack, it will run from Erith - Crayford and mentioned an online petition. So I said online petitions won't stop anything from going ahead because Kent County Council is not a London Borough. Overall if the 492 did become reality. Would make sense to run the 428 between Erith - Dartford from Crayford via the Station Road, Chastillion Road, Princes Road & Shepherds Lane. That would be a good idea, keeping the 428 going to Dartford via the 492 route from Crayford if that gets cut back. It does seem ridiculous that all buses can't use the bus slope in and out of Bluewater including the 477. The 96's seem to be going via Watling Street now rather than Park Road? Reason I suggested that is so that this section would have a more frequent service. Yes the 96 was re-routed via Watling Street on 18th August all the 96s I saw were using Watling Street. The only section of the Fasttrack they are allowed to use is between Bluewater & Darent Valley Hospital. |
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Post by galwhv69 on Sept 7, 2018 14:44:47 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman?
SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught
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Post by sid on Sept 7, 2018 14:51:58 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes, there is no restriction on buses reversing. |
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Post by galwhv69 on Sept 7, 2018 14:56:36 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes, there is no restriction on buses reversing. Thanks,Until know,I thought a banksman was needed |
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Post by vjaska on Sept 7, 2018 20:45:02 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. |
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Post by John tuthill on Sept 7, 2018 21:39:28 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. All the buses using the Cromwell Road bus station in Kingston have to reverse off the stands Attachment Deleted Picture from 'Londonist' web page |
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Post by 15002 on Sept 7, 2018 21:41:18 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. Can speak for Leicester. The Haymarket bus station in Leicester, all of the buses have to reverse. |
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Post by vjaska on Sept 7, 2018 21:44:25 GMT
Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. Can speak for Leicester. The Haymarket bus station in Leicester, all of the buses have to reverse. Indeed, in fact reversing out of bus stations outside of London is quite common whereas it’s only really Cromwell Road where it’s required for most routes. |
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Sept 7, 2018 22:07:37 GMT
Can speak for Leicester. The Haymarket bus station in Leicester, all of the buses have to reverse. Indeed, in fact reversing out of bus stations outside of London is quite common whereas it’s only really Cromwell Road where it’s required for most routes. Some bus stands also require the bus to reverse into a bay as well. Peckham, Waltham Cross, Barking London Road, Ilford Hainault St, White City, North Finchley (for the 13) off the top of my head are all examples. |
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Post by busaholic on Sept 7, 2018 22:44:42 GMT
Are buses allowed to reverse wothout a banksman? SE243 had to reverse a few metres to let a car throught Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. In the early days of opo, the only place where the TGWU allowed buses to reverse in service was the Old Lodge Lane stand at Purley on the 234a, because the union were aware that the service would be withdrawn otherwise. Abridge saw crew double deckers for years after you'd expect opo because the terminal required a reversing manoeuvre: i think there was something similar on the 150 at Lambourne End. |
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Post by M1104 on Sept 7, 2018 23:45:23 GMT
Yes as the G1 has to reverse to access the stand at Battersea. Some routes outside London require reversing as well. All the buses using the Cromwell Road bus station in Kingston have to reverse off the stands View Attachment Picture from 'Londonist' web page And with Peckham Bus Station it's the other way round with buses reversing onto the stand. |
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Post by snoggle on Sept 8, 2018 0:09:48 GMT
Can speak for Leicester. The Haymarket bus station in Leicester, all of the buses have to reverse. Indeed, in fact reversing out of bus stations outside of London is quite common whereas it’s only really Cromwell Road where it’s required for most routes. Certainly the case in Newcastle - the Haymarket has had reversing off stands since the early 70s. Previously it was a "drive through" bus station. The new Eldon Square bus station is also reverse off stand whereas the old Bus Concourse under the shopping centre was drive through. The stands are so intenstively used at Eldon Square that arriving buses often have to queue and have an electronic display board to tell drivers when each numbered stand becomes available. At times it gets so congested that the queue of waiting buses blocks the exit of Haymarket Bus Station! The maddest bus station in Newcastle was the lovely but now completely impractical Worswick Street which is on a hill and all the stands are on a slope. You could never make it accessible for wheelchair users nor deploy ramps properly. Getting fully loaded old Leyland Leopards or Routemasters off the stands was an art. Sadly the bus station has not been used for at least 25 years but Go Ahead did bring it back into use post deregulation. Old world shot - not my photo. www.flickr.com/photos/richardstubbings/26077413974/Deregulated era - my photo. 
Worswick St Bus Station by plcd1, on Flickr |
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maybe they curtailed buses at White Hart as the 282 exists for local passengers? The Metroline equivalent was Norwood Green but not seen that since before the summer holidays. I don't normally go north of Southall Town Centre these days (actually, even reaching there seems rare these days as there is a good chance I'll be using the train 
). I do think I'm probably more critical of Metroline than London United (or Abellio) although over the last year I've also become less tolerant of public transport problems in general. Becoming a grumpy old sod at the age of 23?! 
.
