|
|
Post by cl54 on Oct 15, 2018 17:26:53 GMT
So we get a revised schedule on the 386 from tomorrow. Supposed to improve reliability. Might help if someone in authority at MG told the drivers not to run early on this wide interval service. More of a problem now as the service relies on the newer drivers. Perhaps the mentors need to explain that occasional early running is acceptable not on a daily basis. Early morning buses are there to get people to work. You're clearly a bit "fed up" [1] with the service. Have you complained to TfL or, if you're on Twitter, tweeted Go Ahead London to point out the failings and the impact of you / others [2]? [1] this may be an understatement. [2] early morning buses tend to have a regular clientel IME. I tried your option 2. Standard answer - please contact TfL. I think they only want positive comments on their Twitter feed. |
|
|
|
Post by cl54 on Oct 15, 2018 17:30:28 GMT
This is one heck of a traffic bus jam The traffic light phasing should have been changed. The good news is Riney appear to be getting a shift on with the road works |
|
|
|
Post by sid on Oct 15, 2018 17:56:31 GMT
You're clearly a bit "fed up" [1] with the service. Have you complained to TfL or, if you're on Twitter, tweeted Go Ahead London to point out the failings and the impact of you / others [2]? [1] this may be an understatement. [2] early morning buses tend to have a regular clientel IME. I tried your option 2. Standard answer - please contact TfL. I think they only want positive comments on their Twitter feed. Quite honestly I don't think Go Ahead will give two hoots as long as TfL let them get away with it. I agree that it's totally unacceptable, there's no point in publishing a timetable if drivers are allowed to leave early. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2018 18:02:52 GMT
I tried your option 2. Standard answer - please contact TfL. I think they only want positive comments on their Twitter feed. Quite honestly I don't think Go Ahead will give two hoots as long as TfL let them get away with it. I agree that it's totally unacceptable, there's no point in publishing a timetable if drivers are allowed to leave early. TfL class up to 2:30 minutes early as "on time" so it's TfL policy you need to be arguing with cl54 , not the drivers' actions! They are simply following what they're told, which is no more than two minutes early. The new schedule hasn't helped the matter either, simply given the route too much running time. |
|
|
|
Post by cl54 on Oct 15, 2018 19:12:49 GMT
Quite honestly I don't think Go Ahead will give two hoots as long as TfL let them get away with it. I agree that it's totally unacceptable, there's no point in publishing a timetable if drivers are allowed to leave early. TfL class up to 2:30 minutes early as "on time" so it's TfL policy you need to be arguing with cl54 , not the drivers' actions! They are simply following what they're told, which is no more than two minutes early. The new schedule hasn't helped the matter either, simply given the route too much running time. Sorry but a more experienced driver (white shirt with shoulder flashes) on my bus this morning. Bang on time. Proves it can be done. Whilst occasional early running is inevitable you don't have to do it every day, particularly when the next bus is 20 or more minutes away. It is the drivers who are leaving early - didn't happen in Stagecoach days. |
|
|
|
Post by sid on Oct 15, 2018 20:03:00 GMT
Quite honestly I don't think Go Ahead will give two hoots as long as TfL let them get away with it. I agree that it's totally unacceptable, there's no point in publishing a timetable if drivers are allowed to leave early. TfL class up to 2:30 minutes early as "on time" so it's TfL policy you need to be arguing with cl54 , not the drivers' actions! They are simply following what they're told, which is no more than two minutes early. The new schedule hasn't helped the matter either, simply given the route too much running time. I agree with you that it's TfL rules that are to blame here but if the route has too much running time it's baffling as to why drivers feel the need to leave early, surely it would make more sense to leave slightly late if anything? |
|
|
|
Post by busaholic on Oct 15, 2018 20:29:16 GMT
TfL class up to 2:30 minutes early as "on time" so it's TfL policy you need to be arguing with cl54 , not the drivers' actions! They are simply following what they're told, which is no more than two minutes early. The new schedule hasn't helped the matter either, simply given the route too much running time. I agree with you that it's TfL rules that are to blame here but if the route has too much running time it's baffling as to why drivers feel the need to leave early, surely it would make more sense to leave slightly late if anything? Not if you get a driver who hates passengers: regrettably, that seems more common than used to be the case when you didn't have different companies running individual bus routes. I'm sure it's still fairly uncommon, but getting less so. I accept that drivers now are potentially under more stress than before, with many more factors than driving to consider. Nowadays you can get signed up as a driver comparatively quickly, whereas in earlier times it was quite a protracted process to be accepted as a London bus driver: LT were able to weed out some during that process who, whatever their driving skills, were not psychologically suitable. I belong to a national rail forum as well, and it's regrettable how many of the contributors who work in that industry speak of the majority of passengers as being worse than vermin. Happily, they are countered by others who have a more balanced perspective, but it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. One or two of the worst culprits appear to be ticket inspectors (although they may give themselves more fancy titles) and their attitude stinks. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2018 20:39:14 GMT
This is one heck of a traffic bus jam You wait ages for a bus then 20 come along at once . |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2018 20:52:22 GMT
TfL class up to 2:30 minutes early as "on time" so it's TfL policy you need to be arguing with cl54 , not the drivers' actions! They are simply following what they're told, which is no more than two minutes early. The new schedule hasn't helped the matter either, simply given the route too much running time. Sorry but a more experienced driver (white shirt with shoulder flashes) on my bus this morning. Bang on time. Proves it can be done. Whilst occasional early running is inevitable you don't have to do it every day, particularly when the next bus is 20 or more minutes away. It is the drivers who are leaving early - didn't happen in Stagecoach days. Again, the drivers are not breaking any rules so you cannot blame them, and Go Ahead will not do anything if TfL policy allows it! Obviously if the buses are running more than 2:30 early, it is reflected on QSI standards. |
|
|
|
Post by busaholic on Oct 15, 2018 21:03:52 GMT
This is one heck of a traffic bus jam You wait ages for a bus then 20 come along at once . The only time I ever saw that many buses together was on Oxford Street around 1995, when a 159 had an altercation with a taxi near Bond Street Station and diesel got spilled all over the road surface. There was a line of buses westbound behind the 159 all the way to the junction with Regent Street, almost all with engines off and, in those Routemaster days, many with no signs of any crew. There may well have been more buses on Oxford Street east of Regent Street too, but I didn't investigate. I reckon there were about thirty buses in the queue, with no other vehicles, the only couple of gaps at traffic lights to allow N-S access. |
|
|
|
Post by snoggle on Oct 15, 2018 23:02:48 GMT
Sorry but a more experienced driver (white shirt with shoulder flashes) on my bus this morning. Bang on time. Proves it can be done. Whilst occasional early running is inevitable you don't have to do it every day, particularly when the next bus is 20 or more minutes away. It is the drivers who are leaving early - didn't happen in Stagecoach days. Again, the drivers are not breaking any rules so you cannot blame them, and Go Ahead will not do anything if TfL policy allows it! Obviously if the buses are running more than 2:30 early, it is reflected on QSI standards. I appreciate you are playing it "by the book" but the point here is that regardless of TfL's performance measurement criteria Go Ahead's performance on early morning trips on the 386 is noticeably worse than Stagecoach. They've been on the route long enough now to have got past any early "teething troubles" or "learning curve" so the buses should turn up on time. As I have said before I used to catch the same bus every morning not long after 0630. There was a regular crowd of people on the bus and at the stop. Everyone expects buses at that time of day to be on time barring a monumental disaster somewhere. It is not an unreasonable expectation and a lot of people have other connections to make so rely on things running properly. People also work to narrower time margins to get to the stop early in the morning. I understand the cynicism about writing to TfL and complaining. I've had my fair share of useless responses over the years. However nothing will ever be done to get the service on to decent timekeeping if no one tells TfL and contrasts what happens now with what went before under Stagecoach. The old operator did it properly and consistently, the new one is not matching that same performance. It's not exactly rocket science to run buses on time at that time of day. Being left with a 22 min wait because a bus runs 2 mins early is not acceptable at that time of day regardless of how TfL measure it. |
|
|
|
Post by cl54 on Oct 16, 2018 3:54:54 GMT
Sorry but a more experienced driver (white shirt with shoulder flashes) on my bus this morning. Bang on time. Proves it can be done. Whilst occasional early running is inevitable you don't have to do it every day, particularly when the next bus is 20 or more minutes away. It is the drivers who are leaving early - didn't happen in Stagecoach days. Again, the drivers are not breaking any rules so you cannot blame them, and Go Ahead will not do anything if TfL policy allows it! Obviously if the buses are running more than 2:30 early, it is reflected on QSI standards. It seems you don't understand the difference between a rule and a dispensation. There is kit on the bus that shows that the bus is early, on time or late. There are times when running early will happen but not daily unless the bus is leaving early every day. If you have an early duty from Monday to Friday and you find you are running early on Monday you should not do it for the rest of the week. Bus drivers are professionals. Why run early anyway? |
|
|
|
Post by sid on Oct 16, 2018 5:25:46 GMT
Again, the drivers are not breaking any rules so you cannot blame them, and Go Ahead will not do anything if TfL policy allows it! Obviously if the buses are running more than 2:30 early, it is reflected on QSI standards. It seems you don't understand the difference between a rule and a dispensation. There is kit on the bus that shows that the bus is early, on time or late. There are times when running early will happen but not daily unless the bus is leaving early every day. If you have an early duty from Monday to Friday and you find you are running early on Monday you should not do it for the rest of the week. Bus drivers are professionals. Why run early anyway? I think the question has to be, why do TfL allow early running? It just makes no sense whatsoever. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2018 5:37:17 GMT
Again, the drivers are not breaking any rules so you cannot blame them, and Go Ahead will not do anything if TfL policy allows it! Obviously if the buses are running more than 2:30 early, it is reflected on QSI standards. It seems you don't understand the difference between a rule and a dispensation. There is kit on the bus that shows that the bus is early, on time or late. There are times when running early will happen but not daily unless the bus is leaving early every day. If you have an early duty from Monday to Friday and you find you are running early on Monday you should not do it for the rest of the week. Bus drivers are professionals. Why run early anyway? It would make sense to run early on a route where you would lose time in other places. On the 386 you lose time around the estate in Kidbrooke. Anyway, you are allowed to run two minutes early so they are simply doing what they are told. And there are other reasons why you could be early. If the driver is finishing or going on his break he wouldn't hang around would he? Or maybe he needs the toilet at the other end so needs his stand time. Plus if you have gained the time elsewhere, drivers don't enjoy holding back any more than passengers do! Clearly you are taking this out on the wrong people. TfL allow it, so it is not the drivers fault for running early. They are simply following what they are told! Anyway the problem isn't with new drivers because new drivers are not allowed on the route because it's a high accident route! |
|
|
|
Post by Hassaan on Oct 16, 2018 9:24:02 GMT
It seems you don't understand the difference between a rule and a dispensation. There is kit on the bus that shows that the bus is early, on time or late. There are times when running early will happen but not daily unless the bus is leaving early every day. If you have an early duty from Monday to Friday and you find you are running early on Monday you should not do it for the rest of the week. Bus drivers are professionals. Why run early anyway? It would make sense to run early on a route where you would lose time in other places. On the 386 you lose time around the estate in Kidbrooke. Anyway, you are allowed to run two minutes early so they are simply doing what they are told. And there are other reasons why you could be early. If the driver is finishing or going on his break he wouldn't hang around would he? Or maybe he needs the toilet at the other end so needs his stand time. Plus if you have gained the time elsewhere, drivers don't enjoy holding back any more than passengers do! Clearly you are taking this out on the wrong people. TfL allow it, so it is not the drivers fault for running early. They are simply following what they are told! Anyway the problem isn't with new drivers because new drivers are not allowed on the route because it's a high accident route! If the timetable is too tight on part of the route and buses always lose time, then the drivers and operator need to take it on the chin as it is their poor timetabling that caused it. Why should passengers on an earlier part of the route have to suffer? And certain operators really do seem worse than others for this. Where I live, the route changed from London United to Metroline. The London United drivers always left on time in the evenings when it was every 15 minutes, whereas the Metroline drivers seem to leave whenever they feel like it. |
|
