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Post by rambo on Oct 22, 2018 19:05:33 GMT
Maybe it is my imagination but TfL used to be much more customer focussed and tried hard to provide an alternative temporary stop. Indeed it was unusual for them not to. Nowadays it seems common not to provide a temporary stop, their attitude seems to have changed. I have even noticed that places where temporary stops used to be placed, now the stop is just closed with no replacement. I think there is room for improvement. *Vast* room for improvement. I completely agree that TfL's approach to temporary stops has changed for the worse. Trouble is, sometimes temporary stops are stuck in stupid places! Having to walk 400 yards because a stop is closed is not the end of the world. |
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Post by sid on Oct 22, 2018 19:14:46 GMT
*Vast* room for improvement. I completely agree that TfL's approach to temporary stops has changed for the worse. Trouble is, sometimes temporary stops are stuck in stupid places! Having to walk 400 yards because a stop is closed is not the end of the world. Well it's not good news for somebody who disabled or in poor health. |
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Post by redbus on Oct 22, 2018 19:17:29 GMT
*Vast* room for improvement. I completely agree that TfL's approach to temporary stops has changed for the worse. Trouble is, sometimes temporary stops are stuck in stupid places! Having to walk 400 yards because a stop is closed is not the end of the world. Firstly it is not always 400 yards, sometimes it is not even clear where you have to go to catch the bus. The information just says nearby stops. If you see that and don't know the area, you have a problem.
400 yards is also a long distance if maybe you have shopping, have kids, are less mobile and so on. Maybe the weather is poor and there's heavy rain. Not everyone will find it easy to walk another 400 yards, although it is probably no problem for you or me.
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Post by Paul on Oct 22, 2018 20:09:45 GMT
Any 200MMC drivers can elaborate why the brakes are so jolty? Some buses are better than others but in most cases the brakes are pretty terrible as much as the driver tries to make it smooth it's just not happening and most passengers who change over from 400 hybrid or something feel surprised that they can't even walk or stand up while driver is performing a bus stop. Like every day I see people close to falling over while walking on bus to or from the seat. I think these buses are somewhat dangerous, I know few drivers who said the same thing and they give 100% to make it a smooth and slow stop and yet the braking just 'lags' and jolts before you come to a stop, like it's using more of engine braking than actual brakes. When we first got the 200MMCs at Bromley a lot of us remarked on the brakes and the way they felt completely different to the existing 200s we already had. It took a while but I finally managed to adopt a style where the braking isn’t so ‘jerky’ but even now, some three years or so after getting them, it will still catch me out And with regards to the dolly stops, was there not a number of incidents a few years ago where dolly stops were getting stolen? Perhaps this has led to a noticeable decline in the number of dolly stops being placed? |
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Post by snoggle on Oct 22, 2018 20:12:04 GMT
*Vast* room for improvement. I completely agree that TfL's approach to temporary stops has changed for the worse. Trouble is, sometimes temporary stops are stuck in stupid places! Having to walk 400 yards because a stop is closed is not the end of the world. If you are fit and unencumbered and have allowed yourself plenty of time to walk to another stop then I might agree with you. However many people in London now rely on real time info meaning they allow little spare time to get to a nearest stop never mind an alternative however far away. If you're laded with shopping, walk with a stick or simply can't walk fast then closing stops without a nearby alternative just means people miss their bus. As you'll know all too well this can mean a wait for up to 60 mins depending on where you are or the time of day / day of week. It can also make the difference between making connections and missing them. The entire process of closing stops for works no longer works properly in London. Information is not consistently ported across all the systems and data flows it needs to pass across. This means bus drivers, I-Bus, Countdown, websites and apps don't get the right information at the right time consistently. That's a long term failing and there's no sign of it getting any better. Even accepting your and beaver14's point that in some places there are not sensible or safe alternative locations there are far too many cases where someone just hasn't bothered. I have direct experience of this with my local stops. It was only when I contacted the council and forced them to sort something out with TfL that we actually got alternative stops put in place. If I hadn't bothered then a lot of people would have been needlessly inconvenienced for weeks. It can be done but I strongly suspect the poor TfL area controllers have an utterly thankless task and that the level of resource has been reduced. I suspect that is partly why we see such poor and variable performance. London's network is huge and road works are ever present. To cope with the consequences you need a lot of good resource and effective processes but the money's gone. |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Oct 22, 2018 20:42:25 GMT
This is something I made a few minutes ago This is meant to represent a poster,if put up may be more effective than sending boring emails (It doesn't look the best but this is just an initial idea) Not necesssarily the facts on the poster are real  They would never do that saying use the bus over the train. As they are forcing people onto the train from the bus for a revenue perspective. |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Oct 22, 2018 20:47:57 GMT
The stupidity is someone is still going to the stop with a van, and using a stepladder to put a hood on the stop. If this part of the process had also stopped then the lack of dolly stop would be understandable. But the way it stands now have visit to do half a job, so saving is marginal. My guess is something else has changed such as only using dolly stops at wheelchair ramp compatible locations. I agree that something has changed. My suspicion is that it comes down to staffing levels. Perhaps TfL simply don't have the level of staff to assess each bus stop closure and work out where they can put a dolly stop. I suspect they might just do this for what they determine are important or easy stops. Another possibility is that the rules have changed as to where dolly stops can be sited. Its down to the council a lot, they have to be notified of where dolly stops are put down. They refuse a lot of times where they could be located so then the local Network Traffic Controller has no choice but to have the stop closed with no alternative. |
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Post by COBO on Oct 22, 2018 20:58:33 GMT
Does the Robert Munster aka the owner of London Bus Net work for RATP?
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Post by YY13VKP on Oct 22, 2018 21:02:48 GMT
Does the Robert Munster aka the owner of London Bus Net work for RATP? What makes you think that? |
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Post by COBO on Oct 22, 2018 21:03:55 GMT
Does the Robert Munster aka the owner of London Bus Net work for RATP? What makes you think that? I heard that he works for London United and I wonder if that’s true. |
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Post by sid on Oct 22, 2018 21:09:55 GMT
What makes you think that? I heard that he works for London United and I wonder if that’s true. Yes I believe he does. |
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Post by busaholic on Oct 22, 2018 21:18:58 GMT
*Vast* room for improvement. I completely agree that TfL's approach to temporary stops has changed for the worse. Trouble is, sometimes temporary stops are stuck in stupid places! Having to walk 400 yards because a stop is closed is not the end of the world. It could make a difference to some as to whether they can use the bus. |
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Post by kmkcheng on Oct 22, 2018 21:40:23 GMT
What makes you think that? I heard that he works for London United and I wonder if that’s true. This is a little bio of him on his own website even though he doesn’t say which company he works for, there’s a old picture of him on a LU routemaster back in 2003. I do remember reading somewhere that he does work for London United and the info on his site does seem to be more accurate and detailed if it relates to anything RATP compared to the other companies. |
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Post by Pilot on Oct 23, 2018 12:11:12 GMT
Any 200MMC drivers can elaborate why the brakes are so jolty? Some buses are better than others but in most cases the brakes are pretty terrible as much as the driver tries to make it smooth it's just not happening and most passengers who change over from 400 hybrid or something feel surprised that they can't even walk or stand up while driver is performing a bus stop. Like every day I see people close to falling over while walking on bus to or from the seat. I think these buses are somewhat dangerous, I know few drivers who said the same thing and they give 100% to make it a smooth and slow stop and yet the braking just 'lags' and jolts before you come to a stop, like it's using more of engine braking than actual brakes. When we first got the 200MMCs at Bromley a lot of us remarked on the brakes and the way they felt completely different to the existing 200s we already had. It took a while but I finally managed to adopt a style where the braking isn’t so ‘jerky’ but even now, some three years or so after getting them, it will still catch me out And with regards to the dolly stops, was there not a number of incidents a few years ago where dolly stops were getting stolen? Perhaps this has led to a noticeable decline in the number of dolly stops being placed? And it depends on buses, some buses are better than others, some feel better while still cold, some only become better after hours of use as dumb as it may sound. It just sucks for some drivers because it takes away the pedaling skills, I feel like these are made for pedal smashers because you can always do 100% throttle on launch (because it's designed to have slow launch) and then if you're driving 30mph you can sort of smash the brakes at 50% and come to a complete stop fairly steady and smooth, but if you're driving 20mph roads and 'attempt' to make it smooth by applying 35% brake then it's jerky. |
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Post by beaver14uk on Oct 23, 2018 20:52:31 GMT
We don't consult the council putting temporary stops out. Certainly accessible issues play a big part today, resources the amount of stops closures and work with less people maybe plays a part also. Certainly temporary stops are sited if safe to do so. Trouble is with parking and street furniture it can be quite restricted. quote author=" capitalomnibus" source="/post/461402/thread" timestamp="1540241277"] I agree that something has changed. My suspicion is that it comes down to staffing levels. Perhaps TfL simply don't have the level of staff to assess each bus stop closure and work out where they can put a dolly stop. I suspect they might just do this for what they determine are important or easy stops. Another possibility is that the rules have changed as to where dolly stops can be sited. Its down to the council a lot, they have to be notified of where dolly stops are put down. They refuse a lot of times where they could be located so then the local Network Traffic Controller has no choice but to have the stop closed with no alternative. [/quote] |
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