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Post by COBO on May 31, 2013 17:00:01 GMT
Done mine I've done mine its a shame you can't report on more than one bus route.
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Post by snoggle on May 31, 2013 23:38:54 GMT
Done mine I've done mine its a shame you can't report on more than one bus route. Surely there is no restriction to you submitting more than one survey? You can also send in comments via E Mail if you wish. There are actually two surveys - one on the routes you use and then one based on the 4 key questions the TC are asking. My draft response to the 4 questions is currently 6 pages long!! ;D I thought the TC might value some extra insight Update - response sent - all 8 pages of it.
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Post by marlon101 on Jun 4, 2013 20:49:38 GMT
If you read the article you will see that free travel for children and the unemployed is at risk. And deliberately chosen to be as politically toxic and unpopular as possible because the Government would be blamed, not the Mayor. Whether it would raise the "right" amount of savings to deal with whatever scale of cut in grants materialises is a complete unknown. I have my doubts. We're talking about hundreds of millions (if the Standard's quoted 30% cut is used) which means projects and jobs get cut. BTDTGTTS many, many times in the past. Actually I think it is to blame the mayor. Either The Times or The Evening Standard today used the helpful phrase that DC & GO were trying to "kneecap" Boris Johnson through funding. I quite like the thought of Enfield trying to start with a blank sheet of paper to evaluate where buses need to go. I dare say it would throw up a few surprises. However it would be quite impractical if all the London Boroughs attempted that. Down in the borough of Bexley I think most things work quite well. The one odd change I'd make is going back to the drawing board completely with the 492 and introduce something like a B-route to link the North Cray Estate to Sidcup and Bexleyheath, whilst strengthening the 96 onto Bluewater. Capacity seems the big issue to me; there's loads of it going spare everywhere. It sickens me to see bus after bus carry fresh air maintaining a turn up & go frequency for many hours of the day. Before the morning peak & after the evening peak frequencies should be hacked back quite extesnively, in my opinion to target capacity in a more focussed way.
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Post by lc1 on Jun 5, 2013 10:24:21 GMT
[And while I'm on this one; they could do with re-timing the lights in a few places. Northumberland Avenue springs to mind. The lights at the Trafalgar Square end spend 57 seconds (not a typo!) on red to then spend only 7 on green. Never seen that road without a queue of traffic Haha funny you should mention lights, I was sitting in a jam caused by some in Welling yesterday...in excess of 2 minutes on red and 9 seconds on green (yes I was that bored I watched the time on the iBus MDT) when I got to the front (10 minutes it took me from Welling Football Ground to Tesco, for those that know the area) I saw what the problem was....our lights was missing a sequence.
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Post by vjaska on Jun 5, 2013 12:17:13 GMT
[And while I'm on this one; they could do with re-timing the lights in a few places. Northumberland Avenue springs to mind. The lights at the Trafalgar Square end spend 57 seconds (not a typo!) on red to then spend only 7 on green. Never seen that road without a queue of traffic Haha funny you should mention lights, I was sitting in a jam caused by some in Welling yesterday...in excess of 2 minutes on red and 9 seconds on green (yes I was that bored I watched the time on the iBus MDT) when I got to the front (10 minutes it took me from Welling Football Ground to Tesco, for those that know the area) I saw what the problem was....our lights was missing a sequence. You think 9 is bad, try 4 seconds on Clapham Park Road at the Clapham Common junction - took 15-20 minutes to get past the said lights. I wasn't best pleased as it added time to my bus outing! Personally, in some places, there are far too many traffic lights - particularly Pelican crossings.
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Post by romfordbuses on Jun 5, 2013 18:45:27 GMT
Did anyone got a reply back to invite them to the meeting tomorrow? I'm slightly tempted to go to see if I can try and ask about tri-axles!
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Post by snoggle on Jun 5, 2013 19:29:34 GMT
Did anyone got a reply back to invite them to the meeting tomorrow? I'm slightly tempted to go to see if I can try and ask about tri-axles! Yes I got a reply and an invite. I hope to make it along but more as an observer than a participant. I've sent in plenty of ideas and comments. While I understand why an "open mic" session is being done the danger with these things is that you get Mr or Mrs "Rant-a-lot" or Dr "I hate TfL with a passion" on the mic droning on for 5 minutes saying little of consequence or value. This then causes people to switch off which is not what is wanted. My only slight concern is that the panel that is invited is not particularly stellar (IMO). It is worth noting that TfL are not on the panel tomorrow but will have a representative present. TfL are invited to respond to whatever issues the Committee identify at the July meeting and that will be the more interesting meeting - especially if someone senior is there (as I would expect). To my mind that means you can suggest that tri-axles might be a useful development but TfL will not be there tomorrow to say "yes", "no" or "we've thought about them but don't like them".
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Post by snoggle on Jun 7, 2013 16:53:01 GMT
London Travelwatch have made a submission to the London Assembly about bus services. There are some interesting remarks and observations as well as some examples that will resonate with people here (e.g Bromley North). Being ever so slightly big headed it is nice to see that some of what I have said in my submission is very similar to the remarks made by London Travelwatch.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2013 16:48:08 GMT
Did anyone from here go to the meeting, and if so what were your thoughts?
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Post by snoggle on Jun 8, 2013 17:23:38 GMT
Did anyone from here go to the meeting, and if so what were your thoughts? In the end I did not go. I did read the various tweets that emanating during the meeting - some predictable stuff from the usual suspects like Transport for All (hashtag #busdebate) plus a hint of predictable moans and complaints. I have yet to watch the Webcast but anyone can watch it and see what was said and by whom. It seems John Barry and Leon Daniels were present - just as well I didn't go!! The meeting was 2.5 hours long.
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Post by snoggle on Jun 8, 2013 19:12:50 GMT
I've watched about an hour of the webcast. As I half expected it is very hard going given some rather entrenched views. I did wonder if the Enfield Council rep has been taking "bus route altering substances" (to misquote David Cameron). Some of the comments are utterly bizarre IMO while others are nicely considered and pertinent. Here are some headlines - guaranteed to get some blood boiling on here! - TfL are far too slow and unresponsive in making changes
- There is no transparency about the planning process
- Bus routes need to be flexible and not have numbers. Instead they should have colours and wander round areas which are colour coded (Enfield Council suggestion)
- Buses have to be redesigned inside for more buggy and wheelchair space. There should be an approved list of buggy designs with "Monster Buggies" being banned.
- Buses are driven too quickly and kill people all the time - this from the gent who was run down in Oxford St and is on a one man mission to discredit the bus companies and TfL.
- Impossible for disabled people to travel at peak times
- You need to be "flexible" and move underused buses to places where more buses are needed
- Why no buses on Christmas Day?
- The Unite rep said cuts to bus subsidy were being paid for by bus staff whose wages and conditions are being lowered to allow lower tender prices
- Consultation process sometimes gives the wrong answer because "losers" shout louder than "winners". The 312/412 change was cited as an example.
- Lots and lots and lots of complaints, especially from pensioners, about the effect of health service changes and inflexible bus services / no changes to serve hospitals. Route 96 and Darent Valley H cited as example.
- Shifting resources between areas might result in job losses for bus staff. People can't swap from one side of London to another
- Lack of planning co-ordination between planning decisions for things like schools and universities and what TfL does or does not do to serve them.
- Enfield Council have apparently gone back to a "clean sheet" and are planning a new bus route network to reflect current demand and future developments. Bye bye history and hello guesswork - cynical moi?
- We need a continental ticketing system - the good old 1 hour bus ticket rises again
- London Travelwatch made a lot of sensible remarks about the value of bus priority and mourned the closure of TfL's Bus Priority Unit in 2008. Now when was Boris elected?
Goodness knows how the Transport Committee are actually going to come out with a coherent set of proposals and observations. It will be completely fascinating to see how TfL respond - I could speculate now but the nurse would have to come round with an overdose of anti cynicism tablets.
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Post by Connor on Jun 8, 2013 22:47:06 GMT
London Travelwatch have made a submission to the London Assembly about bus services. There are some interesting remarks and observations as well as some examples that will resonate with people here (e.g Bromley North). Being ever so slightly big headed it is nice to see that some of what I have said in my submission is very similar to the remarks made by London Travelwatch. Happy to see that the overcrowding issue on the 109 (London Road section) has been noted.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 0:17:20 GMT
I bet its more work for TFL to deal with when it comes to problems on the buses. I am glad they are allowing the public to come in and have their say. Well I do hope the problems get solved because TFL need to look in the number 1 priority instead of rolling out NBFL's which is sorting out the entire network.
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Post by Steve80 on Jun 9, 2013 3:15:26 GMT
London Travelwatch have made a submission to the London Assembly about bus services. There are some interesting remarks and observations as well as some examples that will resonate with people here (e.g Bromley North). Being ever so slightly big headed it is nice to see that some of what I have said in my submission is very similar to the remarks made by London Travelwatch. Happy to see that the overcrowding issue on the 109 (London Road section) has been noted. Me too. I always use the 50 when travelling to and from croydon to streatham as im guaranteed a seat. Using the 109 is highly annoying - takes an age at almost every stop Interested to see that route 25 is london's most important bus route as it carries 23 million passengers per annum. I like to see a list of the 10 most important bsu routes.
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Post by snowman on Jun 9, 2013 8:13:37 GMT
I bet its more work for TFL to deal with when it comes to problems on the buses. I am glad they are allowing the public to come in and have their say. Well I do hope the problems get solved because TFL need to look in the number 1 priority instead of rolling out NBFL's which is sorting out the entire network. I think it needs some outside prodding like this to force the issue, TfL have got used to minor fiddling with existing routes. They seem to be scared to severely axe routes where there is overprovision and consequently cant afford to improve properly where there are problems. To me, a review of each of the big suburban towns and what is needed, is seriously overdue, some routes don't really serve what they did decades ago. If it means also building a few bus stands instead of having pointless extensions they it should be done. At its simplest in short term if a route is tendered and carrying fresh air, move some of the buses to another route that fits in with todays requirement, even kill routes that would be better replaced by another one serving todays journeys, Operators could be paid to do similar mileage along different roads until tender expires.
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