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Post by cc2005 on Jun 23, 2013 22:05:41 GMT
I'm glad 'Connor' mentioned OPO - on the 24 yesterday, freebus was in operation as quite a number of people were not touching in on the readers or by the driver. TfL officials were on hand at Trafalgar Square today telling passengers to get on the middle doors en masse. Everyone was cramming on, no one touched oyster cards in  freebus indeed! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 22:11:54 GMT
(Devil's Advocate) ... But it's not a Routemaster. You can board at any door, so why do they have to stop with the back at the stop? What really annoyed me yesterday was the conductors completely preventing any sort of hop-on, hop-off operation by planting their entire body across the door between stops. You might as well just close the door and not bother with the second member of staff. Yeah, that really got me annoyed today!!! I was going to get off in traffic on Charing Cross Road and the "conductor" put her arms across the doors and said "you can't get off here, you need to wait for the stop". WHAT IS THE POINT OF "OPEN BOARDING" AND HAVING THE REAR DOOR OPEN WHEN NO-ONE IS "ALLOWED" TO HOP ON AND OFF?!!!  Do the "conductors" even have powers to prevent people hopping on and off?! What can they actually do about it? best to file a complaint to TFL then... custserv.tfl.gov.uk/icss_csip/ZCreateRequestChangeRelatesTo.do?newTab=CA_14665TFL will soon tell Metroline off about preventing passengers boarding on and off between stops. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 23, 2013 22:19:48 GMT
I had a ride on the 24 today. Looked like the driver had never seen a NB4L before given all the button pressing and fiddling about when he got in the cab. After 4 stops the validators didn't work so the engine had to be switched off. The bus had been making a complete din before this but went into hybrid mode after it restarted. Every stop there are bleeping noises which combined with the engine noise gave me a raging headache. Every time we stopped at a stop the conductor was yelling at people to use all doors and validate their Oyster cards. No word about going to the driver if you needed to pay cash. The dwell times at stops were crazily long and we were overtaken by 4 29s between Camden Town and Leicester Square. At Leicester Square a wheelchair user was waiting so the driver tried to deploy the ramp - no joy, the wretched bleeps went on and on for 7 minutes by which times half the bus had got off due to the delay. Suddenly we went whizzing off down CX Road leaving all those people behind and no apology, information or advice from either member of staff! We ended up jammed full again and left people behind on Victoria St as there was no space. The conductor would not let anyone stand on the rear platform if they came down the back stairs too early - they were barked at to go inside the lower deck. He also blocked the rear platform but did let people off but only after saying it was at their risk and don't sue anyone if they're hurt. I got off in Pimlico wanting to not have such an awful ride ever again - it's takes a lot for me to get a headache but an engine like a tractor, a yelling conductor and endless bleeps did it for me. Two nice touches - a special announcement saying "Please clear the wheelchair area as it is now needed" that's a new one on me. The running number plates are white on black like the blinds and look smart.  Metroline LT39 24 Hampstead Heath by plcd1, on Flickr |
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Post by cc2005 on Jun 23, 2013 22:26:09 GMT
(Devil's Advocate) ... But it's not a Routemaster. You can board at any door, so why do they have to stop with the back at the stop? What really annoyed me yesterday was the conductors completely preventing any sort of hop-on, hop-off operation by planting their entire body across the door between stops. You might as well just close the door and not bother with the second member of staff. Yeah, that really got me annoyed today!!! I was going to get off in traffic on Charing Cross Road and the "conductor" put her arms across the doors and said "you can't get off here, you need to wait for the stop". WHAT IS THE POINT OF "OPEN BOARDING" AND HAVING THE REAR DOOR OPEN WHEN NO-ONE IS "ALLOWED" TO HOP ON AND OFF?!!! Do the "conductors" even have powers to prevent people hopping on and off?! What can they actually do about it? Conductors don't even do this on the real Routemasters on the 9H and 15H. I often stand on the platform and hop off/on, and no one has ever told me I'm not allowed to. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 22:40:52 GMT
Yeah, that really got me annoyed today!!! I was going to get off in traffic on Charing Cross Road and the "conductor" put her arms across the doors and said "you can't get off here, you need to wait for the stop". WHAT IS THE POINT OF "OPEN BOARDING" AND HAVING THE REAR DOOR OPEN WHEN NO-ONE IS "ALLOWED" TO HOP ON AND OFF?!!! Do the "conductors" even have powers to prevent people hopping on and off?! What can they actually do about it? Conductors don't even do this on the real Routemasters on the 9H and 15H. I often stand on the platform and hop off/on, and no one has ever told me I'm not allowed to. yes because its run by different operator. But the Metroline conductors are too pressured by the bosses over safety, they will get told off by TFL if it carries on. The Arriva conductors on the NBFL 38 are always calm and they dont do that stuff like what metroline conductors do. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 23, 2013 23:13:24 GMT
Conductors don't even do this on the real Routemasters on the 9H and 15H. I often stand on the platform and hop off/on, and no one has ever told me I'm not allowed to. yes because its run by different operator. But the Metroline conductors are too pressured by the bosses over safety, they will get told off by TFL if it carries on. The Arriva conductors on the NBFL 38 are always calm and they dont do that stuff like what metroline conductors do. There are no Arriva conductors any more. The NB4Ls on the 38 are now OPO. The Metroline staff are new and feeling their way. Inevitably they are over cautious and terrified of being bollocked for any accident that might happen. Obviously the media hype means people are watching what is going on but I am seeing a fair number of tweets with people complaining to TfL and the Mayor about not being able to hop on and off. on the 24 It will be interesting to see if TfL / Boris relent or remain hyper worried about accidents. I expect Mayor's questions will emerge in due course asking what the policy actually is. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2013 23:31:39 GMT
There are no Arriva conductors any more. The NB4Ls on the 38 are now OPO. The Metroline staff are new and feeling their way. Inevitably they are over cautious and terrified of being bollocked for any accident that might happen. Obviously the media hype means people are watching what is going on but I am seeing a fair number of tweets with people complaining to TfL and the Mayor about not being able to hop on and off. on the 24 It will be interesting to see if TfL / Boris relent or remain hyper worried about accidents. I expect Mayor's questions will emerge in due course asking what the policy actually is. I think your right, the Metroline conductors are new to the open platform business. But wonder if metroline is keeping a very close eye to the young conductors because they get pressured by the bosses to ensure safety on the open platform area. If i was a conductor on the 24, i would do the same thing like the rest. But they will soon get worn out into being pressured and end up getting bored. Then the conductors will end up reading the Metro or play on their phones to pass through the day. It happened to the Arriva 38 conductors. But infact its actually drivers taking turns on driving the bus. But i would use the NBFL like a normal bus.  Also the TFL's condition of Carriage states... So thats why the conductors are overwhelming pressured to keep the open platform clean and prevent anyone jumping on and off between stops. Also Boris Watch mentioned it on his blog about the situation. www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/06/23/great-boris-lies-11-the-hop-on-hop-off-platform/also sent out a FOI about it www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/06/23/foi-going-round-the-loop-again/ |
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Post by IanF on Jun 24, 2013 0:04:49 GMT
There are no Arriva conductors any more. The NB4Ls on the 38 are now OPO. The Metroline staff are new and feeling their way. Inevitably they are over cautious and terrified of being bollocked for any accident that might happen. Obviously the media hype means people are watching what is going on but I am seeing a fair number of tweets with people complaining to TfL and the Mayor about not being able to hop on and off. on the 24 It will be interesting to see if TfL / Boris relent or remain hyper worried about accidents. I expect Mayor's questions will emerge in due course asking what the policy actually is. I think your right, the Metroline conductors are new to the open platform business. But wonder if metroline is keeping a very close eye to the young conductors because they get pressured by the bosses to ensure safety on the open platform area. If i was a conductor on the 24, i would do the same thing like the rest. But they will soon get worn out into being pressured and end up getting bored. Then the conductors will end up reading the Metro or play on their phones to pass through the day. It happened to the Arriva 38 conductors. But infact its actually drivers taking turns on driving the bus. But i would use the NBFL like a normal bus. Also the TFL's condition of Carriage states... So thats why the conductors are overwhelming pressured to keep the open platform clean and prevent anyone jumping on and off between stops. Also Boris Watch mentioned it on his blog about the situation. www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/06/23/great-boris-lies-11-the-hop-on-hop-off-platform/also sent out a FOI about it www.boriswatch.co.uk/2013/06/23/foi-going-round-the-loop-again/Let me get this right tfl have bought buses that have a feature we can't actually use ok well done boris close fire stations and waste money on your vanity project. Grrr idiot |
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Route 24
Jun 24, 2013 1:15:19 GMT
via mobile
Post by vjaska on Jun 24, 2013 1:15:19 GMT
I had a ride on the 24 today. Looked like the driver had never seen a NB4L before given all the button pressing and fiddling about when he got in the cab. After 4 stops the validators didn't work so the engine had to be switched off. The bus had been making a complete din before this but went into hybrid mode after it restarted. Every stop there are bleeping noises which combined with the engine noise gave me a raging headache. Every time we stopped at a stop the conductor was yelling at people to use all doors and validate their Oyster cards. No word about going to the driver if you needed to pay cash. The dwell times at stops were crazily long and we were overtaken by 4 29s between Camden Town and Leicester Square. At Leicester Square a wheelchair user was waiting so the driver tried to deploy the ramp - no joy, the wretched bleeps went on and on for 7 minutes by which times half the bus had got off due to the delay. Suddenly we went whizzing off down CX Road leaving all those people behind and no apology, information or advice from either member of staff! We ended up jammed full again and left people behind on Victoria St as there was no space. The conductor would not let anyone stand on the rear platform if they came down the back stairs too early - they were barked at to go inside the lower deck. He also blocked the rear platform but did let people off but only after saying it was at their risk and don't sue anyone if they're hurt. I got off in Pimlico wanting to not have such an awful ride ever again - it's takes a lot for me to get a headache but an engine like a tractor, a yelling conductor and endless bleeps did it for me. Two nice touches - a special announcement saying "Please clear the wheelchair area as it is now needed" that's a new one on me. The running number plates are white on black like the blinds and look smart. Metroline LT39 24 Hampstead Heath by plcd1, on Flickr Ahh, so it's not just me who got a headache from the motor & I also witnessed the driver of LT17 fiddling about trying to start the d*mn thing - a fellow driver came to his rescue. Having got it from Hampstead Heath, we were chucked off at Warren Street along with the 24 behind us - so to relieve my headache, I jumped on EH29 on the 88 towards home. Thankfully, I had no problem with the rear platform guards as when I boarded at 19:00, it was in OPO mode (or freebus mode if you like). |
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Post by marlon101 on Jun 24, 2013 5:58:10 GMT
Conductors don't even do this on the real Routemasters on the 9H and 15H. I often stand on the platform and hop off/on, and no one has ever told me I'm not allowed to. yes because its run by different operator. But the Metroline conductors are too pressured by the bosses over safety, they will get told off by TFL if it carries on. The Arriva conductors on the NBFL 38 are always calm and they dont do that stuff like what metroline conductors do. I thought you said TfL were going to moan at Metroline if they carry on stopping people... |
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Post by ServerKing on Jun 24, 2013 7:34:16 GMT
I'm glad 'Connor' mentioned OPO - on the 24 yesterday, freebus was in operation as quite a number of people were not touching in on the readers or by the driver. looking forward to more of these double-decker bendies taking to the streets  I thought they were getting a 'conductor' for these things, rather than a 'door supervisor' for the back door? |
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Post by ajw on Jun 24, 2013 8:32:29 GMT
I'm glad 'Connor' mentioned OPO - on the 24 yesterday, freebus was in operation as quite a number of people were not touching in on the readers or by the driver. looking forward to more of these double-decker bendies taking to the streets I thought they were getting a 'conductor' for these things, rather than a 'door supervisor' for the back door? You thought wrong I am afraid. From the day these things were announced it was clear that the extra person was as you simply put it a door supervisor and would do no revenue control at all. Maybe now these things are in the real world some people will see what a waste of money they, and the door supervisor really are. Much more benefit for the people of London could have been achieved with the same money using off the shelf hybrid buses. |
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Post by greeny253 on Jun 24, 2013 9:41:46 GMT
So as we know TfL look on here..... Somebody up there let the Metroline platform staff know the rear platform is there for hop on, hop off purposes. Platform staff telling people to only get on at bus stops and blocking the door between stops kinda defeats the object does it not?
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Post by snoggle on Jun 24, 2013 9:46:43 GMT
It is interesting to see the extent of delays that arose on the first day of operation. I was looking at a large number of photos by John Lidstone on Flickr. There are multiple shots of conked out buses, slow running, buses with long delays at stops and chronic overcrowding. Now the first days of any new bus or a new operator can be difficult so I would not expect perfection. However, this does seem to have been a pretty poor performance given Metroline are more than familiar with route 24 having run it for many years. I wonder how things went on the first morning peak?
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Post by greeny253 on Jun 24, 2013 9:56:41 GMT
It is interesting to see the extent of delays that arose on the first day of operation. I was looking at a large number of photos by John Lidstone on Flickr. There are multiple shots of conked out buses, slow running, buses with long delays at stops and chronic overcrowding. Now the first days of any new bus or a new operator can be difficult so I would not expect perfection. However, this does seem to have been a pretty poor performance given Metroline are more than familiar with route 24 having run it for many years. I wonder how things went on the first morning peak? I would blame the "slow running" on a lack of familiarity from a drivers point of view. Soon as the staff are comfortable with how the vehicles drive the pace will pick up. |
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freebus indeed!
I thought they were getting a 'conductor' for these things, rather than a 'door supervisor' for the back door?
