Buses Diversion Vs Curtailment

[Deleted]

Hello,

Today there was a building fire on Romford road between Little Ilford Lane and Manor Park / High Street North. This resulted in route 25/86/147 going on a rather lengthy diversion as follows - 


Ilford - A406 to Barking Roundabout , Barking road , Green Street , Back on line of route (25/86)

I dread to think how this must have affected services! - Would it not be better to curtail routes during in disruption like this especial on busy routes like the 25?  The 25 could have been cut back to Manor Park Broadway. I am not sure why buses couldn't travel via High Street North towards Manor Park?

Also not sure what the W19 was doing during all this?  

Any thoughts?  

[Ice Prxnce]

Buses do get curtailed when there's a diversion along the line of the route...

[Deleted]

May 17, 2014 20:32:25 GMT Ice Prxnce said:

Buses do get curtailed when there's a diversion along the line of the route...

Well not on this occasion 

[Eastlondoner62]

I do get the point of he 86 diverting but not of the 25, goodness knows how long that diversion would have taken.

[sid]

May 17, 2014 20:41:24 GMT Eastlondoner62 said:

I do get the point of he 86 diverting but not of the 25, goodness knows how long that diversion would have taken.

I agree, this will have disrupted the whole 25 service, surely it should have been curtailed at Manor Park?

[M1104]

I have known instances where shortly after centrecom broadcasts a diversion the operator would then radio drivers to curtail instead.

[Deleted]

I have noticed a strong preference to stack buses rather than divert them.

[eggmiester]

It's a service control strategy. On an occasions like this, a lengthy diversion, a controller will seek to operate a staggered service over the affected section to maintain a service for the rest of the route. In cases they will get an authorisation form their manager or the network duty manager at c/com for say a 1 in 4 service over the affected part of the route, where 1 in 4 buses will run via the diversion to the end.

This obviously only works if the problem is towards one end of the route. If its in the middle of the route then the strategy is a bit different.

Controllers plans will differ depending on route characteristics and things like the driver reliefs, some duties may have short reliefs for instance, these buses would be your primary concern, as a late meal relief could cause a problem later in the day, although it could be beneficial as well. It all depends on the circumstances at the time.