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Post by COBO on Sept 11, 2016 19:04:14 GMT
Some people thought that the 483 was the 83 and didn't notice that it was 483 until it got to North Wembley. A lady kept asking "if the bus was going to Kingsbury?" Several times and "Isn't this the 83?" Several times and "this driver is a joker!" I was thinking don't go blaming the driver because you didn't notice the 4 in front of the 83.
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Post by vjaska on Sept 11, 2016 19:17:06 GMT
First impressions of the 483 are that it's a route of two contrasts though admittedly, this is all based on my one journey and watching other buses pass by. Like the 83, it starts off fairly quiet between Ealing Hospital & Ealing Broadway not taking on too many people before succumbing to the shoppers at Ealing Broadway. Some people were a little baffled here with one woman needing reassurance that the 483 went to Wembley. From here to Wembley Central Station, we were quite busy and just like the 83 would normally do, we were picking up at nearly every stop whilst crawling through the slow moving traffic along the A406, Hanger Lane & through Alperton except at Alperton, a number of passengers made a beeline for an 83 in front - wonder if that was out of distrust for a unknown bus or they needed to go to Wembley Park and beyond! After Wembley Central Station, the bus was carrying more fresh air than passengers and two passengers who'd recently got on thinking they could reach Wembley Park ASDA had to disembark just as quick for the 83 that was behind us - once they got off, we picked up just one passenger between Wembley High Road & Harrow Bus Station and that was near Northwick Park Hospital! Every stop we pulled into, people looked so confused as if they'd fallen into a parallel universe with some new fangled 483 route - the 83 that was behind us meanwhile was taking all the passengers and becoming overloaded as a result. All the 483's I saw between Wembley Stadium & Harrow had light loads as well. So far, it seems that either the new link to Harrow hasn't caught on yet or people just aren't interested in it. Eeh dearie me - you young things expecting crush loads on day one of a service that has had no marketing, no publicity and no information. Give it a week or so and people will be hopping on board with gay abandon and give it 6 months and I expect we will see respectable numbers. IIRC Mr Thin Lizzy reported that the revised EL2 was like the Marie Celeste at Barking Stn on the first working day. A week later - ram-a-roony packed full. Doesn't take people too long to adjust to these things but I just wish TfL got their information effort right and put in some promotional effort. The past where "buses fill themselves" doesn't seem to be happening - patronage this year is 34m pass jnys down on last year so something is wrong given many of the road works are finished and the much promised "bounce back" isn't materialising. I wasn't expecting anything TBH, just thought I'd give my opinion on why it was what I observed.
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Post by snoggle on Sept 11, 2016 20:57:38 GMT
Eeh dearie me - you young things expecting crush loads on day one of a service that has had no marketing, no publicity and no information. Give it a week or so and people will be hopping on board with gay abandon and give it 6 months and I expect we will see respectable numbers. IIRC Mr Thin Lizzy reported that the revised EL2 was like the Marie Celeste at Barking Stn on the first working day. A week later - ram-a-roony packed full. Doesn't take people too long to adjust to these things but I just wish TfL got their information effort right and put in some promotional effort. The past where "buses fill themselves" doesn't seem to be happening - patronage this year is 34m pass jnys down on last year so something is wrong given many of the road works are finished and the much promised "bounce back" isn't materialising. I wasn't expecting anything TBH, just thought I'd give my opinion on why it was what I observed. I was gently teasing you know. No need to sound so stern. And thank you for sharing your opinion.
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Post by vjaska on Sept 11, 2016 22:07:11 GMT
I wasn't expecting anything TBH, just thought I'd give my opinion on why it was what I observed. I was gently teasing you know. No need to sound so stern. And thank you for sharing your opinion. Apologies if it sounded stern as it wasn't meant to sound like that - sadly when I type it up on mobile, I have no emojis to call upon
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Post by snoggle on Oct 1, 2016 20:34:32 GMT
As we are three weeks on from the changes (yes, TfL, *3* weeks why doesn't your website recognise the changes???!!) can anyone say how things are going locally? Is the new section of the 483 being used? Have the 182s got a bit quieter at Wembley toward Harrow? Are there massed crowds at Alperton grumping about having to change to / from the 83? Comments welcome. You know I always like a bit of feedback about service changes.
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Post by COBO on Oct 1, 2016 21:14:17 GMT
As we are three weeks on from the changes (yes, TfL, *3* weeks why doesn't your website recognise the changes???!!) can anyone say how things are going locally? Is the new section of the 483 being used? Have the 182s got a bit quieter at Wembley toward Harrow? Are there massed crowds at Alperton grumping about having to change to / from the 83? Comments welcome. You know I always like a bit of feedback about service changes. I've been using the 483 for a few weeks. It's a very useful route. It links places that have never been linked before. The Passenger numbers for the new section has been slowly building up. There grumping at the beginning but things have now calmed down. I saw a packed Harrow bound 483 in Hanger Lane today. The 182 is still the same. I wonder if TFL will put Bus stops on the Wembley Hill Road section.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2016 21:16:34 GMT
As we are three weeks on from the changes (yes, TfL, *3* weeks why doesn't your website recognise the changes???!!) can anyone say how things are going locally? Is the new section of the 483 being used? Have the 182s got a bit quieter at Wembley toward Harrow? Are there massed crowds at Alperton grumping about having to change to / from the 83? Comments welcome. You know I always like a bit of feedback about service changes. I'll offer one observation. Whenever I go past Harrow I never really see these things getting well used at the bus station, which is where I'd have thought the busiest part of the route would be north of Wembley. Even during the peaks. Maybe people are still to discover or warm to it?
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Post by COBO on Oct 1, 2016 21:22:32 GMT
As we are three weeks on from the changes (yes, TfL, *3* weeks why doesn't your website recognise the changes???!!) can anyone say how things are going locally? Is the new section of the 483 being used? Have the 182s got a bit quieter at Wembley toward Harrow? Are there massed crowds at Alperton grumping about having to change to / from the 83? Comments welcome. You know I always like a bit of feedback about service changes. I'll offer one observation. Whenever I go past Harrow I never really see these things getting well used at the bus station, which is where I'd have thought the busiest part of the route would be north of Wembley. Even during the peaks. Maybe people are still to discover or warm to it? Yes I was expecting more people to use it past Wembley as well. But it's slowly building up but it's not high.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2016 21:45:33 GMT
I'll offer one observation. Whenever I go past Harrow I never really see these things getting well used at the bus station, which is where I'd have thought the busiest part of the route would be north of Wembley. Even during the peaks. Maybe people are still to discover or warm to it? Yes I was expecting more people to use it past Wembley as well. But it's slowly building up but it's not high. I didn't actually realise it wasn't busy heading towards Harrow beyond Wembley but I was surprised at the lack of patronage at Harrow bus station for journeys towards Ealing. I wonder if the main focus of helping the 182 was for the Harrow direction which I suppose makes sense when you consider Northwick Park hospital's proximity to Harrow itself and the number of available routes between the two.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Oct 2, 2016 10:09:13 GMT
I can remember when route 83, extended from Ealing Broadway to Ealing Hospital in 1979, had alternate journeys terminate at Hendon Bell instead of continuing through to Golders Green. As this made the Ealing end "stronger" it seems odd to think of route 83 still serving Golders Green but no longer serving Ealing.
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Post by COBO on Oct 2, 2016 10:18:37 GMT
Yes I was expecting more people to use it past Wembley as well. But it's slowly building up but it's not high. I didn't actually realise it wasn't busy heading towards Harrow beyond Wembley but I was surprised at the lack of patronage at Harrow bus station for journeys towards Ealing. I wonder if the main focus of helping the 182 was for the Harrow direction which I suppose makes sense when you consider Northwick Park hospital's proximity to Harrow itself and the number of available routes between the two. I blame the routing. If it was up to me I would have had the 483 run more direct between Northwick Park Hospital and Alperton via the 245 to Sudbury and then the 182 to Harrow. By doing this it would given a better assistance to the 182. A new route could have taken the Wembley Stadium to Northwick Park Hospital section or extending the H14 to Wembley via Wembley Stadium and North Wembley.
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Post by maximus23 on Oct 6, 2016 19:52:14 GMT
As we are three weeks on from the changes (yes, TfL, *3* weeks why doesn't your website recognise the changes???!!) can anyone say how things are going locally? Is the new section of the 483 being used? Have the 182s got a bit quieter at Wembley toward Harrow? Are there massed crowds at Alperton grumping about having to change to / from the 83? Comments welcome. You know I always like a bit of feedback about service changes. I took the 483 from Harrow to Wembley a week after it was introduced and only 3 passengers got on at Harrow, it then went non stop to North Wembley where the other 2 passengers got off and 1 got on, then it went non stop again to Wembley Stadium Station. It left Harrow 1 minute before a 182 which was packed, I then saw the same 182 at Wembley still packed. I think its just a case of people needing to discover the route but when they do, I assume it will take heaps of pressure of the 182.
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Post by southlondonbus on Oct 6, 2016 21:23:08 GMT
Again it dosent help that buses have no via points. If it pulled in with say Wembley and Alperton on the front and via Wembley on the side would no doubt have made people in Harrow more aware.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 21:40:43 GMT
Again it dosent help that buses have no via points. If it pulled in with say Wembley and Alperton on the front and via Wembley on the side would no doubt have made people in Harrow more aware. Possibly, but I have to say I like the lack of via points on the buses. People should read the maps and timetables provided at bus stops for this as is their responsibility. On the tube I always get asked if there are more trains/when is the next train when I'm tipping out but all they have to do is look at the timetables, there is little excuse. I know that "if people don't know if a bus exists why would they check for timetables" argument exists but I think the publicity should be in bus stop frames (where practicable) and certainly prevalent in bus stations. For example I haven't seen Harrow bus station recently but still only a few boarders while the 182 remains packed suggests a distinct lack of advertising (although I'm sure there are spider maps available? Are they up to date?
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Post by snoggle on Oct 6, 2016 22:08:06 GMT
Again it dosent help that buses have no via points. If it pulled in with say Wembley and Alperton on the front and via Wembley on the side would no doubt have made people in Harrow more aware. Possibly, but I have to say I like the lack of via points on the buses. People should read the maps and timetables provided at bus stops for this as is their responsibility. On the tube I always get asked if there are more trains/when is the next train when I'm tipping out but all they have to do is look at the timetables, there is little excuse. I know that "if people don't know if a bus exists why would they check for timetables" argument exists but I think the publicity should be in bus stop frames (where practicable) and certainly prevalent in bus stations. For example I haven't seen Harrow bus station recently but still only a few boarders while the 182 remains packed suggests a distinct lack of advertising (although I'm sure there are spider maps available? Are they up to date? I don't think you can blame the public for not knowing about the 483 when it has taken TfL over 3 weeks to update its own website to show the route's details and live departure info at stops. I've just looked and nearly fell off my chair when the website actually recognised the route number and displayed the route details and stop list. If people rely on that website, and why shouldn't they?, and it doesn't recognise the route number they've every right to wonder what the heck is going on. It is TfL's decision to shift so much of its information flow on to digital platforms and then it can't manage them properly. Not the passenger's fault. Now TfL can be bothered to provide some up to date info about the 483 then perhaps people stand a chance of using the service with some degree of confidence? The online spider maps are not up to date so that's another info source which is at odds with reality. Ditto the quadrant maps although their update cycle is very long but TfL could easily add a note to the relevant page listing the routes that have changed but, of course, they don't do that either. This is all simple enough stuff but it simply is not done. 2 days away from West Croydon bus station reopening and no online info about that either. Anyone seen anything at stops in Croydon or on the I-Bus displays on buses serving Croydon?
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