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Post by VPL630 on Feb 25, 2017 18:54:24 GMT
Going back to the original topic of conversation, I just find buses too slow, busy and hassle, it takes an age to do any journey and buses craw along because of headway or just slow drivers messing with the service to get a turn
Something ive noticed is that the majority of younger people say below 40 will say thanks when they get a bus driver that isn't hanging about, rather than one that's driving to an exceptional standard and lowering the bus at each stop for example but anyone above the age of 40 will prefer the latter.
I'll never foget a time on the 55 where I was just having a lazy day in no hurry whatsoever and a passenger cane down and said for the last 3 days you've been driving like Lewis Hamilton, but today you are like a snail, what gives ? I couldn't help but laugh, safe to say someone prefers Lewis Hamilton
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Post by Volvo on Feb 25, 2017 19:49:59 GMT
Oh wow, that really doesn't sound good at all. The essex road set up is just for us 73 & the 38 drivers to have somewhere to go as the Essex Road/Mildmay Park area is soot. I mean you do have Dalston 10 minutes away but I find Dalston rather boring, its better chilling in the 'chill room' and having a chit chat with other drivers. But Pepper and Spice at Burder road is the place to be That is where I go, especially when I am on spreads lol. Then I go to my mums.
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Post by Volvo on Feb 25, 2017 20:12:03 GMT
Going back to the original topic of conversation, I just find buses too slow. slow drivers messing with the service to get a turn On highlighted part I agree with you alot there I am positive I get this alot this week on the 73s and the 253s when I was on there a few weeks ago. Last night on my last trip to Vic I left Stokey @ 1857, my leader was well infront (as I was handed to bus over late @ Essex Road towards Stokey) by the time I had gone 5 stops my headway was showing I was still in the middle but by the time I got to Newington Green he was right infront of me and I was doing 15 from Stokey, so when I got back to Essex Road I chilled for 2 minutes even though according to my duty card Im only now 2 minutes late. Anyway got to Angel 4 minutes late and was right behind him again, we lost about 10 minutes due to crazy traffic so I am now 14 minutes late and he is about 10 minutes late. Yet this dude continues to crawl down Pentonville road by the time got to KC I was 17 late and I had 3 minutes to get to TCR according to duty card. So this dude is 13 late by that point and still crawling so I just went around him and put my foot down. The bus that was infront of him was loooooong gone, I called up control to ask them why this dude is driving slow still when he is clearly late, the response was he is not my leader anyway. I just said cool and I was gone! got to Vic only 2 minutes late. What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 25, 2017 21:34:35 GMT
What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc. You forgot the ten thousand "kissy teeth" noises, grumbling, moans, "loud conversations" and tut tutting noises.
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Post by Volvo on Feb 25, 2017 21:41:51 GMT
What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc. You forgot the ten thousand "kissy teeth" noises, grumbling, moans, "loud conversations" and tut tutting noises. Looooool
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Post by sid on Feb 25, 2017 21:45:31 GMT
Going back to the original topic of conversation, I just find buses too slow. slow drivers messing with the service to get a turn On highlighted part I agree with you alot there I am positive I get this alot this week on the 73s and the 253s when I was on there a few weeks ago. Last night on my last trip to Vic I left Stokey @ 1857, my leader was well infront (as I was handed to bus over late @ Essex Road towards Stokey) by the time I had gone 5 stops my headway was showing I was still in the middle but by the time I got to Newington Green he was right infront of me and I was doing 15 from Stokey, so when I got back to Essex Road I chilled for 2 minutes even though according to my duty card Im only now 2 minutes late. Anyway got to Angel 4 minutes late and was right behind him again, we lost about 10 minutes due to crazy traffic so I am now 14 minutes late and he is about 10 minutes late. Yet this dude continues to crawl down Pentonville road by the time got to KC I was 17 late and I had 3 minutes to get to TCR according to duty card. So this dude is 13 late by that point and still crawling so I just went around him and put my foot down. The bus that was infront of him was loooooong gone, I called up control to ask them why this dude is driving slow still when he is clearly late, the response was he is not my leader anyway. I just said cool and I wwas gone! got to Vic only 2 minutes late. What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc. I've heard drivers getting earache from passengers, I think this a prime reason behind the drop in passenger numbers. People will accept traffic delays but when there is a clear road ahead and the driver is just dawdling along and waiting ages at every stop, grrrr!!
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Post by ServerKing on Feb 25, 2017 22:02:11 GMT
What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc. You forgot the ten thousand "kissy teeth" noises, grumbling, moans, "loud conversations" and tut tutting noises. HAHAHA... It's worse when the passengers are late for school / work and the "bus is held to regulate the service" and another bus on the same route overtakes it and leaves you sitting there like a lemon A short trip this morning on a very slow DW548 was enough bus riding for me for a while... and I think VLA2 totally killed my mojo due to the knackered state it was in TfL aren't doing enough to encourage people to take the bus... it's seen by many as something you use when the Tube is out due to strikes etc. Free WiFi and LED blinds with better descriptions of where the bus is going (seen way too many torn rear blinds across all operators of late, and even 'white blank' journies (such as ENL37 on the 184 in Barnet yesterday ) may be a start, or branding to make them stand out a bit more. My favourite branding back in the day was the "283 Duck Bus"
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Post by Volvo on Feb 26, 2017 0:49:04 GMT
People will accept traffic delays but when there is a clear road ahead and the driver is just dawdling along and waiting ages at every stop, grrrr!! Exactly
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Post by capitalomnibus on Feb 26, 2017 3:18:10 GMT
This is endemic cost cutting across the public sector. The same thing is happening in my work. No canteens, higher expectations at flexibility, being paid less and made to do more hours and work. For flexibility read having to work elsewhere from normal without being paid travelling time and being expected to get home or to work at silly hours of the morning whilst offering no car parking facilities. Oh wow, that really doesn't sound good at all. The essex road set up is just for us 73 & the 38 drivers to have somewhere to go as the Essex Road/Mildmay Park area is soot. I mean you do have Dalston 10 minutes away but I find Dalston rather boring, its better chilling in the 'chill room' and having a chit chat with other drivers. The 393 also takes meal relief there at Mildmay Park
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Post by Volvo on Feb 26, 2017 9:41:21 GMT
Oh wow, that really doesn't sound good at all. The essex road set up is just for us 73 & the 38 drivers to have somewhere to go as the Essex Road/Mildmay Park area is soot. I mean you do have Dalston 10 minutes away but I find Dalston rather boring, its better chilling in the 'chill room' and having a chit chat with other drivers. The 393 also takes meal relief there at Mildmay Park Really?, every driver I have met in there always talking about 38 or 73. Why would their meal relief be @ Mildmay Park anyway? its not even on route so where do the drivers changeover? as I thought this wall all done @ Clapton as I am always seeing 393s run light to Garage from the Pond @ various times of the day.
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Post by Volvo on Feb 26, 2017 9:46:07 GMT
It's worse when the passengers are late for school / work and the "bus is held to regulate the service" and another bus on the same route overtakes it and leaves you sitting there like a lemon It is funny you should say this as there is many times when I am sitting and waiting for 2 minutes for example on the 73s because I am catching upto my leader so I do it mysefl or I might get a message. Lo and behold by the time I start moving there is another 73 right behind me, so I am thinking what was the point in me holding? as now my follower is going to be running with me anyway and we both are going to end up catching my leader up because he is only 3 minutes ahead.
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Post by mondraker275 on Feb 26, 2017 10:26:31 GMT
Going back to the original topic of conversation, I just find buses too slow, busy and hassle, it takes an age to do any journey and buses craw along because of headway or just slow drivers messing with the service to get a turn Something ive noticed is that the majority of younger people say below 40 will say thanks when they get a bus driver that isn't hanging about, rather than one that's driving to an exceptional standard and lowering the bus at each stop for example but anyone above the age of 40 will prefer the latter. I'll never foget a time on the 55 where I was just having a lazy day in no hurry whatsoever and a passenger cane down and said for the last 3 days you've been driving like Lewis Hamilton, but today you are like a snail, what gives ? I couldn't help but laugh, safe to say someone prefers Lewis Hamilton Wow . Did not know this happened. I always wondered about drivers stuck in traffic nearing their break or finish, but assumed they would speed up to catch time up, but to do the opposite? I mean thats worse than anything mentioned on the posts after this. I would take a bus regulating a service on an empty road, crawling along, getting overtaken compared to this. Now I am going to be paranoid everytime a bus slows down
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Post by sid on Feb 26, 2017 10:39:29 GMT
Going back to the original topic of conversation, I just find buses too slow, busy and hassle, it takes an age to do any journey and buses craw along because of headway or just slow drivers messing with the service to get a turn Something ive noticed is that the majority of younger people say below 40 will say thanks when they get a bus driver that isn't hanging about, rather than one that's driving to an exceptional standard and lowering the bus at each stop for example but anyone above the age of 40 will prefer the latter. I'll never foget a time on the 55 where I was just having a lazy day in no hurry whatsoever and a passenger cane down and said for the last 3 days you've been driving like Lewis Hamilton, but today you are like a snail, what gives ? I couldn't help but laugh, safe to say someone prefers Lewis Hamilton Wow . Did not know this happened. I always wondered about drivers stuck in traffic nearing their break or finish, but assumed they would speed up to catch time up, but to do the opposite? I mean thats worse than anything mentioned on the posts after this. I would take a bus regulating a service on an empty road, crawling along, getting overtaken compared to this. Now I am going to be paranoid everytime a bus slows down It really is nothing new, there have always been drivers like that who will just scratch about trying to get a turn and there is often nothing management can do about as it's difficult to prove that they are doing it deliberately. I think it's fair to say that the overwhelming majority of drivers do not act like this though.
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Post by Hassaan on Feb 26, 2017 10:54:20 GMT
Interesting thread. For many years now, it has been the case that I usually can't be bothered to sit ages on buses where a faster rail option exists. This actually started when my 16+ Oyster expired (end of September 2013) and I had to start paying for buses as well. I noticed that it didn't cost much more to use the train, whether PAYG or a season Travelcard. Around that time I got a 16-25 railcard, so it was often cheaper to take the train. I also found myself getting interested in National Rail as well, both in and outside London, and my interest in buses took a hit during 2014 and especially 2015. This also saw my tolerance for getting stuck in traffic reduce significantly. Indeed, during the 2014 Southall Broadway work I didn't go on the 427/607 diversion at all even though it used normally unserved side roads! 2016 did see me become interested in buses again, but I still continue to use the train where it is much faster than the bus. For example I usually take the DLR between Gallions Reach and Canning Town, taking about 11 minutes, while the 474 takes about 20 minutes. Over the summer I don't recall doing any full Ealing Broadway to Southall journey using the 207/427/607, whereas I used the train a huge number of times (even if the frequency back then was two trains in 7 minutes then nothing for 23 minutes ). This academic year I actually haven't taken the 262 at all between Stratford and Gallions Reach every time I've gone there I've used the train (or on a few occasions, the university bus).
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Post by redbus on Feb 26, 2017 22:06:33 GMT
On highlighted part I agree with you alot there I am positive I get this alot this week on the 73s and the 253s when I was on there a few weeks ago. Last night on my last trip to Vic I left Stokey @ 1857, my leader was well infront (as I was handed to bus over late @ Essex Road towards Stokey) by the time I had gone 5 stops my headway was showing I was still in the middle but by the time I got to Newington Green he was right infront of me and I was doing 15 from Stokey, so when I got back to Essex Road I chilled for 2 minutes even though according to my duty card Im only now 2 minutes late. Anyway got to Angel 4 minutes late and was right behind him again, we lost about 10 minutes due to crazy traffic so I am now 14 minutes late and he is about 10 minutes late. Yet this dude continues to crawl down Pentonville road by the time got to KC I was 17 late and I had 3 minutes to get to TCR according to duty card. So this dude is 13 late by that point and still crawling so I just went around him and put my foot down. The bus that was infront of him was loooooong gone, I called up control to ask them why this dude is driving slow still when he is clearly late, the response was he is not my leader anyway. I just said cool and I wwas gone! got to Vic only 2 minutes late. What you say about speedier driving is true, when I am on the 253 I always get thank you driver. When I am on the 73 flying (on the rare occasion you get to) I get thank you driver alot. When I am trundling along and stopping at stops to maintain headway and kill time, people just get peed off and I get why you keep stopping or why you driving so slow or come on man people need to get to places or I am driving like I want to sleep etc. I've heard drivers getting earache from passengers, I think this a prime reason behind the drop in passenger numbers. People will accept traffic delays but when there is a clear road ahead and the driver is just dawdling along and waiting ages at every stop, grrrr!! I absolutely agree, and as passenger I find this dawdling incredibly frustrating and a good reason to avoid the bus. I often check to see how far behind the next bus is, and if it's close to the scheduled headway (as more often than not it is), I feel smoke coming out my ears from frustration! TfL really need to get a grip.
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