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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:41:49 GMT
After a victory yesterday in the Tees Valley, today seems to have been a total humiliation for the Conservative Party. With Sunak even reportedly on his way to the West Midlands just for it to be declared a Labour gain. It will be interesting to see what the mood is like in the Conservative Party after this and for how long Sunak can continue to go on claiming he has any sort of mandate. These elections though have been quite big, arguably almost like a General with the amount of press interest and I think you risk voter fatigue if another was held again soon. I would still say September would be a better time. September would provide breathing space after last week's elections. However, I doubt a General Election would be called in August while many MPs, not least the Prime Minister, and many activists are on holiday.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:29:01 GMT
I was under the impression though (which could be wrong, someone could correct me) that X in particular was facing chronic staff shortages, so one could infer it looks like drivers running for the hills from X at the first chance they get! There was someone on here who was a driver (don't know if they're still around) for the 28 at JE garage when it was at Wandsworth and when it was moved back to X they were really upset about it. Some route 28 drivers will have had to move progressively further north - from JE to X and now WJ.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:22:09 GMT
The 452 PVR is lower than the 28s so will be around 3 spares after this, so it is entirely possible that the 414 could see a small part allocation, there have been OME workings on the 414 so would make sense if they put the remaining 3 on the 414. I speculate that they will probably fully allocate the OMEs to route 414 while the remaining will be used to replace the 452's VDWs. It would let RTP get rid of the old vehicles they have like the VDWs and ADHs that are close to reaching their 15 year old limit. Alternatively, they could redraw their allocation where maybe route 414 would use VMHs, WHs, and OMEs (In small amounts like you referred to), while the 452 would get fully allocated with OMEs instead. If the OMEs do convert route 414, the 12 reg ADHs could replace older examples on route E3. For good measure, this may increase RATP's chances of retaining route 414.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:12:49 GMT
Don't worry we have 4 more years of Mayor who will prioritie cycling over bus users so I'm sure the bus station will be awful before long. Lets be fair, do you really think Hall would of prioritised buses either? I know she bizarrely hired a RM to spread her anti ULEZ message but what makes you think buses suddenly would of shot to the top of the list under her? What was also bizarre was that the RM had 157 in the route number. I don't think route 157 ever worked RMs.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:07:03 GMT
Random bus and train journey #5 Piccadilly line- Wood Green to King's Cross St Pancras Circle line- King's Cross St Pancras to Paddington Elizabeth line- Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 2&3 Walked to the Central Bus Station WVL493 (SL7)- Heathrow Central Bus Station to Hatton Cross Station WMH2535 (90)- Hatton Cross Station to Feltham Leisure West Walked to Feltham Station SWR- Feltham to Richmond (was packed to the brim by rugby fans!!) 8840 (490)- Richmond Station to Pools on the Park Walked back to Richmond Town Centre VW1037 (190)- George Street to Manor Circus Walked to North Sheen Station SWR-North Sheen to Barnes DLE30246 (33)- Barnes Station to Barnes/Red Lion SE297 (533)- Barnes/Red Lion to Hogarth Roundabout Annoyingly we was behind a 190 but the driver refused to overtake it even though there was opportunities to. Missed the 190 to fully complete it so had to wait for another one. VW1056 (190)- Hogarth Roundabout to Empire State Building/West Brompton Walked to West Brompton Station Overground- West Brompton to Kensal Rise Annoyingly, again just as I left Kensal Rise a 302 pulls out and starts it's journey so had to wait for another one. Got a little entertainment by seeing a couple of rats rush out the bushes to go to the same bin every couple or so minutes VWH2013 (302)- Kensal Rise Station to Mill Hill Broadway Station HV233 (221)- Mill Hill Broadway Station to Haringey Civic Centre Walked home As route 190 is due to revert to DEL once routes 228/316 go electric, and the early VWHs are due for cascade to Manchester shortly, you were wise to make the most of those while you can. While route 33 can take DLEs now that Hammersmith Bridge is closed long-term they do still surprise me. When I rode a GA SE on route 533 last October it felt an intriguing area to be served by GA, even though they do operate route 493 nearby.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 6, 2024 3:01:26 GMT
Happy May Day Holiday everyone.
Hopefully, like on a Saturday, I shall go back to sleep briefly just before or after breakfast (but not during my breakfast lol!
Thankfully I was able to swap shifts and start at 10am instead of 8am.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 21:56:32 GMT
I think routes 240 & 340 could be merged into a single Golders Green to Harrow via Edgware and Harrow Weald route.
As route 15 is so short, it could merge with route 115 and return to East Ham.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 9:44:54 GMT
As at 10.00 on Saturday, with 102 of 107 councils declared, there are now more Lib Dem councillors in England than there are Conservatives. Labour - 1,026 +173 LibDem - 505 +101 Conservative - 479 -448 Independents - 224 +92 Green - 159 +65 Ratepayers Alliance - 48 +11 One bright spot for the Conservatives is Ben Houchen retaining the Mayoralty of Tees Valley. Although he seems to have mislaid his rosette .... Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news Although the LibDems look set to have more Councillors from the Class of '24 than the Tories, I wonder whether this is true across the country, allowing for all elections from 2021-24? (Councillors who had been due to be elected in 2021 all along, without elections postponed due to Covid, will mostly still be in office for another year).
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 9:39:47 GMT
With Arriva having recently lost route 242, I wonder whether route 158 could be reallocated to AR. part/all of route 149 to SF and part/all of route 254 to CT?
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 4:33:03 GMT
Khan is getting a lot of backlash on X for turning off the ability to reply on his Tweets. Probably doing more damage by doing this as people are just quoting his tweets anyway. If he upsets staff at Westbourne Park garage he will face a lot of backlash at X too.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 4:29:46 GMT
I suspect its almost certain Sadiq Khan will win, it won't quite be as comfortable as some polls suggest (Tories always tend to do a little bit better than polls suggest). I'm more interested to see the margin of victory though, if he wins by more than 10% (which I don't think he will) then that really is a commanding victory for him. I think at best Khan's percentage of the vote will be in the low 40s, but I wouldn't be surprised if he won with even less thanks to the switch to FPTP for mayoral elections. Will also be interested to see how much the new voting system squeezes the Greens and Lib Dems - I'm sure the Greens will still do well on the Assembly list and the Lib Dems have a good shot of winning the SW London Assembly constituency. The unpopularity of the Tories means I don't think Reform's vote will suffer from as much of a squeeze as say the Greens. I doubt Reform will even get many votes in London, except in Barking and Havering. Although 3 other boroughs voted Leave, these are still not staunch anti-Europe areas.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 4:27:12 GMT
It had been expected that Kate Forbes would stand for leader. She has ruled this out as John Swinney had promised her a strong role in Scottish government if he becomes First Minister.
Kate may have wanted to be back in government but avoid risking leading them to defeat in 2026.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 4:19:38 GMT
Buses are gradually being refurbished and given TfGM interiors (basically grey spotted moquette and yellow grabpoles).
I rode such an E400 in Wigan last November. Due to work/domestic commitments I had my May bus trip on Thursday instead of a Saturday. I rode refurb Go North West Streetdeck 3477 (formerly with Diamond) and Stagecoach E300 27955 (formerly with First).
From what I have seen, the ex-GA London WVLs and ex-RATP SPs have not been refurbished yet. I rode Stagecoach 15381 (SP65) then GA 3475 (WVL355).
Regrettably I was not in the right place to ride an ex-Oxford Volvo B5LH. I later saw that, according to Bustimes, a majority are at Oldham but I never went there. I saw plenty of 59s and 83s but these were largely BYDs.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 4:02:21 GMT
Abellio/TUK buses have Morden bound N133s showing Mitcham on a nightly basis even though they are not curtailing there I’ve also seen quite a few buses displaying N63 during the daytime, with some of the destinations being set to Crystal Palace. That's an appropriate bus for people to board when they need a daytime snooze
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on May 4, 2024 3:57:47 GMT
Apparently MHV19 has had its stay at Q extended to help fast track more hybrid refurbishments as Hants have had more slots open up due to the LT refurbishment coming to a slow. It's also the reason why there are extra Ees on the 57 temporarily as some of the WHVs at AL are off for refurbishment. I saw a picture of an EH that had just returned from the Trim with the old GAL logo, and I thought "EH?" Some of the MHVs on the 476 could do with a refurb like the EHVs. London Central buses look out of place in North London So do London General buses, as LG represents south west London. I wish NP had been given a new trading name. Admittedly the whole operation would soon go on to be just Go-Ahead London.
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