|
Post by enviroPB on Apr 7, 2020 10:02:49 GMT
Tfl turned away from that idea when they changed the 65 into the 65 and N65. Is it that expensive to re number a route? New blinds are often needed (new buses, new routes coming into a garage) timetables are often changed and bus stop titles wear out and need updating at some point. I don't know what the rationale was behind that? A 24hr 65 with a night extension to Chessington seemed fine to me and I can't imagine most people would even notice whether there was a N prefix. That's if the correct blind is displayed anyway. I would say the only routes that need the N prefix are routes like the N5 and N20 that don't have a daytime equivalent or routes like the N136 that go a different way than their daytime equivalent. TfL can't preach simplification of the bus network and then have anomalies with night route numbering. Cases like the 47 and 148 are acceptable; in the case of the former when it gets curtailed to Liverpool Street, publicity both digital and otherwise is well advertised in lieu of blue tiles. The 65 to Chessington completely bucked that trend by placing blue tiles on stops that the day route didn't traverse.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Apr 2, 2020 17:38:33 GMT
That's funny, cause without a shadow of a doubt the 47 has been the most well used bus I've seen since the lockdown. The peak time of between 4 and 6am has seen buses packed, even with the 188 trailing behind/kicking its heels at the front. Oh, btw yes I'm a key worker so I didn't go out my way for this observation. Not going to entertain useful routes being hacked passing as casual conversation. Yes but many people are probably avoiding the tube at the moment. As someone mentioned previously buses from the Lewisham direction near empty out at Canada Water in normal circumstances. Cuts are planned already such as the 101 and 262 which I don't agree with although I think the Bluewater cuts are more reasonable and I suspect that they will be exacerbated by this virus so it might well be a case of.... if you want to save the 47 what do you want to cut instead? I'm just trying to show you how vital the route is even in these dire times. Just cause train links are quicker doesn't always mean they're favoured by most- do you know how many fully accessible (step free) Overground stations there are on the network? Have to reach into the ether of my memory after citing Dlaston Junction and possibly Highbury & Islington. As others have said the 47 has already had savage cuts (it may be the only zone 1 route with 3bph on Sundays) so it doesn't need another hack of the axe. Even at nights, granted capacity is a little superfluous before 4am on weeknights but the 47N is definitely needed on weekends. I'm certain there are some punters at Shoreditch who will go for the bus not only for the price saving compared to the zone 1 station, but the fact that Shoreditch High Street Station has a very inconspicuous entrance means some likely don't bother for the Night Overground at all. Sometimes overbussing is a necessary evil, and I much rather that than the days prior to September 2015 where passengers were regularly left behind by full (old) N47 buses from London Bridge southbound. As for the day service, maybe a pruning somewhere north of Lodnon Bridge; Liverpool Street or possibly Monument with buses standing at Mansion House.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Apr 2, 2020 16:44:33 GMT
Regardless of whether someone is left high & dry, this is exactly why people are finding other alternatives to public transport - when you take something away such as a bus service or make that journey longer by having to change, people generally decide with their feet and go elsewhere - the vulnerable and poor either end up with no such choice or if they really can make it work, find non public transport such as a mate or neighbour to give them a lift or plunge themselves into debt for private hire transport. Everybody that's commented seems to agree that the 47 has had it's day, it's a shame but such is life. Large numbers of people have switched to the train. That's funny, cause without a shadow of a doubt the 47 has been the most well used bus I've seen since the lockdown. The peak time of between 4 and 6am has seen buses packed, even with the 188 trailing behind/kicking its heels at the front. Oh, btw yes I'm a key worker so I didn't go out my way for this observation. Not going to entertain useful routes being hacked passing as casual conversation.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 25, 2020 19:14:53 GMT
Fine here is the link, ignore this mans ignorant commentary. Mods feel free to delete if I am breaking forum rules. It's okay guys, the pandemic is over now. All we have to do is worry about this Covert 19 that this guy is harping on about and we'll be fine...
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 11, 2020 14:23:58 GMT
Buses are only losing time due to the right turn only out of Aldgate bus station. I'm certain the route would cope fine if it could hook a left instead of have to turn around via Duke's Place and Houndsditch. Seriously doubt the 343 could be curtailed back to City Hall, it could never stand successfully with 2 or 3 buses on Queen Elizabeth Street without blocking through traffic and backing up onto Tower Bridge Road. The 343 should only be pulled back to Tower Gateway, otherwise the shambolic halfway house of culling the RV1 and pulling the 40 out of Aldgate in place of extending the 343 would have been for nothing. If I was the one making changes in TFL I would try to fix the Aldgate issue ever since the 40 was removed. The 344 I would withdraw between Monument & Liverpool Street and send up the old 40 to Aldgate. This would be a much better route to send up there and could always stand on the 40s old stands instead of the bus station. That's what I thought should've taken place. I wouldn't send the 344 to Aldgate. A route that goes deep into south London (going past Elephant & Castle) is what's needed for this slice of the City. The 343 is a little indirect to attract passengers at Aldgate I feel. Usage will remain somewhat stable but will drop significantly at nights if the 344 was pulled away from Liverpool Street. Would it be so difficult for a set of lights to allow a filter for just the 343 to turn left out of Aldgate bus station? I know the 154 has a right turn in Carshalton whereas cars can only go straight on or left by the Windsor Castle pub. TfL looks like they're reluctant to modify the Aldgate junction for the 343 so as to allow for less waiting time for traffic. There is only one pedestrian crossing which is to the west of the bus station, and should they modify it that'll mean an increase in idling for through traffic as an additional phase has to be introduced; separate from buses leaving the bus station.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 8, 2020 17:52:08 GMT
Idk how much truth to it there is, but heard canteen rumor there may be changes to 343, possibly back to City Hall only, with buses losing 15-20 mins coming out of Aldgate stand. Buses are only losing time due to the right turn only out of Aldgate bus station. I'm certain the route would cope fine if it could hook a left instead of have to turn around via Duke's Place and Houndsditch. Seriously doubt the 343 could be curtailed back to City Hall, it could never stand successfully with 2 or 3 buses on Queen Elizabeth Street without blocking through traffic and backing up onto Tower Bridge Road. The 343 should only be pulled back to Tower Gateway, otherwise the shambolic halfway house of culling the RV1 and pulling the 40 out of Aldgate in place of extending the 343 would have been for nothing.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 7, 2020 14:35:43 GMT
I don't understand why there's a need for the new electric to trial a low sounding fog horn to warn pedestrians and the like of its presence on the road. The drivers still has his horn don't they? If I was cycling I'd be more distracted by the noise instead of the bus whizzing past me which it to be expected. This is why some people who live near main roads say they can't fall asleep without the sound of sirens and vehicular traffic; we pump too much noise pollution on our city's streets and it's ironic now given the 444 uses zero emission buses. Hope this new sound goes the way of 'this bus is ready to depart' trial, ending rather swiftly.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 2, 2020 15:52:09 GMT
So my weekend was productive as an enthusiast... went up to Manchester for the weekend. Before I got there I was on the coach going through Birmingham, and NE's Midland Buses were using the iBus system on their fairly new MMCs! It was a welcome surprise the successful system made it that far north. Then I got to Manchester, went to a pub in the town centre to see my mate and afterwards opted for the only proper 24 hour bus in Manchester, the 43. It used diesel MMCs for the night service so I completely forgot about the electrics until the next day! They were great to see as the livery was fantastic, hard pressed to find the Stagecoach logo or fleet number though. You'll definitely remember the bus with the image etched in your memory. The insides were a little more energised I'd say with the blue and orange leather seats and the abysmal charge from the ports, which to be fair did give me a 5% charge in 50 minutes. Better than I was expecting. There was also an audio visual display which bounced between next stop and [next stop here] with the time & date and route number & destination flashing every few stops. What I want to bring to the fore is how bus companies can attract more custom with some personalised liveries and a little bit of investment. Other cities like Birmingham and Manchester lack the technological advancements we take as commonplace such as the audio-visual friendly iBus that they're now catching up with, but plain red in London is getting a bit boring and lacklustre. Those electrics on Manchester route 43 (and another in central Manchester but don't know no. and company) add attraction and intrigue to try the bus. When I got back to London and looked at the electric bus on the 94 last night, it just didn't do it for me.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Mar 2, 2020 13:48:39 GMT
It goes a little way to stemming cuts, but what's more favourable & financially lucrative are things like Crossrail being operational and increased patronage on buses in particular which is tumbling like mountain rocks. What TfL is doing to have bus usership increase in 2021-22 as per their business plan without relying on Crossrail remains to be seen; but when for example they push forward with plans to decimate the 25 losing millions of journeys for the sake of saving circa 20 buses off a PVR is silly to me. Real bus priority is making bus lanes operational for a longer time and not killing valuable links that generate patronage, such as the 53 picking up at Whitehall instead of County Hall. Why don't TfL take a book out of Go Ahead's Brighton division and name buses in London after notable people in the capital? I'd open the floor for individuals who are alive as well as deceased, and have Joe & Jenny Public vote for their choices which will get users more involved with the bus network. Saving 20 buses will be a saving of around £4m a year ... and besides you can't look at the 25s passenger numbers in isolation without looking at the 425s. If they could do anything to get Crossrail open any sooner I imagine they would. Surely it is down to operators if they wish to name vehicles ... not TfL? As you've requested, I've had a look at the patronage figures and I still won't accept 5 million less passengers since the City Thameslink cull on the 25 has transferred into a 2 million increase on the 425 during the same time. All the 3 million displaced didn't suddenly hop onto the 8, barely 250,000 increase in 18/19. I don't know how much each bus passenger journey costs on average but I do know all those displaced passengers will not wilfully jump on the already packed Tube services because TfL chop up useful bus services. Let's be honest, most of those passengers have found alternatives to the transport network altogether, namely cycling and private hire cars such as Uber. Omitting maybe the 301 and the decking of the 178 as they haven't had associated Crossrail cuts to introduce them, TfL should've held up on all Elizabeth Line changes (particularly in west London) as they're ruining bus services and ultimately losing money for the sake of saving a few bob from PVR cuts. It just doesn't make sense.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 29, 2020 8:47:37 GMT
This sponsorship deal does nothing to add value to the network already in place apart from add a couple million to the piggy bank. It'd be an acceptable argument if TfL said it wanted to increase contactless payments on the cusp of closing ticket offices perhaps, but that event has happened years ago. There's nothing to suggest either that this partnership with Google can potentially improve ticket barrier technology already in place across the Tube network. All this article says is "Hey, why don't we use the yellow reader as advertising space", nothing to shout about really. Surely it is better than saying we have to find another £2m of cuts. It goes a little way to stemming cuts, but what's more favourable & financially lucrative are things like Crossrail being operational and increased patronage on buses in particular which is tumbling like mountain rocks. What TfL is doing to have bus usership increase in 2021-22 as per their business plan without relying on Crossrail remains to be seen; but when for example they push forward with plans to decimate the 25 losing millions of journeys for the sake of saving circa 20 buses off a PVR is silly to me. Real bus priority is making bus lanes operational for a longer time and not killing valuable links that generate patronage, such as the 53 picking up at Whitehall instead of County Hall. Why don't TfL take a book out of Go Ahead's Brighton division and name buses in London after notable people in the capital? I'd open the floor for individuals who are alive as well as deceased, and have Joe & Jenny Public vote for their choices which will get users more involved with the bus network.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 28, 2020 16:43:14 GMT
This sponsorship deal does nothing to add value to the network already in place apart from add a couple million to the piggy bank. It'd be an acceptable argument if TfL said it wanted to increase contactless payments on the cusp of closing ticket offices perhaps, but that event has happened years ago. There's nothing to suggest either that this partnership with Google can potentially improve ticket barrier technology already in place across the Tube network.
All this article says is "Hey, why don't we use the yellow reader as advertising space", nothing to shout about really.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 25, 2020 10:33:17 GMT
I agree - Some depots may have just given up and not run the last service, at least they got it going, as faults do happen. At least its not First Essex who on several occasions were not operating the last few services on Route 100 around Grays/Lakeside, where it is especially important, being more of a rural community with less links etc. I remember Ensign actually stepped in and operated the last few services on the 100 a couple times (For free may I add). On other forums First Essex seem notorious for being disliked for stuff like this as well as all their cuts/cheapness. Though I've never used them so can't give my opinion on that. That reminds me of the time in 2012 when I got on a 58 when the bus really wasn't for for service, back door not operational and an incessant pitching noise which I assume was related to the former. What made that trip exceptional was it was the last 58 service to Walthamstow, and given the driver was about 5 minutes late I assume he was trying to fix the problem on his own. He likely called the controller and he was advised to stick it out, and I was appreciative of that. Ain't no way First was going to get a bus to East Ham from LI at 12:45am on such short notice!
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 23, 2020 23:15:58 GMT
No difference from here ... Probably 75+% of the posts are pure speculation ... fake news rules supreme in the bus enthusiast world .... if your speculation get repeating more than twice, it has to be accepted as fact .... and whoo betide any descending voices! Take 312 tender award ... virtually every site I have seen says the retained part is the 7 X 15-reg EMCs. As far as I am aware this has not been confirmed, and will be shocked if this is the case ... OK, in preparation for being shocked! This hobby and the forum is starting to become very frustratingly unbearable. People are so arrogant about on were they get there information. I joined this forum to be with like minded people because I couldn't talk about buses anywhere else. I liked it because we talked about buses but now the hobby and this has become unbearable. I've been on this forum a long time so I've been learning thing and interacting with people on this forum for a long time. But now it's like speaking to some people is like banging my head agaisnt the wall. Most of the good people with valuable information have gone. Now most people on this forum and the hobby are just speculating. This forum is just full of arguments and people getting over each other. The hobby and the forum is not how it used be. So many people think that there speculation is right. I just don't know what to do about this hobby and forum anymore. I feel like I don't want to share bus information with like minded people. This hobby is not making me happy anymore and I just don't know what to do? How do I know the information that people tell me is 100%? Honestly, I don't think people know how to wait [till they have something meaningful to say] anymore so they feel obliged to say anything, even if it's wrong. Not trying to showcase my particular experience but I did legitimately wait a good 10 years or more to have the guts to sign up to this forum. I was absorbing the wealth of knowledge on here and it probably didn't hurt studying how to phrase my points with press examples here and official documents there. The important thing is that I was patient; from what I've been reading recently, some are not willing to wait for whispers to become concrete fact just so they can be 'first' to report on a topic. That's where the rift comes in with over-obnoxious enthusiasts isolating those in the industry by making them out to be fakes, and rightly so those members in that position walk away as they and their precious info aren't being taken seriously over what's lies at the crux of it. I'm just replying to one of the questions you've asked, hopefully it helps for you. 1. Don't trust anything! If someone tells you what appears to be fact, check it against trusted sources like LOTS & LBR or indeed the TfL website. If you still feel iffy about what's said, 2. Look at the quality of a member's post to see if it is a fairly presumptuous fact or not. Even if that member tends to be jovial, they'd normally state that. A serious member will always label their clout of their views as a disclaimer to their words. 3. Don't be afraid to ask a member directly (preferably through private messaging) exactly where their source is coming from. Should their info be very solid, there would be solid evidence to come with it. The person in question should be able to produce some sort of evidence or at least give a reference point for you to enquire. Failing that, 4. Hit that report button. All members are fully entitled to report a post that feels disingenuous. In the 5 years I've been part of this forum I've only reported 2 posts, and quelle surprise the members are no longer on this forum. That is due to their uncontrollable verbal diarrhoea to the point where they get threatening or abusive towards others. If you feel that a post isn't being truthful, report it. My last bit of advice is to meet up with some enthusiasts in real life so you can not only put names to faces, so that you can also create a real-life friend so you can talk about this very subject with. Personally I tend to do my enthusiast activities alone and only interact with other enthusiasts on contract changeover days, but there's no stopping you from bucking that trend so you can enjoy your hobby with other like minded people.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 16, 2020 19:08:48 GMT
Pretty shocked and saddened by this news. I knew Caroline Flack from watching CBBC's TMI programme on Saturday mornings. Having grown up in the Caribbean till I was 12, we had tv shows mostly influenced by America where Saturday morning kids tv is a big thing. I only felt a similar vibe when watching her, Sam & Mark on TMI and somehow I was comforted when she was on screen.
Haven't avidly watched her since then but obviously have seen her in drips and drabs as she's been scattered over tv be it presenting or in panel shows, but she was a great presenter who was multi-talented and her great personality shone through every broadcast she's ever done. There are definitely lessons to be learnt about the welfare of those vulnerable on social media and figures in the public eye and how all parties (mainly media) deal with people who are struggling mentally; but for now, rest in peace Caroline and sending my love to her family & friends in this difficult time.
|
|
|
Post by enviroPB on Feb 11, 2020 15:50:06 GMT
Dagenham Heathway doesn’t have a night service easily solved by making the 174 24hrs to Harold hill and the N86 rerouted to Upminster station via Hornchurch creating 24 hr linksfHornchurch and Upminster I keep seeing these areas mentioned but just wonder how much demand there would be for a night service? I definitely think a night route to Upminster would benefit Tube staff and cleaners at the Cranham depot. I believe you can access the depot from Upminster station so there may be no need to have a possibly rerouted N86 follow the 248 routing up to Cranham. It'd be cost effective to implement that change and have a 24 hour 174 run to Marsh Way for Tesco warehouse workers, who currently fill the bus to seating capacity on the last scheduled journey to Harold Hill on any given night.
|
|