dg comments

please empty your brain below

Somewhere at TfL Towers, an official head hits an official desk. Again.

George | 14.10.15 - 7:16 a.m. | #

If TfL had any sense they'd have emailed you asking you to work with them directly on resolving this matter.

*If*

What a missed opportunity to get a free consultant who knows what he's talking about.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 7:54 a.m. | #

I forecast at least one more post. In due course, when the person with the dent in the desk has done his/her stuff, the results will be correct in the online database, and favourite app and text messages will be ok. Then we will get the next DG post, which will mention that the nice voice on the buses is still making the wrong announcements. This will be because the data has to percolate out to the buses themselves, which will, I think, take time. The buses have a stored version of the data. I think.

Malcolm | 14.10.15 - 8:02 a.m. | #

I'm interested to know the status of the westbound bus stops. Is one side of the road served by 3 bus stops whilst the stretch on the eastbound side has been stripped down to one?

louise | 14.10.15 - 8:14 a.m. | #

Either that or DG will get poked by a ricin-tipped TfL umbrella.

Richard | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 8:20 a.m. | #

On the westbound side of the road there are still three bus stops, all in the same location, shared out between different routes. Work has yet to begin on adding a bus stop bypass here, but it's getting close.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 8:24 a.m. | #

You really are testing the patience of your readers with all this now.

Stephen | 14.10.15 - 8:36 a.m. | #

I find this topic still strangely riveting.

trad or anon | 14.10.15 - 8:51 a.m. | #

I was here the other day and actually saw the three bus stops for myself.

the orange one | 14.10.15 - 8:56 a.m. | #

I am loving these posts as I used to work with these muppets who have cocked up an easy task so royally. Realise however I am probably in a minority of your loyal fans.

scrumpy | 14.10.15 - 9:01 a.m. | #

#tumbleweed.......

Bored of bl**dy Bow bus stops | 14.10.15 - 9:06 a.m. | #

I think they picked the wrong man to replace Peter Hendy!

South London Lad | 14.10.15 - 9:51 a.m. | #

@Stephen

You don't HAVE to read his every blog! Personally I often find DG's writing style just as interesting as the topics themselves.

Tim | 14.10.15 - 10:00 a.m. | #

Some months DG goes through a purple patch of excellent blog posts on a variety of subjects.

This is not that time.

Jordan D | 14.10.15 - 10:07 a.m. | #

This is getting a bit OCD.

JohnR | 14.10.15 - 10:18 a.m. | #

Send them a telegram.

With reference to Bow Church Stop Stop Stop confusing people by renaming the stop Stop M Stop Stop G would be a better name for the stop Stop Yours Stop DG Stop PS Please Stop

Uncle Audrey | 14.10.15 - 10:42 a.m. | #

This guy has lost the plot now.

Adam | 14.10.15 - 10:57 a.m. | #

This guy has lost the plot now.

Adam | 14.10.15 - 10:57 a.m. | #

Next post
1. Bow Bus stop..................due
2. Some statistics ..............20 hours
3. Bow bus stop..................44 hours
4. Something domestic / work related..68 hours
5. Somewhere DG went at the weekend ......82 hours

All good fun - keep it up. And don't listen to those who are bored of the subject - if you don't like it, you can have your money back

If it was my blog, the analogue of the Bow bus stop saga would be the continued cacellations of trains on my line - four times this week, and it's only Wednesday.

timbo | 14.10.15 - 11:06 a.m. | #

I love the detail, it's a riveting story of one mans war against incompetence.

Should forward it to dinner assembly members!

Theo | 14.10.15 - 11:14 a.m. | #

Sigh! It's all very well for you to go on about bus stops etc. Most of us, outside the Capital, get bus services which come every half hour at the most frequent. More often it'll be every hour or two hours, and then only before 6:30pm.

That's why many of us have bicycles!

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 11:26 a.m. | #

Uncle Audrey wins my interwebs for the day.

Antipodean | 14.10.15 - 11:38 a.m. | #

@bronchitikat

But it's not really about bus stops - it's about disorganised project management.

timbo | 14.10.15 - 12:36 p.m. | #

@bronchitikat - yes but I also suppose that where you live doesn't have a population of 7million people bring in 22% of the UK's GDP or around $565bn?

maybe the reason why we have a bus (and tube and train) service so frequent is because it is so needed and economically justified rather than your twice an hour service in the country?

Jack Dougherty | 14.10.15 - 12:49 p.m. | #

For the record, I'm making an unscheduled stop in London in November and having done all the touristy things on previous visits I intend on seeing this bloody flyover / roundabout for myself! It has to be done!

Antipodean | 14.10.15 - 1:05 p.m. | #

Here's an idea:

Look at the front of the bus to see where it's going.

If it doesn't stop, then walk to the next stop.

And who trusts those digital in-bus/on-stop displays anyway?

Oh, and write about something else before you alienate all your readers with this petty nonsense.

Jane | 14.10.15 - 1:16 p.m. | #

Let it go for heavens sake, you really are showing what a grumpy old namby-pamby you are with these repetitious posts about nothing.

bert the builder | 14.10.15 - 1:18 p.m. | #

Keep on taking about this until it's fixed - don't allow this sort of sloppiness by TfL to go unchallenged.

Ewan | 14.10.15 - 2:00 p.m. | #

I am amazed at the number of 'troll' type comments made. I totally support DG's campaign to knock sense into the bureaucratic mini-brain. It is not 'petty nonsense' or 'repetition about nothing', it is a crusade against one of the biggest blights in this country at the moment, that is, people who sit in comfortable offices, being reasonably paid with taxpayer backed pension rights who simply can't be bothered to get down to the grind of fixing something that is their responsibility and is actually not very difficult to sort out that does impact on people, albeit a small number. To all the grumblers today, I say 'b*gg*r off and read something you find much more interesting'. Stick to it DG.

Julian | 14.10.15 - 2:01 p.m. | #

And I take it Jane is being ironic about walk to the next stop, given that the next stop is three quarters of a mile along the road over a particularly dangerous roundabout! The important point is that although the 25 is pretty frequent, there are other bus stops where the wrong information could mean waiting 20-30 minutes for the next bus. I trust the iBus and Countdown systems completely, because providing the programmers don't get it wrong (as DG is pointing out here) then the information they provide is spot on and a great help for unfamiliar and regular travellers. TfL spent many millions on putting the infrastructure of the systems in place, and if they let it be undermined by lax programming or updating that would take literally seconds to fix that would a complete waste of public money.

Ewan | 14.10.15 - 2:08 p.m. | #

Geofftech | 14.10.15 - 2:46 p.m. | #

... just for the record, my comments, although nonplussed, are not trolling / unsympathetic. I'm genuinely intrigued ...

Antipodean | 14.10.15 - 3:10 p.m. | #

I enjoying the saga immensely to the extent that I was disappointed that yesterday's post wasn't about the Bow bus stop saga.

Waftage | 14.10.15 - 3:23 p.m. | #

Where do the electronic systems think the stop is? Because if they still think it is at 77309 (where it used to be), your app can be showing a bus to be imminent when in fact it is already 150 yards down the road (about five minutes travel in rush hour conditions!)

Provided it's not a 25, of course

timbo | 14.10.15 - 3:31 p.m. | #

The electronic systems generally think the stop is down the road (where it used to be), which is both awkward and unhelpful.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 3:37 p.m. | #

I think every post on this blog should be about BUSES and EAST LONDON and BUSES and EAST LONDON and MORE BUSES and more EAST LONDON, and then some BUSES and then maybe and update on EAST LONDON and maybe something about BOW and maybe BUSES IN BOW and BUSES IN BOW THAT GO TO EAST LONDON.

...and this should continue FOREVER and FOREVER and FOREVER, FOREVER and FOREVER and FOREVER, FOREVER and FOREVER and FOREVER.

BUSES.

EAST LONDON.

BOW.

FOREVER.

Bert | 14.10.15 - 3:47 p.m. | #

Contrary to what someone said a while back, the people who need to get their finger out may not have the gold-plated pensions which civil servants are dailymailed to have. So much of this stuff is contracted out now, so the villain may be on a zero-hours contract with .

Whoever it was, let's hope the message of "do not give the name of one bus stop to another" has sunk into the departmental rules.

Malcolm | 14.10.15 - 4:15 p.m. | #

The 25 route alone has more buses running on it than many provincial towns have in their total fleets so this is important stuff!

Jeremy D | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 4:56 p.m. | #

Malcolm
The fault lies with the Infrastucture Controller (oxymoron in this case?) based at Stratford who should just have placed a works order to remove the old point letter on top of the bus stop G, and get M from down the road stuck on the top of the incumbent stop and transferred the timetables from stop E (8 & 488). Then the timetables would have all been correct, Text numbers correct and the route 25 tile would not have been missing for several days. Quite simple, and we could have read about DGs rambles or cultural visits instead, and nobody around Bow would have been inconvenienced or confused

scrumpy | 14.10.15 - 4:58 p.m. | #

Oh no not again! Maybe all TfL employees are barred from reading this blog now...so no matter how much moaning goes on it will not solve anything. Perhaps time to phone, write or go round in person to TfL offices? Maybe set up a local "action-group"? Maybe undertake some "direct-action"? Get "yourselfs" on the BBC London news...

Grumpy Anon | 14.10.15 - 5:31 p.m. | #

@ Geofftech

Next is 10...

Ultra-Man | 14.10.15 - 5:37 p.m. | #

Life used to be so simple. In the olden days before the interwebnet and contracting out, simple jobs got done. Simple - and nobody noticed.

Now, the simplest jobs don't get done - simply.

I was driving through rural Warwickshire on Monday. At two separate locations, about 6-8 miles apart, there were roadside triangular notices proclaiming FLOOD. The road was dry as a bone, there not having been a drop of rain for about a week and no more rain forecast for the coming week.

WHY CAN'T SOMEBODY TAKE THE SIGNS AWAY ?

I caught the 2242 local train from Plymouth to Penzance last night. The ultra cautious safety and security announecment was played to the small band of weary travellers. No once, upon leaving the city of Plymouth. But again, after leaving the village of St Germans, where nobody new got on board. It was probably repeated after every station for the rest of the journey, but I couldn't stand any more. I got off.

Make complicated things complicated and don't do the simple things.

Petras409 | 14.10.15 - 5:46 p.m. | #

Why would you carry on reading a blog that made you so angry?

Jack Dougherty | 14.10.15 - 5:51 p.m. | #

If this blog post had a 'like' function on it, I would definately clicked on it. Looking forward to the next update!

Hikki | 14.10.15 - 6:14 p.m. | #

With your permission DG. To TfL: This afternoon, I had the misfortune to use your newish web site to look up some tram information for a work colleague to improve his long commute and so he won't need to use his car.

I put one key word (? - payment required - see below) in your search box but it returned zero results. Later, when I found the 'right' page I was faced with a choice of lines 1, 2, 3, 4 and not the useful termini descriptors (second problem). No one says they are catching T3, etc. And then a dumbed down interface, mobile friendly, but information deficient (third problem), whatever method one is using to access the web.

I admire DG for giving TfL free consultancy, and I have done so a number of times in the past - just so that we can make our own lives better, but also for the benefit of all users on a bus route or London wide (in my case). And, the long term gain from hopefully improving project management in DG's latest example.

So TfL, please set up a scheme where interested members of the public can use their specialist knowledge to help imorove TfL services for the common good. Establish a payment structure - fair reward not a token payment - whatever you want to call it and we will all reap the benefits.

I've had this idea for some time. Thanks for this opportunity to share it. Note: The above example requesting payment is a small but important example of a bigger and related problem.

Ken | 14.10.15 - 7:59 p.m. | #

So, if I've understood this correctly, DG has downloaded and retained copies of iBus information in his locality going back to the beginning of the year. And there's always the possibility he might be downloading iBus data for the whole of London on a daily basis. And keeps it in case he needs to write an article many months later, if the system isn't working entirely perfectly.

Right...ok...

DG's Psychiatrist | 14.10.15 - 8:14 p.m. | #

To all of those who don't like dg writing about what he wants to write about on his blog (the clue's in the possessive adjective there), I am sure, to paraphrase a point made in today's Private Eye, that he will shortly be sending you the questionnaires in which you can tell him what he is allowed to write about. On his blog. Which many people seem to enjoy regardless of the subject matter.

Sarah | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 8:21 p.m. | #

Too right, Sarah. I've never observed someone having a breakdown before so I'm appreciating this, if that's the right phrase.

DG's Psychiatrist | 14.10.15 - 8:24 p.m. | #

If there's a great big hole in the internet tomorrow where DG used to be, we'll know who to blame, oh People In Red.

Geofftech - you were on 10 earlier in the week, and you've gone back to 9 today. Pray what are you counting? Or are you trying to usurp The Mystery February Count?

Blue Witch | Homepage | 14.10.15 - 8:49 p.m. | #

We used to say at work "it's not done, 'till the paperwork is done". This needs revising for today's world....."it's not done 'till the paperwork's done and the website/data feed is updated". If I made a visit to Bow, I would want to use buschecker to sort out the next bus. All you've been banging on about really matters. Indeed I was at a conference today and it was TfL Rail and Underground's Director of Strategy and Service Development who said so too (not referring to DG but to the data feeds)!

100andthirty | 14.10.15 - 8:59 p.m. | #

Well done DG! Have you emailed TfL or are they expected to be regular blog readers?

Hedgehog | 14.10.15 - 9:17 p.m. | #

Many many years ago, my local bus company named the stops in my city. They named one of the stops "Gravensgade ved Kvickly". "Gravensgade" is the name of the road, "ved" means "by", and "Kvickly" is the name of a local supermarket. As years went by, the decreasing sale forced Kvickly to close, but no-one ever thought of renaming the bus stop. Further years went by, and finally the bus company chose to rename all stops in the city to make their names shorter. After all these years, the stop got a new name: "Rådhuset" (meaning "the city hall"). The city hall had been there all the time, just opposite Kvickly!

Thomas from Denmark | 14.10.15 - 9:36 p.m. | #

Is anyone else curious to find out what TfL have been thinking about this blog series? I feel like putting in an FOI request e.g. all correspondence/documents relating to bus stops E, G and M by Bow since 01 October?

Friar Sven | 14.10.15 - 9:51 p.m. | #

timbo is right. This is about project management. I expect DG will pursue it to the bitter end because that’s what he does. Good.
I don’t recall many complaints about his annual Totally Tubular week, which can be equally trivia-laden at times IMO. But some people regard buses as a bit déclassé.

trad or anon | 14.10.15 - 10:22 p.m. | #

Oh goodness me. If you don't like DG's blogs, then don't read them.

Or if you are bored with the subject of BUSES and EAST LONDON, then why don't you start your own blog about TUBES and WEST LONDON or something?

Jonathan | 14.10.15 - 10:40 p.m. | #

To Whom It May Concern

Any suggestions that Trouble for London has encouraged any of its minions to troll the blog of Mr. Diamond Geezer's blog today are entirely scurrilous, without any foundation whatsoever, and will not be tolerated.

Be it known that Trouble for London is renowned for World Class standards of quality control and project management, exceeded only by VW.

Take note that any person(s) found wilfully spreading any such malicious and defamatory rumours shall suffer the fate of all their Oyster credit being forfeited, all bus doors and station gates slammed firmly in their faces, and will shortly be hearing from our esteemed solicitors Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne.

Trouble for London | 14.10.15 - 11:59 p.m. | #

Well I have quite enjoyed reading about the fiasco of these bus stops. I hope you don't take some of the nasty comments to heart (I notice they are now in red). It's your blog, so write about what you want. I am very grateful you find the time to write something every day and enjoy reading.

Jon Combe | 15.10.15 - 12:37 p.m. | #

I wonder what effect (if any) this will have on the Cycle Superhighway works?

http://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24707%3Ataxi-drivers-win-permission-for-judicial-review-over-cycling-superhighway&catid=64&Itemid=32

Jon Combe | 15.10.15 - 6:03 p.m. | #

So... comments that DG doesn't like get turned red now?

Maybe he should turn the comments facility off if he doesn't like what people say.

Tee F. Elle | 15.10.15 - 7:20 p.m. | #

The updating of Countdown / I-Bus data runs on a fortnightly cycle - usually on a Thursday night. I expect TfL are more than aware of the "fall out" from this issue and that the relevant update will appear soon.

(Checks Countdown page)

Oh look route 25 and all the other relevant routes now stop at route M (Bow Flyover)! Obviously I can't tell from my armchair whether the in bus displays are fixed too but no reason why they shouldn't be if the buses have been in contact with the I-Bus system. I can't remember if the info is updated via the radio link to the bus or via an update from the bus driver's module that he puts in the ticket machine.

Stops E and G are still shown on the Countdown map but have no data stream showing for either. The old stop M at the roundabout has gone from the Countdown map.

PC | 16.10.15 - 9:28 a.m. | #

Proud to have a comment in red. Didn't realise we had to be "absolutely on message in support of his excellency DG" in all our comment posts.

The People's Republic of Bow. (Not served by bus).

Jordan D | 16.10.15 - 11:52 a.m. | #

If anyone else has spotted the electronic bus stop which permanently reads "No data 17:42" ... that will prove how widespread your readership is.

kev | 16.10.15 - 1:55 p.m. | #

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