please empty your brain below

They don't seem bothered about how much the website reflects reality. I recently noticed that a bus stop here in Ealing that was moved several years ago is still shown in its old location.
The 'silo mentality' problem seems to afflict tfl, as it does many large organisations. The team who manage operational changes and the teams who manage web and ibus data appear to never talk to each other, even when alerted to changes. We get loads of operational changes around Canary Wharf - usually meaning entire bus routes disappear for the whole weekend - yet nothing is ever updated on the web or ibus. I've done the "good citizen" thing, go through the official complaint channel. Got a promise it won't happen again but it was an empty promise, nothing has improved.
BUSES.

EAST LONDON.

BOW.

FOREVER.

BUSES.

EAST LONDON.

BOW.

FOREVER.
done - ANON-N3C8-YSEE-J
"In case you've been wondering what's been happening at my local bus stop in Bow Road".

Nope, I hadn't.
You're more than welcome to go and read something else, obviously.
We now have a mini version of the "Bow Church" adventure in Walthamstow. Someone decided to swap the stops for two routes in Walthamstow Bus Station.

Firstly this breaks previous "common sense" groupings of services running on common stretches of road. People now have to dash between two stops depending on which bus comes first and where they are waiting.

Secondly the bus spider map is now incorrect. I also expect the hundreds of "Walthamstow Bus Station" guides in the bus station office are now incorrect too.

Thirdly the Countdown information is now wrong for the routes and stops affected by the change.

Fourthly as Countdown is wrong information in the API for Apps is also wrong.

Lastly the TfL provided "real time" departure boards in the Bus Station are also wrong as they use Countdown info.

So that's a great success all round for no obvious reason. The stands are busy regardless of where the routes are allocated but mucking people around is not sensible nor triggering all the cost and change in related systems.
"You're more than welcome to go and read something else, obviously."

Thing is, yesterday's Crossrail piece was actually quite interesting. You win some, etc.
Sorry, it's a pain coming back every day when the post might not be of interest, isn't it?

If you'd like to get in touch via the usual channels, I'll get a refund sorted.
I immediately flick elsewhere when I see the the Bow parish pump has started flowing. But I come back next day to see if there's something of interest. Your blog, your rules. You may be wasting a lot of your precious time, but it may be cathartic for you. Not my concern.
David - I'm impressed that you always click elsewhere when the Bow parish pump starts flowing, but you've still found time today to read the comments and add one of your own.

You may be wasting a lot of your precious time, but it may be cathartic for you. Not my concern.
Well I for one enjoy the updates!
I think there's nothing worse than hearing the beginning of something and not the end. Like reading a book then stopping before the end!

I like not needing to wonder if DG's bus stops ever get sorted, as I surely will if you don't update us!
Nice to see how much attention those in charge of the website pay to your blog, or reality on the ground!

But then, TfL is increasingly being run as a money box and much less as a passenger service.

BTW - do they refer to you as 'customers' or 'passengers' cos that says a lot about their attitude to you?
11
Surely a customer has a realistic choice, and a passenger doesn't, most people have little flexibility about where they live in relation to their work, even those who commute by car aren't necessarily making a journey that they want to make.

Referring to a commuter as a customer is just PR sarcasm.

"half mile gap in bus stops served" is there anywhere else in London that has more? Or will Bow become a record-breaker?
I was out geocaching a couple of weeks ago and had to visit the Bow Roundabout from Whitechapel. My colleagues were very "impressed" with my knowledge of the stop as we approached on the bus and reality did not match their bus apps. Well I think impressed is the right word....
The bow road bus story has only just begun. I for one look forward to the soon coming westbound installments
I am of a "certain age". I live in a village a mile and a quarter from a station having a 15 minute interval train service to London.
There are two buses a day through my village that pass the station. It is almost as far to the nearest bus stop - in the wrong direction - as it is to walk to the station. I asked a driver if it was "hail and ride". I was asked in return if I thought the company was running a "B" taxi.
Half a mile gap? You Lunneners don't know y'r born!
Yet, seriously, I find DG's accounts of the shennanigens around Bow interesting and strangely addictive.
Following the @witerttainment principle:
Jaws is not about sharks;
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is not about spies; and
Bow Road Bus Stop is not about busses.

I have really warmed to this thread and one man's anguished campaign to make a large organisation to do its job properly and pay some attention to the details that matter to some of us and may one day trip up others when they depend on information that turns out not to be accurate.
@Baldrick
At one end of my commute I have a village with one train an hour and one bus a day; at the other the swarming hoards of families emptying out of the museums at half term in piling into S. Ken tube. The contrast is really striking sometimes.
So...has anyone phoned TfL?
What about a letter (the long lost art of writing or even typing on paper). Failing that can always send an e-mail. Or perhaps start leaving "tweets"...maybe do a video and put it on YouTube. How bout going in person to TfL offices?
your saga is strangely compelling - I must come over and visit Bow one of these days
Whether you think an individual blog is interesting, the number of comments indicates public opinion, and Bow regularly kicks others in to touch.
I personally enjoy confirmation of the shoddy work of a bunch of muppets who I worked with at TfL, helping me justify my decision to abandon ship and take my pension years early.
Go to this Tfl site.

http://livetrafficlondon.com/

Click on the lowest camera icon and then click on 'Southern approach looking south'.

You will see the view from a spycam in a conference room that has been used all day today. Now it's empty I expect a couple to nip in for a quick shag.

The thing is I have tried telling Tfl but no-one responds. Faceless and hopeless.
If TFL wanted to find out what the public think they would run a survey or a referendum.

People that don't care one way or the other about routemasters are less likely to bother participating in a consultation.
^...and why would they bother participating in a survey or referendum on such a seemingly very minor issue such as one limited section of one London bus route?
I think the Countdown info has been updated on the TfL website. The Thursday overnight update has happened.

I can certainly see route 25 departures for Stop M. Route 25 is in the list of routes that you can select.

Stop G (by the roundabout) has gone but Stop E hasn't (from the all stops map).
Clicking on the Bus Stop M link in the post, I'm not seeing any difference this morning.
@ultraman

Oi!

(but thanks)
@ Chris 29.10.15 8:18pm

Friday 30th October 2015 13:25 - And still the camera faces the room! Unbelievable! I don't why I find this so fascinating - I must get out more!
Harry - Yes it's curious isn't it. 1550 now and two chaps have just had a bit of a chat. I'm still waiting for the office scandal to occur!
OFF-TOPIC KLAXON
17:00 update - sorry DG; there's a chap sitting in a chair waving his arms around in a very animated David Brent style fashion!
Sorry DG, was using this an example of TfL ignoring comments/feedback from the general public. I can't believe they are continuing to let a spycam operate on one of their pages which is supposed to monitor the Blackwall Tunnel approach (currently back to Kidbrooke). I have e-mailed 4 different addresses. No response.

dg writes: It wasn't me fired the klaxon. That webcam is oddly fascinating, and simultaneously an appalling breach of privacy.
"breach of privacy" think that went out the (no pun intended) window ages ago. Many work places are now covered by CCTV...some covertly. Go into any "public" building the same. Travel on the transport ditto. Go on-line, use a smartphone, walk down the high street we are being watched/recorded all the time.
@ DG 0852 - well you're linking to the whizzo bus stop info stuff on the TfL website. I never use that.

I use the old Countdown page as that works whereas the new style page always seems to lag well behind.

http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk/#|searchTerm=55457

Route 25 is certainly listed for the stop on there.
Just to update this, Tfl have finally twigged what's going on and taken the cameras offline.
A shame as I wanted to see this week's presentations and was still hoping for some work scandal.
No good for finding out what the traffic is like on the tunnel approach though which is the whole bloody point.










TridentScan | Privacy Policy