please empty your brain below
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I was in London the other day, and had to get back somewhere at night. On this bus the screen existed, but did nothing more useful than display an asterisk, so I assume it was broken. It didn't speak either. As a visitor, I'd have found a working one very useful.
However, I totally see your point of it being way OTT. So are the beeping doors. And 10 (ten) CCTV cameras!
Oh, last point, here in Manchester the bus stop backboard is always the same, and they just print all the words onto a clear sticker. So when they need to update they replace the whole sticker and voila!
Kirk | 26.05.08 - 3:08 a.m. | #
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Beleaguered shoppers of E14 perhaps?
</pedant>
dg writes: oops, sorry, wrong postcode
Brendan | 26.05.08 - 3:50 a.m. | #
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Why are there railings on the outside top front of some buses? Are they for fare-dodging orang-utans perhaps?
Debster | 26.05.08 - 8:37 a.m. | #
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Wonder why the service wasn't given a D-number, leaving 135 for another day?
Your anticlockwise bonus trip round the Island was in the wake of the old 277 RT route, a schoolboy favourite, Poplar - Smithfield.
felix | 26.05.08 - 8:38 a.m. | #
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Mrs. LDNP works at Crossharbour but I don't know if she ever needs to go to....wherever this bus goes to, where was it again...oh yes, Old Street..you did mention it, didn't you.
NiC | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 9:43 a.m. | #
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The route-related service info CAN be useful when announcing the next stop, especially for furriners like myself to your city. But continuously telling me where the bus is heading really did my head in during my last visit - not that that doesn't take much.
zed | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 10:05 a.m. | #
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Debster asks about the railing on the top deck of the bus on the outside. I've always wondered why they are there also. My theory is that it provides a harness point for a crane in the event that the bus topples over onto its side.
Jag | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 10:25 a.m. | #
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I think you'll find the railings are tree bashers - rural parts have had them for years on the one side only - because trees have a tendency to smash the corner of the bus to pieces. (And sometimes go through windows)
Can't find a picture, but when I used to live in Cambridge, several of the older buses without these railings had holes in the front.
Kirk | 26.05.08 - 10:42 a.m. | #
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It's to protect the bus from low hanging tree branches. That's why they only have them on the nearside.
(Obviously it only works up to a certain size)
Mr Thant | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 10:46 a.m. | #
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I've just noticed this bus route provides a new link between Old Street and Shoreditch via Great Eastern Street, which before was only used by night buses. I actually expect to use this quite a bit.
Graham Parks | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 11:18 a.m. | #
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The TfL working week starts on a Saturday, which is why all new bus services etc. start on that day, and yes, it is to give two days of 'dress rehearsal' before Monday kicks in. It also means that we get paid every Friday - yey!
El Director | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 11:21 a.m. | #
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I find the lack of the use of the definite article most irritaing about bus announcements. "Please mind closing doors" - why can't it be "Please mind THE closing doors"?
You've set us off on the irritating announcements now!
Claire Steel | 26.05.08 - 11:37 a.m. | #
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it's sad, but on Tuesday I was waiting for a D8 at Canary Wharf as the DLR was down, and I spotted a 135 and was geeky enough to tell my friend about how it used to be the lowest unused bus number but we'd seen one on the first day of service.
The stuff you learn on the internet, eh?...
Caspar | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 11:59 a.m. | #
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There are far too many unnecessary announcements all over TfL these days, but they just don't seem to have any idea of checking whether anyone wants any of them or takes any notice. Earplugs are the only answer, I find.
And don't knock the circuitous route from Crossharbour to Canary Wharf. You should see the rush-hour bus queues up the western side of the Island, and there are more flats going up. We need more buses!
Autolycus | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 12:20 p.m. | #
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the d3 takes the rather long route around the Isle of Dogs also. Bethnal Green to Crossharbour ASDA, despite not actually being a long way, generally takes about an hour and twenty minutes due to traffic, roadworks, and going around the Isle of Dogs and around Wapping...
However as this new bus goes past the end of my road, i shall no doubt be trying it at some point.
miles away | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 12:38 p.m. | #
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Maybe if the front destination display was a bit more comprehensive they wouldn't need these these constant recorded announcements?
Bowroad | 26.05.08 - 1:42 p.m. | #
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Just as predictable is that London Underground intends to police forthcoming alcohol ban through "frequent PA messages". Is there actually any time left for more PA anouncements on LU? It sometimes seems that when travelling on the Underground there is one long recorded PA message very occasionally interupted by short periods of silence. So the "booze broadcast" will join all the others hectoring passengers about unattended items, about not smoking on "stations and LRT(sic) bus stations" (don't think it's banned at Becontree Heath but there you go, and what's LRT nowadays - Edinburgh?), that buskers are illegal (not if licensed, matey), of standing behind the yellow line at all times (even when the train has stopped?), of the need to touch in and out in order to "pay the correct fare" (formerly "pay the cheapest fare"), of how "Oyster can be of best value to you", that planned engineering work is taking place this weekend "as part of the TFL investment programme" (actually the government's PPP agreed between LRT and the Infracos whilst TFL sat impotently on the sidelines), that "good (sic) services" are operating on all LU lines and now the latest torment, the automatic verbal version of the train describer board "the....next....train.....is..a..District Line train....in ......two...minutes......" * There's no escape even when you board a train as not only is there the standard DVA, but this is more often than not augmented by additional "tourist" DVA information, and now repeated driver-initiated stuff like "this train is being held at a red signal" (yes, but why?) or "held to provide a regular service" (which really irritates existing passengers!) within 15 seconds of coming to a halt and all in same patronising smarmy voice as the woman in Agros...
Bowroad | 26.05.08 - 1:47 p.m. | #
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Anti-tree devices eh? Well I guessed a lot of things but not that, thanks guys. One less thing to worry about before I die ...
Debster | 26.05.08 - 2:32 p.m. | #
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Here on the original isles of dogs (Canary Islands  some of the new buses also have these announcement things, only in Spanish, of course.
Thankfully, they only tell you what the next stop is (mind you, I notice that when they get right out to where I live, beyond the end of the earth, they run out of things to call the stops and fall silent!)
On the shiny new trams in Santa Cruz though, they've gone for the OTT style of announcement system (along with a shopping list of prohibited things on big warning signs all over the walls, which once again smacks of the ignorant criminal treatment), telling you where you've been, where you're going, which side the platform is to get off at ... What the weather's like (OK, I made the last one up.) All potentially useful, but it does get very irritating.
So far, we only have one tram line that goes up to La Trinidad (that's a street name, not a Caribbean island: this is not an amphibious tram), so repeating it, ad nauseum, is near pointless. It probably confuses the hell out of tourists who wonder if they've been transported across the Atlantic though.
Pamela | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 3:57 p.m. | #
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>>the woman in Agros.
Autolycus | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 3:57 p.m. | #
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I found the announcements really useful recently when I used a bus for the first time in ages. But I can imagine it'd drive you mad if it was the same everyday!
TfL are trying to be all things to all people it seems... I can't see how they can please Londoners and provide for the "needs" of visitors at the same time.
Wait til 2012... TfL will feel obliged to provide multi-lingual announcements and then silence really will be golden!
Sparkly Songbird | Homepage | 26.05.08 - 6:18 p.m. | #
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I had a ride on the 135 on Saturday but caught the bus round the corner from Asda at stop Z1 - it isn't using the CE stop despite what the map says. We weren't diverted either - just a quick dash down past Mudchute and then a right turn. There were quite a few takers for the service despite it being the first day - I expect it to do rather well once it settles down.
As someone who's had the I-Bus announcements on my local route as part of the first installation I don't find them a problem. You get used to them and don't find them irritating after a while. The bigger problem is that the system is not very reliable - on about 50\\% of trips some element of the system does not work properly. Overall it's a good idea though.
Paul Corfield | 26.05.08 - 11:12 p.m. | #
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The problem is that the OTT Tannoy announcements seem to be getting rolled out everywhere. It's useful the first time you use a service, but when you're familiar with it, then it becomes an unnecessary burden.
Assuming that there must be several 'familiar' passengers on the transport network for every 'new' one, I would say that the announcements need to be less verbose, perhaps just announcing the next station.
Just for the record, I've noticed on the Rome Metro that only very basic details (e.g. the name of the next station) is given over the Tannoy. All other details are portrayed silently through TV screens. As these can be easily ignored if the passenger chooses, I feel this is a far better idea, and perhaps one that TfL could consider.
Andrewh | 27.05.08 - 1:39 a.m. | #
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I was happy when in Toronto recently - their Subway just tells you the minimum, although it does tell you twice - once at the current station saying what the next one is, and once when arriving at a station saying which it is. No nonsense about connections, lines or keeping your bags with you, just what you needed to know.
And best of all, unlike most of these PAs, it was actually intelligible.
Kirk | 27.05.08 - 12:11 p.m. | #
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They should have introduced this route 10 years ago. Until last weekend it wasn't possible to go from Liverpool St to Canary Wharf by public transport directly, which always seemed ridiculous to me. By rail it had to be Central line or NR to Stratford, then DLR or Jubilee, or Circle to Tower Hill then DLR from Tower Gateway, or Central line to Bank then change to DLR (the easiest route but verboten at the moment!). So a direct bus is most welcome and I can see it being well-patronised, except by the kind of people who think 'tube' at all times, when often a bus is quicker, easier or more direct.
kenromford | 27.05.08 - 12:29 p.m. | #
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A Bus service is most welcome but I can't see how it's ever going to be quicker than the DLR from South Quay/Crossharbour except, of course, when the DLR is knackered like today
Johnny Topaz | 27.05.08 - 1:44 p.m. | #
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Wasn't there the extortionate London City Airport bus linking Liverpool Streey to LCY via Canary Wharf in the past? (Cash fares only!)
Bowroad | 28.05.08 - 12:58 p.m. | #
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I got the 135 to work this morning. Pretty nice. 3 min walk to bus stop at Shoreditch Town Hall and it drops me off outside work at Bank St.
Was one of 3 people on the whole trip at 7.40am. Traffic wasn't bad either.
It's great to be able to avoid Bank or London Bridge tube stations in the morning.
Steve R | 02.06.08 - 12:48 p.m. | #
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'Most of the customers were old or obese'.
I live facing Asdas so I looked out my window and checked who was going in and out for twenty minutes. There seemed to a mixture of ethnic groups, lots of student types and some pensioners. At least half of them had cars.
A few months ago I saw a news item about 'deprivation' in the East-end. The reporter was standing outside a block of council flats that sell for 200k or more.
Some people see what they want see.
Richard | 03.06.08 - 6:55 p.m. | #
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I stood at the bus stop outside the Crossharbour Asda for at least 25 minutes. Most of the bus-bound customers were indeed old or obese. I saw what I saw.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.06.08 - 6:56 p.m. | #
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I wonder when TFL will realise that a bus from Liverpool street/Canary Wharf to the LCA is probably a good idea?
Richard
Richard | 03.06.08 - 6:58 p.m. | #
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The "nannying announcements" (everything except the route/destination and next stop announcements) are triggered by the driver. Some drivers use them more than others. I suspect you had a driver trying them all out.
Nathan | 21.07.08 - 2:55 a.m. | #
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I simply can't understand why the iBus must announce what bus it is and to where it's going each and every time the bus door closes. Surely the people who are blind either have carers to tell them which bus is approaching and whether or not to board it, and if the blind person doesn't have a carer (or even if they're not blind) and can't see the bus number on the front of the bus as it approaches, surely they can simply ask the driver what bus it is, and to where it's going???
It simply doesn't make any sense to tell the passengers who are already on the bus which bus number it is and its destination. Surely TfL shouldn't add to noise pollution that is already at a peak when babies are crying, chavs are shouting, and kids play music through their mobile phone loudspeakers!! When this happens the people must talk louder to be heard, and people listening to headphones need to turn them up louder if they don't want to hear the bothersome and unnecessary announcements.
Ok, having the announcements on the lower deck might be a good idea, (the volume should at least be reduced for crying out loud.... it was so loud upstairs that my plastic chair felt like it was resonating) but for what other purpose are the announcements upstairs made, other than for blinde people? Let's assume that I'm a blind person wanting to go upstairs... Now I'm a person with perfect sight and reasonable strength to hold on to things when the bus makes sudden stops. But even I have fallen over on my knees when walking upstairs or downstairs, so I have no idea how a blind person would cope! And even if they do go upstairs, they'd definitely need a carer to assist them not to kill themselves, and so wouldn't a carer be able to read the display that informs the passengers where they are / where they're going???
None of this is thought through, and it seems TfL have no idea about what stress these cause to many people.
Jamie | 18.01.09 - 11:30 p.m. | #
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