please empty your brain below
Excellent stuff! I believe your final point is spot on DG.

John DLC | 10.01.17 - 7:05 a.m. | #

This has me lol in the bus :)

Rachel | 10.01.17 - 7:13 a.m. | #

I agree. Final point very well made.

ganching | Homepage | 10.01.17 - 7:20 a.m. | #

The problem with the "disruptions" Tube map is that everything that has any degree of disruption, from minor delays to no service at all, is shown (or greyed out on the alternative map), which makes it very difficult to work out what is actually happening

timbo | 10.01.17 - 8:04 a.m. | #

I didn't spot the mistake at Old Street but you were probably there before I started work) and I think the boards were changed a few times during the course of the day.

I, too found it frustrating that the auto announcer declared that the next station was Moorgate, as much as I did when northbound trains were pulling into a platform still displaying the train's timetabled destination complete with the announcement stating the next station was to be Angel.

The main reason for this (annoying) situation is that the trains were actually going to the destinations listed, albeit out of service between Old Street and Golders Green or East Finchley (depending on destination). This is because there were no staff at the station in between to be able to safely evacuate a train at a station should the need have arisen.

The stations north of these points are open section and can be left unstaffed at a push. The other stations, including those south of Old Street would have had someone there, but not enough by law to keep the station open to customers, but able to assist with a situation requiring intervention by staff.

I can't comment on the other lines but it's reasonable to believe the situation on those was similar.

Rob Healy | 10.01.17 - 8:31 a.m. | #

You have come to the conclusion that the automated system can't cope.

How do you know that the automated system actually can't cope, rather than it being down to the automated system not being set up appropriately?

Messiah | 10.01.17 - 8:50 a.m. | #

The train was going to Elephant & Castle etc - just not with passengers on it. So technically correct, if unhelpful.

Yes there is a serious point which was that actually, for a lot of people, quite a lot of useful journeys could have been made if only people were confident about which services were running.

I continue to be both impressed by how London Underground can generally run some sort of service on strike days and disappointed by how they cannot get this accurate information about the service provided across.

The whole point of information systems is to be informative and, for Londoners who are regular users of the Underground, that means getting information correct at times when the system is not working normally.

Pedantic of Purley | 10.01.17 - 9:27 a.m. | #

The most perplexing thing I found yesterday - as on your map - was the website indicating Old Street station was closed but with Northern line trains terminating there.

Wolf | 10.01.17 - 9:30 a.m. | #

Is there a button to switch off the automated announcements?

And how did the automated systems on the DLR cope yesterday?

Andrew | 10.01.17 - 9:40 a.m. | #

I saw the Jubilee line one especially, and would have loved to go on a trip, which is saying something considering how much I hate the Jubilee line.

Glad to see the technology is working as well as ever!

Kirk | 10.01.17 - 9:45 a.m. | #

They don't have this problem in Leeds, but then who wants to go there??....

I trust that the managers who sacked too many staff have been sacked. What are the chances do you reckon?

Chris | 10.01.17 - 9:57 a.m. | #

Only DG would choose to do a tour of the tube during a strike!

When buses go on diversion the display just shows a little asterix, and nothing more is announced until it's back on the correct route, or it will announce "This bus is on diversion".

I'm amazed the trains couldn't have done the same!

Cornish Cockney | 10.01.17 - 10:16 a.m. | #

Meaningless Automated announcements. As usual my train this morning was telling everyone all about the exciting places you can get to by changing at Clapham Junction, but failed to mention that you will have to wait until Thursday for a connection.

timbo | 10.01.17 - 10:31 a.m. | #

I wonder what difference CrossRail (yes i will call it that) would have made to yesterdays "issues"

E | 10.01.17 - 10:59 a.m. | #

Crossrail would have been badly affected as the central London stations will all be staffed by LUL staff. Paddington, Canary Wharf, Custom House and Woolwich are the only stations that will have Crossrail staff.

Matthew Dickinson | 10.01.17 - 11:35 a.m. | #

It's bad enough that the automated loudspeaker announcements were wrong and that there seems to be no procedure to switch them off when they are providing incorrect information.

But the worst failure is that there is no provision to give correct display information to hearing impaired passengers, thereby breaking the Equality Act 2010.

With the inherent flexibility of digital electronics, it should be quite straightforward to cater for any pattern of skipped stations.

Gerry | 10.01.17 - 12:13 p.m. | #

I don't use the tube. But being OnTheBus is not fun when there is a tube strike! Unless have the "joy" of being on a original Routemaster pressed into service as a "extra" *v*

OnTheBus | 10.01.17 - 12:57 p.m. | #

Andrew. The DLR ran normally yesterday.

IslandDweller | 10.01.17 - 1:32 p.m. | #

I bet you, if the Tube did ever get express services, it would be stepfree stations only.

EonLeader | 10.01.17 - 1:37 p.m. | #

I saw a District line train going to Plaistow whilst cruising the River Lee yesterday morning.

Roger | 10.01.17 - 1:38 p.m. | #

There are curious pressures on management during a strike - also when preparing for it, or specifying information systems.

They want to claim that unions are weak (to discourage staff from joining), so they want to run as good a service as possible. But they also want to claim that the unions are bad and naughty to upset people's lives, so they want to run as bad a service as possible - ideally none at all - to get this message across.

Of course, this does not apply to all management - some will be sympathetic to the unions, others will not care one way or the other but just want to serve the public as best they can in the circumstances.

So perhaps we should not be surprised when the service, and information, is so very "curate's egg". Muddled motives give muddled results.

The best possible information - to hearing impaired and all other passengers - seems to result from the intelligent use of whiteboards.

Malcolm | 10.01.17 - 1:56 p.m. | #

Indeed have staff out in the open to help people rather than stuck behind glass. Oh hang on a min.

Rick | 10.01.17 - 5:29 p.m. | #

Your final point whilst appearing to be an amusing twist, is not logical - all trains that ran had drivers and all stations that opened had staff....

Nicks | 10.01.17 - 6:27 p.m. | #

Thameslink's fancy new class 700 trains with electronic signs giving updates on Underground line status were showing 'Good Service' on the Victoria Line yesterday - but that's Thameslink for you.

Roger | 10.01.17 - 7:16 p.m. | #

IslandDweller: The DLR ran normally yesterday. Indeed. Could the Tube have run normally too, if all of its trains were driverless...

dg writes: No, because this was a strike by station staff, not drivers.

Andrew | 10.01.17 - 7:19 p.m. | #

Wonderful post DG. And the final point spot on. Thank you. Cxx

Chris | 10.01.17 - 8:26 p.m. | #

Thanks for yet another fascinating article combining factual content, humour and serious insight. And yes, I do appreciate that some of your articles don't aim for, let alone achieve, all three ! My previous record for an unusual express run was in the 1980s or early 1990s when closure of all London mainline termini because of an IRA campaign combined with lift replacement at Edgware Road to give me a possibly-unique non-stop run from Warwick Avenue to Baker Street.

DavidC | 10.01.17 - 8:48 p.m. | #

Maybe the staff who update the automated voice system were on strike.

Running_Correspondent | 10.01.17 - 9:37 p.m. | #

To be fair, in most of the trains the automated systems are somewhat end of life and based on silicon that no-one really understands anymore or would not be easy or economical to change.

Granted this doesn't apply to the S Stock, but they're hardly known for having great computer systems anyway.

Kirk | 10.01.17 - 9:41 p.m. | #

Chris, no one was actually sacked, the fall in staff numbers was almost entirely driven by the decline in physical ticket sales.

Minor point of detail: Canada Water was staffed by Underground folk

Peter G | 10.01.17 - 9:42 p.m. | #

Andrew. DLR sometimes can't run to Bank because no station staff available. Happens surprisingly often in early mornings. Computer driven train no help in that situation.

IslandDweller | 10.01.17 - 10:04 p.m. | #

@CornishCockney I'd be very amused to see a small Gaul with a helmet while my bus was on diversion

Stephen | 10.01.17 - 10:41 p.m. | #

Peter - thanks, but DG said 'sacked' in his intro. This did raise eyebrows here as I thought the staff had been redeployed but assumed some had refused work elsewhere.
Either way, a lot of the ticket offices should have ben retained.

Chris | 10.01.17 - 10:57 p.m. | #

LU's electronic display system is amateurish and I expect they spent millions on it. :-(

It sometimes even displays arrivals in the wrong order (train 1:5 minutes, train 2:2 minutes).

A single line of code would fix that. If anyone cared.

Dan | 11.01.17 - 7:02 a.m. | #

@Stephen - lol

@IslandDweller - I was on the DLR early evening - when a train captain (arev they still called that) was asked if the DLR was going to Bank he said probably, but only if there were enough staff at Bank. I assume diversions to Tower Gateway or short turning at Shadwell are the alternatives?

JonB | 11.01.17 - 5:36 p.m. | #











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