please empty your brain below

Thank you for this - a perfect summary of a rubbish situation.
Very much reminds me of the chaos that befell the old route 239 (from Clapham Junction to Victoria) when a boat collided with Battersea Bridge years back. After a week or so of trying an epic and similarly poorly understood detour via Wandsworth bridge, seemingly via much of West London, TfL saw sense and created a route in two parts that had a sort of timed walking section across the bridge with a free transfer (and eventually patched it enough to support one-bus-at-a-time on the bridge itself). But at least the 239 drivers were helpful at the time!
Give it a few weeks, and it will be axed as no one will be using it.

Apart from those wanting to get to Barnes
Hammersmith Bridge has closes so many times, and the cost of patching it up must be high. Pull it down and put a new bridge fit for the job in it s place.

dg writes: Hammersmith & Fulham Council say "Building a new bridge would be far more expensive and disruptive than repairing Hammersmith Bridge."

As for bridge closures and buses on diversions, the road bridge over the railway by Feltham station has been closed since last Spring for widening. It was due to reopen March this year at the same time as the level crossing closed permanently. The council did not complete the bridge work on time and it may not open again until late summer. The level crossing closed as planned in March and so both means of crossing the railway by vehicle at Feltham station are now removed. Buses take much longer on their diversions.
Anorak question: how many times has Castelnau appeared as a terminus on a TfL bus destination blind?
Well done Tfl - the people from Barnes always like to claim that being there is 'like living in a village'. Well hey presto, the bus bosses have now given them a rural style service. However, they have forgotten to treble the fares - by countryside standards, £1.50 for an hour's trip is an absolute bargain.
I have strong doubts that the steward has any idea of the geography of the area, in the past this would have been a given and most punters would have been told to get the 72 and walk - or just walk, we have the worst possible world now where the steward enthusiastically gives out the information she has been given without any insight as to how useless it is

N782 - yep at least three groups of people just followed their instructions, just like the steward, so even though we have chaos, no one is actually to blame and HR will be happy.

Meanwhile the update for the permanent bus changes is still promised for the afternoon of 16th May.
Because senior TfL directors/managers running buses now have no experience of running buses, cost cutting has depleted departments of staff with vital knowledge and the policy of contracting out bus stop work on the road to third party companies with no interest in the detail.
Are the general public supposed to know (or care) who or what SFM is?

dg writes: It's written on the back of all their staff's tabards.
This consultations page links to detailed bus route maps, for example the 533.

dg writes: See penultimate paragraph. I doubt a single other passenger had noticed.
A great read, impressive level of disorganisation there.
Loads of anger on Twitter about the changes this morning. Clearly the limited service from Barnes Station to Hammersmith cannot cope in the rush hour. Complainers to @TfLBusAlerts are being told to fill in a form and the aim is to reply within 10 days. I sense TfL will need to act sooner.
Is there space for a temporary bridge nearby, while they sort the old one out? Several were built over the Thames during the Second World War, in case the permanent one nearby was bombed. For example.

dg writes: No.
@Still Anon This is my impression of a lot of TfL staff actually - enthusiastic and trying to be helpful, but ultimately incredibly lacking in local knowledge.

I remember a couple of years back when I was at Clapham High Street. Just by chance, the next train to arrive was one of the few trains a day that terminates at Battersea Park rather than Clapham Junction. The next train after that was at least 15 minutes behind (I have a feeling it might have been more like 20 in practice due to delays); and the Battersea Park train itself was still 10 minutes away, so passengers waiting for the Clapham Junction train would have had a half-hour wait.

I was planning on going to Clapham Junction, so of course I was going to catch this train to Battersea Park where there was a nice, easy, quick, cross-platform interchange to a Clapham Junction train. However, the member of station staff kept telling all the confused passengers that they had to wait for the next Overground train to Clapham Junction - he didn't seem to be aware at all of the possibility of a quicker journey by interchanging at Battersea Park. But I thought, maybe he thinks the time difference is marginal and he's just trying to make an easier journey for people.

No, because someone then turned up asking to go to Queenstown Road. This, if you're unaware of that geography, is on the Waterloo line from Clapham Junction, but it's physically very close to Battersea Park station (which is on the Victoria route). Sure enough, the platform staff after consulting his (diagrammatic) map told the guy to wait for the train to Clapham Junction, then change there, rather than just catching the train to Battersea Park and walking the few metres!

dg, you need an opposite number south of the Thames.
Thank you for this superb article.

Thanks for the info. '533' implies Red Arrow and Red Arrows at least tried to be quick. These 350º circular routes always fool Joe Public: try Northern Rail from York to Leeds (er, via Harrogate)...
What does SFM actually stand for ?
Gazza - I'm assuming SFM is "Security Force Management Ltd".

They're a company who provide stewards, street wardens and security staff for events.
Maybe TfL could aquire some light-weight battery-electric-golf-carts...paint them "London Bus Red" and use them as a shuttle service across the bridge? They would also be zero-emissions at point of use; so ticks another box.
is this obsession with not asking people to walk across the bridge (for a quicker journey) symptomatic of TfL's focus on "step free access". if you shift an organisation's culture to emphasise a particular issue (i.e. the need to facilitate less mobile people) - then this is the sort of unintended consequence ?!

also, two stops on the whole of Castelnau - crazy.

think how different the whole experience would have been if the driver had actually engaged with the passengers.
What TFL want passengers going to Barnes,Mortlake,& Roehampton to do is for passengers to use the District Line to Putney Bridge (from Hammersmith they advise using the 220 from the Upper Bus Station) & change there on to the 209 for Barnes Bridge & Mortlake,and the 265 for Barnes Station,QMH,& Roehampton.Extra buses on the 265 are providing a 6 minute service.Roehampton & Putney Bridge are alson served by the 85 & 430,which alsoprovide access to SWR at Putney Station.Bus 337 provides access from Mortlake to both Richmond & East Putmey Stations.

The 533 is provided to provide step free access to the Underground at Hammersmith.There are as yet no lifts at East Putney & Putney Bridge Stations.
It's still a mess today. I saw one bus driver get out of his cab in Barnes to try and explain to people what they should do. The destinations on the front of the buses don't help. People wouldn't automatically assume that a 419 marked Barnes Pond is actually going to Hammersmith Bridge first. It makes no sense if you live around here.

I have been on two 209 buses today. On both I was the only passenger between Barnes and Putney. The driver of one said TfL appeared not to have understood how many people will happily get a bus to one end of Hammersmith Bridge and then walk across.
What bumbling bungling!

As TfL are trying to encourage more cycle use, what better opportunity than having the traffic filtered out of the only river crossing for miles, letting people ride in greater safety. They could even put some temporary hire docking stations in Barnes and promote it. Many would probably stick with the bike once it's all over.

Even so, they should still say it's quicker to walk and be in good time to pick up the bus that left half an hour ago.
My main sympathies lie with the female steward, who is expected to engage with 'Joe Public' for the entire duration of a 15-hour shift. I'd guess her hourly rate is most likely minimal.
Shockingly badly organised!

How hard would it have been for the SFM lady to say "or walk across the bridge and take another bus to your destination from there"? Made even easier now with the Hopper Fare!

Reminds me of the time I arrived at South Ruislip station wanting to go to Holborn - both on the Central line. I got to the station to find an accident at Northolt meant no trains were running between there and West Ruislip. Many confused people were standing around the closed station, rapidly scrolling through their phones.

Lone Station Official: Where are you trying to get to?

Me: Holborn.

Official: I'm afraid the only way is to get a cab to Northolt station. There's a company right here (indicates minicab office next to the station.)

Me: Blow that for a game of soldiers! I walked back down the road, hopped on the 114 bus to South Harrow and about 10 minutes later was on a Piccadilly line train to Holborn instead!
TfL considers itself a good employer, but subs out to a company running 15 hour shifts. That sort of ridiculous shift was supposed to be banned in contracts years ago.
I too thought working time regulations forbid any shift duration over 12hrs. Is this the case of the law clearly being broken
We know TFL are running a poor bus service. No maps. Poor information. Unreponsive staff. Hiding behind a 10 day answer policy. We aren't the public giving them hell about it.
This confirms my view that buses should still show intermediate places on their destination display!
The poster has two bus stop Ks, and all the services it mentions seem to depart from only one of them.

dg writes: The Ks are different colours.

That's going to cause a lot of extra confusion - "the 33 will not serve from stop K, please walk over the bridge to stop K instead".

One wonders how we actually ended up with two Ks less than half a mile down the road from each other.

dg writes: Three quarters of a mile.

When the bridge is open, would this be the shortest distance between duplicate letters on a route?

dg writes: No.
Just seen that someone told TfL about the bogus N782 bus stop back on Friday. Sadly they had to tweet @TfLBusAlerts twice because they couldn't understand there was a problem.

dg writes: To be fair, the first two tweets were pretty cryptic.

I love the fact that their response was that they would "try and rectify" the problem. I assume that means they might not...
There is now a banner at each end of the bridge saying: Restoring Hammersmith Bridge to full working order and its Victorian splendour. No timescale of course.
The 'simplest' solution would surely have been to keep all the existing routes as they were but split them either side of the bridge so people could walk or mobility scoot across to continue their journey. For those who can't walk or scoot, then by all means provide a circuitous 'special' to transport them to the other side. As it is, every service seems to have been changed and rerouted, causing chaos and confusion locally. I know this bridge has been closed for repairs many times in recent years but I don't recall the same level of disruption.

Having said that, I guess when/if work starts on the bridge, even walking, cycling or scooting across will no longer be possible. Time to introduce a foot ferry!
ActonMan - Your comment has made me think. Yes, that's why they've done it. TfL have already been told the bridge must be shut to even foot traffic. I would suggest a foot ferry from the quay outside the old Harrods Depository to the pontoon in front of the Blue Boat pub.
Why does the 533 go up Lonsdale Road? If it used Castelnau in both directions wouldn't that be better and easier to understand?
Two problems of course. How to turn round, and since I don't know the area well, it is bound to be a daft suggestion for some reason.
Because the nearest turning point adds a good 5 minutes I expect it would mean an extra bus would be needed. Extra buses cost money!
The southbound stops at Red Lion and Ranelagh Avenue in Barnes now say 969 and N22 but the 33 still stops there.
"The 533 is provided to provide step free access to the Underground at Hammersmith."

What seems to be the problem is that everyone, whether they needed step free access to the Underground (or indeed wanted to use the Underground at all) were being directed to the 533 instead of the quicker alternatives of walking across the bridge or using the Underground or mainline stations in Putney.
Thanks for this post. I live and work locally (so don't commute) and still didn't know about all this mess, apart from the awful traffic everywhere all the time - I only knew of the buses stopping short before the bridge and an obscure 533 route being introduced, from a TFL email days ago, but the link provided didn't give any details. I've been to a diverted 72 before that took the same route and it's just an awfully long journey and completely avoidable if you can walk, but even knowing the area I was deceived by the lack of information during one of these temporary bridge closures (they were closing it after a certain time at night and I didn't know. It was open when I came, I assumed it'd be when I got back!).
Although the 209 to Putney Bridge could come in handy at some point...
The 72 bus from Roehampton - which was used by many ( including myself) to get to Hammersmith Bridge and then walk across it - has been axed south of the river. Tfl suggests using the 33 - a very unsatisfactory suggestion.
I thought TfL's suggestion for Roehamptonites was the 265 to Putney Bridge, whose frequency has been increased for that reason - not much good if Hammersmith was your objective though
Timbo. You're right.They're supposed to have increased the frequency of the 265. It hasn't so far.
The 265 frequency has increased.
The N782 has gone. But it's still not quite right...

twitter.com/LonTravelWatch/1130819123125129217
A temporary landing stage/pontoon at the end of Queen Caroline Street on the north bank, which is right by the bridge, and another from the opposite bank, could serve a foot ferry, though they'd have to stick out quite a bit to operate at low tide. Maybe the redundant Olympic canal boats can be pressed into service! Or the boys from nearby St Pauls School could row people across!
Such a ferry would not be "accessible" at all states of the tide. There would be no advantage over just walking across the bridge.
Out in the sticks, even old banger buses seem to have displays that show the main intermediate stops, not merely the final destination which is often many miles away. But for some weird reason TfL still prefers ancient roller blinds which are often of little use. I'm all in favour of tradition, but a bus that doesn't make its route clear at a glance simply isn't fit for purpose.

In my opinion TfL should either return to the old system (blinds showing several intermediate stops, final destination in UPPER CASE) or update to scrolling LED displays just like almost everyone else has.

In the meantime, the obvious quick fix for the 533 problem is for the blinds to show 'Castelnau via Chiswick Bridge' outbound and then 'Hammersmith via Chiswick Bridge' on the return journey.
But once they start working on the bridge we won't be able to walk or cycle across it for however many years, so a ferry between two floating pontoons of sufficient length could provide a practical alternative for much of the time. Though a temporary footbridge from bank to bank would be better.
Absolutely fantastic DG, everything you have written had merely confirmed what I have thought for years now, the standards and quality of information by Tfl is falling. Still compared to most cities, top notch, but that doesn't mean we can't comment and notice the obvious lack of coordination, checks and review that is seeping into the organisation. Everything form misspelt names (Edgeware Road?!) to a clear lack of communication and direction.
London Reconnections has written a piece on Hammersmith Bridge. You get two references, the first for your bus stop M saga (analagous to bus stop S there), and praise for your first hand experience post which tells it for what it is.

However, if anything ever marked the end of TfL as a coherent organisation, then one photo demonstrated this with the non use of Johnston typeface for the revised bus stop display route numbers. A mistake like this simply shouldn't be able to happen, but once it did, nobody cared enough to correct it - that is the killer blow for me.
I see that Hammersmith Bridge closed completely on 13 August 2020, together with the pedestrian walkways under the bridge and there is an exclusion zone on the river meaning that boats are not allowed to pass under the bridge.

Apparently the heatwave caused further damage to the bridge.










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