please empty your brain below
It is obvious to me that TfL or whoever in charge do know how bad their arrangement is going to be, so they exaggerate the delay time in order to manage customer expectations. However, they fail to recognise there are people like you, who pay attention to the actual user experience, rather than just the extra time to take.

Patrickov | 08.09.19 - 3:12 a.m. | #

West Ham - the low bridges are also a bit of an impediment, before the Jubilee Line opened West Ham would have had its own shuttle operated by single deckers.

Rail replacements have always been a bit of a mess - although BR was always worse, many of their stations are served by footbridges and you had to make an educated guess which entrance the unmarked/unannounced coach (never a bus with BR) would serve, the onward journey would be interesting as the driver would often get lost.

Still Anon | 08.09.19 - 7:33 a.m. | #

Was there no C2C service between West Ham and Fenchurch Street (for Tower Hill) or were TfL, as usual, pretending non-TfL services don't exist?

Gray | 08.09.19 - 7:51 a.m. | #

A very Happy Birthday to the diamond geezer blog...17 years old today!

And many, many thanks to Mr d g for all his work on the most informative digest of work in the blogosphere !

Kenneth Morton | 08.09.19 - 8:04 a.m. | #

Not just the 241 suffering from a badly-spelt destination on the countdown screens - on my way back from Walthamstow last week the 97 was also allegedly going to "Startford City", and one of the printed timetables for another route at the stop contained several typos. Evidently proofreading has been another victim of the tightening TfL budget.

Moogal | 08.09.19 - 8:04 a.m. | #

Re: the silence on the DLR option - There often seems to be a marked reluctance in TfL to help passengers swap to other TfL “services’’ or indeed do anything that might involve helping a different branch of TfL - maybe because of rivalries or different management chains within the organisation.

A similar division was evident earlier this week when the entire Northern Line closed - tube staff were present at the closed stations, but conspicuously made no effort at all to signpost the bus options or assist with the (in some places quite significant) crowd control issues.

David | 08.09.19 - 8:27 a.m. | #

I wondered if you compiled your blog into a formal report and sent it to customer services at tfl or your GLA member at [email protected] or Sadiq Khan or the Evening Standard. The replies will be worth a few blog entries.

south london lad | 08.09.19 - 8:58 a.m. | #

I do wonder when I hear announcements during the week about weekend engineering work how much overlap there is between the two groups. I suspect not much, and that most of the overlap group is savvy enough to check before travelling at the weekend anyway. It would be interesting to know what proportion of weekend travellers are taken by surprise by any changes.

Andrew S | 08.09.19 - 9:02 a.m. | #

Bus replacement services are not a new concept. By now, I'd have thought that TfL would have a thick rulebook of how to setup & run them.

Jon Jones | 08.09.19 - 9:04 a.m. | #

It's possible that C2C said they couldn't cope with the extra passengers without putting more carriages on (I assume they run as 8 car at the weekend), and TfL didn't want to pay to use them - especially as they would be paying for a lot of mileage that they wouldn't need.

That, or the underground planners are only looking at a tube map (with the DLR blanked out!) to decide what's happening!

Al | 08.09.19 - 9:13 a.m. | #

TfL really should be doing this so much better. They are the flagship that everyone else looks up to. If TfL can't do it well, what hope is there for anyone else.

Take for example the experience I saw in Yorkshire some years ago. Line had services every three hours. Buses were running. I was on the bus. Bus drove into station car park. Turned round and zoomed off without stopping. Only as we sped away did I spot several people stood on the platform completely oblivious.

Sadly round the North, that's still the norm. You're lucky if you even find out the trains aren't running. There's never any staff. Never any indication of where to get the bus from. And quite often, the bus drivers don't even know where they are going! Earlier this year I was on a coach in Derbyshire. The coach company itself had come from Preston. The driver from Cardiff. What hope is there of a reliable service when it's operated like that?

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 08.09.19 - 9:29 a.m. | #

Two points,

1/ although this is bad the last time the Thameslink was closed for engineering over a holiday period the replacement bus system from Luton Airport was completely swamped and had insufficient capacity and unreliable headways, with hour+ waits in the cold in queues, and nonexistent signage and lack of staff. One perfectly viable bus turned up, waited 15 mins before a decision that it could be boarded. I pitied the older people and families

2/ although not relevant here, generally when there is an issue or diversion the tube announcement states "tickets will be accepted on local buses". How does that work exactly with PAYG oyster/contactless without clocking up an extra charge needing to be claimed back or having an argument with bus driver or revenue inspector (who are usually ignorant of the temporary dirversion to the buses)?

Miles T | 08.09.19 - 10:32 a.m. | #

Whilst i sympathise with DG and his lengthy waits for public transport he should try living in West Sussex where it hardly exists.. I live in a large-ish town where there are only 2 buses A DAY to the next big town of Chichester or 1 bus an hour to the nearest supermarket. Imagine just missing that one when its raining! Ditto bus rail replacement services at weekends.

rick | 08.09.19 - 11:27 a.m. | #

I was on a replacement double decker to London Bridge and the driver got lost. So a passenger guided him to the station via a new route. Looking back, this was not a good idea. We were lucky not to hit any low bridges or knock over pedestrians on tight corners.

MA | 08.09.19 - 11:32 a.m. | #

One of the best blogs for ages: an informed criticism of a matter that is 1) actually important and 2) in the event, abysmally managed. TfL management should be ashamed. Getting this sort of thing right is not brain surgery, just common sense. Heads should roll!

J. | 08.09.19 - 11:45 a.m. | #

whilst some of the failings may be excusable - the lack of c2c / DLR announcements is appalling

ADS | Homepage | 08.09.19 - 12:43 p.m. | #

I can see the reason why TfL might have been unwilling to promote the Fenchurch Street line as an alternative route, but there can be no excuse for not promoting the DLR.

Also, the words "Customer Information" could be written somewhere not blocked by a rucksack (maybe on a cap).

Anonymous | 08.09.19 - 12:46 p.m. | #

Replacement double deckers on my area have an unfortunate history of losing their roofs on low bridges. Probably more at risk than your average contract bus because their routes inevitably take them near railways.

Timbo | 08.09.19 - 1:48 p.m. | #

I think the driver was right. Your delay was 55 minutes which is covered by 'up to an hour and half.' The delays at, say, 2200 may well have been a lot closer to 90 minutes.

That said, pretty poor stuff all round.

Chris | 08.09.19 - 1:56 p.m. | #

I see that once again TfL is using a map that shows running services greyed out and cancelled services coloured in. Instinctively I would expect to see the reverse arrangement and I wonder how many locals glancing at the map get caught out.

dg writes: The reverse arrangement is available, with a single click, on the TfL website.

It also follows the typical approach of showing the cancelled service and not the replacement one. This "as it isn't, not as it is" approach is highly confusing for people not familiar with the roads and/or curves used to create the irregular alternative service who don't always take on board the written explanation (if there is one) and announcements are not always kept up to date.

This particular example isn't the worst I've seen - there have been some rather dire explanations of replacement services on the DLR (both buses and also through routes on unusual branch combinations) and I'd give top prize to the Metropolitan line one weekend when the only service was Northwood to Amersham/Chesham via Watford, reversing and the North Curve. That one did not explain itself well on the maps, the automatic announcements were not updated and even the helpline didn't get the memo, to the frustration of passengers desperately trying to work out what was going on and if they'd get to their destination.

Tim Roll-Pickering | Homepage | 08.09.19 - 2:24 p.m. | #

DG is constantly pointing out how poor a service TFL are providing. I'snt anyone customer, union or politician pulling them up on their shortcomings. No wonder our roads are clogged with cars.

Tones | 08.09.19 - 5:21 p.m. | #

Unfortunately the TfL Underground rail bus replacement mystery traveller survey was cancelled several years ago to save money. However there is still an Overground rail replacement bus survey. This gives TfL precise information about how the replacement buses are running from a passenger perspective.

The Knowledge | 08.09.19 - 6:19 p.m. | #

TfL used be a 1st Class Transport service in London, budget cuts have made into a 3rd Class service.

Bob | 09.09.19 - 1:22 a.m. | #

for all TfL's faults, i disagree with TRP's complaint. the aim of the disruption map is to highlight services you should avoid ... so by greying out all the good stuff, and colouring the non functioning ... it does the job of drawing attention to the problem lines.

ADS | Homepage | 09.09.19 - 10:59 a.m. | #

David - Re the Northern line staff assisting customers - some of us were, with a list of bus routes at hand - and directing customers to alternative routes such as Thameslink from Kentish Town (I was working at Tufnell Park) I was at the front of the station from 6.15am to about 11.30am and other staff were there until we opened.

Rob Healy | Homepage | 09.09.19 - 5:42 p.m. | #

On a visit to London I ended up being bustituted from Canada Water to Whitechapel. Due to the use of a double decker we could not use the Rotherhithe Tunnel so we routed over Tower Bridge which made the whole exercise worth it.
However the wait for a bus was around 20 mins. The traffic along the route, especially Fenchurch Street, was very heavy, the information on the bus was poor so someone asked 3 times were they on the right bus, another self alighted when told the could not get off at normal stops. Quite the experience.

Rick | 09.09.19 - 9:51 p.m. | #

The announcer at Barking advised to use C2C to Fenchurch Street to connect with the District line at Tower Hill.

JohnC | 10.09.19 - 11:31 a.m. | #











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