please empty your brain below

If this happens in Hong Kong, I will be very sure that this is a political move to either...

1. Make the Councillor serving the inconvenienced community look ugly, usually because the Councillor in concern belongs to the opposition.

Or ...
2. To please whoever living in the place where the in-power political entity is serving (or wanting to serve)

So, I strongly suggest DG to find out who is benefited from this change, and who is the MP there.
Surely the usual cock-up rather than a conspiracy?
Of course it's a cock up - the conspiracy will be in trying to cover up who made it (or in trying to persuade us that both the diversion and the non-announcements are all for our benefit).
Nine hours ago TfL bus alerts on Twitter gave this answer to a passenger:

@TfLBusAlerts: @BekahMather Hi, the operator for rte 25 states that due to major delays btwn Bow & Aldgate buses r diverted over the flyover until 16 June.

It seems strange that TfL is putting the onus on the operator and not owning this decision itself.
"Or it might be a temporary balancing act to maintain the 25's overall timetable during the reconstruction of Cycle Superhighway 2."

This is where my money lies. TfL's methods for keeping services together are becoming increasingly blunt in these times of less.
Given your readership these days, you can guarantee that this problem will now be remedied much more rapidly than if you had tried to contact TfL to point out their failing.

Oh, the Power of Blog :)
No need to apologise for going hyperlocal. These posts are always very interesting IMHO.
There are loads of these sorts of changes all over London at any point in time. Many routes have diversions, temporary timetables, closed stops. It is and has been a complete lottery for months and months as to what gets listed on the TfL website, what gets tweeted about, what is put up at stops, what is on Countdown displays at stops and what I-Bus says on the bus. You only got the "next bus stop is closed" message because the driver activated the message via his I-Bus unit in the cab. Some drivers are good at using this facility consistently while others never bother.

I've been ranting about this lack of "joined up" information provision on other forums where I know TfL people see my words. Little has improved.

It is even more galling that car drivers are promised "Olympic style messages" during the £4bn TfL Road Improvement programme but bus users are not mentioned at all. Do they not deserve some decent information too? The TfL press release does not refer to buses once and yet I thought buses used the roads? Perhaps they secretly don't and just float above the tarmac?

Oh and I agree with Nico that this diversion is almost certainly related to the CSH2 works and an attempt to ease the 25's schedule so it can cope with delays further down the route. The 25 has, though, been diverting some buses over the flyover for many months as a way of getting individual buses back on time. I've no idea if that was officially sanctioned by TfL but they'd see it in the I-Bus data if they ran a check.
Your hyperlocal issue does highlight a wider problem. The ibus/countdown system is brilliant, but it's let down because it is updated only haphazardly for diversions. There is building work at Canary Wharf - traffic can't use Herons Quays and all manner of diversions have applied in the last few weeks. Looks like "silo" mentality - the team managing ibus don't talk to the team authorising diversions
Oh the wonders of 'up to date' websites! Should I ever want to travel in London I shall check your website before TfL's.
It's annoying how the TFL website does not have up to date information. Last week when the no 57 bus was on a long diversion, due to road works so that at least 4 stops were not served at all, the webste stated ' no disruptions'.
Well I should then apologize for my too-rapid-conclusion. My place is recently plagued by not-so-subtle conspiracies and there are few occasions that anything else is true.
You are not alone in finding this information lacking.

Like Island Dweller I have to travel through, or around, or past, Canary Wharf. The diversions change almost weekly it seems, there are really helpful signs at the bus stops produced by Canary Wharf management that show the diversion routes. Except they don't always agree with what the buses are doing.

Northbound buses on the 135, D3 and D7 have to travel past the southbound bus stops to get to the northbound ones at the moment. The signs at the bus stops say northbound buses will also stop. In reality it seems to be whether the driver feels like it or not.

Then there are the times when the buses miss out the estate all together - with nobody bothering to update any information so you aren't waiting at a bus stop until a helpful passer by, who has presumably found out the hard way they need to make a quarter mile hike, tells you what TfL should.

And don't get me started about "the next bus stop is closed" and "this bus is on diversion" messages that are played too late for you to do anything about it. Or tell you what the next bus stop is (this is Church Street, I need to get off at South Street, the next stop is closed - is that South Street? Should I get off here and walk forwards or that the following stop and walk back?)

"This bus is on diversion" Ok, what is the diversion? Will it be serving my stop or not? Is this a diversion away from the route shown on the website, or is the website showing the diverted route (there is neither indication nor consistency).

/rant
Here is an idea. It bit radical, it is a little out of the box too. Convert the 25 to one of those fancy "New (Routemaster)Bus for London" (B0r!s) buses. Then it will have a "customer assistant/safety adviser/non-fare collecting conductor" on board who could verbally advise passengers that next two stops are being bypassed. Yeah...I did say it a bit of a "out there" idea.
Don't fret, TfL keeps an eye on this blog...so "adjustments" will be made.
@OnTheBus

How about we go one further. We could equip every bus with a second member of staff, who could deal with passenger enquiries, keep passengers safe, assist the driver in the case of incident (passenger or road traffic), etc.

Their costs could be covered by sponsorship. BigCompany, Keeping you safe on London's buses.

ForeignBank's on-bus staff have the local knowledge to help you on your journey.

RhymesWithWorst Conductors. Transforming Travel.

BiritshBank: For the journey
^ I think that is a great idea. Would provide some much needed entry-level jobs in the capital. If having branding on other parts of the "transport network" is o.k...then sponsored "on-board customer assistants" with a company logo on their hi-viz/top could be the way to go.
It's OK folks; Leon Daniels advised everyone attending the recent Transport Times organised Bus Summit, where all the big cheeses could be found, that TfL's secret of success was its 'vigorous attention to detail'. Ahem.
Of course it's conspiracy - and then cock up in implementation.

In these "every journey matters" times, as Nico says, the reality is actually that of increased bluntness to maintain the service without putting additional resource in. That would benefit the passengers too much.
Is that red cross over the route number an official corporate TfL design, or just a couple of bits of insulating tape?
@ On the bus 1459 - definitely a "way out" idea given future NB4L conversions will be one person operated so no second person on board. Also a fairly dreadful idea on the 25 where you need buses with *more* capacity than the current buses. NB4Ls carry fewer people than the conventional deckers they usually replace.
^ Capacity is a issue...and as demand will increase as the population does, then perhaps more buses will be required either way. More buses that *hopefully* breakdown less and provide better quality of service. That (with a increasingly ageing customer base) provide a assistant that will be welcomed. Where traffic starts to become more gridlocked the "freedom/choice" of getting off (when safe) a bus inbetween stops. A bus that provides a more comfortable ride...or we could just return to the "cattle trucks" that were bendi-buses?
Hey presto, the TfL webpage for route 25 now says...

HIGH STREET, E15 ROUTE 25: Buses are subject to diversion via Bow Flyover in both directions until 1600, Friday 26 June.

And the TfL webpage for the Bow Flyover bus stop no longer shows the 25 stopping there.

It's easy really :)

DG, how much an hour do you charge in consulting fees for your trouble shooting?
@PC
....which does make you wonder what the point of them is?
Bicycling is the way forward.

dg writes: Not on the Bow Roundabout it isn't, not yet.
It seems the best place to find out about diversions and the like is LondonBusRoutes.net rather than the TfL site. They're also going with the "Aldgate roadworks" reasoning for the diversion.
As a bus driver, I confess I play the automated announcements multiple times as not everybody pays attention the first time. If it's a diversion, I will pull up at the stop before and make a relevant announcement. One thing that annoys me is bus drivers who only inform of a diversion or closed stop when already in the affected section - though it's one better than drivers who don't bother informing passengers at all.
Thank you for this. I had tried to find a reason why on TFL's site a couple of weeks back and there was no mention of it anywhere.

As I travel between Warton Road and Mile End, selfishly this is much better for me, but it has been VERY badly communicated.

Another peeve, why do nearly, but not all 25s change drivers at Bow Church, and often not communicated by the driver? That can easily add a few munutes to your journey, and frustrating when later buses then overtake!
Late Summer, and the TFL status update for route 25 now says

HIGH STREET, E15 ROUTE 25: Buses are diverted via Bow Flyover in both directions until 1700 Friday 30th October.

Seven months of stop-skipping, cheers.










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