please empty your brain below
Dealing with the old and infirm includes unpredictability and associated unreliability - you can't realistically shrug and move onto the next pick-up if the door isn't being answered.

Still Anon | 08.04.22 - 7:50 a.m. | #

I wondered how many people were eligible to join, and how many actually did. The latest numbers I could find, for 2019/20Q3 so just pre-pandemic, indicated there were 39,600 members, and over 300,000 trips (not sure if that is one quarter or the whole year).

The population of Greater London is about 9 million, and if 1.5% qualify by age alone, that is 135,000 potential members, not including younger people who qualify for other reasons. So most people who could use this service are not. I wonder why. Perhaps they don’t know, or they prefer not to use it, or the long form puts them off.

Andrew | 08.04.22 - 7:52 a.m. | #

I have a vague memory of Dial-a-Ride buses being silver for a short period. This was shortly after all the different transport modes (except Underground I think) came together under TfL/Mayor with their colourful new roundels. I presume someone thought that red should be reserved for regular buses and so new Dial-a-Ride vehicles were painted silver. I don’t think it lasted long before they reverted to red. It was around the same time that the Woolwich Ferry displayed the TfL Streets roundel and there was different wording for taxis, PCO and private hire mini cabs.

I also remember some boroughs running community buses which I guess filled the gap between regular buses and Dial-a-Ride. There were yellow mini buses linking Hackney and Islington, for example, which I think later became a TfL bus operator in its own right.

finlay | 08.04.22 - 7:56 a.m. | #

a bus nerd writes they have 256 of the VW T6 buses - all the older vehicles have now gone.

dg writes: updated, thanks.

Bus Nerd | 08.04.22 - 8:04 a.m. | #

I see the form does not consider Chinese people to be Asian - like the 2001 census but unlike later ones.

Alan | 08.04.22 - 8:20 a.m. | #

I investigated Dial A Ride for my mother, who would probably have been about 90 at the time. She had a mobility scooter (but its turning circle was too big to get into the wheelchair space on a normal tfl bus).

I think she would have qualified for Dial A Ride, so I filled in the form and I think was accepted. But she didn't have the confidence (and later on, the ability) to go anywhere on her own.

We couldn't easily get her into a car or taxi either, so the eventual solution was to use a manual wheelchair and I would accompany her on her visits and push the chair into a wheelchair space on an ordinary tfl bus. Standing passengers usually understood they had to vacate the space and most did, though sometimes only after the driver had played the official announcement three times.

Strangest problem was that on one bus the driver couldn't work out how to use the ramp. "This is a different bus to the one I usually drive" and he didn't know which button to operate it. After about 10 minutes, he finally went to have a look at the ramp -- and there was a bit of rope that had to be used to open it manually. I've not seen a bus like that before or since.

Harry | 08.04.22 - 8:26 a.m. | #

When my son was at school there were separate boxes on forms for Asian and Chinese, i.e. the Chinese were not considered Asian, but only a box for White/Asian, which used to annoy him as he didn't want to be White/Other.

JohnC | 08.04.22 - 11:23 a.m. | #

The main base is Mandela Way SE1, that's where the operational staff and management are based and you'll see a lot of buses if you go there in person or on google streetview

Lewis | 08.04.22 - 11:59 a.m. | #

On the subject of buses and people with some mobility difficulties, its annoying how many bus drivers don't bother to lower the floor to allow people to get on and off easily.

Cornish Monkey | 08.04.22 - 12:19 p.m. | #

I'd consider "Asian", to mean South Asian (ie. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghan).

If the police were putting out a description and they were looking for an "Asian" man, you would think they were looking for someone from this area rathern than someone Chinese.

dg interrupts: Not if you understood police IC codes.

Lumma | Homepage | 08.04.22 - 12:28 p.m. | #

Finlay, you’re right about the yellow minibus service - I remember Hackney Community Transport from the 80s. It’s still there in Ash Grove off Mare St near the canal, & their website says “…delivers Dial-a-Ride services on behalf of TfL”.

Toni | 08.04.22 - 4:08 p.m. | #

Note to self: only one of my readers has direct experience of Dial-a-Ride, and not for themselves.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 08.04.22 - 11:12 p.m. | #

I’ve lived in Redbridge my while life and only noticed the local Dial A Ride depot the other day.

My father when getting older had wanted me to try to get him access to Dial A Ride as he was struck at home unless I was free. I didn’t have time to fill out and go through all the forms. He passed away a number of years ago, I feel sad I didn’t get him to use it....wish I had known it was so close by

JH | 11.04.22 - 1:33 a.m. | #

It is uniquely the UK (and I guess maybe Ireland as well as other British islands) where "Asian" doesn't include Chinese.

John | 12.04.22 - 12:06 p.m. | #











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