On Nov 28, 4:01*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:17:27 -0000, "Nicola Redwood"
wrote:

The first strike, I decided to go up to Stratford to from Walthamstow (I'm a
10 min walk from Blackhorse Rd). *Absolute nightmare mostly due to all the
roadworks. *I then got the DLR to Canary wharf and then another to Cutty
Sark then a bus down Trafalgar Road to work. *To me over 4 hours.

Going back I got a bus to North Greenwich, then the 108 to Startford. *When
I had got to Stratford, they had a marshall service and special buses
through to Leytonstone from where I got a W15 back home

The 2nd strike was a bit better. *I walked to Tottenham Hale and went
through to Archway on a 41 to get the Northern Line to London Bridge and
then as normal SouthEastern to Maze Hill. *Took over 2 hours. *Same way back
this time, but no special bus service, so I just got a 158 towards Chingford
and got off at Blackhorse Road

The 3rd strike, again I walked to Tottenham Hale, got a 41 and got off at
Seven Sisters and then almost a normal journey (a bit quicker even due to
some stations on the Northern Line being closed) to London Bridge and then
Maze Hill. *Same way back home as per the previous strike

I shall be walking down to Tottenham Hale again tomorrow in sub-zero
temperatures

Goodness me what a set of journeys. An alternative for you to ponder is
the NR Line from St James St (or more sensibly Walthamstow Central) to
Hackney Downs, 30 or 56 bus to Dalston Junction and then Overground to
Surrey Quays / New Cross to pick up a South Eastern train or a bus. [I'm
not very good on the intricacies of the South Eastern network].

Alternatively the 76, 149 and 243 from Seven Sisters will drop you close
to Dalston Junction - not sure if the actual stop at the station is
still closed due to roadworks but the stop at Dalston Kingsland is
barely 3-4 mins walk from the ELL station. Given the decent frequencies
and relatively low ridership levels you're likely to get on a train with
little problem.

How about cutting out the bus altogether - NR from Walthamstow Central
or St James Street to Bethnal Green, then less than half a mile's walk
to Whitechapel for the ELL.

That said, I rather like Peter Masson's Liverpool Street stn to Cannon
Street route. All trains to Maze Hill now start from Cannon Street (I
think), so no need to change at London Bridge.


The other option to consider is the half hourly peak NXEA service from T
Hale to Stratford (on the hour and half hour). It takes 12-15 mins to
Stratford and while it is busy it has never been horrendous on the
occasions I have used it. Obviously if the Jubilee Line is not working
then DLR will be awful but you do have direct access to the DLR at
Stratford which will get you across the river.

It's nothing other than a hunch, but I bet the above service (via the
Lea Bridge route) won't be unfeasibly heaving tomorrow.


When I was on duty at Walthamstow on the first strike I had someone
wanting Penge and they had done the ELL - 30/56 - National Rail sequence
and it had worked OK.

On Nov 28, 8:31*pm, Fat richard wrote:

On Nov 28, 11:19*am, Mizter T wrote:

Re the bus fare - this got brought up recently on uk.railway - my
reckoning is that *if* a National Rail ticket includes a cross-London
tube transfer (i.e. it features the '+' symbol/ Maltese cross in the
route field) then on a Tube strike day it should be valid for travel
on the buses in order to make the transfer between the relevant London
termini.

However in this case it's entirely dependent on whether or not the
ticket is for travel from Plumstead, in which case cross-London
transfer would be included, or from Euston, in which case it obviously
wouldn't be.

In a staff brief I recieved (as per other strikes) it specifically
stated that tickest can NOT be used on buses. Whilst not related
perfectly, it is worth noting that most London Centric TOCs have
reciprical arrangements (pretty muc free) with London Underground,
wheras when London Buses are used to pass customers this is done as a
financial arrangement and it ain't cheap.

I was specifically referring to NR tickets that have cross-London
transfer included (i.e. the Maltese cross / '+' symbol), but my logic
is that it'd just London Buses passing tickets on behalf of LU (i.e.
as if they were any ordinary Tube ticket, accepted on the buses
because of the strike) - no reciprocal arrangement or financial
payment from the TOC would need to be involved, as it would just be
one arm of TfL fulfilling the travel deal in place of another.

In message
, at
05:09:52 on Sun, 28 Nov 2010, MIG
remarked:

I've been at London Bridge so many times with the Thameslink trains
already expected fifteen minutes late. Being at London Bridge for the
0909 and finding it delayed doesn't leave much flexibility.

In the event, it was 6 minutes late at London bridge and 2 minutes late
at St Pancras.
--
Roland Perry

On Nov 29, 9:39*am, Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
05:09:52 on Sun, 28 Nov 2010, MIG
remarked:

I've been at London Bridge so many times with the Thameslink trains
already expected fifteen minutes late. Being at London Bridge for the
0909 and finding it delayed doesn't leave much flexibility.

In the event, it was 6 minutes late at London bridge and 2 minutes late
at St Pancras.

Padding ...

I left it fairly late and got the 0836 from Peckham Rye, in which I
even got a seat.

I was wondering if D7666 might have something to say about the number
of short-formed trains on Thameslink this evening rush hour, just when
they are most likely to be in demand, but maybe it's normal.

On Nov 28, 2:52*pm, (Roy Badami) wrote:

In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:

OK - thanks for that. I can Boris Bike but SWMBO works in Hammersmith so
a slightly tortuous route to Ken Olympia and she can do a 25 min walk...

I'm curious as to what the demand for Boris Bikes has been like on
strike days?

Oliver O'Brien is a UCL academic who also has a blog called
Suprageography - basically he's got this great excuse to play with
maps all day called research - I wrote about this all a bit beforehand
he
http://groups.google.com/group/uk.tr...6c8666063092fb

To the point - he's got a visualisation of the cycle hire scheme he
http://oobrien.com/vis/bikes/

It now includes an animation of the last 48 hours (see the links at
the top [1]) - though I did just play it and it was rather jumpy, with
some strange leaps between the different sample time points (with a
few small steps thrown in too) - but I just quickly ran it a second
time and also clicked on the 'faster' button which seemed to improve
things, but that's as much playing around as I've done.

Re the demand for 'Boris bikes' - observed this evening whilst milling
around for a few minutes near Waterloo, specifically at the docking
station on Concert Hall Approach, were some of the police on bikes -
though they weren't actually on their bikes at that time, and were in
fact quite possibly PCSOs - but anyhow they were guarding a great
stack of cycle hire bikes leant up against a wall, and were in fact
releasing (with a magic key) further bikes that were being deposited
in the docks and adding them to this stack. Then a LCHS electric
vehicle and empty trailer turned up, and the driver and PCSOs
proceeded to load it up completely from the stack, before it whirred
back off to wherever across the river - there were still bikes in the
stack, and the PCSOs continued to release bikes from the docks and add
them to the stack.

From a snatched moment of overheard conversation not all the faux
coppers seemed completely familiar with the workings of the scheme,
and I haven't seen the old bill get involved like this before so I can
really only assume this duty was a 'strike special' (maybe they've
done it during previous strikes, I dunno). There was what appeared to
be a single police type character next to the docking station round
the corner at the Jubilee Gardens docking station on Belvedere Road,
not quite sure if there was a bike or two stacked up there as well or
if it was just his - it was pretty cold out and I felt I'd done my
observational duty by this point so wasn't paying intense attention.


-----
[1] Which also include a link to this which I think is neat:
http://casa.ucl.ac.uk/bom/

On Nov 26, 9:16*am, (Roy Badami) wrote:

While we're at it, have any further strike dates been announced?
I couldn't immediately find any info on the web.

In furtherance to this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11868952

---quote---
Tube strike: Union walkouts 'could escalate' in London

The fourth 24-hour strike over job cuts in London Underground ticket
offices has ended, with unions warning their walkouts could escalate
in 2011.

Industrial action lasting two or three days was possible in the New
Year, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Transport
Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) said.

But there would be no strikes over the Christmas period, they added.
[...continues...]
---/quote---


I dunno if that therefore rules out action on Boxing Day (26th), or
whether that doesn't count as it's a separate dispute. This is what
Bob Crow is reported to have said (in the above article):

"We are moving towards an escalation of the action in the New Year,
[...] I will not be recommending any action this side of 2 January,
but come 2011 we will have to consider escalating strikes to more than
one day."

So the Boxing Day strike might be off the cards then, but some two day-
ers could be what's on offer instead.

On Nov 30, 1:23*am, Mizter T wrote:
On Nov 26, 9:16*am, (Roy Badami) wrote:



While we're at it, have any further strike dates been announced?
I couldn't immediately find any info on the web.

In furtherance to this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11868952

---quote---
Tube strike: Union walkouts 'could escalate' in London

The fourth 24-hour strike over job cuts in London Underground ticket
offices has ended, with unions warning their walkouts could escalate
in 2011.

Industrial action lasting two or three days was possible in the New
Year, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Transport
Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) said.

But there would be no strikes over the Christmas period, they added.
[...continues...]
---/quote---

I dunno if that therefore rules out action on Boxing Day (26th), or
whether that doesn't count as it's a separate dispute. This is what
Bob Crow is reported to have said (in the above article):

"We are moving towards an escalation of the action in the New Year,
[...] I will not be recommending any action this side of 2 January,
but come 2011 we will have to consider escalating strikes to more than
one day."

So the Boxing Day strike might be off the cards then, but some two day-
ers could be what's on offer instead.

As a matter of fact, what happens with regard to Oyster PAYG on strike
days. I only ask because I was going home yesterday (on the tube!!!,
so so much for London being in "lockdown" as per Mr Crow) and when the
train got to Seven Sisters there was an announcement that "Tottenham
Hale is closed, passengers for Tottenham Hale please alight here and
take bus no. 41". OK, that will get someone to Tottenham Hale without
too much inconvenience, but someone on Oyster PAYG would have to touch
out at Seven Sisters and touch in again on the no. 41 bus, thus
incurring an extra fare. It seems a little unfair that people are
being penalised in this way.

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 23:58:57 -0800 (PST), Paul
wrote:

OK, that will get someone to Tottenham Hale without
too much inconvenience, but someone on Oyster PAYG would have to touch
out at Seven Sisters and touch in again on the no. 41 bus, thus
incurring an extra fare. It seems a little unfair that people are
being penalised in this way.

Claim forms for overpayment to be sent to Mr R Crow, RMT?

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:23:43 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:

I dunno if that therefore rules out action on Boxing Day (26th), or
whether that doesn't count as it's a separate dispute.

Boxing Day is an ASLEF dispute over pay, so has nothing to do with Bob
Crow's pronouncements.

"Ivor" wrote:

On Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:23:43 -0800 (PST), Mizter T
wrote:

I dunno if that therefore rules out action on Boxing Day (26th), or
whether that doesn't count as it's a separate dispute.

Boxing Day is an ASLEF dispute over pay, so has nothing to do with Bob
Crow's pronouncements.

Thanks - a rather elementary error on my part, what with it being a
different union!