On Dec 1, 12:12*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Dec 1, 9:23*am, George wrote:



On 30 Nov, 18:58, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:01:36 -0800 (PST), George

wrote:
A lot of bus routes have been disrupted by the snow and whilst
Metrobus have provided a lot of info through their excellent website
there is nothing at all on the TfL website which I think is an utter
disgrace. An e mail will be winging its way to them from me, I might
get a reply by next summer!

But why let the truth get in the way of a rant George?

I looked at the TfL website buses real time list earlier today and there
were plenty of entries relating to the poor weather conditions in South
East London and Croydon. *Example routes I picked were 61, 477, 466,
404, 434, 450, 96, S1, S3, S4, R5, R8 and 358. They all had entries
explained where there was general disruption or in some cases more
specific info for the route * e.g. in Orpington the bus station area by
the railway station is inaccessible so alternative stop info was listed.

You can see every disruption on the network if you select the "show all
disruptions" link rather than entering route numbers individually.

It may not be like the Facebook and Twitter feeds that some operators
run but that would be an enormous task in London. *To say nothing was
provided is just not correct and I would expect the reply from TfL to
completely contradict what you state is the case.
--
Paul C

Oh dear Paul, it looks like you are the one trying not to let facts
get in the way of starting another squabble, and that sort of nonsense
belongs on the LT Group, not to be confused with the new (argument
free) LT Group!

I am doing no such thing. The facts are completely clear.

Yes I had heard *you* had started an alternative group under another
of your assumed names. I don't see how you can claim it is argument
free given it has been running for "five minutes". You will get debate
and disagreement or argument at some point so it's best not to gloat
unless, of course, you are moderating all posts so that there is no
disagreement whatsoever.

Where exactly do I find all this then? I looked on live travel news
but it wasn't there, and many others were also complaining about the
lack of info, perhaps you could let us all into the secret of where
TfL have hidden it as most people don't have time to search the entire
site? *Of course go to the Metrobus site and you can't miss it, a
photo of buses in the snow sort of gives it away, perhaps TfL will
cotton on one day?

You go to Live Travel News, the default page is for LUL and DLR and
Overground but there is a Tab with "Buses" on it. Click that and you
can select by route number or else there is another link for "all
disruptions".

I have not seen people say they cannot find the info - several people
have posted about their personal experience of the service and some of
those have said that they found the relevant part of the TfL website.

Just because you cannot navigate your way through a simple part of the
TfL website in no way removes the fact that the information is
available on the site. Your accusation was that there was *no*
information - I have simply stated that you are incorrect.

It's a winter wasteland here in the Beckenham area this morning,
abandoned vehicles (including buses) everywhere

Everywhere? *I doubt that somehow. *There may be some vehicles left on
some roads but they won't be *everywhere*.

--
Paul C
via Google

The place where I looked was TFL website, then 'Winter weather
conditions', then buses tab, then entered route number in the box.
For route 60 it now says 'No service Coulsdon Red Lion to Old
Coulsdon, not serving Poplar Walk in Central Croydon', which seems to
be correct, but twice yesterday it was saying that route 60 either had
no disruptions, or it was not a valid route. Clearly, this was not
correct.

I didn't look at route 466 yesterday, but it's now saying 'No service
between Coulsdon Town Centre and Caterham-on-the-Hill due to adverse
weather conditions.' This could perhaps be slightly better worded,
since it doesn't normally serve Coulsdon Town Centre, but turns left
before it gets there; it's actually being diverted to the town centre,
serving a few extra stops on the way. At least the information that
it isn't serving Caterham-on-the-Hill is correct, so the information
for these two routes is now correct. I don't know about the situation
on other routes, so I can't check the information now being provided.

On Dec 1, 6:11*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Wed, 1 Dec 2010 09:10:09 -0800 (PST),
wrote:
[big snip]
The place where I looked was TFL website, then 'Winter weather
conditions', *then buses tab, then entered route number in the box.
For route 60 it now says 'No service Coulsdon Red Lion to Old
Coulsdon, not serving Poplar Walk in Central Croydon', which seems to
be correct, but twice yesterday it was saying that route 60 either had
no disruptions, or it was not a valid route. *Clearly, *this was not
correct.
I didn't look at *route 466 yesterday, but it's now saying 'No service
between Coulsdon Town Centre and Caterham-on-the-Hill due to adverse
weather conditions.' *This could perhaps be slightly better worded,
since it doesn't normally serve Coulsdon Town Centre, but turns left
before it gets there; it's actually being diverted to the town centre,
serving a few extra stops on the way. *At least the information that
it isn't serving Caterham-on-the-Hill is correct, so the information
for these two routes is now correct. *I don't know about the situation
on other routes, so I can't check the information now being provided.

The point that started this thread was that there was *no* information
about TfL bus services. That is palpably incorrect - I found loads of it
in less than 5 minutes. *I know George of old from other Yahoo based
groups. He made the point and said he was going to complain to TfL. All
I am saying is that it would be a waste of time given that his
proposition is untrue and he has subsequently admitted he could not find
the right part of the website.

He will probably come along and change the basis of his argument - an
old tactic - to say that the website design is crap or somesuch. That is
a different argument as is your contention above about the accuracy of
the information that was provided. *I don't have a problem with agreeing
that some of the information could have been better phrased or perhaps
more timely or accurate. *However I don't know how busy Centrecomm and
the Travel Information Service has been nor do I know what genuine
problems the bus operators have faced. *If they'd all been sitting on
their backsides doing nothing other than drinking tea then criticism
might be due but I await some evidence rather than baseless wild
accusations before I get overly excited.

TfL is a long time target for George and he will take whatever
opportunity he can to lambast the organisation for being useless without
properly considering the issues that may genuinely account for a less
than ideal service. *He would, however, extend complete sympathy to
Metrobus because they're a private bus company and operate some
deregulated services outside of London. *Private and deregulated = good
and TfL and public service = bad in a certain person's book.

--
Paul C


I rather suspect many utl readers haven't taken long to get a handle
on George and his, er, perspective on things (wrong end of binoculars
springs to mind) - though the little bit of background is interesting
nonetheless.

Of course utl needed a 'snow thread' of some sort, and so it seems
that this is the vehicle for discussion on said topic. I get the
feeling that utl is a somewhat less busy place these days than in
times past, so I suppose we have to take what comes w.r.t. jumping off
points for about transportational happenings.