So this bus drivers strike is actually happening then - that's a bit
awkward, which is just the point really I suppose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18530784

Excerpt:
---quote---
Bus workers from 17 companies will go-ahead with a 24-hour strike in
London despite an injunction, a union said.

The Arriva, Metroline and Go Ahead firms applied for the court
injunction, which was granted, and their workers have been told not to
strike on Friday.

But union members at the other firms plan to walk out in a row over a
£500 bonus for working during the Olympics.

Mayor Boris Johnson said the strike was "enormously frustrating". TfL
said services "might be quite affected".

The strike will start from 03:00 BST on Friday.

Unite had called for the bonus to be paid to its 20,000 members, in line
with extra pay deals agreed with train companies.

The three companies who went to court account for 15-20% of London's bus
routes, providing services in north-west and south London.

TfL Commissioner Peter Hendy, said these companies and the routes they
operate would be running as normal, but about the rest of the network he
said: "It might be quite affected."
[...continues...]
---/quote---


Also, press release from TfL:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/24335.aspx

I guess tomorrow might well serve as a potent demonstration of just how
vital buses are to London's travel mix. If one can avoid being on the
road in/on anything with three or more wheels on Friday that's probably
a good idea too.

I notice that currently at the top of the TfL homepage as present is a link to this PDF file:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...l-services.pdf
The style of the table looked familiar to me. It seems that when TfL need bus route information in a hurry, the site they go to is http://www.londonbusroutes.net !

But union members at the other firms plan to walk out in a row over a
£500 bonus for working during the Olympics.


NB it seems bus drivers want £500 *after tax* - ie £500 net in their
hands. That means the bus companies would have to "gross up" and pay
them something like an extra £750 each.

--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On 21/06/2012 23:44, Mizter T wrote:
So this bus drivers strike is actually happening then - that's a bit
awkward, which is just the point really I suppose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18530784

Excerpt:
---quote---
Bus workers from 17 companies will go-ahead with a 24-hour strike in
London despite an injunction, a union said.

The Arriva, Metroline and Go Ahead firms applied for the court
injunction, which was granted, and their workers have been told not to
strike on Friday.

But union members at the other firms plan to walk out in a row over a
£500 bonus for working during the Olympics.
[...SNIP...]
---/quote---


I had (perhaps foolishly) taken the above at face value and assumed that
all routes operated by Go-Ahead would be running, but it seems that the
injunction only covers London General - the other Go-Ahead London
companies - that is London Central, Docklands Buses and Blue Triangle -
are all affected, as is their Metrobus subsidiary.

As per TfL's press release, "Metroline, Arriva the Shires, London
General, Quality Line and Sullivan's all running good services."
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/24343.aspx

On 22/06/2012 09:56, wrote:
I notice that currently at the top of the TfL homepage as present
is a link to this PDF file:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/routes-running-normal-services.pdf
The style of the table looked familiar to me. It seems that when
TfL need bus route information in a hurry, the site they go to is
http://www.londonbusroutes.net !

I very much doubt they've lifted anything from a third party site!

Anyhow, the PDF file has just been updated and is now longer in the
style of a table with routes listed under each operator and garage code,
instead it's now a rather more passenger-friendly list.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/routes-running-normal-services.pdf

Outside of the two peak periods, the roads worked much better than normal
and traffic flowed freely. Those big red vehicles are clearly an impediment.

I'm not sure from personal observation that today's strike did demonstrate
that buses are especially vital to London's transport system. Important:
unquestionably; vital: debatable. I saw people being inconvenienced and
forced to pay extra, but I didn't see anyone being unable to make their journey.

I'd be interested to hear other people's observations, particularly those who were in "the middle".

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:30:57 +0100
"Robin" wrote:
But union members at the other firms plan to walk out in a row over a
£500 bonus for working during the Olympics.


NB it seems bus drivers want £500 *after tax* - ie £500 net in their
hands. That means the bus companies would have to "gross up" and pay
them something like an extra £750 each.

Just let the ****s strike. They'll get paid nothing and will be treated
like **** by the public when they go back to work and I hope they enjoy
the abuse. No one is going to use the buses to get to the olympics anyway.

Funny how whenever I've heard some moron union rep on the radio making a case
for some driver of train/bus/whatever being paid extra because of supposed
greater number of passengers, they always um, ah and go into general defensive
mode when the interviewer suggests in that case they should earn less during
quiet times such as a sunday morning.

B2003

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:55:43 +0100, Mizter T
wrote:

I had (perhaps foolishly) taken the above at face value and assumed that
all routes operated by Go-Ahead would be running, but it seems that the
injunction only covers London General - the other Go-Ahead London
companies - that is London Central, Docklands Buses and Blue Triangle -
are all affected, as is their Metrobus subsidiary.

Not so foolish, I think... Around my way -- according to Countdown --
the only bus route operating normally was the 465, by Metrobus.

As per TfL's press release, "Metroline, Arriva the Shires, London
General, Quality Line and Sullivan's all running good services."
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/24343.aspx

I saw that page. Much of it was overly political, as TfL news
releases often are these days (although it stated in the Ken era):

"Despite the Mayor of London securing an unprecedented extra £8.3m
from the Olympic Delivery Authority to enable the bus companies and
Unite to resolve their dispute, the union leadership has proved to be
determined to try to disrupt Londoners."

IMO this page, which is supposed to help us find our way around the
city, is not the place for this sort of editorialising, as frustrating
as the strike is to passengers and to TfL.

Richard.