London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

All of them?

No, not all of them, sorry for the generalization.


On every route and all drivers do this do they? And all delays are
caused by chatting drivers rather than traffic congestion which is
appalling in Stratford / Manor Park etc.

Once again, sorry for generalizing...
I do see a lot of chatting drivers though. Also I normally use buses
outside of peak hours, so traffic congestion is hardly the reason.


You live out Stratford way don't you? I think you mean route 25 is a
bendy bus route. I'm not aware any other route is bendy in that area -
most are double deck with a smattering of single deckers where
clearances are tight.

Yes, I live in Three Mills area (close to Pudding Mill Lane DLR) - you
have a very good memory! :-)

But from January to mid-March I was travelling a lot in quite random
places (for job interviews) - Marble Arch, Harrow, London Bridge,
King's Cross, Chelsea, etc. I have no idea why I decided that bendy
buses are in majority! May be they are more noticeable because of the
length?

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:13:49 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:44:29 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008, Railist wrote:

According to the Mobile Journey Planner, there is a 417 due at 0024. The
countdown timer at the stop shows that it will be there in "10 mins".
Again I do the county thing - 3 x Route 57, 2 x Route 333, 1 x Route 59,
2 x Route 137, etc. etc. At 0034, the 417 is 'Due', and a 133 is in '3
minutes'. The 133 arrives 3 minutes later. Still no sign of the 417. It
eventually arrives five minutes after being 'Due'. I get home at 0059.

Normal service, then.

That really is not normal service any more than normal service on the
tube is every single line having horrendous delays every day of the
week, every week of the year.

For buses late at night, it absolutely is.

Well, it depends where you're going, I guess. This morning I got from
Worcester Park to South Ealing (213/65, changing at Kingston) with
both buses running absolutely to timetable. I've never had a problem
on either route late at night.

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On 12 Apr, 18:46, MIG wrote:
This political tangent is, unfortunately, very very true. I would
have no hesitation in giving Ken my (second) vote if he was
independent, and I am certain that London would be an infinitely worse
place with Boris Johnson as Mayor.

Why anyone would give their vote to someone who's quite happy to
entertain terrorist sympathisers like Yusuf Al-Qaradawi , hire crooks
such as Lee Jasper and keep them hired despite all the evidence ,
support every tin pot minority cause thats going etc etc frankly beats
me. Ken Livingstone is a disingenuous grasping little weasel of a man
who also apparently can't keep his trousers up for more than 5 minutes
either.

B2003

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

Ian Jelf wrote

I find London buses *extremely* reliable, frequent and useful for
many
varied types of journey. However, I almost exclusively use them in
Zone 1, so I wonder sometimes if in the suburbs they;re a bit more
like
the service we "enjoy" outside the capital?

I live in leafy Surrey outside the zones. Except when traffic really
snarls up the Tfl buses are much more reliable and punctual than the
once an hour Surrey buses both in zone 6 and outside. Now my new bus
pass allows use of all Tfl buses (previously only those routes that
went into Surrey like the K3, 216, 411 and R68) my experience is wider.

I do notice that the routes that have iBus don't yet have it on every
vehicle.


--
Mike D

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:26:34 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:18:21 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

We should go out boozing one night, and then try some test trips on
the buses [1]. In fact, we should have a utl meet, and settle it once
and for all!

Well volunteered Mr Anderson. On what date is this grand event going to
occur? ;-)

I thought we were doing this sometime in Burton-on-Trent. :-))

For once this thread is not cross posted to uk.railway which is where
Burton sprang up from. I note Mr Anderson has not responded yet!

I was thrown by all this Burton-on-Trent business!

I also have no idea what the procedure is for arranging a meet. Who's in?

tom

--
London has a suburb for every emotion. -- Cliff Laine

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On Apr 13, 11:09*am, Boltar wrote:
On 12 Apr, 18:46, MIG wrote:

This political tangent is, unfortunately, very very true. *I would
have no hesitation in giving Ken my (second) vote if he was
independent, and I am certain that London would be an infinitely worse
place with Boris Johnson as Mayor.

Why anyone would give their vote to someone who's quite happy to
entertain terrorist sympathisers like Yusuf Al-Qaradawi , hire crooks
such as Lee *Jasper and keep them hired despite all the evidence ,
support every tin pot minority cause thats going etc etc frankly beats
me. Ken Livingstone is a disingenuous grasping little weasel of a man
who also apparently can't keep his trousers up for more than 5 minutes
either.

Please don't infer a liking for Ken Livingstone. I see no problems
with tiny grants to tiny organisations that wouldn't even scratch the
surface of an MP's lunch expenses, but I agree that he is an
opportunist weasel. However, he is a talented opportunist weasel who
has genuine plans and the means to carry them out, even if I don't
like them.

Boris has no plans other than to employ thugs to defeat the unions, as
if everything will then just run itself, which I simply don't
believe. We've seen the results of neglect of London's transport
infrastructure.

So I'd be prepared to give my second vote to Ken Livingstone, purely
to keep out Boris Johnson, if only it weren't for his association with
New Labour, for which I have an almost pathological hatred.

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On 13 Apr, 16:34, MIG wrote:
Boris has no plans other than to employ thugs to defeat the unions, as

That in my mind is the best reason to vote for him I've ever heard.

if everything will then just run itself, which I simply don't
believe. We've seen the results of neglect of London's transport
infrastructure.

Yeah , because its run so much better under the heel of philanthropic
unions such as the RMT who's sole goal is a better service for the
travelling public. Don't make me laugh.

B2003

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:15:00 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008, Paul Corfield wrote:

For once this thread is not cross posted to uk.railway which is where
Burton sprang up from. I note Mr Anderson has not responded yet!

I was thrown by all this Burton-on-Trent business!

I also have no idea what the procedure is for arranging a meet. Who's in?

Not sure there's any sort of procedure for here. In another group I
frequent the "organiser" simply starts a new thread and states a date,
time and venue and people can either turn up or they can't. To try to
cater for the wide range of opinions and options is impossible for the
"organiser" to deal with. Alternatively you can request suggestions but
you'll ultimately need to make a ruling to curtail the almost inevitable
"debate".

In answer to your other question I would like to meet a few of the other
"faces" in utl so tentatively I'm in.

Suggestions for a venue are The Doric Arch at Euston (formerly the Head
of Steam) - never been in it myself but well located or the Jugged Hare
on Vauxhall Bridge Road - 5 mins from Victoria. Not too busy but decent
enough beer and food. They will cordon off an area for a group if
requested. Both suggestions are Fullers Pubs which may not be to
everyone's taste but they are reasonably located for bus, tube and rail
links.


--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:26:07 -0700 (PDT), Boltar
wrote:

On 13 Apr, 16:34, MIG wrote:
Boris has no plans other than to employ thugs to defeat the unions, as

That in my mind is the best reason to vote for him I've ever heard.

If you wish to vote for the impossible then go ahead. I have no
sympathy at all for the RMT's tactics in trying to drag the tube into
strike action several times a year. However Boris has neither the
political support, the resources or frankly the time to concoct a
strategy that would allow him to defeat the RMT. They've already said
they'll never surrender the right to strike and why would they? I can't
see how he could begin to negotiate with the RMT given he's made the end
game so clear up front - he's already got one arm tied behind his back
and the RMT have plenty of time to conjure with all sorts of alternative
strategies to outwit him.

London would be under severe strain after about 3-4 days of strike
action by the RMT that would bring out station staff and more
importantly signallers. There simply isn't the capacity or flexibility
in the transport system to displace the capacity offered by the tube on
a normal working day. Boris would have business chiefs (never mind
anyone else) kicking his door down demanding to know when their workers
were going to be able to get to work reliably. This is not the same as
taking on the miners with huge coal stocks having been built up over 2
years and there being flexibility to resort to other energy supplies.
You can't use the police to drive tube trains.

if everything will then just run itself, which I simply don't
believe. We've seen the results of neglect of London's transport
infrastructure.

Yeah , because its run so much better under the heel of philanthropic
unions such as the RMT who's sole goal is a better service for the
travelling public. Don't make me laugh.

All I'll say is that I'm fed up with the current relentless round of
threat and counter threat. There has to be a better way than this but I
have no idea what it is.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

London Buses - Why do I bother?
 

On 13 Apr, 22:23, Paul Corfield wrote:
sympathy at all for the RMT's tactics in trying to drag the tube into
strike action several times a year. However Boris has neither the
political support, the resources or frankly the time to concoct a
strategy that would allow him to defeat the RMT. They've already said

Probably true unfortunately.

All I'll say is that I'm fed up with the current relentless round of
threat and counter threat. There has to be a better way than this but I
have no idea what it is.

Probably a new set of laws whereby even strike threats can't be made
without a membership vote and union leaders must come to the
negotiating table at all times if requested to do so by the other
party or forfeit their right to strike with the threat of arrest of
the leaders and/or huge fine for their union if they do anyway.
Draconian possibly but if ts whats needed to reign in Crowe and his
merry band of extortionists so be it.

B2003