Smelly, slow and uninformative. Thanks to Walthamstow central being
closed, the "helpful" person at the gate (who barely spoke any
English), told me to get a bus to Leyton (Should have walked to
balckhorse road). Got on, you get the dreggs of the earth on them,
theres no information, no route maps on the bus telling you where you
are, they are constantly caught up in traffic (mainly other busses
pulling into and out of stops), and I got into work half an hour late.
I'm unimpressed.

Solution

1) Ban smelly people with things living in their hair
2) Each bus should have a route map like on the tube, so you can see
where you've been, where you are, and where you're going, complete
with interchanges onto the much superior underground and national rail
3) There should be announcments for each stop (whether the bus stops
there or not)

Paul Weaver wrote:
Smelly, slow and uninformative. Thanks to Walthamstow central being
closed, the "helpful" person at the gate (who barely spoke any
English), told me to get a bus to Leyton (Should have walked to
balckhorse road). Got on, you get the dreggs of the earth on them,
theres no information, no route maps on the bus telling you where you
are, they are constantly caught up in traffic (mainly other busses
pulling into and out of stops), and I got into work half an hour late.
I'm unimpressed.

Solution

1) Ban smelly people with things living in their hair
2) Each bus should have a route map like on the tube, so you can see
where you've been, where you are, and where you're going, complete
with interchanges onto the much superior underground and national rail
3) There should be announcments for each stop (whether the bus stops
there or not)

4) Ban people who can't spell buses.

The RV1 route in central London has (2) and (3).
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On 21 Oct 2003 02:37:55 -0700, (Paul Weaver)
wrote:

Smelly, slow and uninformative. Thanks to Walthamstow central being
closed, the "helpful" person at the gate (who barely spoke any
English), told me to get a bus to Leyton (Should have walked to
balckhorse road).

Or -
1. Got the WAGN train to St James Streeet, and then walked to
Blackhorse Road.
2. Got the WAGN train to Liverpool Sreeet, and then continued via
Underground from there.
3. Got the Silverlink train from Walthamstow Queens Road to Blackhorse
Road.

Getting on a bus after an Underground station closure is rarely an
efficient way out of the mess. Luckily for people in Walthamstow it is
not the only option.

Got on, you get the dreggs of the earth on them,

Are you sure this wasn't just the fact of being in Leyton? ;-)

theres no information, no route maps on the bus telling you where you
are, they are constantly caught up in traffic (mainly other busses
pulling into and out of stops), and I got into work half an hour late.

Perhaps if you had an alternative plan in case of such an event, you
might have found the journey easier.

I'm unimpressed.

Not much we can do about that. Claim your refund at
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/charter/


Cheers,

Jason.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:54 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

4) Ban people who can't spell buses.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=buses
bus
n. pl. bus·es or bus·ses
[snip]

It's not the OED I know, but is accepted.


Cheers,

Jason.

"Jason" wrote in message
...
1. Got the WAGN train to St James Streeet, and then walked to
Blackhorse Road.
2. Got the WAGN train to Liverpool Sreeet, and then continued via
Underground from there.

No, the station was closed, including wagn.

3. Got the Silverlink train from Walthamstow Queens Road to Blackhorse
Road.

It's a long walk of many, many yards, and I didnt know how often the train
was. Also being really early in the morning I was confused and forgot my
fallback "fallback plan" (the main one is WAGN)

Getting on a bus after an Underground station closure is rarely an
efficient way out of the mess. Luckily for people in Walthamstow it is
not the only option.

Its what the underground staff were saying to do though. Also from what I
remember of driving arround when I moved here, Leyton wasn't *that* far
away, and is on the central line (where I wanted), and I didn't think it
would take as long as it did

Got on, you get the dreggs of the earth on them,

Are you sure this wasn't just the fact of being in Leyton? ;-)



theres no information, no route maps on the bus telling you where you
are, they are constantly caught up in traffic (mainly other busses
pulling into and out of stops), and I got into work half an hour late.

Perhaps if you had an alternative plan in case of such an event, you
might have found the journey easier.

Yeah, but remembering to use that plan when you're really groggy and havent
had a cup of coffee is another story

I'm unimpressed.

Not much we can do about that. Claim your refund at
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/charter/

Heh. At least they arent striking (yet)

"Jason" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:54 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

4) Ban people who can't spell buses.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=buses
bus
n. pl. bus·es or bus·ses
[snip]

It's not the OED I know, but is accepted.

Alright, then - ban people who can't spell dregs (dreggs) or announcements
(announcments) instead!

;-)

Jason wrote:
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:54 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

4) Ban people who can't spell buses.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=buses
bus
n. pl. bus·es or bus·ses
[snip]

It's not the OED I know, but is accepted.

Accepted in the US, maybe. The site uses American dictionaries and is based
in Los Angeles, so it's not surprising that it includes the American variant
spelling "busses". The plural of "bus" in British English is always
"buses". (Source: New Oxford Dictionary of English, 2001)
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On 21 Oct 2003 02:37:55 -0700, (Paul Weaver) wrote:

Smelly, slow and uninformative. Thanks to Walthamstow central being
closed, the "helpful" person at the gate (who barely spoke any
English), told me to get a bus to Leyton (Should have walked to
balckhorse road). Got on, you get the dreggs of the earth on them,
theres no information, no route maps on the bus telling you where you
are, they are constantly caught up in traffic (mainly other busses
pulling into and out of stops), and I got into work half an hour late.
I'm unimpressed.

Funny but I've travelled on 5 buses today and only one was packed beyond
belief. All ran perfectly well without an infestation of smelly people
or anything else for that matter. I've been on 4 tube trains too and
they were OK as well.

Getting away from Walthamstow Central when the Tube goes down can be a
nightmare - I've had to do it too many times. The bus trip to Leyton can
vary from a quick 20 minute sprint to a 40 minute horrendous drag -
usually when the tube is down, the kids are at school, it's raining etc.
The variability is awful so I have some sympathy. When the Tube falls
over like that I tend to ring the office and say "I'll be there when I
can" and take a deep breath, relax and wander off to see what buses or
trains are available. Having informed the office and managed
expectations the alternative journey is less stressful because people
know I'm trying to get in but will be late.

Solution

1) Ban smelly people with things living in their hair

I'm assuming you aren't being serious.

2) Each bus should have a route map like on the tube, so you can see
where you've been, where you are, and where you're going, complete
with interchanges onto the much superior underground and national rail

Do you just mean the route that you are on at the time or more something
akin to the local bus network. I agree that it would be a reassurance to
those not used to using the bus because it makes it seem more like a
train! My personal recommendation is to deliberately vary your trip and
use the buses just to get familiar with where they run etc. Helps you
understand how they work and also knits together a local neighbourhood.
I know it sounds a bit daft but I only really began to fit London
together as a City when I forced myself to use buses between places
instead of always using the Tube.

3) There should be announcments for each stop (whether the bus stops
there or not)

Mixed view on that one. I dislike a lot of recorded messages about "door
closing" etc on buses. It could also get very annoying for the bus
driver listening to it all day while trying to drive his or her bus. I
do appreciate the value for blind people or those who are just unsure as
to where they are. Ideally such a system should be driven off the back
of GPS or some such facility to avoid the need for the driver to
activate a message at each stop.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 18:41:48 +0100, Paul Corfield wrote:
Having informed the office and managed
expectations the alternative journey is less stressful because people
know I'm trying to get in but will be late.

Of course the poor bloke at the end of the 12 hour shift that has to stay
on to cover you wont be very happy

Solution

1) Ban smelly people with things living in their hair

I'm assuming you aren't being serious.

Well perhaps a little bit.

2) Each bus should have a route map like on the tube, so you can see
where you've been, where you are, and where you're going, complete with
interchanges onto the much superior underground and national rail

Do you just mean the route that you are on at the time or more something
akin to the local bus network.

Both, like the tube has the line plan and a central London plan.

train! My personal recommendation is to deliberately vary your trip and
use the buses just to get familiar with where they run etc.

Aside from this morning, last time I used a bus was from Sloane Square
over Battersea Bridge when I was B&B'ing for a couple of nights. Got on
the right bus, but in the wrong direction and ended up in shepherds bush
or something!

Busses are so slow it's depressing though.

I know it sounds a bit daft but I only really began to fit London
together as a City when I forced myself to use buses between places
instead of always using the Tube.

I dont care much about London as a city, I know where I live, where the
pizza place/pub/chippie/asda is, where I work, and where the nearest
shopping center to work is. Anything else is boring. London is not a nice
place to live, I don't wish to know it.

3) There should be announcments for each stop (whether the bus
stops
there or not)

Mixed view on that one. I dislike a lot of recorded messages about "door
closing" etc on buses. It could also get very annoying for the bus
driver listening to it all day while trying to drive his or her bus. I

Aww, well poor them. OK They dont get the £30k+ that tube drivers get,
but they stil get paid to do a job. Do you really think that people dont
get tired of selling the evening standard? Perhaps an LED screen saying
the next stop would do.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:54 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

The RV1 route in central London has (2) and (3).

(3) could easily be provided on all buses, as it is in Europe, by
fitting hands-free PA and making it legal for drivers to use it (as I
believe in some cases it is not).

Announcement of stops is a cheap, easy thing to do, and provides a
massive service improvement to those who don't know where they are.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
is a valid email address, but is sent to /dev/null.
Try my first name at the above domain instead if you want to e-mail me.