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"spammy" wrote in message
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"David B" wrote in message
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Each individual driver is running to a timetable he/she has which gives
precise times to pass certain points - the duty card. The inspectors
book
also has these times. Timetables are necessary to prevent 'bunching' so
buses do actually come say, every 5 minutes instead of 6 buses in a row,
then nothing for half an hour. Of course due to traffic and other things
this seems to happen anyway


ok, and thats fair enough. but surely theres something wrong with their
cards or the way that thy follow them if they gain so many minutes that
they
have to stop for five at one single stop? surely the cards woulda made
them
stop a minute or so over the past few stops?



The timing points can be quite far apart. For route 24 the points are :
Pimlico, Victoria, Trafalgar Sq, Tottenham Court Road, Warren Street,
Mornington Crescent, Camden Town and Hampstead Heath. There are many stops
in between certain timing points, like Victoria and Trafalgar Sq, whereas
Mornington Crescent and Camden Town are quite close together. Also some
stops are not suitable points to lose time, like if they are obstructing
traffic flow. My ex colleagues tell me it is very hard to lose time on some
routes with very generous timetables.

The danger with tightening times is that if traffic does cause late running,
services have to be curtailed, turned away from their usual destinations to
get back on time and this is registered as lost mileage which in turn is a
measure of performance.