[The whole sorry tale begins at the bottom of the page]
In case you've been wondering what's been happening at my local bus stop in Bow Road, the answer is nothing new.
Four weeks on from the big switchover, here's an update.
1a) On the TfL website, and various apps, the list of routes serving Bus Stop M fails to include route 25 [NOT FIXED] 1b) On the TfL website, most of the time, the list of departures at Bus Stop M fails to include route 25 [NOT FIXED]
2a) On the TfL website, and various apps, Bus Stop E still appears even though it's been erased in real life [NOT FIXED] 2b) On the TfL website, and various apps, Bus Stop G still appears even though it's been erased in real life [NOT FIXED]
3a) Mismatch between name displayed at stop (Bow Church) and digital name (Bow Flyover)[NOT FIXED] 3b) Buses approaching Bus Stop M display an incorrect next stop (Bow Flyover)[NOT FIXED]
4a) Timetables displayed don't match times at new location (and route diagrams incorrectly shaded) [NOT REPLACED] 4b) New bus shelter has no bus maps, even after being open for four weeks [NOT PUT UP YET]
5) Bus Stop M displays a tile for route 205, which has never stopped here [STILL A MYSTERY]
6) Bus Stop M has no road markings (nor the words 'BUS STOP' written in the road) [NOT COMPLETE]
7a) Bus stop bypass remains blocked by the stumpy base of a former lamppost [STILL NOT REMOVED] 7b) Bus stop bypass has yet to open [SEE ABOVE]
8a) Repacement lamppost not functional, so it's unexpectedly dark here in the evening [AWAITING ELECTRICIAN] 8b) New bus shelter not plugged into electricity supply, so this provides no light either [AWAITING ELECTRICIAN]
9) Most passengers continue to use Bus Stop M without showing any signs of distress [KEEP A SENSE OF PROPORTION HERE]
10) Five other sets of bus stops along Bow Road have yet to be temporarily closed for Cycle Superhighway upgrade works [PRAY FOR US]
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Especially for Bert and Jane, here's an update on Bus Stop M at Bow Church.
Some digital fixing has been going on behind the scenes. I'll try to keep this simple.
Wrong on Wednesday: 1) List of departures at Bus Stop M fails to include route 25 [ALMOST FIXED]
If you use an app or the TfL website, or if you text '55457' to 87287, route 25 now appears on the list of departures. This means it is now possible to check when the next number 25 bus is due. However, route 25 does not yet appear in the list of routes serving stop M, which still reads '8 276 425 488 D8 N205'.
Wrong on Wednesday: 2) Location coordinates for Bus Stop M incorrect [FIXED]
Bus Stop M's digital location has been updated from where it used to be (down by the flyover) to where it is now (opposite the church). This means electronic timings from the stop now match reality. If Bus Stop M had a Countdown display (which it doesn't), this would now show a correct list of departures.
Wrong on Wednesday: 3) Timetables displayed at Bus Stop M not quite correct [NOT FIXED]
All paper timetables remain those which were on display when the bus stop was located a minute down the road. Timings (and route diagrams) have not been updated to match the new location. It's highly unlikely that any passenger has noticed, been inconvenienced or cares.
Wrong on Wednesday: 4) Mismatch between name displayed at stop and digital name [NOT FIXED]
The name on the bus stop is 'Bow Church', but the digital name is still 'Bow Flyover', which was the name of the old stop down the road.
Wrong on Wednesday: 5) Buses approaching Bus Stop M display an incorrect next stop. [IMPROVED, BUT NOT FIXED]
Until yesterday, buses on route 25 displayed a next stop of 'Warton Road' (1km down the road). From yesterday (as a result of '1'), buses on route 25 now display 'Bow Flyover', the same as all other buses. Unfortunately (because of '4') they should be should be displaying 'Bow Church'. So we're not there yet.
Mystery on Wednesday: 6) Bus Stop M displays a tile for route 205 [STILL A MYSTERY]
I haven't mentioned this before, and it's not really a problem because the tile says 'Alighting point only'. But why did somebody decide to add a tile for route 205 when route 205 doesn't terminate here, and never has?
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
This is yet another post about three bus stops on Bow Road...
...becoming one.
Last week the last remains of Old Bus Stop E were removed, and this week Old Bus Stop M's gone the same way.
With both superfluous bus shelters removed, only one bus stop remains, and passengers cannot possibly be confused as to where to wait. And wait in the right place they do, so that's no longer the issue. The issue remains what the one remaining bus stop is called.
We now know for definite what the new bus stop is called, because yesterday TfL updated their consultation on diverting route 25 permanently over the flyover. They added a big extra chunk of text at the top, confirming that Old Bus Stops E and M are dead and Old Bus Stop G is indeed new Bus Stop M, and extended the consultation's closing date by a fortnight.
Nothing changes the proposals for route 25, whose permanent diversion will still go ahead, indeed is already in place and has been since March. Closing one bus stop and renaming another doesn't materially change the outcome of the consultation at all. But that renaming continues to be only skin deep, in a way which does affect passengers on route 25 and will continue to do so until fixed.
Nobody on the ground gives a damn about the letter stuck on top of the bus stop pole. The fact this bus stop used to say G but now says M is irrelevant to passengers waiting for a bus. The fact that the bus stop two hundred metres down the road used to be called M, and now this stop is, is also irrelevant. The fact that all bus stop M's timetables are one minute out, because they've been physically relocated from the flyover, is of no interest whatsoever. Everyone just gets on the bus when it comes, and everything's much as before.
But the electronic systems underlying the re-designation are bust. The entire switcheroo was most probably based on the idea that moving bus stop pole M up the road provided the simplest underlying digital transition, but things haven't quite worked out like that.
To explain, I need to list what the iBus system has been saying about each of the three bus stops during the transition period. Starting back in January when everything was normal.
January 2015
ID
Location
Routes stopping
Old Bus Stop E
50834
Bow Church
8, 488
Old Bus Stop G
77309
Bow Church
25, 276, 425, D8, N205
Old Bus Stop M
55457
Bow Flyover
8, 25, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
For example, an eastbound number 25 bus would have stopped first at stop G (by the church), then at stop M (by the flyover), then continued round the roundabout. If only this had stayed the case, we'd have no issues today.
But instead in the spring it was decided to divert route 25 across the flyover, to catch up time lost to Cycle Superhighway works back near Aldgate. This meant missing out stop M, so the iBus data ended up like this instead.
April 2015
ID
Location
Routes stopping
Old Bus Stop E
50834
Bow Church
8, 488
Old Bus Stop G
77309
Bow Church
25, 276, 425, D8, N205
Old Bus Stop M
55457
Bow Flyover
8, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
Over the spring and summer each eastbound number 25 bus stopped only at stop G (by the church), then skipped stop M (by the flyover) before flying over the roundabout. If you asked the TfL website or an app for a list of departures at stop M, buses on route 25 never appeared - quite rightly, because they were no longer stopping.
Now let's jump ahead to this month. Old Bus Stop E is closed so TfL have deleted it from the database, and querying it now generates an empty list of departures. Old Bus Stop M also closed, but TfL didn't delete it from their database, they deleted old Bus Stop G instead. They could have chosen to add route 8 and route 488 to Bus Stop G and everything would have worked perfectly, but no. Instead they re-designated what had been G as M, because that looked like the least work, and transferred across the existing list of bus routes. But somebody forgot about the flyover diversion, and they've continued to forget about it for well over a week.
This is what the current real life situation is.
October 2015
ID
Location
Routes stopping
New Bus Stop M
55457
Bow Church
8, 25, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
But this is what TfL's database thinks it is.
October 2015
ID
Location
Routes stopping
New Bus Stop M
55457
Bow Flyover
8, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
And now we have our disconnect.
So there are two main issues. The first issue is that, according to TfL's database, route 25 no longer stops at Bow Church, even though it does. If you get out your favourite app to see what's stopping here, it says the 25 isn't. If you text '55457' to 87287 you get back a list of departures in which the 25 does not appear. If you want to check when the next number 25 bus is due, you can't, and all because somebody chose to delete bus stop G rather than bus stop M.
And the second issue is that, if you're a passenger aboard a bus, the next stop appears wrongly named. Approaching Bow Church on a 276 or 425 you ought to see 'Bow Church' on the electronic display, but you don't, you see 'Bow Flyover' instead. The iBus system remembers what Old Bus Stop M was called, which is not what New Bus Stop M ought to be called, so flashes up the wrong name instead.
And these two issues combine in one glorious failure if you try to ride a 25 bus eastbound along Bow Road. If you get on at Bow Church DLR station then the list of consecutive stops ought to read as follows...
Bow Church Station
Bow Church (whizz across the flyover) Warton Road
But TfL's database no longer includes a stop at 'Bow Church', only at 'Bow Flyover', where the 25 (as you'll remember) doesn't stop. So the onboard display thinks the stops are...
Bow Church Station (whizz across the flyover) Warton Road
which is just plain wrong. If you board a 25 at Bow Church station the next stop is now given as 'Warton Road', which is three quarters of mile distant, even though the bus will in fact be stopping at Bow Church inbetween. Passengers on board hoping to alight must be mighty confused by the error. I could add to the confusion by pointing out that Warton Road is also designated Bus Stop M, which means there are two consecutive stops with the same letter, but that'd be a mere sideshow, so probably best I don't.
TfL appear to be intent on calling Old Bus Stop G New Bus Stop M, despite the electronic balls-up this redesignation has wrought. In which case all somebody needs to do is a) rename the stop 'Bow Church' instead of 'Bow Flyover' b) add the 25 to the list of buses that stop here. In an organisation that prides itself on agiledigitaldevelopment, how difficult could that be?
I have my fingers crossed. I mean, imagine how nice it would be to fire up this blog in the morning without the fear I might have written about those bloody Bow Road bus stops again.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Last month there were three bus stops along my local bit of Bow Road.
Now there's only one.
Thanks cyclists, you did this.
Old Bus Stop M was incompatible with the Cycle Superhighway, blocking access to the segregated lane immediately before the Bow Roundabout, so had to die. Only the shelter now remains, barriered off and awaiting removal. Anyone who used to catch the bus here now has to walk 200 yards up the road to catch a bus, which is hardly the end of the world, but annoying all the same.
Bus Stop E was also incompatible with the Cycle Superhighway, there being insufficient space behind to carve a bus stop bypass, so had to die. On Wednesday the bus shelter was surrounded by barriers, but on Friday it was removed altogether. Workmen moved in to wrest it from the pavement, making good the paving slabs in its wake, and creating ample space for pedestrians for the first time in years. So thorough was their work that there's now no clue that a bus stop was ever here... apart from the words BUS STOP written in the road, and that won't last long once the Cycle Superhighway drives through.
Which would be the end of the story, indeed for passengers turning up to catch a bus it is. They all now head for New Bus Stop M, on the site of Old Bus Stop G, and nobody waits at Old Bus Stop E at all. But one outstanding issue remains, which is that the electronic information regarding New Bus Stop M is incorrect, and all because somebody took a cheeky administrative shortcut behind the scenes.
To explain the mess I need to go back a year. Back then every bus stopped at either Stop E or Stop G, and then every bus stopped at Stop M. Here's a list.
Old Bus Stop E (Bow Church): 8, 488 Old Bus Stop G (Bow Church): 25, 276, 425, D8, N205 Old Bus Stop M (Bow Flyover): 8, 25, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
Today there's only one bus stop, and every bus stops at it. So it must have made sense to somebody somewhere to hang on to that bus stop, and its letter, and its timetables, and shift it 200 metres up the road.
New Bus Stop M (Bow Church): 8, 25, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
Contractors were ordered to rip out the bus stop pole by the flyover and reinstate it by the church, remembering to change the nameplate (from Bow Flyover to Bow Church) in the process. None of the route number plates or timetables would need changing, and all the electronic "next bus" jiggery pokery would work too - it should have been the perfect easy option. Apart from three things.
Firstly, buses reach New Bus Stop M a minute earlier than they reached Old Bus Stop M. This means all the timetables are wrong, both at the stop and online, because nobody's bothered to adjust them. They're only a minute out, which you'd think ought to be no big deal. But this means app users who turn up when a bus is "due" will actually have missed it, because it'll already be a minute down the road. And there are accurate timetables, I know, because they were posted up at Bus Stop G when it stood in precisely the same spot in August. In a world of accurate data this smacks of slapdash inconsistency.
Secondly, if you're on board any bus heading east, the electronic display shows the wrong name for the stop. It should say 'Bow Church', but instead it says 'Bow Flyover', because that's the name in the database associated with the bus stop lettered M. This too suggests that somebody behind the scenes hasn't completed all the digital changes associated with the switchover.
Thirdly, and more awkwardly, route 25 stopped stopping at Old Bus Stop M back in March. TfL rerouted the 25 over the flyover to speed up the service, skipping Old Bus Stop M and the next bus stop on the other side of the roundabout in the process. They've since decided to make this rerouting permanent, and are currently running a box-ticking consultation to ensure this happens. But this diversion meant the list of bus routes stopping at Old Bus Stop M became one bus short, with the 25 deleted...
Old Bus Stop M (Bow Flyover): 8, 276, 425, 488, D8, N205
...and TfL's computer still thinks this is the case.
The 25 bus does stop at New Bus Stop M - it's the last stop before the flyover. But the 25 doesn't appear in the list of departures on TfL's webpage for Bus Stop M, even though all the other buses do. If you text '55457' to 87287 you get back a list of departures in which the 25 does not appear. In fact I believe it's impossible to get next bus information for route 25 at new Bus Stop M, whether you use the TfL website or an app, now that Bus Stops E and G have been electronicallyeliminated. And all because somebody somewhere decided it would be a smart idea to switch Old Bus Stop M 200 metres up the road, rather than retaining Bus Stop G and amending the routes served.
Nobody outside Bow cares, I know, but when you actually live here this stuff matters. It also matters that Old Bus Stop E used to have a Countdown display in its shelter, but new Bus Stop M doesn't, so the people of Bow Road are now making do with less information than they had before. And I haven't even started to tell you about the other problem with New Bus Stop M, namely the big gap in the middle. Once the lamppost stump is removed and the final barriers come down, I'll be back to tell all.
Thursday, October 08, 2015
I need to return (briefly) to three bus stops on Bow Road.
The one that's open (was G, is M?) doesn't appear to have changed. But the other two (E and old M) have sprouted additional accessories to emphasise that they're closed. And I think somebody's overdone it.
Old bus stop M was first. A loop of orange and white plastic barriers was positioned around the shelter, removing all pedestrian access. As signals go, it's pretty unambiguous. Would-be passengers can no longer hang around and wait, even if they'd like to. Perhaps more importantly, bus drivers can clearly see that they shouldn't be stopping here any more, so they don't. So far so good.
Then yesterday somebody did the same to Bus Stop E (pictured above). Except this time the ring of barriers sticks out a bit, because it's not been carefully placed. Again it's now obvious to all and sundry that this is no longer a bus stop, so nobody waits, and no bus stops. Bus passengers, tick. Bus drivers, tick. But who have we forgotten? Ah yes, the local pedestrian, who'll now find it harder to walk past. The pavement past Bus Stop E was always fairly narrow, but the haphazard positioning of chunky barriers has made it narrower still, unnecessarily obstructing the footway. At the pinchpoint I'd say the pavement is now only 60% of its former width, a problem with a pushchair, and impossible to anyone with any sort of mobility aid. By adopting a sledgehammer approach, the bus stop's closure may at last be blatantly obvious, but at what cost?
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Hurrah, this is yet another post about three bus stops on Bow Road.
Because yesterday, at last, everything got sorted out. Apart from the things that didn't.
Nothing new happened on Sunday.
No change. Still a total organisational mess with passengers running from one stop to the other, and buses stopping mostly at G, sometimes at E, and occasionally at both.
And nothing had happened by daybreak on Monday.
A lady waiting at Bus Stop E looks up at the sign reading ALL BUSES STOP HERE and wonders why the last three didn't.
But on Monday morning, official things started to happen. I know this because somebody called Ray left a comment telling me all about it.
DG, your blogs WERE read by TfL and things started happening this morning.
I arrived to have a look at 11.45 and a guy in a TfL hi-viz was there to have a meeting at midday with a couple of people from the Cycle Superhighway project. While he was waiting, I mentioned Diamond Geezer and his somewhat lengthy reply made it plain that you were the reason that he was there. He explained that the Cycle Superhighway people have been doing work ahead of the date that had been agreed and scheduled, with the result that TfL were not aware when changes had been made around bus stops. Judging by the vehemence of his explanations and his determination to show that TfL were in no way at fault, it would seem that your blogs have been rattling around the command structure.
The Cycle Superhighway people arrived at midday and I left, as it had started raining. Hopefully, if you check this evening, the problems with the bus stops will have been sorted.
I arrived home after dark, and I was delighted to see that changes had indeed been made.
Stop E
Two very important things have happened here. Firstly the temporary bus stop sign on the lamppost has been removed, so there's no longer a roundel with the message ALL BUSES STOP HERE to lure in passengers. And secondly a proper 'Bus stop closed' sign has appeared. It's yellow, and proper, and stuck to the bus shelter so it's legible from within and without. We at last have conclusive proof that Bus Stop E is intended to be closed, and if the Cycle Superhighway upgrade continues as planned, it'll never open again. So that's all clear.
Not everybody's noticed yet, of course. You'd think a 'Bus stop closed' sign would be pretty unequivocal, indeed it's hard to do much more to get the message across. But some people are still waiting at what used to be Bus Stop E through passenger inertia, because it's been a bus stop for years, and for the last six weeks it's been the only bus stop hereabouts. And whilst it'd be good to think that people only wait where they see a bus stop sign, in fact they'll happily wait wherever they see a bus shelter, and it'll be a while before that's physically removed. But I was surprised to see a few buses still stopping at ex-Bus Stop E - during the couple of minutes I was there a 25 pilled in followed immediately by a 276. Perhaps a bus stop isn't truly closed until someone tells all the drivers... or perhaps the drivers are simply being thoughtful in rescuing passengers who shouldn't have been waiting there in the first place.
Stop G(or is it M?)
Where once there were three bus stops, now there's only one. Bus Stop G is the great survivor, mothballed for six weeks so that a bus stop bypass could be carved out behind, and now mostly unveiled in linear island form. Only one change took place at Bus Stop G yesterday, which was a tweak to the timetables on display. You'll remember that the pole for Bus Stop G has been recycled from Bus Stop M down the road, where the buses were the same except that route 25 didn't stop. So the important change has been to remove the yellow notices stating that 'Route 25 is diverted and will not be serving this stop', revealing the timetable for route 25 underneath. This is all good.
But everything else that's on display here is simply what was on display down the road uprooted. The pole says M on top instead of G. The timetables are very definitely those for the Bow Flyover stop rather than Bow Church - no more than a minute out, but technically inaccurate. And nobody's altered the 'next bus information' panel at the top of the pole, so if you text '55457' to 87287 you still get the next bus information for the bus stop by the flyover, where the 25 didn't stop, and so whose services do not appear. I'll return to this mysterious G/M dilemma shortly.
Stop M
Meanwhile down by the flyover, as suspected, the former Bus Stop M appears to have absolutely definitely closed. A 'Bus stop closed' sign has been pasted up on the bus shelter, the same as at Bus Stop E, to warn passengers that there is no point in waiting here... even though the occasional bus still stops. More importantly, a proper individualised notice has gone up too, officially printed with specific information. It too says 'Bus stop closed.' It gives an actual start date, which is Monday 5th October, despite the fact the stop's been dormant for over a week. It says the closure is 'until further notice', which is the polite way of saying forever, because Cycle Superhighway plans require that it never reopens. And that's the niggle-free part of the notice.
The remainder isn't quite so helpful. Underneath the headline somebody's printed out a list of what they think are the affected bus routes, namely the 25, 276, 425, D8 and N205. But unfortunately they've missed two routes out, namely the 8 (which has stopped here since the 1980s) and the 488 (which has stopped here since 2008). The list of affected routes would be correct if this was Bus Stop G and it was last year, but it's not, and so the list is 28% incomplete. The notice then goes on to advise passengers to use the bus stop on Bow Road at Bromley High Street, which is not a helpful way of describing the location, indeed it suggests what whoever wrote the notice has never been here. And most importantly the notice tells passengers, indeed urges passengers, to please use Bus Stop M.
Hang on, this is Bus Stop M! The bus stop pole always used to have an M on it. If you look at the bus map in the bus shelter it very definitely describes this stop as Bus Stop M. If you head to the TfL website, Bus Stop M is still this stop, the bus stop by the flyover. And yet - as we've seen - what used to be Bus Stop G up the road now has an M on top, so maybe that's the new Bus Stop M, even though the TfL website still thinks it's G. Perhaps the final outcome of this major bus stop reshuffle is that bus stops E and M have closed, and Bus Stop G has survived but been renamed M.
And by this point you might think I'm merely quibbling, but there is a reason why this matters. TfL are currently running a consultation regarding the rerouting of route 25 over the Bow Flyover which will involve the skipping of certain stops. In that consultation they clearly state that route 25 will no longer be serving Bus Stop M, but will continue to serve Bus Stop G, indeed there's even a helpful map showing where bus stops G (Bow Church) and M (Bow Flyover) are. But the consultation no longer matches the situation on the ground, where M is G or G is M and the old M no longer exists, or something, my brain is quietly throbbing at this point.
It's also made clear that Bus Stop M will be closing later this year, which (if it's the old M) it already has, and (if it's the new M) it had better not. Whichever is actually the case, there's now an official consultation giving entirely contradictory information to reality, or a reality giving entirely contradictory information to what's intended, it's hard to be sure. And the consultation still has ten days to run. I hope that somebody can clarify which stop's actually called what before the deadline passes.
Sorry, I never meant to write four long posts about three bus stops you'll probably never use. But I hope it's been illuminating to see how poor communication and poorly thought-out processes can impact on bus users in unanticipated ways. It's amazing how long a misinformation issue can go unnoticed, with the travelling public inevitably the losers. Equally it's been encouraging to see the bus companies, Cycle Superhighway contractors and TfL management finally talking to each other, and if this blog gave that a nudge, then hurrah. I don't think the situation's yet sorted, and there are still some illogical inconsistencies in labelling and in the provision of customer information. But give it a few days and I suspect Bow's bus passengers will finally work out where they ought to be standing, as if none of this ever happened.
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Sorry, this is yet another post about three bus stops on Bow Road.
Because yesterday, once again, things got worse.
This time nothing changed at the stops themselves.
Bus Stop E still has a shelter, a roundel and a sign saying ALL BUSES STOP HERE Bus Stop G is still half-unveiled, with a shelter and a proper roundel on a pole Bus Stop M: still has a shelter but has lost its pole, and is probably no longer a bus stop
What's changed, overnight, is the behaviour of the drivers. On Friday they stopped at Bus Stop E, then sped past Bus Stop G before continuing towards the roundabout. But as of yesterday they speed past Bus Stop E and stop at Bus Stop G instead. It's as if a message has gone out to all the bus companies that Bus Stop E is now closed and Bus Stop G is open. Unfortunately nobody's thought to tell the passengers.
On Friday it was passengers standing at newly-unveiled Bus Stop G who were left standing, and a little bit angry. But on Saturday things were the other way round, with passengers at Bus Stop E left behind as buses stopped thirty metres down the road. And they weren't happy. They especially weren't happy when drivers passing Bus Stop E looked across and pointed repeatedly down the road, as if to say "But the real bus stop is down there!" They might have been thinking "But the real bus stop is down there you stupid idiots!" or they might have been thinking "But the real bus stop is down there so I'm not allowed to pick you up!", it was hard to tell. But they still made no attempt to pull in, as passengers found out the hard way that allegiances had been switched.
For example. A family group arrived at Bus Stop E and settled in the shelter. "Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Mum. "Yes," said Grandpa, with some certainty, "they switched all the buses over here several weeks ago." When a 425 went past and stopped down the road they barely blinked, but when a 25 also failed to stop they finally started to twig. The passing of another 25 was the signal for them to dash off in an attempt to catch it at Bus Stop G further down the road. The kids arrived first and held the bus for Mum, slowing down the service for longer than if it had stopped at both stops in turn. Later a 276 headed on to G in preference to E, causing a young bloke with a suitcase to career off down the pavement. He made it, while the granny following on behind wasn't so lucky.
Just when I thought I'd got the hang of what was going on, a number 8 arrived and pulled in at E instead of G. Other buses then all chose G over E, but then several minutes later another 276 picked E over G. If a message has gone out to all bus garages that Bus Stop E is now closed, then not every bus driver's got it.
But then who wouldn't be wildly confused?
Bus Stop
E
G
M
Bus stop pole?
No
Yes
No
Bus stop sign?
Yes
Yes
No
Bus timetables?
No
Yes
No
Bus shelter?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Bus maps?
Yes
No
Yes
'Bus stop' written in road?
Yes
No
Yes
Sign saying bus stop closed?
No
No
No
BUS STOP OPEN?
NO?
YES
NO?
What I think has happened is that we've reached the end state of the Cycle Superhighway upgrade, i.e. that Bus Stop G is open and bus stops E and M are permanently closed. If so we've reached that state three months earlier than initially scheduled, and without anybody on the ground being told.
The issue here is simple - a mismatch between what the drivers are doing and what the bus stops are saying. All that's needed is for any bus stops that are closed to actually look closed, either through the removal of street furniture or the addition of a big sign. Could somebody official possibly pop down and sort this mess out?
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Sorry, this is another post about three bus stops on Bow Road.
Because, unbelievably, yesterday things got worse.
When I left you on Thursday, the situation was this. Bus Stop E: Soon to be retired bus stop, with temporary sign - ALL BUSES STOP HERE Bus Stop G: Almost upgraded to bus stop bypass, but still coned off - recently gained pole from Bus Stop M Bus Stop M: Still has its bus shelter but has lost its pole, and is probably no longer a bus stop (probably)
Nothing's happened at Bus Stop E, it's still (for now) the place to wait to catch a bus. Disappointingly nothing's happened at Bus Stop M, it's still seemingly dead but with no definitive sign to confirm one way or the other (so passengers are still waiting, and drivers are sometimes stopping, sometimes not). Instead all the action is in the middle at Bus Stop G, which may (or may not) have opened. You couldn't make it up.
Very early on Friday morning, contractors working on the Cycle Superhighway Upgrade were out to remove the cones and barriers from around Bus Stop G. It's been sealed off for six weeks to create an island bus stop with a bypass, and half the island is now deemed ready for passengers. A new shelter has been added, as yet with no maps within, and a recycled pole with roundel has been plonked by the kerbside. To all intents and purposes it looks like a fully functioning bus stop, admittedly still with a lot of roadworks alongside, but convincing enough to persuade passengers to come and use it.
And come they have. Nobody seems to have blinked with surprise to see Bus Stop G open again, as if it's somehow never been away. So they're standing by the stop, and they're sitting in the shelter, and they're waiting for buses... that alas aren't stopping. All the buses still stop at Bus Stop E, thirty metres up the road, so naturally they're not going to stop again. A lot of angry fist-shaking has ensued.
Let's look at this situation from a bus driver's point of view. They pull in at 'temporary' Bus Stop E, as they have for the last six weeks, to pick up passengers who've learned they now have to wait there. Then they head out into the traffic and see passengers waiting at a mysterious bus stop thirty metres down the road. Of course they're going to skip it, it's far too close. And as for the passengers waving a lot, well they should have got on at the proper stop, shouldn't they? They should jolly well be waiting in the proper place, wherever the proper place should be.
It's taking passengers at Bus Stop G a few minutes to work out that they shouldn't be waiting there. First they're surprised to see a bus sailing past, then they're shocked to see another, then they twig that all the buses are stopping further back up the road, and then they wander off. Sometimes they shift quite fast - a group of schoolkids I saw bombed it up the road to catch a 25, but older folk generally aren't making it in time. And then the bus stop is people-free again, so looks normal, and a new victim wanders up, and the whole vicious cycle starts again.
Except it's not quite that simple... it never is. Because a few buses are stopping at Bus Stop G, presumably out of either confusion or guilt. I've seen drivers stop at both, having spotted potential passengers wildly gesticulating, despite the fact the stops are so close. I saw a D8 pull in at Bus Stop G, but in vain because nobody waiting actually wanted it. And I've watched a string of number 25s go by - five of them in one minute - but only the very last one deigned to stop where the others had not.
Meanwhile I think the odd bus is only stopping at Bus Stop G. This might be because they've been specifically told to, or it might be because they always used to, I don't know. But I definitely saw a number 488 skip past Bus Stop E and drop off its passengers at Bus Stop G instead, which might or might not have been what those passengers wanted. Their experience is ultimately the future, because Bus Stop G is supposed to be permanently replacing Bus Stop E on an as yet unspecified date. But alas some idiot has opened Bus Stop G without closing Bus Stop E, creating a node of uncertainty that's baffling passengers and inconveniencing their journeys.
And, just to add to the fun, Bus Stop G still appears to be called Bus Stop M. Workmen borrowed the pole from defunct Bus Stop M last week, and remembered to change the name from 'Bow Flyover' to 'Bow Church', but went and left the M on top. On Thursday I reported they'd failed to add route 25, and I'm pleased to say that overnight a proper '25' tile appeared, so that's all good. But they forgot to change the timetables, so there are still two big yellow notices announcing 'Route 25 is diverted and will not be serving this stop', even though it will. And they also forgot to change the 'next bus information' panel at the top of the pole, so if you text '55457' to 87287 you get the next bus information for the bus stop by the flyover, where the 25 doesn't stop and which (probably) no longer exists. I don't know who's supposed to be doing the joined up thinking here, but they absolutely haven't.
So as of Friday evening, the situation is like this. Bus Stop E: Soon to be retired bus stop, with temporary sign - ALL BUSES STOP HERE Bus Stop G: Reopened, and looks convincing, but factually inaccurate, and buses generally aren't stopping Bus Stop M: Still has its bus shelter but has lost its pole, and is probably no longer a bus stop (probably)
In summary, buses are stopping at E, but people are still waiting at M, and now additionally at G, because nobody's told them not to. My end of Bow Road currently has one open bus stop that's soon to close, one possibly open bus stop that appears still to be closed, and one probably closed bus stop that still looks open. Could somebody official possibly pop down and sort this mess out?
Thursday, October 01, 2015
This is a post about three bus stops on Bow Road.
These are the three eastbound bus stops immediately before the Bow Flyover. They're my local bus stops. They're served by 45 buses an hour on half a dozen different routes. They're currently being re-engineered because of the Cycle Superhighway 2 upgrade. And with the transition well underway, I have to say the temporary arrangements aren't entirely ideal.
Buses are supposed to stop at either bus stop E or bus stop G (which are quite close), and then at bus stop M, before proceeding round the roundabout. But by the end of the year the needs of the Cycle Superhighway mean that bus stops E and M will be closed, and all passengers will need to wait at bus stop G to catch their bus. It's going to be a busy one.
Stop E
The first roadworks along the pavement by Bow Church began at the end of July. During August bus stop E started to be downgraded, with the removal of the Countdown display inside the shelter and the removal of the bus stop flag. A temporary sign was put in place on a nearby lamppost, announcing ALL BUSES STOP HERE, but this wasn't initially the case. Some drivers still carried on to bus stop G, which at that point hadn't quite been closed, leaving passengers waiting in vain until another bus turned up. That swiftly sorted itself out. But the temporary sign doesn't give the numbers of the services that stop here, and there are no timetables, which isn't terribly helpful. It's been like this for at least five weeks. TfL have said they'll close this stop permanently "from late October".
Stop G
Bus stop E has been very busy since late August because bus stop G is temporarily closed. Planners decided that of all three stops along this stretch of road only G could accommodate a bus stop bypass, and that transformation is well underway. It began two months ago with the realignment of the kerb and an awful lot of digging. What used to be the inside lane of the A11 has become a bus stop bypass island, with space for cycling carved through the pavement behind. Soon this section of Bow Road will be only two lanes wide, rather than three, but cones and roadworks have meant that for the last month it's been only one. If you're on a bike this has been particularly bad news, because you've had to take your chances sharing a much narrower flow of traffic. That'll improve dramatically once the bus stop bypass opens, but tantalisingly it hasn't yet. The upgraded bus stop has been almost ready for a while, except there's still a lamppost in the middle of the new cycle lane so the safe route can't be opened yet. Until the old lamppost is removed and the new lamppost alongside is switched on, freshly-spacious bus stop G remains closed.
Stop M
Poor old bus stop M. It's the last stop before the roundabout, and used to be served by all buses. Then planners decided the 25 should be diverted over the flyover to make up time elsewhere, an iniquity I've moaned about elsewhere. Now the 25 speeds by, and will continue to do so forever subject to the results of a consultation which ends on October 16th. So I was particularly surprised to walk past the stop last Wednesday and see that the number 25 had been removed from the routes displayed on the bus stop. Up until this point the 25 had been crossed out with red sticky tape, pending discussion, but suddenly the tile had been removed altogether as if the outcome had already been decided. Bloody hell, I shouted at the bus stop, talk about pre-judging your own consultation.
When I returned on Friday, I was even more surprised to discover that the bus stop had disappeared. Not the shelter, and not the painted lines in the road, but the pole on which the bus stop sign hung had vanished. Had bus stop M suddenly been terminated, as the Cycle Superhighway roadworks drew too close? The inside of the shelter still contained a bench and bus map, but there was no roundel on a pole, no list of route numbers and no set of timetables. Potential passengers also looked confused, waiting where they'd always waited and discovering that buses weren't stopping. When I walked past late on Saturday evening, an elderly lady was sitting in the bus shelter clutching a bag of shopping, wondering where the next bus might be. She too was waiting in vain, the poor woman, and this was after eleven o'clock at night. Bloody hell, I thought, someone has really bodged this up.
I had hoped the confusion would be only temporary, but when I walked past yesterday evening nothing had changed. The bus stop is still pole-less and roundel-less, and there's still no sign saying "This bus stop has closed" to confirm the outcome. On this occasion there were five people waiting, who looked particularly pissed off when a 276 whizzed by despite their desperate waving. Some deduced something was up and headed off up the road to bus stop E... only to be even more pissed off when a 425 pulled up and picked up those who'd decided to stay. Later in the evening I saw a 488 pull in to drop off some passengers, this despite the fact the onboard iBus display was already showing the next stop as if this one had been deleted. Bloody hell, I said, they've created a ghost stop that only half exists, through a mixture of incomplete planning and incompetence.
According to a letter TfL poked through my door in July, "bus stop M will be closed permanently from late December." Have they really shut it three months earlier than expected, and without telling anybody either? Do they expect regular users to spot that the pole's not there so this isn't a bus stop any more, despite never once putting up a sign announcing closure? Or is it in fact still functional, or is this week maybe a temporary blip before a couple more months of service? Not even the bus drivers seem to be sure. The TfL website still shows next departures from bus stop M, even though there aren't any, while a different webpage suggests the bus stop has already been moved uphill concurrent with stop G. This is how unwanted bus stops die, not with a bang but with a befuddled whimper.
Stop G
Which brings me back to bus stop G, which will imminently be Bow Church's only surviving eastbound bus stop. It has a brand new shelter awaiting first passengers, and also a brand new bus stop pole... which looks familiar. The letter on the top is the big giveaway - this used to be the pole for bus stop M and it's been relocated 200m up the road. And that would be great, except the list of buses no longer shows the 25, and the 25 will definitely be stopping here because it's the last stop before the flyover. I trust someone'll be adding the 25 before the bus stop goes live, and I hope they'll be adding that Countdown display they removed from bus stop E up the road too. Of course I mustn't grumble about bus stop G as yet, it's not operational, and there might be final tweaks yet to come. But trust me, I'll be back to blog about bus stop G some more - I mean, a bisected bus stop bypass, whatever were they thinking...?
NDIn case you've been wondering what's been happening at my local bus stop in Bow Road, the answer is nothing new.
