London buses will not accept cash fares from a Sunday 6th July 2014

I received this email yesterday from TfL.

"I am writing to let you know that from Sunday 6 July, all our buses are going cash free so you will no longer be able to use cash to pay for your bus fare in London.

Instead of cash, you can use an Oyster or contactless payment card to pay as you go, or a Travelcard. A single adult bus fare is £1.45 with Oyster or a contactless payment card. Only touch the card you want to use on the yellow card reader."

I understand why they've done it, but don't feel particularly comfortable with the changes. 

As the tourist season has got into full swing (is there such a thing in London?), I have recently noticed an increase in the number of passengers paying for their bus fares with cash. Certainly more than the 1% of passengers who supposedly do so. 

The changes will happen and will not be reversed - I think there needs to be a digital brand campaign for Oyster targeted at overseas tourists. Too many have no idea of what their optimal ticketing arrangemts ought to be when visiting and traveling around London. 

What a load of tosh!

The Transport for London Press Office has just put out a press release saying how well TfL coped with last night's snow.

I have copied the text at the foot of this note for posterity.

• Please note that late yesterday evening. the Central and Jubilee lines were totally suspended.
• Thousands of of people struggled to get home from an Olly Murs concert at the O2 Arena last night. Roads in the area were log- jammed and, as I say, there was no Jubilee Line.
• A Chiltern Railways train was stuck behind a Metropolitan Line train for over an hour, I think out in the Chorleywood area. The Metropolitan Line was stated as being suspended North of Wembley Park, late in the evening.
• Annie Mole has captured the status of the London Underground as a whole, as at 11.30 pm yesterday evening. It was not good.

Personally I think that a piece of PR puff should include an acknowledgment of what real people actually experienced, rather than just stressing the the things that didn't break. If you read TfL's version of the truth, one might gain the impression that everything went swimmingly well with transport in London last night. Hmmmm.

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TfL works to keep London moving through snow
05 February 2012

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport, said:

• "We have worked tirelessly from Saturday afternoon and throughout the night, gritting the Capital's main roads every few hours and running de-icing trains along the London Underground network"
• "Around 2,000 tonnes of grit has been spread by TfL and boroughs and all main roads and the vast majority of local roads are open and traffic running smoothly."
• "Bus routes are all operating this morning and there were only a few curtailments on night bus routes overnight."
• "Tube services have started well this morning, but with some issues on the outer reaches of the Central and Jubilee lines. We are woking hard to get these sections running as soon as possible."
• "So London is open for business today, but clearly people should take care on the roads and allow plenty of time for their journeys."

For the avoidance of doubt

Last night I was was clearly bored. There will be no repetition. I am not suddenly going to appear at an airport near you with a notepad and pair of binoculars.

Normal service will be resumed.

Very early this morning, the Central Line was suspended between North Acton and West Ruislip, due to over-running engineering work at Perivale.

All appears to be back to normal now as tfl are currently reporting a good service. A random check of the Live Departure Boards concurs with this message. Good thing really as the closure would have knocked out one of the three main train depots for the line.

New Travel Information Call Centre number for London

About a month ago Transport for London launched a new number for their Travel Information Call Centre. It is 0843 222 1234 which is reassuringly similar to the old number (020 7222 1234).

Just be aware that this number may not be included in your 'free local call' quota if you have such a thing in your landline or mobile package. If you were previously calling from within London (or from just outside), then the old '020 ' would have been included in most quotas.

The old number is still working.

Thanks to London Reconnections for the tip (and see for more detail).

Watch out if you are heading to North West London on the Underground this weekend

If you are in or are heading towards North West London this weekend, the chances are any underground journey will be disrupted.

The Metropolitan, Jubilee, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines are amongst those with part suspensions.

Visit the tfl website for more information (this link should always show the current position for planned weekend engineering works).

Q & As

Q: Can I get the Central Line from Baker Street?
A: No. There are many possibilities, but the easiest ways to get to the Central Line from Baker Street are to catch either the Southbound Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus or the Southbound Jubilee Line to Bond Street.

Q: Is the Central Line running on Sunday 3rd January 2010?
A: According to the tfl website, the Central Line is running a normal service this weekend.

Sourced from an analysis of the Google searches used to find this blog today.

Back to normal

After a mega weekend of engineering works, all appear to be back to normal on the London Underground this morning.

Better than that - as of this moment in time (7.11am), the tfl live information is showing that there are no delays at all this morning. Amazing!

West End of Central Line to Close for Weekend of 21 & 22 November 2009

This weekend (21 November 2009 & 22 November 2009) there is no Central Line at all west of Marble Arch. That is a huge chunk of the Central Line that will not be working due to engineering work.

If you are traveling out from Central London heading to the West Ruislip branch this weekend, the advice is to travel to Willesden Junction on the Bakerloo Line. You will then be able to pick up one of a couple of rail replacement bus services.

If you are heading for Ealing Broadway, there is a replacement bus that starts at Sheperds Bush Market (Hammersmith & City Line), which also picks up at North Acton (where the West Ruislip branch buses will be able to drop you off to change buses). I think I'd rather travel out on the District Line or catch a First Great Western train from Paddington to Ealing Broadway.

Chiltern Railways also offer a regular but infrequent service to West Ruislip and South Ruslip from London Marylebone. There is also a half hourly service for most of Saturday from Paddington to Greenford. Do check National Rail times before you travel on a big train.

There are loads of alternative train, tube and bus routes - I can't possibly summarise them all, but it could be a good opportunity to check the accuracy of the tfl Journey Planner. I've just run a sample journey through it (work to where I used to live, on Saturday, and it was spot on for that sample).

I am glad that I chose to go to the Westfield Shopping Centre last Sunday and not this coming weekend.

Tottenham Court Road - Update

TCR tube station is going through the mother of all upgrades - eventually it will be a mega interchange station between the existing Central and Northern Lines and Crossrail.

Anyhow, tfl have deemed it appropriate to issue a press release giving an update on what is going on. To be honest it's not exactly exiting, but it'll no doubt appear as a full page article in the Metro and will inevitably be regurgitated by lazy journalists in other news outlets as well.

Bad news for football fans hoping to travel to Wembley on Wednesday 10th June 2009

In their infinite wisdom, Chiltern Railways have decided that no trains will stop at Wembley Stadium tomorrow after 12 Noon.

With the expected total shutdown of the London Underground, this will make it even more difficult for people to get to the England -v- Andorra match on Wednesday evening.

I merely observe, but on this occasion do not opine.

+Posted from my mobile+

48 Hour Tube Strike starting 7.00pm Tuesday 9th June 2009

This is a blog ostensibly about the London Underground.

Bob Crowe and his merry men have seen fit, once again, to attempt to hold London to ransom following a failure to successfully negotiate a pay rise with the management of London Underground. Oh well, that's nailed my flag to the mast.

In the interest of trying to retain some semblance of impartiality, it would appear that the Chairman of Transport for London (and Mayor of London), Boris Johnson, has done far too little far too late to try to resolve the industrial dispute.

Anyhow, bottom line is that services will severely degrade from 19.00 this evening (Tuesday 9th June 2009), with little likelihood of a sensible service resuming until the morning of Friday 12th June 2009.

Up to date information should be available on the tfl website.

PR Fluff

Transport for London put out a Press Release yesterday titled "Customers benefit from new Piccadilly line timetable". What a load of Public Relations rubbish.

"The Piccadilly line is unique because it serves the heart of the West End's tourist and entertainment districts as well as Heathrow Airport."

• Yes..... and??? The Central Line is unique because it serves Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. The Circle Line is unique because it goes round in a circle (for now). The Victoria Line is unique because.........
  

"Changes were made to the timetable in 2008"

• So why put a press release out in the middle of 2009?
  

"In recent years, rising passenger numbers have meant that trains have to stop at stations for longer while extra customers get on and off trains, leading to an increasing level of late running and delay."

• Doesn't this happen on every line?

Talk about useless piffle. I could go on, but I won't.

Oystercard Deposits

Transport for London announced today that, with effect from 17th May, a £3 deposit would be charged on all Oystercards. Currently deposits are charged on only a few cards.

The press release contains some startling facts;

• a third of all new Oyster cards issued with a 7 Day Travelcard or bus & tram pass on them are discarded after a week
• seven million Oyster cards have been issued to 700,000 Travelcard and 300,000 bus & tram pass season ticket holders. If I'm understanding this correctly, that means each season ticket holder has gone through an average of seven Oystercards.

I am on my second Oystercard - the first one developed a fault and I use the second one only for some journeys at the outer extremities of the Metropolitan Line. This is because I now have a cardboard Travelcard issued by Chiltern Railways (living as I do in rural Buckinghamshire).

I had always thought that the £3 deposit on pre-pay cards was to stop people exiting through gates (putting their cards overdrawn, which I think can happen up to £3), and then throwing the card away.

Given the facts as outlined by tfl, I think that the £3 deposit has to be a good idea. There is some shocking waste going on.

Packed to the gunnels

I walked up to Marylebone last night. Just after I had arrived I got a text message from tfl to say that there were severe delays on the Central Line due to a fire alert at Mile End.

There followed a sigh of relief that I had walked, and then I thought no more of it.

That was until my big train passed a Central Line train on the approach to South Ruislip. The tube train had large numbers of people standing and it looked very full.

Bearing in mind that South Ruislip is in Zone 5 and half an hour from central London on a good day, it must have been an unpleasant journey home last night for many thousands of people.

Penalty fares go up

Starting on 11th January 2008, the penalty fare for non payment on London's Bus, Tube, DLR and London Overground services increased to £50 from the previous level of £20. Apparently the penalty is reduced to £25 if paid within three weeks. Conceptually this is similar to what happens to many parking tickets.

Spending in excess of £3,000 per year on my season ticket, I certainly have no problem with this increase in the penalty charge amount. What the tfl press release does not say, is how many people are actually fined, how many people are prosecuted and how much revenue is raised through the penalty fare system.

Christmas & New Year Travel Guide for London

Transport for London (aka tfl) have today published a Travel Guide to getting around London over Christmas and New year.

It weighs in at a hefty 2Mb and is in pdf format. For now the guide is available here, but if they move or change the file name, please let me know.

A summary is:

• Christmas Eve 2008: Most stuff finishes early
• Christmas Day 2008: London stops
• Boxing Day 2008: London starts to get going again, except for the Jubilee Line (no service Friday, Saturday or Sunday), the Metropolitan Line (no service) and the Waterloo & City Line. There are also other station closures on the Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Northern Lines.

• There are also pages and pages of guidance should you be in London on New Year's Eve.

It isn't possible to summarise here all the travel changes detailed in a 25 page guide, so I recommend you obtain a copy if you intend to travel in London over the holiday period.

I note that there is no mention of a corporate sponsor for the free late night travel arrangements on 31st December. The economy really must be in a bad way.

Edit: 2 January 2009. Tfl have removed the guide from their website. At present I do not have any suitably anonymous webspace to host the document. If you can host, please let me know - if you want a copy emailed to you, please let me know. Thank you.

Work, sleep or blog?

To put it mildly, work is interesting at present. Very early starts, later than usual finishes and projects that have nothing to do with my usual job. All in some way connected to the unprecedented happenings in the financial services industry over the last few months.

My use of public transport has not diminished - the only problem is that I am generally dashing from A to B to C and using the down time to think, and plan how to move forward with the various projects. Usually such in-depth use of brain power isn't required. It's great fun, but something has to give.

Decent sleep is a necessity, I need to keep my job (and I enjoy it), so blogging has slipped down the to do list recently. Sorry.

The one thing I would say is that the Jubilee Line is beginning to seriously hack me off. The other day I was traveling from the West End to Canary Wharf when I had to get off the train somewhere South of The River to join a conference call, simply because the 'Good Service' Jubilee Line was actually crap. That is just one example.

Also it has been mentioned elsewhere that changing lines at Bank is not as bad or inconvenient as tfl would imply (though there are definite issues if you want to interchange at Bank Station with the District/ Circle Line platforms. On Thursday I was so hacked off with the silver line that I decided to use the DLR for the first time in months, it was mid afternoon. The interchange was so good (two upwards escalators from the DLR platforms towards the Central Line), that I shall certainly be traveling back to the West End that way for the foreseeable future.

If you have the willpower, please read Diamond Geezer's excellent 'transforming the truth' article.

Now some sleep...

Wood Lane - I think I did it?

Goodness me. Purely by accident, I think I took a photograph of the new Wood Lane station on the Hammersmith & City Line, on the day it opened. I know it's a bad picture, but nevertheless I am happy that I accidentally got the picture on opening day.

Today's tfl press release simply confirms that the station is open - not that it actually opened on Sunday.

Another picture of somewhere else coming up soon... I bet you can't wait!

DLR services Monday 29 September

TFL have been pretty quick to put out a press release this morning to say that there are unlikely to be any Docklands Light Railway Services between Bank and Canary Wharf during today's morning rush hour. This is due to over-running engineering works in the Westferry area.

Fortunately my plans to travel from the West End today to Docklands were to go via Waterloo. (a) I prefer to and (b) that's what we are encouraged to do, because of ongoing escalator works at Bank station.

Well done TFL for the prompt advice. Less well done for the works over-running in the first place.

NB: Usual disclaimer - this is not a live site. Click here for current position.

It seems that next week's tube strike has been called off

According to the BBC News site and tonight's Evening Standard the 72 hour tube strike, due to start on Sunday evening, has been called off.

Perhaps I should have put a pound on that happening after my recent thoughts on the matter.

Interestingly the tfl website just says that the industrial action has been 'suspended', so we'll just have to wait and see whether it really is all sorted.

Happy days. The only problem is, I have no excuse now for not going to Canary Wharf for a meeting next week.