Seen around

Saturday 30th December 2023

Another month end; another miscellany round up.

Misleading Thameslink Passengers

Sunday 10th December saw yet another Sunday closure of the Thameslink core between London Bridge and St Pancras. On that day, as usual in such circumstances, southbound Thameslink trains either depart from the terminating platforms at London Bridge or the usual through platforms 4/5. Whichever platforms are being used, the departures are clearly listed on the departure boards and no-one is confused.

But at St Pancras, it’s completely the opposite with misleading information resulting in what I know in one case led to a passenger seeing the shutters down to the normal platforms A and B used by Thameslink underneath the station (see above) and then looking at the bright new departure boards at just after 12:30 and seeing the message “There are currently no Thameslink departures” (see below) gave up and went home.

Unbeknown to them, northbound Thameslink trains were running towards Bedford from the high level terminating platforms 1-4 used by EMR. But you had to be psychic to know to look there.

Furthermore, the gates on these platforms are not geared up to take Oyster cards since EMR trains don’t stop within the area of validity – ie as far as Elstree & Borehamwood. Passengers attempting to use Oyster were met with ‘Error code 75’ (which means “Oyster capability unsupported”) and worse still, staff didn’t direct passenges to the validators which are located separately and were telling passengers to use contactless instead – which is no good for any passenger with a Railcard enabled Oyster attracting a discount.

This really needs sorting out. And please, don’t wait for (the maybe never) Great British Railways when we’re promised everything in the world of railways will be fine. Get it sorted now.

Third rail north of the Thames

And while I’m in Thameslink highlighting mode, can someone let their social media team know the difference between third rail power supply south of the Thames and overhead wires north. It doesn’t give you confidence in their other explanations about delays.

The good and the bad at Peterborough’s Queensgate bus station

Whenever I visit Peterborough’s Queensgate bus station I’m always struck by the huge contrast in ambiance between the bus station itself and the adjacent shopping centre. The former is definitely the poor relation. Even the adjacent multi storey car park gives a sense of superiority over the bus station. I might be very unlucky, but whenever I visit, one of the escalators is out of action (above) and this time, containers were out to collect rain coming in from the roof…

… which appropriately enough was pouring down by a poster extending a welcome to all visitors…

…boasting “we pride ourselves on creating and maintaining a pleasant and safe environment that can be enjoyed by all”.

Yeah, right. But “photography is not allowed without permission” which I’m not surprised bearing in mind the down-at-heel conditions bus passengers have to endure together with out of date notices on display.

But all credit to Delaine and Vectare who do their best to ensure up to date comprehensive information is available by their departure stands.

Unhelpful sign in North Finchley

I highlighted the gloom of North Finchley’s bus station in a recent blog but I was intrigued by the sign I spotted on the north facing wall outside the bus station indicating to bus drivers if the two stands inside the gloom are occupied.

Except buses using the bus station approach from the south so drivers wouldn’t be able to see the sign. Although there is another one by the entrance itself.

Helpful sign in North Finchley

Also spotted was this initiative from someone to get round the problem of the bus stop maintance contractor not keeping displays up to date. Nice to see someone notices these things and cares enoigh to let passengers know. I’m not sure TfL’s corporate identity police would be impressed though.

Hereford as seen on two fonts

Meanwhile over in Hereford I was trying to work out why the station sign looked odd. Not only is the name repeated but it’s displayed in what look like two very slightly different fonts, most notable with the letter ‘f’.

Manea’s mean machine

I was intrigued to see the TVM at Manea station had a helpful listing of every Underground station showing what zone it was in. It was obviously out of date – no Nine Elms or Battersea Power Station listed…

… but why was this on display anyway, as I hadn’t seen it elsewhere and it certainly doesn’t feature on TVMs in my GTR home territory? I asked the only person I knew would be able to help, the one person who knows all there is to know about rail ticketing, the fares expert Barry Doe. He kindly explained: “these are hard to understand, I agree. Firstly the TVM is allowing you to book to an Underground station, not another National Rail station in London. So you look up the list which might say you need to enter London Zone U 3, 4, 5 & 6. That means on the TVM you type Zone U3456. It will then show up as Zone U3456 LNDN. You don’t type London yourself at all. This allows travel to Zone 3 from outside on NR then back on the tube to any tube station out to Zone 6. I’ve never seen this on a TVM and frankly can’t see it’s a lot of use at Manea and is probably more use in the SE where you can get local NR services to any Zone in London.” 

As you can see from the screen shot above, when I typed in LONDON TR …. it came up with options for the Travelcard and then when I scrolled further a long list of London Underground and DLR zonal options appeared. It went on and on (see below) including for example just access to Zone 4. Well, what’s the point of that at Manea? You’d have to take a train to Stansted Airport then to Tottenham Hale and then a bus to Turnpike Lane (for example) when you could then have the freedom to take a journey on the Piccadilly line to Bounds Green or Manor House.

It all seems a complete waste of time and an unnecessary complication. Unless anyone can come up with a different explanantion?

London’s World Beating Integrated Transport

Welcome to London, often cited by TfL and its supporters as a World Class example of Integrated Transport. I wonder if they have Ealing Broadway in mind as a leading exemplar following it’s multi million pound refurbishment to accommodate the Elizabeth Line, which is part of National Rail. Or is it? The above poster would indicate otherwise. But on the positive side, the new departure display is very clear, if you know which direction you’re heading.

Don’t talk to the driver … at all

It’s long been the case bus passengers have been asked not to talk to the driver while the bus is in motion and thereby cause a distraction. Following Covid, in London, driving cabs were sealed and this means drivers can’t hear a word of what passengers are saying as they board the bus. I’ve lost count of the number of times drivers have indicated they can’t hear and those who want to be helpful ambassadors resort to opening the door to try and help with whatever the query or question being asked is. Isn’t it about time the cabs doors were unsealed again and drivers able to enagage with passengers? And why does the sealing “protect you” ie, me, as the passenger? All it does is cause me inconvenience.

Over engineered poles

While enjoying my journeys on Red Roses’s Optare Solo on the Oxfordshire shopping journeys a few weeks ago I was mesmerised by the number of yellow poles behind the drivers cab for the wheelchair area. Are they really all necessary? Or is it just over engineered?

Coming up to three years

If this notice on display at Basingstoke bus station Stop Z is still there in four months time, it’ll be celebrating being three years out of date. I think we should throw a party.

Chatham’s cover up

I was over in Chatham’s bus station the other day and was pleased to see Medway Council has some excellent information on display including a network map.

But why, oh why, do people who stick notices up about upcoming changes insist on covering up other information, especially when the same notice is repeated three times in the same frame?

It’s also a shame the Travel Office which Arriva used to occupy has been closed, although for a moment I thought it had received a rebrand into a Sales and Marketing Suite rather than a plain old boring Travel office.

But alas, it was a Sales and Marketing Suite for the adjoining residential development comprising the usual blocks of flats.

Best in class

Yet another mention for yet another edition of the wonderful “Guide to train [and bus] services” booklet for Cumbria and the Lake District which has just been produced and updated to 10th December. This really does win the prize for the Best Timetable Booklet on the Network – sadly it’s not a very crowded field of competitors. The 124 pages are over-brimming with details of Rangers and Rover tickets (eight pages including really helpful maps showing each ticket’s geographic validity), full timetables of the six rail lines serving the area (Cumbrian Coast; West Coast; Kilmarnock/Carlisle; Settle/Carlisle; Bentham Line; Tyne Valley Line) as well as 20 pages of Stagecoach bus timetables for routes 504, 508, 516, 555, 599, 755, X4/X5 and X6. It really does have everything a passenger needs and the quite remarkable thing is it’s something remarkable to comment on, being a unique publication rather than something that should be standard everywhere.

Well done to Northern for keeping the publication updated and to Lee for all his hard work producing it.

Delay Repay delays

I’m pleased to report Avanti West Coast finally sent me the missing 50% compensation for my two hour delay when returning home from Liverpool on 19th October (following previous updates in October and November’s end of the month blogs).

Sadly more excuses aplenty for not resolving further delay repays have been experienced with GWR. I’m almost coming round to thinking the company’s policy is to determine all claims as ‘unsuccessful’ and then see if passengers appeal them. Perhaps the DfT or Treasury have set targets to minimise the amount of compensation paid out?

Each time you get an email back from the Delay Repay people saying: “as we would need further supporting information to proceed with this claim, please contact our customer relations team who will be able to discuss this further.” I’ve had three such claims rejected this month and each time I’ve rung customer relations the answer’s always the same: “we don’t know what further supporting information is needed,” followed by: “can you hold the line while I get in touch with Delay Repay and find out.”

So far this month I’ve been told the image of my ticket didn’t have the border showing; I’ve been asked why I bought my ticket at 13:00 but the journey on which I attempted to depart the same station (Oxford) wasn’t until 16:00 (as if it’s against the rules to buy a ticket a few hours in advance of travel – I tell them to consult this blog and they’d see evidence I caught a bus for a couple of hours that day) and my favourite: “we are unable to find the timetabled journey that matches your claim”. As if it’s my fault they don’t know GWR operates the 10:31 Paddington to Didcot.

Here’s an example. This is the image of the ticket I originally sent to GWR:

And here’s the updated image following being told the border has to be shown.

This was for another two hour delay and therefore an entitlement to a full refund – the company cancelled three consecutive journeys from Newport to Paddington that afternoon after my visit to Hereford. It’s a great way to treat passengers – delay them by two hours and then dispute their claim when they submit it for compensation because the complete orange border of the submitted ticket including the rounded corners is missing. GWR certainly lives up to its reputation of appalling customer service in my experience. However a shout out to Pat who does her best to resolve things in customer relations, but she’s powerless to make a decision having to refer everything back to the anonymous Delay Repay team who strike me as being out of their depth with no detailed knowledge of the railway they’re representing. I’m thinking they must work for one of these outsourcing companies so beloved of corporates these days. I’m pleased to say after submitting the updated image GWR confirmed my claim was successful. So only two outstanding ones to wait to hear more about now, including the 10:31 Paddington to Didcot Parkway they reckon doesn’t exist.

An Ensign of the times

Well done to the team at Ensign who as always organised an excellent running day marking the traditional start of the official lead up to Christmas once December arrives. I’ll leave you with a few photographs from this year’s event which was as popular as ever.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with a New Years Eve blog special tomorrow.

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