Seen Around

Saturday 31st May 2025

Welcome to a marathon medley of miscellany for the month of May.

How to confuse your passengers

Back in November 2023 Arriva changed the route number for the bus service between Hemel Hempstead, Watford and Rickmansworth from 320 to 322 but it came as no surprise on Thursday to see the above bus in Watford still promoting the 320 – which now comprises just a school day only journey.

Furthermore last month Arriva changed the 322 timetable with its weekday 20 minute frequency downgraded to every 30 minutes in school holidays. But instead of making one of the two new half hourly departures each hour the same time as the long standing three departures an hour, timetable planners decided to have two completely different sets of departure times, and just to add to the confusion, present the whole lot in one unedifying complex matrix of journeys. Here’s the timetable as currently displayed on the Arriva website…

… with every journey coded either 1 (for term time) or 2 (school holiday time). I can’t believe that someone thought this was a good way to present information and think it would encourage more passengers to travel. The average passenger without children of school age won’t know what timetable applies on what dates even if they can work out how to read the above mess.

Hertfordshire County Council’s Intalink webpage has done the same thing but uses Sch and NSch as the explanation on the pdf vesion….

… but at least it’s website also has a function which displays the actual timetable on each day making for something more understandable, so here’s the past week’s half term timetable…

… and here’s next week’s schoolday timetable.

The change has obviously driven away passengers as Arriva has announced from next month the frequency will reduce to half hourly on schooldays too. Still, at least that means passengers might be able to understand the timetable.

Except over in Harlow, Arriva is introducing different frequencies in term time to holiday time on its local routes 2/3 from Monday. The resulting timetable on the Arriva website below wins the BusAndTrainUser Award for the Most Incomprehensible Timetable Presentation Ever.

Here’s the enlarged frequency block to make it easier to read but no easier to understand.

I find it incredible that someone at Arriva thinks this is a good way to communicate with passengers let along sell the service as an attractive proposition to potential users.

No doubt Central Connect are watching developments carefully.

Clapham Junction blockade

There was a blockade of a different kind when I passed through Clapham Junction earlier this month. Rail staff and British Transport Police were stopping everyone passing along the footbridge between platforms to check tickets with no end of barriers and high-viz wearing personnel. I was pleased to see this as too often you see people avoid paying fares, jumping through ticket gates etc. I only captured a fraction of the activity in the above photo – there must have been getting on for 50 or so staff along the entire footbridge length which did make me wonder what they do for the rest of the time.

Happy 40th anniversary Scottish CityLink

It’s not just the railway celebrating 200 years or TfL 25 years or even Tesco Clubcard 30 years in 2025. Blog reader Roy kindly sent me this photo reminding us it’s 40 years since Scottish CityLink began operating. It’s had one or two tweaks to its ownership structure over the years and is now part of Comfort Delgro and of course faces competition from ember and Flixbus as well as Xplore Dundee and, not forgetting ScotRail, not least when peak rail fares are withdrawn again later this year. I’ve always been impressed when travelling with Citylink so many congratulations on your 40th.

Camden Town shut down

I was hoping to catch a Northern line train at around 18:00 hours on a Thursday a few weeks ago but found the station shut. As you can see, quite a crowed was patiently waiting for news of when it might open and you might just be able to make out the electronic departure sign within the ticket office area showing trains arriving and departing as normal every few minutes.

So I hung on and hung on as we all did, with no information being passed on from staff. Checking TfL’s Go app didn’t help as that was showing a problem northbound between Morden and Kennington and “SEVERE DELAYS on the rest of the line” – which didn’t explain why the electronic sign was showing trains running as normal. After about 15 minutes I gave up and caught a 24 to Warren Street and boarded a train as normal there with no problems.

Arriva lives on in High Wycombe

It may have been taken down by now, but a few weeks ago I noticed the spirit of Arriva lives on in High Wycombe on the bus station concourse wall.

Train Performance by QR code

When the Government announced, with a fanfare in March, performance data of each train company from every station would be on display at the station I naively thought we’d see the figures emblazoned on screens or posters. But it turns out at most stations you have to scan a QR code for the information.

Scanning the QR code takes you to the Office of Rail and Road’s Performance at stations webpage., This defaults to Abbey Wood but you can type in your local station and up pops the statistics for the last four week period.

I tried Hassocks which during April showed GTR achieved 84.5% of trains arriving/departing within three minutes of the scheduled time and 3.6% of trains were cancelled. In view of my recent journey home from Scotland I typed in Preston which came back with an 80.1% within three minutes but when broken down by operator gave Avanti West Coast on 64%, Northern Trains on 84.8% and TransPennine Express on 71.9%. This got me hooked and I whiled away the rest of the evening tapping in all sorts of random stations to see how things compared.

ScotRail even asks your shoe size to connect to WiFi

OK, I’m exaggerating but I do find it so frustrating that train companies want to make it so hard to connect to WiFi. Some make you register an email address. Some make you prove who you are by replying to an email. And ScotRail wants you to fill in a four page questionnaire (as below) before you can sign in, telling them the purpose of your journey; the type of ticket you’re travelling with; the main method of transport you used to get from home to the station; and I didn’t understand the next screen with ‘Day trip’, ‘Return’ and ‘On foot’ as options.

And, after all that, the WiFi didn’t connect but just whirled around. I find other train companies’ WiFi equally frustrating with such slow speeds that it’s not worth bothering.

Retford bus station delight

Arriving at Retford bus station for the first time on Black Cat’s route 2 the other week, I was impressed with the smartness and cleanliness of the facilities, which included toilets, as well as helpful information being on display.

This included maps and timetables as well as an index showing what bus routes serve each destination.

And, amazingly these days, there was a staffed Information office which also double up as a mobility scooter hire place. Well done Nottinghamshire County Council.

Tooting Bec’s blast from the past

Tooting Bec Underground station is renowned for its large old style UNDERGROUND logo high above the escalator down to the platforms, but passing through recently it was a shame to see the retail units looking rather sorry for themselves with a blast from the past Newsagent and Confectioner names missing a T and about to miss an N.

Kemble delights

On the other hand, I was blown away when passing through Kemble station last week. It truly is a delightful station with a footbridge full of character…

… a lovely garden where passengers can wait on a sunny day in the open alongside the London bound platform 1…

… which was opened 12 years ago by the Prince of Wales and is maintained by students at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester.

The passageway to the Ticket Office is also a delight…

… and just look at the display of nostalgia and reading material on hand in one of the waiting rooms, and there’s even a ‘visitors’ book’…

… with another waiting room stocked with leaflets (sadly no train timetables though)…

… and there’s also a lovely independently run cafe.

Well done GWR. A jewel in your station portfolio crown.

New toilets at LBG at last

It’s excellent news the long awaited extra toilets at London Bridge have at last been completed and opened much to the relief of passengers especially those who previously had to regularly queue to use the Ladies and the cubicles in the Gents. They’re situated just off the Arcade in the ‘Stainer Street’ subway section where the florist used to be.

Toilet closure at ZFD

Also in this month’s Toilets at Stations Segment is the unwelcome news the new toilets on the northbound Thameslink platform 4 (which opened when the Elizabeth line opened) seem to be permanently closed. They were previously closed between 10:00 and 11:00 for cleaning, but now, whenever I pass by, the shutter is in the closed position. It would be nice to know the reason and why the lights are left on.

New buses for First’s Glasgow Express 500

When in Glasgow last week it was good to see First Bus’s new Wright StreetDeck battery electric buses recently introduced.

Eleven buses have been introduced on the high profile route 500 which connects Glasgow AIrport with the city centre in 15 minutes. And pleasing to see the First Bus Corporate Police have allowed an exception to the new corporate livery and, even better, the graphics don’t cover the windows as they did in the last version.

ember’s new Fort William E4

And more good news from Scotland is ember has now added a Glasgow to Fort William service along with its recently introduced Edinburgh to Fort Williams route. As I walked from Tynrdum Lower to Upper Tyndrum on Tuesday last week I was fortunate to see one of the new Yutong GTe14 electric coaches heading towards Fort William taking a few minutes rest at the timing point in Tyndrum. It’s impressive to see ember developing its routes and services, as well as the excellent information it provides including a live online map which you can view directly from your online ticket. It also plans to introduce a new route to Oban this summer.

Don’t park there

I sometimes board Metrobus’s route 273 at this bus stop in Hurstpierpoint and it’s always annoying when a motorist decides it’s a good place to park. I know there are no parking restrictions but you’d think common sense would say don’t park by the bus stop.

Confusing ticket options

I’ve commented on confusing ticket options on the Brighton Main Line many times before, but here’s another example of what passengers face if trying to buy a ticket from a ticket machine from say, Hassocks, to London Bridge. The London Thameslink ticket (left hand column) offers flexibility of travelling to London Bridge and also to stations through the ‘core’ to St Pancras. This therefore offers much more flexibility of destination AND is available on Southern trains too – so you could take a Southern to East Croydon and change to a Thameslink train there. It costs the same as a ticket to London Bridge (middle listing) which is only available on Thameslink trains and only takes you to London Bridge therefore being less flexible and restricted but costs the same price. Just do away with it. Ticket Office staff don’t sell it. If you ask for London Bridge they give you the London Thameslink option, so why confuse passengers by listing it on the ticket machine screens?

No need to SeatFrog upgrade on EMR

East Midlands Railway have had a problem with an imbalance of First Class and Standard Class on its Meridian Class 222 trains for some time with some five coach trains offering three coaches in Standard and two of First Class and seven coach trains four and three – which is completely potty.

Now, it’s declassified part of the First Class section to be Standard Class, so if you know your trains it’s a nice way to upgrade the seat at no extra cost.

And while talking of EMR’s Meridian trains, aside from the general dirtiness I’ve commented on before, I’ve noticed some windows are completely obscured with a kind of film as below. Highly annoying if that’s the only vacant seat.

Buxton stable area

Passing through Buxton station earlier this month I stumbled upon Northern’s museum of parked up trains in the platforms.

First Class seating at Tottenham Hale

Thanks to Blog Reader Graham for passing on details of the recently opened First Class Lounge at Tottenham Hale station Graham

Bakerloo line blighted

What on earth is going on with Bakerloo line trains? They’re all covered in unpleasant graffiti both inside and out making for a very intimidating atmosphere. Why on earth aren’t TfL doing something about it? It’s now completely out of control with every train I’ve travelled on in the past month done over. The low life committing such a crime need to be caught and severely dealt with but TfL/London Underground needs to get a grip and clean it all off.

That’s some late running

Thanks to John for sending me the attached images when he spotted buses on route 555 in the Lake District supposedly running 363 minutes late. It’s a good job Stagecoach doesn’t do Delay Repay!

Avanti’s complete incompetence continues

And talking of Delay Repay, Avanti West Coast’s policy of outright turning down any substantive claims continues. Having finally received compensation for my delayed journey from Horwich Parkway/Preston to Euston, as featured in the previous two monthly round ups (the promised Rail Travel Vouchers never arrived – I doubt they were sent – so I settled instead for an online voucher which was added to my account), there was an inevitability my application for compensation for my (in excess of) two hour delay on 19th May from Glasgow to Hassocks would be refused. (Readers will recall the West Coast Main Line was in chaos due to a broken rail near Warrington.)

Sure enough my application was deemed “Unsuccessful”. This time the spurious reason given was “our records indicate that the ticket provided is in the process of being refunded. If you believe this is an error or can provide more information, please appeal this claim, or contact the original retailer you purchased your ticket from.” I’ve appealed telling them I have no knowledge of a “process of being refunded” and in any event I purchased the ticket from Avanti on its website (but I don’t have automatic Delay Repay enacted) and furthermore it was a flexible off-peak return so Avanti wouldn’t know which day I travelled home. It’s complete incompetence once again from this company refusing claims in the hope the claimant will give up. I’m almost certain my appeal will be refused for yet another spurious reason.

Avanti just don’t seem satisfied with delaying their passengers for over two hours; they want to add more appalling customer service by making you waste hours claiming your entitlement to compensation. I really think it’s time managing director Andy Mellor got a grip on this awful way to treat passengers. More updates on this next month.

And that’s it for May. Sorry it’s been a marathon one.

Roger French

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