Seen Around

Saturday 29th August 2026

After three months, this weekend brings the BusAndTrainUser summer blogging timetable to an end with tomorrow’s blog (featuring the next route 99) being the last for a Sunday appearance for this year but there will be a Bank Holiday blogpost bonus on Monday thanks to a reader’s amazing analysis of bus routes in Berkshire, so watch out for that. Meanwhile, here is August’s miscellany melee….

Happy New Year

With summer on the wane, it won’t be long before Christmas is with us once again and I spotted TfL already in the swing of it by promoting New Year’s Eve fireworks or more to the point, promoting the advice not to go without a ticket. Wise words no doubt back in December 2025, so why not leave them on display all year ready for December 2026? Good thinking TfL and a good use of displays….

… especially as while in Waltham Cross last week taking a ride on route 13 I thought I’d check out the displays for Central Connect’s new route A1 as well as the enhanced frequency of route 13 and the new coordinated times between Arriva’s 66 and 251 introduced at the end of last month.

Sadly, four weeks after introduction information is still not displayed with out of date rubbish misleading passengers, including the old times for routes 13, 66 and 251 and no reference to new route A1 either on the bus stop flag or in the timetable case. And that reference to route 505 will be two years out of date on 2nd September as in 2024 Vectare (now Central Connect) renumbered it 15, 15A and 15B which ironically are displayed.

Someone at TfL or either Hertfordshire or Essex County Councils or the operators needs to get a grip and sort this mess out.

“…public ownership of our railways in action” … my ar*e!

Am I the only one getting fed up with the Secretary of State for Transport continually blurting out how everything on the railways is better because of public ownership? Her latest propaganda message put out on social media on Wednesday concerned a welcome announcement the awful seats in Thameslink’s Class 700 trains are to be replaced.

To imply this is because of public ownership is disingenuous in the extreme. These trains were specified by the Department for Transport and the decision to install cheap uncomfortable ‘ironing board’ seats in the first place rests firmly at her Department’s door. It’s got nothing to do with “public ownership”. At least Twitter readers added the “context” explaining this as I’ve highlighted.

My advice to Ms Alexander……..this continual ‘broken record’ mantra not only makes you look increasingly childish and out of touch but will come back to bite you. Oh; and another thing, please make sure seat back trays are fitted as standard this time so there’s no need for a face saving retrospective fitment campaign (which was abandoned in any event – as was the promised installation of WiFi to trains with only about half the fleet completed). Public Ownership eh?

Out Of Order but Open

I’ve long learnt never to trust the notice outside the toilets at Stratford Underground station. It’s almost always there – telling passengers in need of a pee they’re “OUT OF ORDER” “OUT OF ORDER” “OUT OF ORDER”, yet the door is open and they’re available for use, albeit in a dreadful state. Hopefully Mayor Khan’s announcement a while ago of a five year £15 million investment in improving toilets includes Stratford high on the list.

Meanwhile up in Sheffield, blog reader Mel, sent me the latest news from the People’s Network where there seems to be an outbreak of malfunctioning doors, not only to enter the Interchange, but also in the toilet cubicles…

… and the accessible toilet too.

Unfortunately the notice advising customers to “use the DISABLED TOILET as an alternative” doesn’t quite work when it’s the accessible (“disabled”) toilet that’s faulty.

Mel also tells me he took this photo below at exactly 15:00.

Time to get a better maintenance contractor perhaps?

Where’s the Green gone?

Nice to see the lovely floral displays on the northbound platform at Palmers Green station on the Hertford loop line and appropriately enough the colourful foliage was hiding the word Green. By

Welcome to Colchester North Rail Station

Colchester’s Park & Ride will soon be changing hands from Arriva to Stephensons and I wonder if passengers will appreciate the rather splendid map on display at the Park & Ride site showing the route the bus takes including passing by the mythical Colchester North Rail Station.

I wonder if the newly named GBR Anglia know about this mystery named station?

No more U-Turns

TfL’s gradual (and what seems relentless) tinkering with bus routes across its network to make savings (sorry …. “better match supply with demand”) continues next Saturday when a much loved (by me) and long standing turning movement for route 279 in Seven Sisters Road at Manor House disappears.

Buses on route 279 have been U-turning on this busy road since 2004 with other routes enjoying the ritual over many years before that, including the 123 for many years.

There’s something about seeing a bus make a U-turn on a major road…

… and sadly, it will be no more from next weekend when the 279 is diverted at Seven Sisters station to Stamford Hill to replace the about to be withdrawn route 349 which I blogged about when the consultation was launched back in December.

As part of these changes, route 259 is being cut back from King’s Cross to Holloway at its southern end…

… but extended from Edmonton Green to Ponders End (Enfield bus garage) at its northern end. I wonder what the good folk who used to work in London Transport’s Divisional Offices at Manor House think of all these changes.

Another number to disappear from the TfL bus network in a raft of changes in the south west a couple of weeks ago was route 533 introduced as a “temporary” measure in 2019 when Hammersmith Bridge was closed to all traffic.

Ipswich station switches things round

It’s nice to see so many retail outlets in the entrance to Ipswich railway station even including a mini supermarket but the downside is the East of England Co-Op has ousted Greater Anglia’s ticket office…

… which is now located at the very far end of the station buildings…

… involving quite a walk from the entrance area.

And when you get there…

…there are a couple of positions open to buy tickets and obtain information.

Interestingly LNER tried something similar at Newcastle railway station a few years ago but have now thought better of it (“our first priority is our customers” etc etc) and repositioned the ticket office back where it belongs, right by the ticket barriers and under the departure boards. And it always seems to have people at the two windows when I pass through.

A hat trick in Exeter

Passing through Exeter the other week I couldn’t help wonder if this rather splendid hat would have been rescued by station staff.

Increase the frequency and the passengers will come

There was a time when Metrobus route 273 between Crawley and Brighton had a rather limited timetable but thanks to some support from West Sussex County Council the timetable was enhanced a few months ago to provide getting on for an hourly service and whenever I use it these days the numbers travelling are very encouraging.

Which just goes to show (in some cases) increase the frequency … and they will come, as seen in Brighton’s Old Steine the other afternoon.

A mixed breed in Waltham Cross

I may have been under a false impression, but I thought the reason some operators block up the road outside Waltham Cross bus station while stand time is taken was because they were not allowed to use the parking spaces within the bus station itself – only for TfL routes, I thought. But a visit the other day showed a myriad of operators parked up.

How to use the escalator

I was a bit surprised to see these extra large Network Rail posters at London Bridge station the other day advising passengers how to “Ride the escalator like a pro!”…

… with no mention of standing on the right. Indeed the illustration implies you don’t – but instead you stand alongside your fellow passenger. That’ll never work in London.

Graffiti spreads to Southern

As previously reported earlier this year, it’s good to see Thameslink has now cracked the graffiti epedemic in the toilets on its trains with a new design of panels which seem to prevent them being defaced. Well done to them, but sadly the criminal low-lifes now seem to have turned their attention to Southern’s trains.

I hope the same treatment is possible for these toilets too. (I’ve blocked out the tags, not wanting to give any publicity to them.)

Castle Cary’s retro makeover

Castle Cary station has long been famous for its retro signage on the platforms making for a delightful reminder of how stations used to look.

But now, I was delighted to see on my recent visit to reach Glastonbury that there’s been a wonderful retro makeover of the waiting room and ticket office…

… and the Gents toilet (sorry … lavatory)…

… must now be one of the poshest on the network.

Let’s hope it stays that way and the vandals keep away…

… and no one walks off with that free standing loo roll holder.

New ticket barriers at High Wycombe

Passing through High Wycombe railway station yesterday I noticed the first installation of last month’s promised £33.4 million investment (more “public ownership in action”, eh Heidi?) in “taller high-security ticket barriers and modern gatelines to combat fare evasion” across the network.

Except the end barrier (on the far right looking from the platform) was left open and passengers were simply walking through without showing a ticket and without being challenged.

But there again, it looked as though passengers using contactless could also tap out on the pad to the right of the exit which surely defeats the whole object of having “taller high-security ticket barriers and modern gatelines to combat fare evasion”?

Is it Liverpool Street or Moorgate?

I was surprised to be making my way from the Elizabeth Line’s deep level platforms up to the surface at Liverpool Street the other day to hear an automated announcement welcoming me to …. Moorgate station.

It’s something I’d not heard before, and although I appreciate there’s an exit at the other end of the platforms which will take you to Moorgate, the station is called Liverpool Street and passengers unfamiliar with the geography would be quite confused by this.

A fudge of a bus in Bath

While passing through Bath last week in between the railway station and bus station I was interested to see the Great British Fudge Company sees the image of a bus as a very positive thing. Good for them. Maybe scope for a tie up with the Great British Railways Company in due course too?

This is not just a gap, this is an M&S Simply Food gap

Meanwhile back in Reading I noticed a large gap in the ticket office area outside the toilets where an M&S Simply Food used to be. It just seemed strange without it.

Celebrate the Piccadilly line’s 120 years or six day closure?

It also seems strange without the Piccadilly line operating for so many days. Notices at Underground stations warned passengers of the closure across three days in each of the last two weeks including the above example posted on a wall in KIng’s Cross appropriately enough with hazard tape. The closures are to enable testing of the new trains and associated infrastructure but it does seem quite a dramatic impact, but that’s technological progress for you.

I was expecting an email from TfL (being on its database) to advise me of this significant change in Underground trains provision and was taken aback to receive the above email at 08:22 on the second day of the closure from the London Transport Museum Shop trying to flog it’s stock of Piccadilly line branded goods to mark the line’s 120 years. And in the greatest misplaced marketing slogan of the year I see the collection is called the “TfL Piccadilly Mind The Gap collection”. Is that the gap in service for six days, I wonder?

Small print for a Big Lemon

And talking of notices, this month’s prize for the bus company posting an unreadable notice due to the small print size goes to…. The Big Lemon. On a closer examination, the notice didn’t say anything remotely interesting in any event.

Where’s Liverpool Street gone on Sundays?

Jon sent me the attached photo of the Weaver Line timetable posted at Walthamstow Central. It wrongly omits Liverpool Street from the Sunday times instead showing all trains terminating at Bethnal Green. Despite pointing it out to staff, four weeks later, Jon spotted it’s still incorrect – yet there’s room to manually add Liverpool Street on the blank line. Come on TfL, let someone use a Sharpie to sort it..

Which village sign?

With the requirement by law for every bus (no matter its age) to have audio and visual ‘next stop announcements’ from 1st October thanks to PSVAIR (Public Service Vehicles Accessible Information Regulations), I’ve found myself noticing what names have been given to every bus stop as they’re now on display and being announced (although I have to say there are many many buses out there still not equipped). Some of the names are so generic it’s difficult to know where you are, particularly if you’re a visitor to the area. But it’s one thing to have that displayed (and announced) while on board a bus, it’s quite another when you’re trying to work out timetables before travelling. On some websites I find the same stop names being used as timing points and you really do have no idea where they are as per the following example.

Ironically all this is from excellent intentions to improve accessibility.

Getting Cross with Cross Country

And finally for this month back to the frustrations of train companies’ unresponsiveness to Delay Repay claims and in particular the complete absence of any communication from Cross Country – a company that just seems to be going from worse to very worse at the moment. My journey home from Telford (having sampled route 99) back on 13th July was impacted by delays on the Cross Country’s train I aimed to catch between Wolverhampton and Stafford so I submitted the usual claim for a 30 minute delay the next day, receiving an auto-acknowledgement confirming “we will respond to your claim within 20 working days”.

On 24 July came another auto-generated email “please accept our apologies for the delay in processing your claim that we received on Tue,14 Jul 2026. We are currently experiencing high volumes of claims which is preventing us from assessing your claim as quickly as usual. We will do our best to assess your claim as soon as possible and you can check the status of your claim at any time by using our online web page at…..”.

The weeks went by so on 14 August I sent an email to Cross Country’s customer service address asking for an update, receiving another auto-acknowledgement …. “We aim to send you a full reply within 20 working days, however during busy periods where we experience high volumes of correspondence this could be for an extended period of time. Please accept our apologies for any delay in getting back to you. However you can be assured that if you have received an email providing a CrossCountry case reference, your claim is being processed and we will get back to you as soon as we can, so please refrain from contacting us for an update on your claim as this may hinder our response times.”

I can only imagine the state Cross Country are in at the moment and how they must be overwhelmed with complaints and claims but this situation for a customer is completely unsatisfactory. Obviously “public ownership” (when it comes next year to XC) will sort all this out (as Heidi would say) (I’m being ironic) but in the meantime …. we just wait???

Meanwhile GWR are up to their familiar unhelpful tricks again. Coming back from Bath last Saturday afternoon all trains through Chippenham were cancelled due to signalling problems so passengers were being advised to head to Bristol and come back via Parkway except there were major delays and disruption there too so I submitted a claim and within three days (impressive eh?) received the usual negative response that my claim was “unsuccessful ….. 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 spent half an hour on the phone to customer relations on Wednesday trying to work out what “supporting information” was needed. They, of course, didn’t know, so had to talk to the Delay Repay team (who are not allowed to talk to passengers) and it seems they wanted to know if I had aimed to travel on the journey I’d specified on the form. Well, yes, that’s the point of submitting the information on the form, I thought. Now I have to wait 28 days to see if they deem my claim to be successful. And this after all the significant disruption to my journey on Saturday. What a way to treat your customers. Appalling.

More miscellany next month

Roger French

Sumer blogging timetable ends tomorrow with a Su and BH special before returning to 06:00 TThS pattern