On 03/04/2015 22:50, Recliner wrote:

"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote:
[Watford North curve service]
I took a ride on this today and whilst it was great to use it the wider
experience suggests TfL needs to drastically overhaul its information
strategies.

Yes, I went on it too, and observed some of the same points.


I haven't been on it, but I'm disappointed to hear about the lack of
information provision.

However, without even having been anywhere near it I can still add to
the complaints about poor presentation of information. On the TfL
service status page, the information about replacement buses is all
presented in one solid block of text, with no formatting whatsoever - so
it's a bit of work just to see that there are four different replacement
bus services (A to D) running.

In days gone by, leaflets with maps showing the bus services overlayed
on to the Tube map have been produced, and these maps (or at least the
whole leaflet as a PDF) have been made available on the TfL website. I
used to find such things genuinely helpful as a way of visualising what
was going on.

It seems that in this brave new world, such special leaflets are a
rarity or just non-existent (see discussion about Christmas services and
lack of leaflet) as information provision is all on the web -
unfortunately, often it also seems that no-one is making an effort to
present the information with clarity on the web, as well as the lack of
info on the ground.


For reference, this is the text on the service status page for the
Metropolitan line for the long Easter weekend:

---quote---
METROPOLITAN LINE: Good Friday 3, Saturday 4, Sunday 5 and Easter Monday
6 April, no service between Aldgate and Northwood / Uxbridge. A special
Metropolitan line train service operates between Northwood and Chesham /
Amersham via Watford, and there will be additional Piccadilly line
services to Uxbridge. No Chiltern Railways service between Marylebone
and Great Missenden. Replacement bus services operate.

London Underground replacement buses operate Service A: Kenton (for
Bakerloo line and London Overground) - Harrow-on-the-Hill - West Harrow
(Pinner Road) - North Harrow - Rayners Lane (for Piccadilly line for
stations to/from Uxbridge and Central London) Service B: Wembley Park -
Preston Road - Kenton (for Bakerloo line and London Overground) -
Northwick Park - Harrow-on-the-Hill - West Harrow (Pinner Road) - North
Harrow - Pinner - Northwood Hills - Northwood Service C: Stonebridge
Park (for Bakerloo line and London Overground) - Wembley Park, on Easter
Monday, buses continue to Kingsbury - Queensbury - Canons Park (Honeypot
Lane) - Stanmore Service D: Baker Street - St John's Wood - Swiss
Cottage - Finchley Road - West Hampstead - Kilburn - Willesden Green -
Dollis Hill - Neasden - Wembley Park Service E: West Ruislip (for
Central line and Chiltern Railways) - Ruislip (for Piccadilly line),
served by buses towards Watford Junction only due to roadworks in
Ruislip High Street - Rickmansworth - Croxley - Watford - Watford
Junction (for London Overground and National Rail) Chiltern Railways
replacement service Great Missenden - Amersham - Beaconsfield (for
connections to London Marylebone)
---/quote---


Regardless of anything else, how much do a few line breaks cost?! The
final destinations end up running into the next bus route (e.g. [...]
Northwood Hills - Northwood Service C: Stonebridge Park [...]). It's all
just comes across as a bit half arsed.