On 23 Jan 2007 06:40:49 -0800, "MIG"
wrote:


Mizter T wrote:
MIG wrote:

(snip)

There have historically been white (compulsory) bus stops and red
(request) bus stops in London. There still are. Children are taught
by their parents that they have to stick their arm out or ring the bell
to get on or off at a red bus stop.

At a white stop, you shouldn't need to. That's not laziness.

Now that drivers have been instructed to treat all stops as request
stops, why doesn't TfL make them all red to save confusion?


Have drivers been officially instructed to do that? I'm certain that
it's hasn't become official TfL policy to treat all stops at request
stops.

Well, I have it off the cuff from a bus driver, whose comment perfectly
matched my experience. I can't prove where the instructions come from,
but they certainly apply.

Interesting because exactly this subject is being debated on another
(non usenet) group. No such instruction has been issued by TfL although
apparently there is a review of the policy of compulsory and request
stops underway. This is to deal with exactly the issues being raised in
this thread. The basic position seems to be that passengers in a bus
will have to press the bell to indicate they wish to get off. Bus
drivers will have to pull in at stops where passengers are waiting in
the expectation that they wish to board. The distinction between
compulsory and request stops would be removed. Someone else mentioned
the need to make sure that at stops served by several routes (often the
case in London) *all* buses stop. I'm not convinced that this is really
covered by what has been suggested will be the new policy. I would
prefer bus stops to remain compulsory at such locations so that bus
drivers are not tempted to just drive past simply because they can't see
if anyone is waiting due to there being 3 buses (of other routes)
already at the stop.

I think it is entirely possible that bus companies have failed to point
out the difference between compulsory and request stops to their
drivers. There also appears to be no enforcement of the rules or
consequences for non compliance - no wonder people are confused as to
what to do.

I am also somewhat intrigued by your comments about there being only one
performance indicator for London Bus performance and that that it
relates to arrivals at the end of the routes. How did you come to that
understanding?

TfL publishes where it does it timing checks for each route and on my
local route the checks are most certainly not done at the extreme ends
of the route. Arriva's inspectors are not located at the end of the
route either.

There is an explanation of the bus performance statistics and how they
are compiled on the TfL website.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!