On 19 Jul, 01:19, "Richard J." wrote:
Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:55:57 -0700, MIG

wrote:

The reason for this is that, in London at least, drivers don't
stop at bus stops any more. This may not be their fault, in
that instructions not to stop are probablly the only way that
the bus operators can interpret TfL's timing regime.

However, until drivers can be relied on to stop at bus stops,
they are going to hear a lot of bells ringing.

(And in another thread, I reported that I stood up to get off
at a compulsory stop in Trafalgar Square in the rush hour, but
the driver apparently deemed this to be too minor a place to
stop and whisked me off down Whitehall. This is not an
isolated incident, so I have learned by experience and always
ring.)

In the light of your comments you might be interested to read the
proposals here

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/proj...orkandservices...

and perhaps send in some comments to TfL. Closing date 20 July 2007.

Thanks, Paul. I wasn't aware of that proposal and consultation, and
there doesn't seem to be a link to it from the main London Buses page.
I've no problem with the idea of removing the distinction between
compulsory and request stops. Effectively they'll all become compulsory
as far as boarding passengers are concerned (buses will stop at all
stops if anyone is waiting), but will be request stops for alighting
passengers (ring the bell if you want the bus to stop, which is what 80%
of passengers always do anyway).

But if they are going to standardise on one design of bus stop sign, I'd
much prefer the white-on-red of the current request stop, as IMHO it's
much more visible from a distance than the compulsory stop. I've
suggested this in my response to TfL. What do others think?

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)-


One one hand it's a bit cheeky to wait till years after the
distinction has been de facto done away with and then consult on
whether to do away with it or not.

On the other hand, it's better to formalise and standardise what's
going in, rather than leave it to the operator or driver's discretion.

I am fairly sure that the reason for the current situation is the
tendering of routes to private companies. TfL insists on certain
levels of performance, measured only by whether (empty) buses get to
their checkpoints on time, regardless of whether passengers get to
where they are going on time.

The companies have to translate this into instructions to their own
employees, which inevitably boil down to "don't stop if you can
possibly avoid it". This wouldn't be the same if the drivers were
employed by TfL. I will have to mention this in my response somehow.

It's still going to be a case of "damned if you do, damned if you
don't" because compliance with the new proposals will result in non-
compliance with "performance" measures, particularly the completely
new requirement to stop at (former) request stops where no one is
signalling.