On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:08:33 +0000, Paul G
wrote:

In message
,
Dusty Shelves writes
Well, apart from traffic levels & overcrowding of course. I have to
suffer this damn incessant voice almost every day...
Why?
I hope there is some kind of backlash against it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4991326.stm

I was on the 298 route on Saturday evening and I thought it was very
good (although I note other people's comments on how it could be
improved). The best part was, as the bus approached Southgate Station,
the control/depot phoned in and asked the driver where he was. I can't
remember what the driver answered, but the control/depot pointed out he
was running early and the driver apologised and said he would pull up at
the next stop until he was on time. The half hourly bus had managed to
become over 10 minutes early in fact (the roads just aren't as busy at
night as during the daytime).

The only way that I can think that control bothered phoning in is that
they must have installed some automated flagging system for when buses
are running seriously early and connected it to iBus. Fantastic!
(better than the timetables were more sensible; but this will do as an
alternative). Of course, with such a system, in terms of driver
training the control ought to be initially able to set it up for routes
running 10 minutes early and decrease it to 5 minutes when the drivers
are better behaved!

Depot based control is part of I-Bus. With the GPS tracking controllers
can see exactly where buses are. AIUI the system will automatically flag
variances against the schedule / timetable.

The driver also has a module in the cab with a display that also shows
in real time whether the bus is early or late. I noticed this for the
first time on a 192 and was genuinely surprised at how neat the unit
was.

The system can obviously track the service over the whole day and the
collation of operational statistics should help to improve future
timetables. Once it becomes clear how each route performs on a typical
day as well as in unusual conditions then schedules will be able to be
tweaked to make services more reliable and resilient.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!