"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote:
Recliner wrote:

For anyone who would like to ride the Watford North curve on a normal
service train, TfL has an Easter present for you.

Most of the Met will be closed for track work over the four day
weekend, but TfL says a "special Metropolitan line train service
operates between Northwood and Chesham/Amersham via Watford".

There will be replacement bus services covering the closed parts of
the line not covered by other LU lines.

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.

Firstly most of the Met was down but rather than basing rail replacement
buses on the Met's own route they instead ran to connect to a variety of
other lines. However getting information about these buses at non-Met tube
stations was almost impossible.

Secondly a lot of stations did little to properly direct people to the RRBs.
Watford was one of the worst with no signage at all and just a staffer
giving vague directions to a bus stop that has no indication whatsoever that
it's where RRBs will stop en route to Watford Junction. Worse still it's
accessed via the carpark rather than the main approach.

Thirdly it was very hard to get consistent information as to what the
service was. The engineering works map shows the services disrupted and not
as running. Knowledge of the curve is rare and it doesn't appear on any map
so many people couldn't understand that a train would serve both Watford and
Chesham/Amersham.

It didn't help with the service using a mix of special and automatic notices
that confuse the hell out of people. So at Northwick the platform indicators
explained it would be a combined service every fifteen minutes with
alternating destinations and a c5 minute stopover at Watford. However the
train that arrived had onboard indicators saying it was for Watford and only
switching to the alternate service at Watford itself.

Announncements both on the train and platform at Moor Park and were telling
passengers to switch here for Chesham/Amersham despite that side of the
triangle
being closed. Similarly some announcements around Rickmansworth seem to have
assumed through running to Moor Park.

Many passengers were utterly confused and onboard train announcements did
little to help. One woman called a helpline that seemed to assume the normal
service rather than explain the special one.

The biggies for future engineering specials must be:

* Information posters must show the route as it is not as it isn't
* Electronic displays must use a single way to display the service.
* Automatic announcements must be turned off.
* RRBs should go to the stations themselves in all but exceptional
circumstances and clear maps and signs must show where the RRB stop is.


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

At Northwood, the signs weren't clear enough to stop southbound pax
entering the station and heading down to the southbound platform, and then
being confused by announcements telling them to go back up and get a bus
from outside -- I wonder how their Oyster cards were charged? There should
have been someone stopping them at entry and redirecting them to the rail
replacement bus stop. Also, trains waiting to reverse spent pointless time
in the southbound platform, rather than going straight to the siding and
returning to wait in the northbound platform. At least the station
announcements were correct and informative.

At Watford, I didn't leave the station, but didn't see any signs on the
platforms. The electronic signs just said the usual default thing about the
platforms being for southbound trains: normally true when no trains are
expected, but not necessarily so this weekend. They should have either
updated the PIS or turned it off.

I heard at least one automated station announcement saying that the Met and
all other LU lines had a good service. This was a classic case of being
technically true (ie, the limited services were running as planned), but
highly misleading to a normal passenger. As you say, such announcements
should be turned off if they can't be updated, which shouldn't be all that
difficult for a long-planned four-day closure.

In contrast, the onboard announcements on the trains I went on were OK, but
with no mention of the rare route. I didn't spot any other track bashers.
The North curve track was smooth and felt like any other service track.
It's interesting that this little-used line was never singled.

I'd obviously researched the rail replacement bus routes in advance, but I
think it was confusing for those who hadn't. The bus stops weren't always
clearly marked, either. Maps showing the actual open rail and replacement
bus routes would have been very useful, but I saw none.

Harrow bus station is also closed over Easter, as it's being used for
access to the line, which caused further confusion, as buses stopped
further up the road; needless to say, the rail replacement buses didn't go
anywhere near the bus station. So someone arriving by local bus and needing
to then use a rail replacement bus had to cross the closed line via the
station overbridge.

And just to add to the fun, the WCML was also shut through Watford
Junction, and there were road closures around the station so the bridge
could be reconstructed.

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.

Mizter T wrote:

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.

Actually it's five but that just proves your point.

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.

It also doesn't help that WiFi provision at many stations is poor and very
bad on trains. And the webpage on the journey planner is slow and painful
because it seems to have stations and bus stops outside as separate entries
and then gets upset if a user hasn't been clear - but on an intermittant
connection the options don't load quickly enough. Not everyone has the TfL
apps downloaded on a smartphone with preset usage that makes it easy to zoom
in on what they need - and indeed weekend and holiday traffic is even less
likely to have them.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

On Sun, 5 Apr 2015 18:41:10 +0100, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

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.

Actually it's five but that just proves your point.

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.

It also doesn't help that WiFi provision at many stations is poor and very
bad on trains. And the webpage on the journey planner is slow and painful
because it seems to have stations and bus stops outside as separate entries
and then gets upset if a user hasn't been clear - but on an intermittant
connection the options don't load quickly enough. Not everyone has the TfL
apps downloaded on a smartphone with preset usage that makes it easy to zoom
in on what they need - and indeed weekend and holiday traffic is even less
likely to have them.

I've now uploaded a few pictures:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/sets/72157651394935649/