Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

I live on the 302 bus route, south-west of Burnt Oak.
I had Prom tickets for the 9th Symphony last night.

Thought I'd take 302 to somewhere beyond Willesden and 52 to RAH;
simple, about an hour, minimal expense for my partner (I have a Freedom
Pass), next-to no walking, etc.

Then I checked with Journey Planner; this put me on the Tube via
Leicester Square and South Ken, which would have entailed a long walk,
more expense and more changes; it would also have taken longer.

I unchecked everything but 'bus' and specified 'Kensal Rise' for my
trip; JP then took me via Burnt Oak on a journey lasting 1hr 40 min.

Ignored JP and took buses as I'd planned. One hour door-to-door, even
less on the return.

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert Hall' as
my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have done for a
better suggestion?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert Hall' as
my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have done for a
better suggestion?

In the advanced options, set it to use bus only. It will then come up
with exactly the route you had expected:

Walk to Holyrood Gardens
Take the Bus 302 towards Kensal Rise
Kensal Rise Station Stop: KH
Take the Bus 52 towards Victoria Bus Station
end Kensington / Royal Albert Hall

--
Paul Terry

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

In article ,
(Helen Deborah Vecht) wrote:

I live on the 302 bus route, south-west of Burnt Oak.
I had Prom tickets for the 9th Symphony last night.

Thought I'd take 302 to somewhere beyond Willesden and 52 to RAH;
simple, about an hour, minimal expense for my partner (I have a
Freedom Pass), next-to no walking, etc.

Then I checked with Journey Planner; this put me on the Tube via
Leicester Square and South Ken, which would have entailed a long walk,
more expense and more changes; it would also have taken longer.

I unchecked everything but 'bus' and specified 'Kensal Rise' for my
trip; JP then took me via Burnt Oak on a journey lasting 1hr 40 min.

Ignored JP and took buses as I'd planned. One hour door-to-door,
even less on the return.

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert
Hall' as my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have
done for a better suggestion?

You're not alone in being disappointed by the recent performance of
TfL's Journey Planner. It seems to have become infected by
transportdirect.info.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

In article ,
(Paul Terry) wrote:

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert Hall'
as my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have done for a
better suggestion?

In the advanced options, set it to use bus only. It will then come up
with exactly the route you had expected:

Walk to Holyrood Gardens
Take the Bus 302 towards Kensal Rise
Kensal Rise Station Stop: KH
Take the Bus 52 towards Victoria Bus Station
end Kensington / Royal Albert Hall

Not even that. I chose the "Route with the least walking between stops"
option and got that as the second route offered.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

Paul Terry typed


In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert Hall' as
my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have done for a
better suggestion?

In the advanced options, set it to use bus only. It will then come up
with exactly the route you had expected:

Walk to Holyrood Gardens
Take the Bus 302 towards Kensal Rise
Kensal Rise Station Stop: KH
Take the Bus 52 towards Victoria Bus Station
end Kensington / Royal Albert Hall

Well, that's not what it did when I used it yesterday; somehow, it
'forgot' the second half of my postcode and offered me a choice of
various HA8 starts. Even when I entered a 'Stag Lane' option from a drop
down list, it routed me via Burnt Oak and/or suggested I take a
northbound 32/142/292.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes

Not even that. I chose the "Route with the least walking between stops"
option and got that as the second route offered.

What was the first route? Routes offered often vary according to the
time of day you request (especially with less frequent services on a
Sunday).

--
Paul Terry

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Helen Deborah Vecht) wrote:

I live on the 302 bus route, south-west of Burnt Oak.
I had Prom tickets for the 9th Symphony last night.

Thought I'd take 302 to somewhere beyond Willesden and 52 to RAH;
simple, about an hour, minimal expense for my partner (I have a
Freedom Pass), next-to no walking, etc.

Then I checked with Journey Planner; this put me on the Tube via
Leicester Square and South Ken, which would have entailed a long walk,
more expense and more changes; it would also have taken longer.

I unchecked everything but 'bus' and specified 'Kensal Rise' for my
trip; JP then took me via Burnt Oak on a journey lasting 1hr 40 min.

Ignored JP and took buses as I'd planned. One hour door-to-door,
even less on the return.

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert
Hall' as my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have
done for a better suggestion?

You're not alone in being disappointed by the recent performance of
TfL's Journey Planner. It seems to have become infected by
transportdirect.info.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

I tried to use it to reach Syon House/Park, but it won't recognise either
name.

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

In message , Orienteer
writes

I tried to use it to reach Syon House/Park, but it won't recognise either
name.

It recognises Syon House for me (you did enter it as a place of
interest, I hope, and not as a bus stop or address?).

--
Paul Terry

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
I live on the 302 bus route, south-west of Burnt Oak.
I had Prom tickets for the 9th Symphony last night.
....

I hope you enjoyed the concert. Good, wasn't it?
In the old days the "Choral" would have been the penultimate night of the
season, but we've still got 3 weeks to go. Remember that the Last Night is
another of the weekends when the Circle & District aren't running through
South Ken.
--
David Biddulph

Good that I ignored Journey Planner...
 

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 15:56 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Helen Deborah Vecht) wrote:

I'd entered my HA8 5LW postcode as my start and 'Royal Albert
Hall' as my destination. Why was JP so dismal? What could I have
done for a better suggestion?

Others have made the suggestion of mangling the options to the point
where it is telling you what you already know.

I do find it very odd that to get the wretched thing to do something
even half sensible you actually have to have a pre-existing knowledge of
the transport network that the average person would not have at all. Why
send people round the houses by tube for a trip that can work well using
two buses?

You're not alone in being disappointed by the recent performance of
TfL's Journey Planner. It seems to have become infected by
transportdirect.info.

Heaven help us then. I've tried to use transport direct and found it
utterly useless. Some of the traveline search engines are OK but I wish
they would standardise on a format - the different user interfaces for
each region are incredibly annoying and often not remotely intuitive.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!