If there is an H&C train on the terminus platform at Plaistow, is that
likely to leave before any H&C train going westbound leaves from the main
platform?

It's a bit like the Wembley Park problem, knowing which one to take. How
simple would it be to have a dot matrix display before you go down the
stairs, showing which one is leaving first, in these situations? I mean,
this is the 21st century, how hard can it be? and it would make the whole
tube experience so much easier and less stressful for the passengers,
particularly in rush hour.

Tristán White wrote:

It's a bit like the Wembley Park problem, knowing which one to take.

The current situation at Wembley not only creates a passenger information
problem, it also makes a bit of a mockery of the cross-platform interchange
with the Jubbly. The correct solution is to have extra crossovers west of
the station so that fast trains to and from Harrow can use the platforms on
the slow lines at Wembley. There is no need for off-peak Met trains to
overtake each other between west of Wembley and Central London, so there's
no reason to use the fast lines at Wembley outside the peak. The platforms
on the fast lines at Wembley could then be shut completely except during
Wembley events, where the extended dwell time might necessitate using all of
the platforms.

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 08:19:50 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:

If there is an H&C train on the terminus platform at Plaistow, is that
likely to leave before any H&C train going westbound leaves from the main
platform?

It's a bit like the Wembley Park problem, knowing which one to take. How
simple would it be to have a dot matrix display before you go down the
stairs, showing which one is leaving first, in these situations?


And see this interesting thread, on google 5 yrs back:

http://tinyurl.com/23fhcv

Lintilla wrote in
:

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 08:19:50 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:

If there is an H&C train on the terminus platform at Plaistow, is that
likely to leave before any H&C train going westbound leaves from the
main platform?

It's a bit like the Wembley Park problem, knowing which one to take.
How simple would it be to have a dot matrix display before you go down
the stairs, showing which one is leaving first, in these situations?


And see this interesting thread, on google 5 yrs back:

http://tinyurl.com/23fhcv




Thanks for that - never read that thread at the time as I was using Canning
Town only at that time. But thanks for the reminder, and the amusing read.

I can't remember seeing any signs lit up (I'll look tomorrow morning) so I
wonder whether it either never got fixed, or whether it's blown again.

Or most likely, it's permanently lit up as they seem hell-bent on using as
much electricity as possible without giving a toss.

If you want another example of this, look at that ridiculous exit at
Canning Town that takes you to the wonders of Bow Creek. I have never known
that exit to be open since Canning Town had a tube, yet the area is
permanently lit up like a Christmas tree and with an unused and
unaccessible (but switched-on and power-hungry) lift taking you to the
unapproachable wonders of Bow Creek.

All this coming out of my hard-earned, whether via my local council-tax or
via my season ticket.

Either way, it's a waste. If TfL AT LEAST made a few gestures by planting a
few trees to counter their carbon footprint, I could live (perhaps) with
the waste of energy. Only perhaps. But they don't. Instead they waste our
money and the environment's precious resources.

Tristán White wrote:
Lintilla wrote in
:

On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 08:19:50 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:

If there is an H&C train on the terminus platform at Plaistow, is that
likely to leave before any H&C train going westbound leaves from the
main platform?

It's a bit like the Wembley Park problem, knowing which one to take.
How simple would it be to have a dot matrix display before you go down
the stairs, showing which one is leaving first, in these situations?

And see this interesting thread, on google 5 yrs back:

http://tinyurl.com/23fhcv




Thanks for that - never read that thread at the time as I was using Canning
Town only at that time. But thanks for the reminder, and the amusing read.

I can't remember seeing any signs lit up (I'll look tomorrow morning) so I
wonder whether it either never got fixed, or whether it's blown again.

Or most likely, it's permanently lit up as they seem hell-bent on using as
much electricity as possible without giving a toss.

If you want another example of this, look at that ridiculous exit at
Canning Town that takes you to the wonders of Bow Creek. I have never known
that exit to be open since Canning Town had a tube, yet the area is
permanently lit up like a Christmas tree and with an unused and
unaccessible (but switched-on and power-hungry) lift taking you to the
unapproachable wonders of Bow Creek.

All this coming out of my hard-earned, whether via my local council-tax or
via my season ticket.

Either way, it's a waste. If TfL AT LEAST made a few gestures by planting a
few trees to counter their carbon footprint, I could live (perhaps) with
the waste of energy. Only perhaps. But they don't. Instead they waste our
money and the environment's precious resources.

This is very unfair. One of TfL's raisons d'etre - as set out in the
Mayor's Transport Strategy - is to reduce the impact of transport on the
environment by attracting people out of cars and onto public transport,
bike and foot. There probably aren't many organisations in London
actively doing *more* to reduce carbon emissions than TfL is. Working to
achieve modal shift from car to these other modes is going to accomplish
much more than "planting a few trees" would ever do.

From the office side of things, TfL is certainly the most
environmentally-friendly organisation I have worked for - at least in my
part of the world, it has a genuinely green culture, unlike other
organisations I have worked for which like to look green to the outside
but carry on wasting on the inside. Power consumption for most floors of
most TfL offices is published on the intranet to encourage competition
in energy efficiency.

I would also point out that all parts of the station that passengers can
reach must have their lights on to avoid nasty personal security
implications for passengers. The lights are probably on at night too for
the same reason that many shops leave their lights on - to put vandals
and thieves off. You wouldn't say that a side alleyway shouldn't be lit
because very few people use it - leaving it dark would present an
unacceptable risk to the public.

Personally, I would reckon that your local council probably wastes more
of your money through energy inefficiency than TfL does - you just don't
see it. I wonder how many lights, photocopiers or computers are left on
in Newham's offices overnight? In my offices, lights switch off
automatically at night if no-one is there, computers must be switched
off overnight and security guards are instructed to turn off other
electrical equipment that has been left on unnecessarily. I may be
unfairly criticising Newham, but my experience is that TfL is at the
leading edge of energy efficiency rather than the trailing edge.

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 18:38:38 +0000, Dave A wrote:

....
From the office side of things, TfL is certainly the most
environmentally-friendly organisation I have worked for - at least in my
part of the world, it has a genuinely green culture, unlike other
organisations I have worked for which like to look green to the outside
but carry on wasting on the inside. Power consumption for most floors of
most TfL offices is published on the intranet to encourage competition
in energy efficiency.

Interesting. Uses peoples' competitiveness in a useful way. I trust
they don't use pod-based coffee machines either!

I would also point out that all parts of the station that passengers can
reach must have their lights on to avoid nasty personal security
implications for passengers.

Also a lot of those lights don't like short on-off cycles so the true
impact of switching often would be to increase costs and the amount of
lights dumped but many people don't think of lifecycle costs. (Aside:
one reason I find the move to try to ban incandescent bulbs a puzzle
is that they're ideal for locations where "on" is brief - under IR
control for example).

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

You work for them so perhaps you see more effort than I do.

But as far as the "punter" is concerned, and I represent that sector, all I
see is dotmatrix displays that say nothing but are switched permanently on
until some time in a few years time when they will actually be connected to
the computers (see previous posts), and the ridiculous situations like in
Canning Town, where an entire lift is on 24/7 going to Bow Creek with all
lights blazing, but no public allowed there (so it's not on for security
reasons - rather when Canning Town opened they had some grand idea of
providing an alternative exit to the wondrous splendours of views over the
river Lea that, errrm, never actually happened).

8 years on and still nothing. But even so, it's always on, ready, (but
inaccessible to Joe Public).

So you see a greener TfL. Well that's good. But it's a bit like Prince
Charles, jetting off in First Class (in fact, booking out the entire first
class for his entourage) to give a speech the other side of the pond on
environmental issues. Yeah (!)

Tristán White wrote:
You work for them so perhaps you see more effort than I do.

But as far as the "punter" is concerned, and I represent that sector, all I
see is dotmatrix displays that say nothing but are switched permanently on
until some time in a few years time when they will actually be connected to
the computers (see previous posts), and the ridiculous situations like in
Canning Town, where an entire lift is on 24/7 going to Bow Creek with all
lights blazing, but no public allowed there (so it's not on for security
reasons - rather when Canning Town opened they had some grand idea of
providing an alternative exit to the wondrous splendours of views over the
river Lea that, errrm, never actually happened).

8 years on and still nothing. But even so, it's always on, ready, (but
inaccessible to Joe Public).

So you see a greener TfL. Well that's good. But it's a bit like Prince
Charles, jetting off in First Class (in fact, booking out the entire first
class for his entourage) to give a speech the other side of the pond on
environmental issues. Yeah (!)

Hmm... I still think your green wrath is somewhat misdirected. Of course
TfL isn't perfect on these matters, but then can you point me to an
organisation that is? Yes, the things that you point out may well be an
unnecessary waste of energy, but I'm sure they are very much offset by
the energy savings TfL makes in its offices - just turning the lights
off every night in TfL headquarters at Windsor House (an 18-storey
building for those not in the know) saves a considerable amount of
energy. This certainly isn't done everywhere, and I'm fairly certain you
can find other public sector organisations in London which waste a lot
more energy than TfL does. I'm not defending examples of energy wastage
at TfL, I'm just pointing out that a lift at Canning Town (which
presumably doesn't use that much energy because it's not going up and
down!) is very small fry.

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London