On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:09:01 +0100, Michael Hoffman
wrote:

[Tim Roll-Pickering]
Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College" is
out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the bus
stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW is
seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

[Londoncityslicker]
Sometimes changing the name to an updated name causes more confusion.

Old historical names or defunct landmarks are SOMETIMES more useful to
the travelling public.

If you're trying to find "Queen Mary, University of London," I agree
with Tim's implicit point that another name for it would only be confusing.

And drivers lack of geography in some cases is so shameful that it's
of little use to them.

The cost of all these changes must be huge in itself, let alone the
comittee deciding on them in weekly meetings.

I'm not sure such a committee exists.

It does - the Bus Blinds Committee. The aim as I understand it is to
ensure consistency of presentation and compliance with DDA requirements.

There has been an element of controversy given some of the blinds that
have been created and some of those have been changed back. The
underlying issue is that people are highly resistant to change and thus
this issue has a somewhat disproportionate profile.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield
College" is out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of
London" on the bus stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously
annoys me - QMW is seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

Despite it not being terribly sensical. Queen Mary *what*? It's clearly
not an actual queen - nor is it a university of London!

Aha! I refer you to page 1 of:

http://www.finance.qmul.ac.uk/docs/F...0statement.pdf

It seems QMUL is a sort of trading name, with the real name still being
QMW. As you say, everyone calls it QMUL, and i agree that buses should
too, but it's somewhat interesting anyway.

tom

--
Just add a little flange and phase in

Tom Anderson wrote:

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College"
is out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the
bus stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW
is seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

Despite it not being terribly sensical. Queen Mary *what*? It's clearly
not an actual queen - nor is it a university of London!

No but it's named after a Queen (Mary of Teck aka Mrs George V). And it is
part of the University of London (one of the loyalist parts of the lot). I
guess whoever originated the style (there's also "Birkbeck, University of
London", "Royal Holloway, University of London" and now "Goldsmiths,
University of London") may have been thinking of "Queen's University of
Belfast" or "State University of New York" or somesuch.

It seems QMUL is a sort of trading name, with the real name still being
QMW. As you say, everyone calls it QMUL, and i agree that buses should
too, but it's somewhat interesting anyway.

The main problems are that "College" and "Westfield" are not used in the
name given on *EVERYTHING*, whilst "University" is missing from the name on
bus stops and timetables (for someone who doesn't know the area too well,
having "university" there does help them). And "Westfield" is historically
very recent - it only merged with QM in 1989 and the name was dropped from
day to day use in 2000 - so it's not as if this is an essential historic
name.

I'll drop TfL a line, both on buses and the DLR map.

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 10:58:30 +0100, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:

Dr J R Stockton wrote:

Judging by the last timetable / list of stops I recall, whoever it is
may need to be told that New Malden Police Station is defunct (the
police now have a non-station at the other end of the High Street; the
buses ignore it, rightly giving precedence to the Railway Station).

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College" is
out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the bus
stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW is
seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

What, even the Charter? :-)

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 17:42:27 +0100, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College"
is out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the
bus stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW
is seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

Despite it not being terribly sensical. Queen Mary *what*? It's clearly
not an actual queen - nor is it a university of London!

No but it's named after a Queen (Mary of Teck aka Mrs George V). And it is
part of the University of London (one of the loyalist parts of the lot). I
guess whoever originated the style (there's also "Birkbeck, University of
London", "Royal Holloway, University of London" and now "Goldsmiths,
University of London") may have been thinking of "Queen's University of
Belfast" or "State University of New York" or somesuch.

I *think* RHUL started it.

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College"
is out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the
bus stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW
is seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

Despite it not being terribly sensical. Queen Mary *what*? It's clearly
not an actual queen - nor is it a university of London!

No but it's named after a Queen (Mary of Teck aka Mrs George V). And it
is part of the University of London (one of the loyalist parts of the
lot). I guess whoever originated the style (there's also "Birkbeck,
University of London", "Royal Holloway, University of London" and now
"Goldsmiths, University of London") may have been thinking of "Queen's
University of Belfast" or "State University of New York" or somesuch.

But not thinking too hard about the need for nouns.

I hadn't realised Birkbeck and Goldsmiths had gone that way too; yuck.
What next? "Oriental and African, University of London"? Sounds like a
shipping line! Or even "University, University of London"?

It seems QMUL is a sort of trading name, with the real name still being
QMW. As you say, everyone calls it QMUL, and i agree that buses should
too, but it's somewhat interesting anyway.

The main problems are that "College" and "Westfield" are not used in the
name given on *EVERYTHING*, whilst "University" is missing from the name
on bus stops and timetables (for someone who doesn't know the area too
well, having "university" there does help them). And "Westfield" is
historically very recent - it only merged with QM in 1989 and the name
was dropped from day to day use in 2000 - so it's not as if this is an
essential historic name.

Agreed. But the current name still annoys me!

tom

--
double mashed, future mashed, millennium mashed; man it was mashed

On 3 Apr 2007 04:31:08 -0700, "MIG"
wrote:

That might imply that each bus company designs its own, rather than
them being imposed by TfL. Is there a correlation between the
different versions and the company?

At least TfL don't have buses running round with "Wolverhampton" on
the blind with the "hamp" coloured in in black pen to make it say
"Wolver ton", nor with "Blecthley" on, nor other sillies as can be
seen on the contracted evening services in Milton Keynes.

Perhaps we should be grateful that it isn't just a bit of A4 in the
windscreen...

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On 3 Apr 2007 04:31:08 -0700, "MIG" wrote:

On Apr 2, 6:21 pm, "MaxB" wrote:

Why do buses going to the same terminus at Lewisham sometimes say "Lewisham"
or "Lewisham Station" and sometimes "Lewisham DLR". It must be a committee!

No there wasn't a committee in place which is why you get the spread of
names. To be fair there are three main terminating points in Lewisham -
Tescos, the NR / DLR / Bus station area and Molesworth Street. They are
all geographically separate so should be differentiated (IMO).

Of course, you can't actually go to the bus garage, they expect you to get
off before then!

There isn't a bus *garage* in Lewisham. Do you mean the station?

That might imply that each bus company designs its own, rather than
them being imposed by TfL. Is there a correlation between the
different versions and the company?

Bus companies certainly have designed their own blinds before the recent
introduction of the TfL committee. I believe there was still a level of
central checking in the old days but it's much more tightly controlled
now.

Not necessarily a correlation although First's blinds have probably been
the most distinctive in terms of different practice - such as use of the
LU and NR symbols to indicate stations.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Apr 3, 9:16 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On 3 Apr 2007 04:31:08 -0700, "MIG"
wrote:

That might imply that each bus company designs its own, rather than
them being imposed by TfL. Is there a correlation between the
different versions and the company?

At least TfL don't have buses running round with "Wolverhampton" on
the blind with the "hamp" coloured in in black pen to make it say
"Wolver ton", nor with "Blecthley" on, nor other sillies as can be
seen on the contracted evening services in Milton Keynes.

Perhaps we should be grateful that it isn't just a bit of A4 in the
windscreen...



Although a few years ago on the 185 (which goes to Lewisham as it
happens), there was a real mixture of almost-museum-piece buses from
various counties, with carboard destinations in the front windows and
so on.

Maybe someone else can remember the story of the operator which went
bust, resulting in that situation. I think the 185 was the only route
they had run.

James Farrar wrote:

Similarly where do I go to tell TfL that "Queen Mary & Westfield College"
is
out of date and should read "Queen Mary, University of London" on the bus
stops, timetable and DLR area map? This one seriously annoys me - QMW is
seriously out of date and everything now says QMUL.

What, even the Charter? :-)

Yes but who reads the Charter. Seriously. I've only seen it once when I had
a college meeting in the Council Chamber.

I think the signs, website, letterhead, prospectus, even my golf umbrella
(yes I have one of those!) are rather more visible!