There's a been a fair amount of discussion here on the new improved bus
information systems, but while the buses are chatting merrily away to us,
the 'countdown' system is decaying rapidly, with frequent breakdowns,
invisible buses, ghost buses and - lately - a spate of displays being
removed rather than repaired.

I know that some of the problems are are due to depots / drivers not setting
up their equipment properly (Firstbus is a major contender for an award),
but I thought the new system was going to include updated 'countdown'?

Let's face it, for most of us, the on-bus stuff is a minor inconvenience, or
a minor boon - it's while you wait for the bus that you are most likely to
need info.

Does anyone have any useful info / links?
--
Andrew


If you stand up and be counted,
From time to time you may get yourself knocked down.
But remember this:
A man flattened by an opponent can get up again.
A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
- Thomas J. Watson Jr.

On 21 Jan, 08:53, "Andrew Heenan" wrote:
There's a been a fair amount of discussion here on the new improved bus
information systems, but while the buses are chatting merrily away to us,
the 'countdown' system is decaying rapidly, with frequent breakdowns,
invisible buses, ghost buses and - lately - a spate of displays being
removed rather than repaired.

I know that some of the problems are are due to depots / drivers not setting
up their equipment properly (Firstbus is a major contender for an award),
but I thought the new system was going to include updated 'countdown'?

Let's face it, for most of us, the on-bus stuff is a minor inconvenience, or
a minor boon - it's while you wait for the bus that you are most likely to
need info.

Does anyone have any useful info / links?


I thought at first you were talking about the plan for a new iconic
bus shelter design for London that Boris dropped on getting elected -
but no, 'tis about Countdown.

I too was under the impression that the iBus project was going to mean
that the information provided to Countdown displays at bus stops was
going to be more accurate. When it works it's great - but it is, as
you imply, rather frustrating when it doesn't.

On Jan 21, 11:53*am, Mizter T wrote:
I thought at first you were talking about the plan for a new iconic
bus shelter design for London that Boris dropped on getting elected -

Pity he can't drop his stupid obsession with getting rid of bendy
buses too.

B2003

On 21 Jan, 12:53, wrote:

On Jan 21, 11:53*am, Mizter T wrote:

I thought at first you were talking about the plan for a new iconic
bus shelter design for London that Boris dropped on getting elected -

Pity he can't drop his stupid obsession with getting rid of bendy
buses too.


Hallelujah to that ...

.... but now I'm waiting for something to happen as a result of me
agreeing with Boltar ... like the fabric of the universe tearing
apart! ;-)

(But no, I'm not up for rehearsing the pro-and-anti bendy arguments
again, at least not now, in case anyone takes the above as an
invitation to do start doing so!).

wrote in news:60727dc3-b92b-4f49-bb49-c6a078c2e016
@v5g2000pre.googlegroups.com:

On Jan 21, 11:53*am, Mizter T wrote:
I thought at first you were talking about the plan for a new iconic
bus shelter design for London that Boris dropped on getting elected -

Pity he can't drop his stupid obsession with getting rid of bendy
buses too.

If he did that, you'd be all over him for breaking a manifesto commitment.

And he'd deserve it.

On Jan 22, 7:24*am, James Farrar wrote:
If he did that, you'd be all over him for breaking a manifesto commitment..

Politicians never stick to them anyway. And if common sense prevailed
over a manifesto I don't think too many people would complain.

B2003

In article ,
(James Farrar) wrote:

wrote in
news:60727dc3-b92b-4f49-bb49-c6a078c2e016
@v5g2000pre.googlegroups.com:

On Jan 21, 11:53*am, Mizter T wrote:
I thought at first you were talking about the plan for a new iconic
bus shelter design for London that Boris dropped on getting elected -

Pity he can't drop his stupid obsession with getting rid of bendy
buses too.

If he did that, you'd be all over him for breaking a manifesto
commitment.

And he'd deserve it.

How much did Ken suffer for getting rid of the Routemasters after all?
People knew they were going when he was reelected.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:


How much did Ken suffer for getting rid of the Routemasters after all?
People knew they were going when he was reelected.


The cognoscenti date the Bendy Jihad from the Policy Exchange pamphlet
in 2005, so at the 2004 election it wasn't an issue.

The bendy/RM policy was included in Boris's manifesto in 2008 for
tactical reasons to deprive Ken of the high ground on transport. In a
sense it came out of the recognition that you couldn't fight him on
better policies, so inventing a fake controversy was a better bet (same
with crime, judging by Boris's fulsome welcome of the latest figures).

So in a sense the RM issue ensured Ken suffered from not being able to
stand on his record. Quite clever, don't you think? Of course, it does
nothing for the development of transport in London, which is why I make
a big deal of it - to attempt to stop any future politician of either
party thinking they can try the same trick, and force them to actually
think about their policies as practical implementations rather than
electoral gimmicks.

Tom

On Jan 21, 8:53*am, "Andrew Heenan" wrote:
There's a been a fair amount of discussion here on the new improved bus
information systems, but while the buses are chatting merrily away to us,
the 'countdown' system is decaying rapidly, with frequent breakdowns,
invisible buses, ghost buses and - lately - *a spate of displays being
removed rather than repaired.

I agree it's not working terribly well - at least based on the
examples I see.

I know that some of the problems are are due to depots / drivers not setting
up their equipment properly (Firstbus is a major contender for an award),
but I thought the new system was going to include updated 'countdown'?

We need to keep in mind that Countdown is a system in its own right
with its own equipment. I-Bus is a separate system and has, from my
experience, some issues of its own about reliability. Barely 50% of
trips I make have a fully functioning system (in terms of output to
passengers) but I do use a lot of vehicles from Tottenham Garage
(which was the pilot installation and therefore may be more "buggy" as
a result).

I'm really not sure whether the interface to Countdown displays is
part of the I-Bus contract or not although the info on the TfL website
implies that bus stop displays are linked in to I-Bus. Certainly an
expansion of stop displays (an extra 2000) is a separate and second
phase and I don't know if it is still in the TfL Business Plan - a
check of that document on the TfL website might help. I also don't
know whether existing Countdown displays are still working off the
original vehicle mounted equipment and beacons or whether they are
linked into the overall I-Bus central system. If it the former of
these two options then I can understand why performance may be poor as
the system is effectively obsolete.

It's interesting that you cite quite clear reasons for problems with
FirstBus's I-Bus performance - how do you know it is garage or driver
set up that is the cause of the problems? I've recently experienced
buses not knowing where they are (* on the display) and then springing
in to life further on. Drivers can't use the equipment if the bus is
moving and the change in the display happened while we were moving.
Perhaps a signal to and from the bus was magically restored?

Let's face it, for most of us, the on-bus stuff is a minor inconvenience, or
a minor boon - it's while you wait for the bus that you are most likely to
need info.

Actually the one thing I want to see happen is the (manifesto) promise
to give people access to real time stop depature info via the
Internet. This would be a real benefit and given the spread of wi-fi
and portable data access I can see it being a real winner for people -
I would certainly use it. However I have not seen one word about it in
TfL minutes or any other report or in Mayor questions. I hope it has
not died a quiet death.

Paul Corfield
via Google.

I look forward to the day when all buses have GPS transponder on
board. I can look at the google maps and see where every bus is on
the route. I can them time leaving the pub / home / work confident
that a bus will be along shortly.

Technically possible now. That would be progress