Slightly surprised no one has mentioned this but

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/11275.aspx

says Tower Gateway has reopened.

Paul Corfield
via Google

On 2 Mar, 15:40, Paul Corfield wrote:
Slightly surprised no one has mentioned this but

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/11275.aspx

says Tower Gateway has reopened.

Paul Corfield
via Google

They had already said it was going to.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....63298098?hl=en

It would have been handy for me if it had been open on Saturday, oh
well.

MIG wrote:
On 2 Mar, 15:40, Paul Corfield wrote:
Slightly surprised no one has mentioned this but

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/11275.aspx

says Tower Gateway has reopened.

Paul Corfield
via Google

They had already said it was going to.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....63298098?hl=en

It would have been handy for me if it had been open on Saturday, oh
well.

To be fair, there wasn't much of the DLR opened on the western section
on Saturday, and not much Jubilee or District Line action either. I
actually took the river bus to Canary Wharf and back because there was
literally no other decent option (train to Greenwich then DLR being the
next best). I actually spent an entire day mooching around town without
ever going on a tube or bus - I managed to cope with just train, boat,
walk and finally taxi.

The river bus is good but expensive, and takes a lot of staff for the
number of passengers (just under two bendy buses, I reckon, with
something like five or six crew on board plus crew at the landing
piers). It's quick east of the Tower, though, my phone GPS had it at
50km/h+.

Tom

On Mar 2, 6:06*pm, Tom Barry wrote:
MIG wrote:
On 2 Mar, 15:40, Paul Corfield wrote:
Slightly surprised no one has mentioned this but

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/11275.aspx

says Tower Gateway has reopened.

Paul Corfield
via Google

They had already said it was going to.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....g/2ceede816329...

It would have been handy for me if it had been open on Saturday, oh
well.

To be fair, there wasn't much of the DLR opened on the western section
on Saturday, and not much Jubilee or District Line action either. *I
actually took the river bus to Canary Wharf and back because there was
literally no other decent option (train to Greenwich then DLR being the
next best). *I actually spent an entire day mooching around town without
ever going on a tube or bus - I managed to cope with just train, boat,
walk and finally taxi.

The river bus is good but expensive, and takes a lot of staff for the
number of passengers (just under two bendy buses, I reckon, with
something like five or six crew on board plus crew at the landing
piers). *It's quick east of the Tower, though, my phone GPS had it at
50km/h+.

Tom-

The boat was probably a good plan on Saturday. Road users diverting
because of the Blackheath Hill situation must have been delighted by
the fact that the Rotherhithe tunnel was closed.

I was in the Tower Gateway area watching ridculous amounts of traffic
jam, including DLR replacement buses trying to get through.

On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:06:00 +0000, Tom Barry
wrote:

To be fair, there wasn't much of the DLR opened on the western section
on Saturday, and not much Jubilee or District Line action either. I
actually took the river bus to Canary Wharf and back because there was
literally no other decent option (train to Greenwich then DLR being the
next best). I actually spent an entire day mooching around town without
ever going on a tube or bus - I managed to cope with just train, boat,
walk and finally taxi.

135 bus from Aldgate is the civilised cheap way of getting to Canary
Wharf, though it isn't quick.

The river bus is good but expensive, and takes a lot of staff for the
number of passengers (just under two bendy buses, I reckon, with
something like five or six crew on board plus crew at the landing
piers). It's quick east of the Tower, though, my phone GPS had it at
50km/h+.

It's quite fun standing on the back and leaning out (despite signs to
the effect that you're supposed to take a seat they don't care in
practice).

Neil

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

Tom Barry wrote in
:

The river bus is good but expensive, and takes a lot of staff for the
number of passengers (just under two bendy buses, I reckon, with
something like five or six crew on board plus crew at the landing
piers).

It is indeed expensive to run; not just the staff costs but the boats and
piers require more maintenance than buses and bus stops. I was involved
with a project a few years ago looking at how the costs and benefits could
be reconciled sufficiently to allow the river buses to operate on the basis
of Oyster PAYG fares, but the cost to revenue gap seemed too large, even
with a hefty cross-subsidy.

This was in Ken's time and I don't know whether there has been any change
in thinking since then.

Peter

--
Peter Campbell Smith ~ London ~ pjcs00 (a) gmail.com

Oyster on the river is currently in development.

There are various issues - not least the different fare scales with
different operators, which reflect the different styles of service.

Thames Clippers operates the fast commuter "riverbus" and 02 Express,
while City Cruises operates the leisure service which caters for
families, visitors and anyone who wants a day out. [Our boats travel at
a more leisurely speed with more open deck areas, commentary etc, so
your trip on the river is not simply a method of transport.]

Another big question is the siting and installation of the kit.
Remember that boarding piers on the River Thames are not simply afloat,
they rise and fall more than 20ft twice a day Ð and they are very
exposed to the elements. And you can't do bus-type "pay on entry" when
the boat is at the pier.

Progress is being made Ð watch this space.

And as the weather picks up and you get the cameras out, do have a day
out on London's River: 2000 years of liquid history - and if you want
to know more, just ask [end of shameless plug].


On 2009-03-03 11:17:19 +0000, Peter Campbell Smith
said:

Tom Barry wrote in
:

The river bus is good but expensive, and takes a lot of staff for the
number of passengers (just under two bendy buses, I reckon, with
something like five or six crew on board plus crew at the landing
piers).

It is indeed expensive to run; not just the staff costs but the boats and
piers require more maintenance than buses and bus stops. I was involved
with a project a few years ago looking at how the costs and benefits could
be reconciled sufficiently to allow the river buses to operate on the basis
of Oyster PAYG fares, but the cost to revenue gap seemed too large, even
with a hefty cross-subsidy.

This was in Ken's time and I don't know whether there has been any change
in thinking since then.

Peter


--
Writer / editor on London's River

Paul Corfield wrote:
Slightly surprised no one has mentioned this but

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/11275.aspx

says Tower Gateway has reopened.

I have a couple of observations (visited for the first time today).

- Nothing at all has changed externally - quite a surprise since all the
other bright blue Postmodern DLR stations have since been rebuilt, and
that opaque Perspex looks pretty grim. Also, the one working escalator
was set to Down, and those stairs are very narrow for dealing with
5.45ish crowds.

- At platform level, much improved. 3 Oyster-accepting ticket machines
of a new design (can we have some for Tramlink??) and one Queue Buster.

- The arrival/departure layout is sensible, though currently no effort
to enforce the 'right side in' rule - doors on the waiting train were
open on both sides until we left. Draughty!

- Something that puzzled me - obviously there's now a single platform
track, with what looks like a reversing siding to the north (ie in
between the station and the Southend line). This siding becomes the down
running line just outside the station, trains from the platform joining
it using a facing crossover. As we were about to leave, an inbound unit
approached and (obviously) waited just before this crossover while we
left the platform. However, although I looked carefully, I couldn't see
any trap points or any mechanical means of stopping an Up train from
entering the platform when occupied. Is this normal for a .uk light rail
system (albeit an automatic one with occasional manual driving), or does
the DLR have particularly good train protection? Presumably it wouldn't
be allowed on NR, and obviously LU has its tripcocks.

I had a fun trip out to Woolwich, and (just as at Lewisham previously)
the popularity of the extension really highlighted the imbalance in
transport investment north and south of the Thames. It may be slow and
small compared to a proper Tube, but by golly it's faster, more modern
and (Oyster-wise) more convenient than anything else we've got at the
moment.
--
Current nearest station: Lewisham

On Mar 2, 5:42*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:

135 bus from Aldgate is the civilised cheap way of getting to Canary
Wharf, though it isn't quick.

Does the 135 tell you where it's going yet? When I last took it all it
said on the front was 'Crossharbour Asda' in one direction and 'Old
Street' in the other. To introduce a bus linking two important
locations (the City and Canary Wharf) and then not to show these on
the destination blinds seems perverse.

On Tue, 3 Mar 2009 16:45:13 -0800 (PST), brixtonite
wrote:

Does the 135 tell you where it's going yet? When I last took it all it
said on the front was 'Crossharbour Asda' in one direction and 'Old
Street' in the other. To introduce a bus linking two important
locations (the City and Canary Wharf) and then not to show these on
the destination blinds seems perverse.

That's TfL's "end destination only" nonsense, then... No, no
change.

Will be interesting to see if the route survives now Tower Gateway is
back, as it was in part introduced as a replacement.

Neil

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