Crap journey home
Posted: February 10, 2009 Filed under: Travels in the Metropolis 2 Comments »I discovered upon arrival at the station this evening that the District and Hammersmith and City lines weren’t running. I have to go two stops fom Bethnal Green to Mile End on one of these lines before changing to the Central line on my way home from the college where I teach.
The journey normally takes 30 minutes from door to door.
Today I had a massive pull-along suitcase thingy, a rucksack and a stinking cold. I felt shit.
I decided to sit and wait on the station until the trains started running again. Won’t be that long, I thought. And I didn’t want the hassle of going back up the stairs with all my luggage and my stinking cold. And then getting on a packed bus. Or having to walk to Mile End (1.4 miles) before joining the Central line.
20 minutes and two free newspapers later, I’d had enough of waiting and was wilting.
I tried to get some information from one of the station guards about what was happening – to see whether I really should consider alternative travel arrangements.
Me: Excuse me, do you know when eastbound trains will be running again?
Him: Where do you want to go? I can tell you what bus to get.
Me: I just need to know how long it might be before they are running again.
Him: Where do you want to go?
Me: I know how to get there. I just need to know how long it will be before they are running again.
Him: If you tell me where you want to go I’ll tell you how to get there.
Me: [screaming inside] I know how to get where I am going. I just need to know how long it will be before they are running again.
Him: Where do you want to go?
Me: [broken] Stratford.
Him: Well, you can get the 25 bus from outside the station to Stratford.
Me: Right, thanks, but do you know when the eastbound trains will be running again? I have a lot of luggage and feel ill and don’t want to have to get the bus. Or walk to Mile End.
Him: No, I don’t. Sorry.
ARGHGGHGHGHGH!
The buses were packed. As I had predicted. I had to walk to the next station. As I thought I might have to. And it took me an hour and 15 minutes to get home.
Motorbikes in bus lanes
Posted: January 6, 2009 Filed under: Driving, London life, Stories in the news, Travels in the Metropolis 2 Comments »Since yesterday, motorbikes are allowed in most red route bus lanes in London. Is this a good idea? I don’t know.
I must say that I already worry about knocking over cyclists when I turn left across a bus lane (it’s a bit easier to see taxis and buses) and now there will be motorbikes to contend with/ worry about, too! On the other hand, I suppose it may discourage motorcyclists from weaving in and out traffic, which they are wont to do, and which must surely contribute to collisions involving motorbikes…
Boris says that the new scheme will help ease congestion in the capital … but honestly, how often do motorbikes wait in queues with cars? They usually just zoom on through.
Maybe he means that more people will be encouraged to travel into work by motorbike (rather than by car) and it will reduce congestion that way…? But is that really likely? How many car users would actually buy a motorbike rather than use the car they already have? Either car drivers (like me) are too scared to use a motorbike or they have a car for a particular reason (e.g. they need it to transport their family). And motorbikes aren’t cheap, are they?
I’m pleased that Boris is addressing the issues of both safety (for all road users) and congestion, but I am not sure whether this scheme is the right solution. Perhaps a better idea would be three separate lanes – one for bikes, one for motorbikes, taxis and buses, and a further one for cars. This would put public transport/ cars/ bikes on an equal footing, but would probably upset many car drivers and be hideously expensive to implement. And it doesn’t solve the problem of traffic turning left and knocking both types of cyclist over, either.
Obviously the ideal would be to have a super-duper, state-run, CHEAP and not- for-profit public transport system, and then nobody would need to use their own car/ motorbike for commuting anyway. Maybe I should write in to Boris and suggest that one. I’m sure he’d get that up and running in no time. 
London bus drivers
Posted: November 22, 2008 Filed under: Rants, Travels in the Metropolis 3 Comments »I caught the tail end of “Drive Time” with Eddie Nestor on my way home from work yesterday (yes, working late again).
He was taking calls about bus drivers in London and how rubbish/ horrible they are. And his callers had a lot to say on the subject.
One man called in and explained what his wife had recently witnessed: woman on the bus with two children, one aged about 5, the other an infant in a buggy. Woman gets off the bus to help the older child off. Woman gets back on the bus to take the buggy off and the doors close! Mother and everyone on the bus start screaming at the bus driver to stop but he refuses and drives on to the next stop whilst the 5 year old is left screaming on the pavement!
Sounds incredible, but I can believe it as I have dozens of stories like this myself.
Many a time I’ve run to the bus stop (with my heavy rucksack) for the driver to close the doors and pull away just as I got there.
And I can’t count the number of times a driver has sailed past people waiting at stops, even though there is plenty of space on the bus, or pulled away/ braked too quickly causing elderly people to almost topple over.
On one occasion I rang the bell (in good time) to ask the bus driver to stop at a request stop but he just carried on driving. When I asked why he hadn’t stopped to let me off he replied he hadn’t heard the bell. He said that he didn’t believe that I had pressed it and that I was changing my mind now to be awkward! After a minute’s worth of panto-style oh-yes-I-dids and oh-no-you-didn’ts he finally relented and let me off, huffing and puffing as he did.
My worst bus experience happened a few winters ago. I had been standing at a bus stop for what felt like forever in the pouring rain. A little old lady with a walking stick was waiting with me. The bus came along and I got on. Then the old lady got on and showed the driver her pass. It was 9.28, and a few years ago, older people were not allowed to use their free bus passes until 9.30. The bus driver refused to let the old woman on unless she paid the full fare. I weighed in and explained that we had been waiting for ages and that it was raining and cold and it was almost 9.30 anyway … but he wouldn’t budge. So the poor old woman had to wait for the next bus. (If I’d had any cash on me, I would’ve paid for her myself …)
You could say the driver was “just doing his job”, i.e. he’d been told that no exceptions are allowed (I mean, where would it end?!) but a bit of flexibility wouldn’t have gone amiss …
The reason for the discussion on the radio show was that there has been an increase in the number of complaints received about drivers recently (112,185 in 2007 compared to 95,984 in 2006, and 70,152 since April this year). A large number? Maybe, maybe not. TfL says no, and that the number of complaints they receive is actually very small given the number of bus journeys made everyday in London (around 6 million). But of course they have to remember people only really complain when something extreme happens …
To be fair, I’m sure there are hundreds of good bus drivers out there, who do their jobs professionally and with great courtesy in some very stressful circumstances (busy roads, gobby teenagers, nutters, fare-evaders, etc). But it’s not those ones that we remember, is it? And after years of commuting by public transport, I must say I was very glad to be listening to Eddie Nestor from the comfort of my car.
