InfoBleep nerdy trip reports

More interesting train journeys this evening. The 18:09 arrival from Portsmouth Harbour into Waterloo was 8 minutes late into Waterloo. Despite this the 18:23 from Waterloo was only 3 minutes late, departing at 18:26. So unusual. Normally an 8 minute delay means a delay of the same length of time or even more!

The train journey on that was nothing much different to usual. It departed late got even later on its way to Surbtion.

At Woking I was planning to get the 18:58. This too was late but only by about 4 minutes.

So I'm on the platform. Stood around the 6 carriage mark and in should pull a 444 train. Oh I thought, due to disruption it must be 9 carriages or less likely, perhaps 10. The departure screen is referring to needing to be in the front 7 carriages due to short platforms.

However the train stopped short of me. That's surely not right I thought. Then I moved up and saw the vesuables were busy and there were people in the aisle. It must be people getting off. Woking is a popular stop.

However not enough got off and some got on but not everyone.

I managed to walk quickly down the platform to the next door at the end of the carriage and myself and another lady managed to squeeze on.

The train soon departed. No idea if everyone got on. By this time I was thinking something is wrong with the information on the department screens.

Soon enough the guard apologies for the short formation and says it is due to the earlier disruption.

Far enough. So I then checked Journey Check and no information provided. Only the 17:30 was showing as short formed. Therefore I decided to tweet South Western Railway to ask if someone could please update the information. I don't think there is any harm in asking politely.

I didn't get a response to my question.. Nor did I get one this morning. However I then spotted a Tweet from someone else asking why the train was short formed
They said it was their second tweet after getting no response last night.

The member of Twitter staff said it was due to be short formed throughout December. If true then this contradicted what the guard said. Also if it is true it would make sense in more so to update the screens with the corrsxt number of carriages.

I replied to this thread asking for information to be added on line. I was then asked which service was referring to. I don't know what kind of view staff get of Twitter or whether they see replies in context. They are no doubt extremely busy. I replied back and I await to see if they respond.

This also brings into questiom short formation information. If this train is booked to be 5 cars tgen it wouldn't be classed as being short formed but if not classed as being short formed then currently it won't appear on Journey Check and if it doesn't appear on there, how are people to know it's 5 carriages? It seems there is a gap in the system that could do with being plugged. They need a Journey Check section for trains booked to be short as standard.

As far as I can tell there was no timetable change posters put up for the winter timetable, listing the more important changes. I'm sure previous timetable changes on South Western Railway had such posters and if not South West Trains certainly did.

Then there is the issue of if the train is only 5 carriages shy is it stopping at Woking? I was told the reason the 18:18 Waterloo to Haslemere service never stopped at Clapham Junction was due to it only having 8 carriages. Once it got 12 it could stop there, departing Waterloo at 18:17.

Well if the 18:30 has only 5 carriages wouldn't thr same apply in that the first stop should be missed out?

Obviously I was personally glad it wasn't missed and it suited me. However if following the same logic as the 18:18, you'd think the stop would be cancelled due to there not being enough carriages.

Finally if they don't have enough rolling stock to strengthen this train, it's a good job the new timetable didn't come in. That includes more trains and there might not have been enough rolling stock to run it.

Thsy probably could do with better publicising that the 18:30 is now 7lobky 4 carriages as opposed to 12. Obviously 5 carriage 444 isn't the same as a 5 carriage 450, were such a formation on carriages possible.

I've heard stand clear of train announcements as the train is leaving but this morning the announcement was at the point at which no part of the train was even in the platform! This was the 8:07. It would have bee on the departure screen at least.

So a bit like asking someone to shut the gate after the horse has bolted. I wonder if we will ever reach the stage of more time aware announcements?

The announcement for the train itself was probably started as or after the train doors were closing and perhaps finished as the train was departing.

Perhaps we need a rule of that states no train can leave until the announcements are played in full and then for another 30 seconds after. There would be a lot more delayed trains if they did do this though so I'm not suggesting it woild be practical.

How about human announcements. They seem to be more time aware.

Then there was the 8:22. By 8:25 it was not on the summery deaoture screen any more. It didn't leave until 8:28. Again another case of timing for announcements. One has far more time to get this train than the 8:07, yet the 8:07 was announced too late and the 8:22 removed from summery departure screens too early. I appreciate the 8:07 would have been removed from departure screens early but then it departed on time so I might expect that.

When the train has left I was thinking it will be interesting to see how much time it can make up and how much it will delay the Hampton Court to Waterloo service. It actually didn't delay the latter service and made up no lost time, it lost time. The latter service was allowed to depart first and further delayed the 8:22. At least the Hampton Court service departed Vauxhall on time.

The guard was apologising for the delay but it was not audioable enough to understand what he was saying.

I wasn't on the 7:17 earlier but I noticed it departed minutes late but didn't have its stops canceled. I suspect that was due to the 7:35 being cancelled completely due to a train fault.

This evening I was reminded of why, where possible, it's best to try and avoid catching buses to make a train connection unless you have time to catch a later train or plan to catch an earlier train than the one you need.

I decided it would be very tight to make my train even if I ran so I'd get a bus. At the bus stop I checked the app and it suggested the next one was in 3 minutes. This being a K3 bus. Going into see where it was it said 4 minutes. This would get me to my station 3 minutes before the train leaves. However it has to go through town and 4 minutes could easily become 6. It's a single decker bus and if there is a gap of 7 or more minutes since the previous service there could be delays on route. Bear in mind people at the bus stop have a choice of 6 bus routes, 4 of which go passed the station, so it's popular.

So I decided the best option was to run and see if I'd make my destination. As I was nearing the next bus stop a 281 and K2 came past. The K2 was listed on my app but the 281 wasn't. I'm certain the K2 wasn't listed when I previously checked though.

I boarded the K2 and arrived on the platform 5 minutes before my train was due to leave. Needless to say the K3 was later and it would have been touch and go as to whether I'd make the train. Had the other two not run even less chance.

Well why don't I leave earlier to catch the bus? If I left much earlier it would then become just as quick to walk. The walk is 23 minutes but can be done faster if one runs and running is healthy.

As it was the train departed 3 minutes late. This isn't uncommon but you can't know for certainty just how late it will be. If I'd run all the way I might have even made it.

So the bus did the job and I'm grateful but I will continue, where possible, to walk, if I have a set train I need to be on. As by walking and even at times running, I can be more certain I will make the train.

Surprisingly despite the 3 minute delay the 17:11 didn't lose more time. I know the connecting train will be late as it nearly always is. It didn't disappoint either. Haha

Friday evening I had a choice if buses for a journey I was making. A 213 pulled in and an X26 wasn't far behind I was going to Worcester Park so decided to get the X26. It stops less. Alas there was traffic and it seems during traffic limited stops services don't get an opportunity to overtake stopping services. On top of that the bus developed a fault The driver said it was sluggish, warning message had appeared and it wasn't safe to drive at junctions or roundabouts. So during the he journey the driver stopped it to speak to someone. It seems whoever they were talking to disagreed. So I ended up on another bus, a 151.

Yesterday the train I was on departed Esher. Shortly we came to a stand. After a time the driver walked through the train and we then headed back to Esher.

I don't think that section of line is bi-directional, so it wouldn't have been done with permission of the signaller.

Whilst I most definitely didn't want the circumstances that lead to this train movement having to occur, it was interesting being on a train that did this.

The guard was most helpful with announcements I thought.

Trains were out of place thus morning but not the 6:58 Guildford to Waterloo or the 7:03, as far as I can tell. The 6:58 departed on time and the inbound service to make up the 7:03 arrived on time too. Great.

Alas no because the 7:04 arrival from London Bridge was 1 minute Kate and thus it delayes the 7:03 departure. You think it might be able to get out of the way of the 7:04 arrival. Alas no.

So as the 7:03 departed 3 minutes late. It was 5 minutes late by Cobham and had it's stops of New Malden., Wimbledon, Earlsfield, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall removed. Given it left Surbtion only 4 minutes late, you'd have hoped that wouldn't have been necessary, especially as the next service would be about 20 minutes away. Still delay repay would be due. I he train itself got into Waterloo 4 minutes early if your staff or 6 minutes if your a passenger. It was due out again at 8:17.

The 7:12 to London Bridge left 5 minutes late as did the 7:16. They had no stops removed. In fact the 7:16 was 13 minutes late into Surbtion. With nothing in between that and Waterloo, they had nothing they could cancel, except Waterloo and that was unlikely. They at least allowed the 8:01 stopping service to depart first, abet 4 minutes late. That was held up by the delayed 7:57.

If only trains had another platform they could use, so there were two through lines for trains to avoid Surbtion station. Still maybe things will improve with the May timetable changes I some how doubt it though.

The 7:35 in contrast departed on time but was 5 minutes late departing Horsley and 4 minutes late departing Surbtion but did it have all he stops removed? No. Perhaps they didn't think delays would be so bad if they let this train continue compared to the 7:03. I guess a balance needs to be struck between those with stops removed and those left in. That train arrived into Waterloo 8/6 minutes late.

There were other delays today too and some of the trains had stops removed and others didn't. However the delays were much greater than 4 minutes it seems. Actually a service from Shepperton is 6 minutes late and has had stops removed. On a delayed Waterloo to Woking stopper though they are adding in additional stops. That's the 8:50.

I got the 8:07, which departed 1 minute late for reasons unknown as the Inbound service that makes up the 8:22 Guildford to Waterloo stopper had arrived. At least we weren't held up at Horsley. That too departed Surbtion 4 minutes late though.

To think in May they want to run even more services. At least the delays or stop removals won't be due to Southern, as they won't be running any trains to Guildford!

Sometimes you need to wonder the cost of failing PPM by cutting stops out of slightly delayed services (plus costs of delay repay) outweigh the benefits of getting to London a bit quicker. Certainly not customer friendly and they wonder why usage is falling.

Or even cut out stops closer to London [i.e. run fast from Wimbledon] so at least the delay for the passengers won't be so much with the frequent services.

Kite159 said:

Sometimes you need to wonder the cost of failing PPM by cutting stops out of slightly delayed services (plus costs of delay repay) outweigh the benefits of getting to London a bit quicker. Certainly not customer friendly and they wonder why usage is falling.

Or even cut out stops closer to London [i.e. run fast from Wimbledon] so at least the delay for the passengers won't be so much with the frequent services.

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Being able to alight at New Malden or Wimbledon would be great. Alas they obviously feel switching to fast lines there, if it's possible would cause too many issues.

Tonight's question was would I make my train by taking a bus or should I walk and get a latter train.

I could see the inbound service to form he 18:23 Waterloo to Basingstoke arrived 7 minutes. If trains keep arriving late, it will surely depart late so I'll have enough time to walk to the station.

Alas the train only departed 1 minute late. Oh well now to look at one of the 6 bus options, 4 of which would be the most useful.

There was one due in a minute. Alas that minute went rather quickly and I missed it. It however made good progress to Surbtion so traffic must be OK.

Alas next bus wasn't due for another 7 to 8 minutes and that was the gap between services. With the train a minute late, it wouldn't work out.

However this is the 18:23 and it does follow the 18:17 and 18:20 services, both of which are the first fast services to stop at Clapham Junction, after the evening high peak. So plenty of scope for additional delays.

As I got to the next bus stop, which isn't so close, compared to the opposite side of the road in the other direction, due to road layouts, I could see the train was now 5 minutes late.

So I decided to wait a short time for the bus as it was now just 1 minute away.

By the time it arrived the train was now 44 minutes late

I hopped on the bus. I was now committed.

It changed to 43. Back to 44 and then to 43. I could see the train had passed Wimbledon. We stopped at a bus stop but skipped the next from memory. The train had passed New Malden. Then by a stroke of luck the traffic lights changed to green and on we went. Train was now passed Berrylands. We stopped at the next bus stop.

By now the train was expected at 18:43 and it was getting close to 18:41. As we pulled into the bus stop where I alighted, it said the train had arrived.

Oh no. I'd better run then and hope I don't get stuck at the ticket barrier waiting for people to exit.

I got to the barrier and there was hardly anyone there. Then I heard a familiar door bleep. I went through and as I went down the stairs, people were exiting the platform.

They had clearly announced it arrival before it arrived.

I got on the train and needless to say it departed 18:44. I kind of expected that.

By doing this I saved myself about 30 minutes.

However near Woking we came to a stand. Eventually the guard said we were waiting for a platform. A Portsmouth Harbour train pulled along side. Oh no. Well the signalmen allow it to depart first. It has been known to happen in the past.

Fortunately it was made to wait and we arrived first. They didn't even path it into platform 4.

In fact the screen at Woking Station just says delayed against the 18:58.

If I had missed it, it would have added 20 minutes to the journey.

The delay into Woking was caused by a delayed Woking stopper that arrived 6 minutes late and departed empty coaching stock to Farnham 9 minutes late. I do wonder if running it in service to Farnham would cut out the additional 3 minutes delay as they check the train for people

Although the stopper was 3 minutes Kate leaving Surbtion, it couldn't make up time as the Woking stopper was 4 minutes late leaving Surbtion and it departs 4 minutes ahead.

Still the 18:58 departed just 6 minutes late, having departed Waterloo just 1 minute late.

With the Gatwick Airport train now departing Guildford at 19:06 instead of I think it was 19:10, thus causing the Portsmouth Harbour train to depart at 19:09 instead of 19:08, it means it has extra time to make up lost time and it won't need to hurry in order to not delay the former 19:10.

Which maybe means there is less chance of the 18:58 overtaking the Basingstoke train when it's not timetabled to do so. Obviously I've not check the Junction at Havant with Southern, to see how tight it is there. I got to my destination just 5 minutes late and as we alighted we were asked to stand clear as the train was ready to leave. Common sense provailed and people ignored the message.

infobleep said:

I do wonder if running it in service to Farnham would cut out the additional 3 minutes delay as they check the train for people

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Running it in service will require a guard, and it could be that the guard who is on that service changes to another service at Woking (or even finishes their shift/has a break).

But agreed it makes a bit of sense to limit dwell time at a busy station like Woking

Kite159 said:

Running it in service will require a guard, and it could be that the guard who is on that service changes to another service at Woking (or even finishes their shift/has a break).

But agreed it makes a bit of sense to limit dwell time at a busy station like Woking

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Yes it could well be one of those two things. I seem to recall it was the same in the new timetable when that comes into force.

This evening was a great example of when I wouldn't want to catch a bus.

I finished my business and there wasn't time to walk to the station to catch the train.

However I'd missed a bus by 5 minutes and the next one wasn't for 5 minutes. This at a bus stop served by 6 bus routes.

Despite the train being 2 minutes late I decided the bus, if it indeed did arrive in 5 minutes, would arrive around the time the train arrived.

If I'd got to the bus stop 6 minutes earlier then the bus journey to the station would have saved me just 2-³ minutes, verses running and that is if the train had been on time. As it was it was late. Thus if I was planning in advance, I'd just go by foot.

So I did a mixture of running and walking to get the next train. Thus too was 3cminuyes late and by running I had time to use the facilities. I rushed this and then found the train lost yet another minute. Kind of made sense as I couldn't see the train when I arrived.

Once I reached Wimbledon I had a choice of going on the underground or continuing on the train to Victoria. As the tube didn't depart for another 5-6 minutes and one can get a reasonable distance in that time, I stayed put. The tube would get me to Sloane Square at 18:40, followed by a short walk.

My next change of Clapham Junction. There was a late running Southern train but as I was late, probably not make. At about the same time was a stoppig service. Surely after that though was a fast service.

Now the station board said the fast service was due in 2 minutes. So I opted for that. Needless to say it left 4 minutes later!

It was actually a train running 16 minutes late. So no wonder the system couldn't accurately predict when it would depart.

The stopping service was due in at 18:26, taking into account minor delays and the train I was on, 18:27. However the 18:27 arrival was closed to the side exit I wished too use.

I would then rush to my destination and would get there about 18:40, so faster than the tube from Wimbledon.

Looks like the SWR skipping out stations when trains are slightly late meant the final Portsmouth Harbour - Waterloo service (which forms the final service from Guildford towards Woking & London) had all its stops removed after Fratton.

Last time I checked it on RTT it was passing Worplesdon 10 minutes early... Sometimes you just can't make it up. By all means skip stations when the next train is a few minutes away but not the final train of the day (all be it there is a Portsmouth - Guildford stopper an hour later but that isn't much help for a woking resident on a night out in Guildford when the final train passes the station 10 minutes early)

Taxi for anybody from the stations south of Guildford wanting Woking - London anybody?

Kite159 said:

Looks like the SWR skipping out stations when trains are slightly late meant the final Portsmouth Harbour - Waterloo service (which forms the final service from Guildford towards Woking & London) had all its stops removed after Fratton.

Last time I checked it on RTT it was passing Worplesdon 10 minutes early... Sometimes you just can't make it up. By all means skip stations when the next train is a few minutes away but not the final train of the day (all be it there is a Portsmouth - Guildford stopper an hour later but that isn't much help for a woking resident on a night out in Guildford when the final train passes the station 10 minutes early)

Taxi for anybody from the stations south of Guildford wanting Woking - London anybody?

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That does seem like madness on the face of it.

I noticed disruption this evening lead to a 2 hour service gap at Rowlands Castle. At this time of day it would be hourly. This was heading in the up direction.

Something interesting occurred this morning.

I went to get the 7:45 to London Waterloo from Guildford. I went to platform 3 and found it wasn't there.

How odd I thought. I then saw on the board it was departing from platform 5. That is the platform most fast trains use to head to Waterloo. But what about the 7:43 to Reading, which departs from platform 6?

Then I saw the the train to Reading was now departing platform 8 at 7:48 and that it stopped at Gomshall before Guildford, that must be an additional stop. Ok so there is enough time for the 7:45 to use platform 5 I thought. Why the 7:43 couldn't use platform 8 previously I don't know.

So around 7:43 in came the train to Reading. Surely the Waterloo train will arrive first as it departs first? The train to Waterloo had been on time but now it was due in at 7:46.

Then at 7:45 it we heard an announcement to say the train was now departing from platform 3. Everyone then trapsed round to platform 3 including the member of staff to despatch the train.

As I reached platform 3, the board said the train was now due in at 7:47. It turned up and people got on. I think there was a slight further delay as they made sure everyone has made it across. We then departed at 7:48.

Looking at the delay figures for the last hundred days, between Guildford and Reading I can see the following.

Previous train
Gatwick Airport 07:43
Reading 08:29
Time: 46m
On time with 5 minutes 29%
Average delay: 10½L

New train:
Guildford 07:48
Reading 08:35
Time: 47m
On time within 5 minutes: 67%
Average delay time: 4½L

Whilst it's early days for the new figures, it seems the change may bring reliably improvements as there is an extra 5 minutes to stop at one additional station. Today showed that it only needed 2 minutes to do that if everything was on time.

That of course isn't possible due to the 7:45 departure. Now if that could depart at 7:47, like it does most off peak hours, problem goes away.

I can see why the signaller pathed the Reading train first. If you have done something one way for a long time and then it switches to the opposite, it might be hard to break a habit, especially when the Reading train nears the junction first.

The Waterloo train was late into Woking and the 7:59 was also late. I don't think the 7:57 being late causes the 7:59 delay. However the 7:59 delay did cause the 8:02 to be delayed.

It will be interesting to see how the North Downs Line trains interact with the new South Western Railway timetable in May. I wonder what timetable changes there will be, no matter how minor.

Both today and yesterday something interesting happened to buses I uwwhed to catch.

They seemed to be running Kate and terminating short. So I looked on TfLs Web Site and two my surprise, they said why. Even for the K3 route today. That's unheard of. Nothing in the bus route itself so if your using a tune timing app you won't see anything.

Still I must be grateful for even that!

However they also had a reasonably sized distracting bright green box which said there were no disruptions. One would easily see that and not notice the actual disruption text above. Still one must be grateful and all that.

Here is a couple of screenshots for the 71 yesterday and the K3 today.



The 71 reported disruptions on the route towards Chessington World of Adventures and the K3 reported disruptions on the route towards Roehampton Vale / Asda.

To find the disruption page I used Google search as I knew multiple disruption pages existed on TfL's Web Site and I couldn't be certain which one it might appear on, although I was expecting it to appear on none of them.

This page can be found here:
https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/status/?input=K3&lineIds=k3&&direction=outbound

The K3 I was on was busy with people waiting at bus stops and it was late. So I suspect a bus was turned early somewhere and this bus is late. It took 24 minutes to do a 16 minute journey and if a bus was cancelled and you arrived after the previous one left, you could be waiting 30 minutes. The walk between my starting point and destination is 1 hour. So it's easy to see how walking ould end up being just as quick.

When I got to my final destination there were 3 71s at the bus stop. Never seen so many. Here are some photos. In the first one you can just make out the K3 going past. It had to pull up in the bus lane, as the inlet was too full. This is outside Kingston College.



Before all of that though I got a train today. It was showing as being on time and I wasn't quite there in time. With the doors closing 30 seconds before I wouldn't in theory make it but a quick glance at the arrives showed me that there was a 4 minute delayed inbound train. Thus it was extremly likely the signaller would hold the train I wanted to catch, as it crosses my path.

The signaller did indeed do that and I made the train. Of course when trains are delayed in such a way, there is no laing of the doors 30 seconds in advance, so you not only get the delay time to catch the train but also the 30 seconds prior to that too!

Not that I'm advocating people always turn up mate for trains. I could have got the next train but didn't have to in this case.

Massive gas works at Kingston Cromwell Road (right outside the station and Tesco Express, three lanes down into one, causing delays on everything bus wise through Kingston. Also an emergency closure of Villiers Avenue, affecting the KU2 and K4 services.

James Wake said:

Massive gas works at Kingston Cromwell Road (right outside the station and Tesco Express, three lanes down into one, causing delays on everything bus wise through Kingston. Also an emergency closure of Villiers Avenue, affecting the KU2 and K4 services.

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I don't know why they don't just report that or provide a link to somewhere else reporting that

Still anything is better than nothing.

I did report the confusing information to @TfLBusAlerts but I didn't get a response. They must have been busy.

Another interesting journey tonight. I had a choice of getting a 57 or getting a bus to Surbtion, train to Earlsfield and then a bus.

I opted for the latter as the train I wanted to catch was on time. Needless to say by the time I got to the station said train was running 6 minutes late and all its stops after Raynes Park were cancelled, bar Waterloo. As it was no longer worth getting that train I waited for the 19:11.

Now the 19:08 was being held up by the delayed 19:02 hut the sigbalmen found it was able to put the 19:08 onto platform 2. This meant it was only 3 minutes late leaving and it didn't delay the 19:11. In fact that train arrived on time and left on time. Unheard of.

Of course it was delayed further up the line stuck behind the 19:02, so it ended up being 6 minutes late into Wimbledon. I guess one should be greatful they didn't cancel any stops on this service, given it seems to be as delayed as the 19:02.

Another interesting thing about the 19:02 was the fact the feature summery screen said it was only going to London Waterloo. The deapture screen however said Berrylands, New Malden, Raynes Park and London Waterloo. It then added that due to congestion the train would be terminating at London Waterloo. Its worth noting that had there not be congestion the train would have been terminating at London Waterloo!

I took this deapture screen as gospel and was proved right. Not that I was boarding the train any more so it was accidemic.

It is however now possible that the 57 may have been faster, providing it didn't get stuck in traffic, which for buses isn't inconceivable when your journey is scheduled to be just under an hour.

Good to see SWRs customer unfriendly habit of ripping out stops for minor delays continues into the new year...

... They really are completely useless

Amazing the 18:23 Waterloo to Basingstoke arrived into Surbtion on time tonight. That's extremely rare, even more so given the18:17 Waterloo to Haslemere and the 18:20 Waterloo to Exeter were not cancelled and both left Clapham Junction 2 minutes late. On past experiences one would expect a delay into Surbtion. Just luck I guess that it didn't occur.

Alas there was some kind of hold up and we still left 2 minutes late from Surbiton. Oh well they can't all run smoothly, it is evening peak after all. At least it made it on time into Surbtion.

Today's interesting journey isn't on the trains but bus or I should say bus.

There are still on going emergency gas works in Kingston causing bus delays and not knowing what time a bus will turn up each day.

Socia Gas Network are now just resurfacing the road but each surface has to set before the next layer goes on top, as it future proofs better against pot holes.

Yesterday the K3 bus I caught arrived about 8:50 and wasn't so packed to start with but quickly filled up to the point one person future down the route couldn't board. Next bus was due in 15 minutes but I get the impression. The previous bus was turned short.

Today the K3 bus I got departed 8:40 but is much fuller to start with.

In both cases I imagine some bus were turned around early or didn't run. I'm lucky that I didn't turn up at a time when a bus wasn't running or has been turned early.

Today the bus was full earlier into the journey than yesterday and at one stop I thought the driver would go past but to my surprise they stopped and let people on. They skipped the remaining stops though.

Now this meant passengers were right up to the front. Was this dangerous? Some bus drivers would say so and I wouldn't argue against what they say but this bus driver let people on. Who knows how long their wait would be to the next bus and how long they had already been waiting.

Eventually our signal decker reached Surbtion station and it was only the second bus in at least 6 minutes. Cue struggle for everyone to get on at the first stop as no other bus at had used this perticular stop for over 6 minutes if not 10 minutes. This stop is usually only this busy after a gap in bus services.

There were some other buses due soon though. A pair of 71s, both double deckers but the bus driver wouldn't have known that. At the next stop outside Waitrose there would also be a K2, another single decker.

If the bus driver knew that he could have asked passengers to wait in order to delay the bus less. I can't say how late this bus is as I can't see delay minutes.

Google provide these on their Google Maps service but only for buses that run to a high frequency. They don't even accurately give live timings for low frequency buses as far as I can tell. I don't know where it would be more useful, High frequency or low frequency. At least with high frequency one has more buses.

Quite a few left at Kingston University and even more at Kingston Collage..Still quite a full bus though.

Interesting predictive bus pattern today at the Kingston College / Kingston Crown Court bus stop.
406
K3
K3
281
281
71
71
281
281
406



Not seen that before. I'd doubt they turned up in that order though. And that was all within the next 14 minutes!

Road works again?

Kite159 said:

Road works again?

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Not actually sure and I didn't bother checking the TfL description page.

Tonight I was at Woking awaiting my delayed connecting train. It pulled in and after some people got off I then boarded it. Then I noticed others getting off. After I let one off I decided to just get off again as it would be easier for others.

I thinks passenger on the train, perhaps taking a seat after standing, had delayed them. As they were getting off the guard shouted can you hurry along please.

This to me seemed a bit pointless as I doubt anyone would have heard him. Still I couldn't stop myself from wanting to repeat it to a few people locally who were getting off so I did.

I wonder if their is anything they can do to get passengers to disembark in a more timely manner. It was a class 444 formed of 10 coaches.

Interesting journey this morning. Apart from the beautiful mist the train had to wait at Effingham Junction. Not for any late running trains but because it arrived on time!

I'm amazed the guard and driver remember to wait in such circumstances To be fair they might be more common during the day.

Then this evening a train arrived into Berrylands a minute early and even managed to close the doors 30 seconds before the official departure time.That's even more rare then a train waiting at Effingham Junction due to it being on time.

In addition to all of this the bus I was on today seemed unusually busy, especially as the bus 15 minutes before it ran. I wonder where all these people had been hiding.

I use to find this on commutes to Harrow, some days there would be more people than other days and you wonder what caused it.

Whilst on the bus the driver made an announcement about being careful not to headbutt the front left wing mirror. Someone had done this and it meant the bus didn't complete it's journey. Like the bus not completing it's journey, I didn't catch all of what the driver said as his mic switched off.

Then a bit later on the journey he raises his voice asking for a man who come to the front. His crime was getting on at the centre rather than the front doors, which maybe were shut whilst passengers got off. Anyway suitably chastised they payed their Oyster fare. They did have their card showing at least, so one would hope they weren't trying to dodge the £1.50 fare.

As for this evenings train, it had to slow down on its approach to Wimbledon. Not because it was late but because it was running on time! I'm sure normal order will resume soon enough. It was slow departing Wimbledon so maybe that will restore it to being delayed. Except it hasn't.

Although there are some delayed trains ahead, this train is surprisingly on time. No it not. It only just departed Earlsfield on time. I expect it to be a minute late into Clapham Junction. So normal order has resumed once more it seems. :grin:

Update: the train did officially pass its monitoring point on time into Clapham Junction but only just. By the time the train stopped and the doors opened, it wasn't too far off 22 minutes past the hour and the train thus departed late.

That is a good example of a train likely to be shown as on time until the last moment.

I then boarded an extremely busy train towards East Croydon. Not sure if it was short formed as these things aren't announced at Clapham Junction.

I was on one the other week and that was short formed and surprisingly the OBS declassified first class. If this train isn't short formed then first class won't be declassified and even if it is, it's still unlikely to have first class declassified. Of course if it is declassified then there is the chance they will only mention this once. So you may not be aware if you weren't on board at the time they announced it.

Yesterday morning I saw trains were delayed due to over running engineering works. I expected to see New Malden, Wimbledon, Earlsfield, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall removed and South Western Railway didn't disappoint. At Surbtion the platform was really busy. If the people waiting all wanted a stopping service, I wasn't sure how everyone would be able to get on the next service from Hampton Court. If one couldn't board that it would be another almost 30 minute wait, assuming next service on time. I left the station and was surprised to find the service from Hampton Court was only 2 minutes late leaving. Perhaps everyone did manage to board.

Last night I saw a train from Surbtion was running Kate due to congestion I decided as every other fast train was also late I'd get it.

However I'd not taken into account the stopping service departing Surbtion only 1 minute late. One should always take that into account as the train I was on uses the slow line to run non stop.

Alas we ended up behind it and it wasn't until we got past Byfleet and Newhaw that the signaller put us onto the fast line. I'm sure they had good reasons for waiting until then but by this point we were getting close to 19 minutes late. It had only been 12 minutes late at Surbtion but lost. Further 7 minutes to Woking. The guard made an announcement either. One would hope they were aware of the delay.

Ayone wanting the Portsmouth train missed it. Not to worry there was one due soon but that too was delayed.

In fact that train got further delayed by a stopping train. The stopping train was going to Basingstoke, funnily enough. It was running ahead of this fast train, rather than behind it as it should. Just like how the previous Portsmouth train over took the previous Basingstoke train to stop at Woking.

Thus I got into Guildford 28 minutes later than planned. It wouldn't have been easy to figure out what would happen. I like to try and see it as a game. Can I predict the actions of the signaller when it comes to which is the best train to board or route to take?

Last Friday I was travelling from Clapham Junction As I got their I was aware of a tree blocking the line at Basingstoke. In fact several trees.

The 18:33 to Alton was delayed. No problem the service that forms the 18:39 Waterloo to Poole came from Fareham via Haslemere so that will depart on time as real time trains shows it as having arrived into Waterloo.

Alas 18:39 came and went and they cancelled the train. Not sure why. In the mean time other trains came through without stopping at Clapham Junction, including a train to Portsmouth via Haslemere.

Eventually the 18:33 left Waterloo and turned up at 18:58. So off we set towards Alton. As the train pulled into Woking they announced it was terminating due to a tree on the line. It was actually at the junction newr Aldershot so affected.muktiole routes.

In the mean time the Portsmouth train I'd anates to get had left. I then had to wait another 40 minutes for a train towards Portsmouth via Haslemere. Total delay was 50 minutes.

If only they could have stopped other trains at Clapham Junction I don't think I've ever been on a train that a stop order for Clapham Junction

I think they might have been best advising customers to take a stopping train to Guildford for onward connections but how were they to know people would be stuck at Woking.

On the up side it was snowing at least so I enjoyed standing in that.

At least Woking has a nice waiting room area

Kite159 said:

At least Woking has a nice waiting room area

Click to expand...

Well I didn't think to use such a thing.

I avoid last night's delays, caused by a passenger taken ill. I hope they recover OK. I would have only been 10 minutes or so late as the stopping train didn't manage to run in front of the fast train and delay it further.

Incidentally yesterday morning there was a broken down train on North Downs Line. This lead to platform 6 being blocked for a time.

As a result, passengers on trains to and from Ascot were lucky enough to have the experience of arriving and departing from platform 4 and platform 5. The platform 4 departure had to wait for a London Waterloo train to depart first as they should both depart at the same time. This being the 8:30. That use to depart at 8:31 and had it still been times to do so, I imagine the Ascot train would either have delayed it or nothing of the sort as the Ascot train had arrived in on time.

Even a train to Gatwick Airport used platform 5. I think I may have travelled from platform before in a train to Gatwick Airport.

Their have been occasions recently where I used platform 6 to depwrt towards Waterloo. This was the case last week one day. I enjoy travelling from unusual platforms. As in unusual for the service I'm on.

I've not reached my destination yet but I think I might be due some delay repay as replacement buses running with 10-15 min delays due to traffic. Bus every 10 minutes and one hasn't arrived yet. Perhaps I just missed a delayed one. If only the online live departures could take into account bus delays. Then you might leave earlier and the TOC wouldn't need to pay out delay repay money.

Paying delay repay is probably cheaper though.

There should hage been a bus at 17:17 but two buses turned up together, shortly before 17:50. Eventually one left 17:51.

Aparently traffic is really bad in Brighton and the buses left on time. So just like regular buses they ended up running in tandem

I'd love to put a GPS tracker on both buses and speed up the map view to see just how one catches up with the one in front.

Still given I had to wait over 30 minutes and I'll miss my trains to Guildford, I can claim for at least an hours delay.

This problem will then repeat itself going dwn to Brighton a bit ater.

I wonder do they ever turn around replacement buses early when they are running in tandem or is that not a good idea, just in case there is a large crowd further up the replacement bus line.

Everyone got on the first bus. The second one was redundant by this point.

Once the buses are on the road, it appears bus control have no way of contacting them.

In the time I waited for a bus, three or four Brighton buses turned up, although one was in tandem with one in front. Also two buses to Lewes came and went too.

I expect some long gaps during the 9 day shutdown as weekday traffic will probably be even worse in Brighton. They will apparently be running buses every 5 minutes but still if they are stuck in traffic then they will be stuck in traffic. If the Lewes buses could have been extended to Three Bridges, it may have helped as hopefully less traffic on that route but of course lots of people want to go to and from stations south of Wivelsfield, so that is probably not practical.

Actually to be surprise the 17:17 suhgewtedes journey to Redhill said disrupted. When you go into the bus part there is nothing. It just shows the two trains parts as being disrupted. However 17:37 suggested route doesn't. Yet that was also disrupted.

Another train started short and not cancelled from the live online departure board. This time the 7:12 Guildford to London Bridge.

They could do with an alart system to say x train hasn't been cancelled from x station(s). Not quite sure how it woild work.

I had an interesting journey myself playing resubmit my Southern delay repay claim. To my surprise, this is the first one they have rejected.

Apparently they couldn't find the journey being made. Would love to know what systems they use.

Helpfully I took a screenshot and just as helpfully the perticular journey I was making had disrupted against my connections. This being Saturday's 17:17 bus journey from Haywards Heath.

Had I been wishing to catch the 17:37, I'd have been out of luck as that one didn't say disrupted aginast the connections, depsite it being so.

Its annoying you have to reenter in all your details. I guess at least they don't ask for your address. Some small mercy.

I had to look up various details too. What happens if you've submitted a claim and no longer have the ticket number to hand if at all? They already have an image of your ticket, yet require you to enter a number you no longer have. What if it was a season ticket that you'd recently had replaced and you no longer had that season tickets number and you'd first submitted a claim months ago and lost the scan of your season ticket, containing the vital stats.

Of course one should keep copies of things as you can't trust such companies it seems.

Eventually I got Surbtion today where I had to change trains for a stopping service. Platform was rammed and the incoming service was only 8 carriages. At least it was fairly empty. I do hope everyone got on as the next service isn't for another 27 minutes! The platform staff member kept blowing their whistle to hurry people up. There was even a tanoy announcement saying this train is ready to and then I seem to recall they broke off. It wasn't ready to leave at that point of course. They need cameras in the air to see what is going on below as you can see along the length of the platform too easily. Just too many passengers.

I understand the need to blow a whistle to say a train is now leaving so best not to consider rushing for it but to do so as hundreds of passengers are boarding? What if it caused someone to panic. I don't know if such a thing is possible.

Got luck anyone else wanting to get on though. To be fair Berrylands isn't such a busy station and New Malden has more services.

I was also pleasantly surprised today to find that despite the 7:53 service from Waterloo arriving 6 minutes late, at 7:59, the 8:02 to Waterloo only left 1 minute late and it wasn't far off just being on time too. I doubt it could have left any quicker either as the fast services were slightly delayed. I was half expecting a bigger delay. It was helpful that it left before the 8:05, as that service is timetabled to wait at West Byfleet and you get stuck behind it. Stuck behind it outside the station too. I was under the impression they prefer trains to wait at platforms to avoid people detaining. This has being stuck outside has happened more than once but it's not a common occurance at least

Well I had good news. When I got to Hinchley Wood, there was 4 K3s buses due within the next half hour. The service should be every 15 minutes. The first was due in 10 minutes. Then there was ones due in 13 minutes, 14 minutes and 27 minutes respectively. The one due in 10 minutes made up a minute of its delay and the ones due in at 13 and 14 minutes seemed to merge into 1 bus and as when I checked again there was only three buses listed.

There had been a slow customer in front so I wasn't sure if I'd make the bus but I indeed got the first one and I got a seat. It soon filled up at other bus stops though but that isn't unusual. Perhaps less so at 9:22.

I've just heard someone say the last two buses hadn't turned up.

Had I got the 8:07 train from Guildford, it may have been faster to do the hours walk to my destination than take the bus! That has actually been the case before now.

As usual TfL will be reporting both disruption and no disruption on the same page.

Apparently the disruption is in Esher I overheard someone say. The bus driver did say their was an empty bus running behind people could get but I don't think they wanted to risk it.

There is actually a free centre asle seat. No idea why someone doesn't take it. I know a lady said she didn't wish to sit down and as she is closest, maybe the others don't like to ask people to move. A lot will alight at Surbtion station though.

I assume they did but although I don't remember waiting so long at the bus stop, by the time we reached Waitrose stop around the corner the bus was full. Hardly anyone waiting there could get on. There was probably at least a 6 to 7 minute gap between bus services and a train had dumped a load of people off it.

As for the K3 bus behind, it is surprisingly still behind by 3 minutes. Surely if it picks up no one it should be running faster but maybe it is on time and thus waiting as per the timetable.

This means they may have cancelled a bus in between me arriving at Hinchley Wood and departing it. Its not easy to know these things as they don't list bus cancellations or even record delay minutes for low frequency bus routes.