Another Pathetic Thameslink Shambles

[Mutant Lemming]

We expect journeys to be longer, we expect buses to be caught in traffic - what exasperates things is to wait 20 minutes at West Hampstead and then an Elstree & Borehamwood replacement bus turns up calling only at Cricklewood and Hendon and duly heads off with a handful of people on it. Then another 35 minutes pass before the next bus turns up - another Elstree & Borehamwood calling at Cricklewood and Hendon only bus which despite the protestations of the waiting crowd is in no way altering or extending it's route.

I gave up retired to the pub and called the missus to come and pick me up.

Thameslink have excelled even FCC for poor co-ordination of rail replacement services. The least they could do is match available resources to requirements and send one of the buses all stations St.Albans rather than two half empty ones going to two of the least used stations North of the Thames.

 

[Pixa]

You missed the fun on the 1643 from Elephant & Castle (1639 ex-Blackfriars) as well. Come 1645, the train disappears from the information screens despite failing to materialise in the station. National Rail app says it's Delayed at Blackfriars waiting for a member of staff. A couple of minutes later the information screens briefly show that the train is Cancelled and most people huff off the platform.
About 5 minutes later, everyone comes jogging back and the train finally appears in the station, despite the screens not showing the right information, and the National Rail app showing that it's still cancelled.
So the train gets on its way, and stops at Loughborough Junction and Herne Hill and then sails past Tulse Hill. Cue a carriage of confused passengers, who then become somewhat annoyed that they'd been told to change at Tulse Hill before boarding, and now find they're on a train running "fast" to Sutton via Crystal Palace because of engineering work around Mitcham. Glad I actually wanted Sutton...

 

[al.currie93]

It is a shambles really, but in such a fragmented system of operating the railways, I guess it should be expected

 

[John Webb]

The quantity of replacement rail buses at St Albans on Saturday was enormous - the Ridgmont Road carpark had been closed to the public since Friday evening and was being used to 'store' the buses. The trains were using the fast lines and going ECS to the Radlett crossovers to reverse back to St Albans. A lot of Thameslink staff about sorting out the order in which the buses were being used.

The situation in St Albans wasn't helped by it being the day of the annual St Albans Pilgrimage which caused a good deal of traffic congestion. This may have affected how the buses ran once they'd left the station.

 

[tsr]

I learnt very quickly that, when they existed, some FCC [and their contracted First Rail Support] folks South of the Thames were not very good at co-ordinating replacement buses per customer needs or providing consistent quality to all required locations. Govia operators just seemed considerably more diligent at customer service and, even if routes could not be changed, trying to organise additional services. It was occasionally the case that staff from certain Govia rail and bus operators would actively walk away, because FCC would come up with bus replacement and crowd control plans which were not agreed with other companies and which were close to useless for the passenger flows being experienced. It may be that there are still some residual effects from these dark days on ex-FCC routes due to entrenched policies and staff opinions - when all GTR operations are fully integrated and experience is pooled, hopefully these operations will become rather better throughout the whole network. I remain of the view that sadly some Thameslink route replacement bus services have been very variable in quality in times past, but hope for improvements in future.

On the other hand, there are many station and railway staff who have to deal with buses vice trains and do so admirably, despite being more familiar with railway instead of road transport work, and there are also some very worthwhile benefits to line closures which still lead to the bigger picture being better for the passenger.

 

[AndyY]

I had to travel from Cricklewood to Elstree & Borehamwood this morning.

The timetable on the departure board at the station said that buses leave at 09 and 39, and there is a notice which says they leave from bus stop CV (it is the stop for C11 bus - turn left on exiting the station, then take the first road to the right at the junction with traffic lights). However, when I got there, I found that the stop was temporarily closed due to roadworks on the other side!
To make it even more fun, the traffic light at the junction was also out of action, so temporary traffic lights were in action. It turned only green only once in a few minutes, and caused a massive jam extending all the way back to Edgware Road.

Thankfully a member of staff at Cricklewood station followed me to the bus stop when I pointed out that it is closed, and called the replacement bus to make sure that it would stop slightly in front (rather than at the back, for example).

The timetable he had is different from the departure board. It shows 4 buses at 14 19 44 49. Two of them would stop at all stations and go to St. Albans, while the others would stop at Hendon and (missing out Mill Hill Broadway) terminate at Elstree & Borehamwood. All the buses only said "rail replacement service" and did not list out the stations they would call at.

The system is a complete shambles and I appreciate that the staff were doing the best out of a very bad situation.
Not sure if this is a mitigating factor, but this is the first time in 3 years that the entire St. Pancras - St. Albans line was shut down over a weekend, and the first time since Thameslink took over.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also, another point about the route between Mill Hill Broadway and Elstree & Borehamwood.

The bus went back the way it came along Broadway then turned left onto Watford Way, and then along A41 until the roundabout with Elstree Hill South where it followed the route of the 107 bus.
A much more direct route would be Hale Lane, Selvage Lane approaching Apex Corner from the south, then A1 to Stirling Corner, Furzehill Road and turn left for the short stretch along Shenley Road.

I understand that the drivers had to follow the signposted route, but would be really interested to know who/why the decision was made to use such a circuitous route.