Quiet Sunday
Probably the most pleasurable Sunday I’ve had for a while…
… We woke up when it became light, and cuddled up for a bit. After over an hour, we decided we had to get up. The clock showed 0830 – several hours earlier than either of us expected. Maybe time did really stop after all. As I am sure you can all appreciate, we were both incredibly happy. We ended up going back to bed for a bit, and up again. We had a genuinely fun afternoon. I booked my return from London to Dundee using no wires at all (her PowerBook is part of her wireless network). She was doing some work on her new Mac Mini. We took some pics of the both of us together, and this was our mutual favourite of the two. She said to me “See, I told you I’d get you smiling for a photo”.
So, the time came – and we decided to make a move at 2130, for the 2144 train south. Enough trains pass by - check out the overhead line equipment and tracks that you can see from the window! As the train (in full First Capital Connect livery, complete with some of the picture branding) pulled into Platform 2 of Royston station, we said our thank-yous and goodbyes, until the next time, and I instincitvly headed for the train. Then I realised, we weren’t pulling off immediately. The clock showed we still had two minutes to go until departure time, but most trains (in the south at least) get doors closed by the guard with thirty seconds to go. So, just enough time for me to walk to the door, arms onto the platform, one last kiss, and pulled apart bang on 21.43.30. Talk about making the best possible use of my time…
… and that was it. For now.
The train journey was a little interesting. Because of engineering work, the train ran through, but via the Hertford North, Cuffley and Enfield Chase line, rather than the via Knebworth, Welwyn, and Potters Bar, that we did on the way up. You know I always like to vary my journeys, and see the world go by (even fast and dark), but this was another interesting twist to the weekend. Never been to Cuffley before either… been to Hertford North and Enfield (Chase) before. I had been winding Adam (from The Illusion Principle) up about playing one of his bands songs as we passed through Knebworth, just so we could say that TIP played Knebworth. Once he got it explained what Knebworth referred to (a music festival of old), he was happy! As you can see, didn’t get the chance, but I will be back again.
So, a few texts exchanged. Thanks sent to S&S for their hospitality yesterday, which came back with a “congratulations for you both” when I explained what had occurred after we’d left theirs. I was still in awe – it had been a wonderful weekend. I alighted the train at Finsbury Park (same trip as last time), after adding some more credit to my Oyster card. What a forty-eight hours since I passed here in the opposite direction (it’s ok, I will shut up about it by the end of the month, honest… lol)
The Victoria line train once again took me south, but instinct somehow meant I headed for the Piccadilly line platform initially… never mind, they are parallel. As we sped down the tracks, we made it to Victoria, where most things were closed at 2300ish on a Sunday night. The station was still open for access, and one or two shops still open. I spent some time and a few coins of loose change and got a few of the pictures that I took this weekend, printed off by the photo kiosk. A photo tells a thousand words, they say. I headed for Greenline Coach Station, and could see that Neoplan 50127 was ready to take us all north. I headed upstairs, sat down, and pulled out the pictures for a quick look, and some texts were sent out too.
Now, you would have thought “that must surely be the end of the weekend now?” Nope!
One last bonus was the ride out of London. Most of the time, drivers leaving London would run via Hyde Park Corner, Park Lane, Marble Arch, Baker Street/Gloucester Place, Finchley Road, come off at Childs Hill, Brent Cross Flyover, North Circular, to Staples Corner, then the M1. However, we got to just after Hyde Park Corner, and traffic was gridlocked – yes, at ten to midnight on a Sunday night. So, we turned around using one of the turning lanes, and headed back to Hyde Park Corner. We left town via Knightsbridge, which was interesting to see all the changes. The building work on the Knightsbridge station (Harrods side) has all finished now. It was also interesting to see the changes in some of the shops – Harrods now also has a small food type shop on the other side of the road – and we then headed along via South Kensington, and towards Earls Court Tesco. At this point, we were on the M4, heading for the west (towards Heathrow), and we followed that to the M25, and joined the M1 shortly after. It was an extra bonus to be above ground and seeing some of these places, for the first time in ages.
Wow, what a weekend!
Labels: caroline, london, subway, transition, transport
Dundee to Royston – on a Friday
Today formed Part One of my weekend away. The reason for going south is for my “initial consultation” with my surgeon tomorrow, in Brighton. A good friend of mine, Caroline, has very kindly offered hospitality, and transport as required. How can I turn down the offer like that? Caroline was up north on 17-19 February, which included meeting me twice in Dundee city centre. So, it’s good to see her once more.
I got to Dundee Bus Station in time for the 0900 megabus to London. To my own surprise, we started the trip with Volvo/Plaxton Panther 54009 – one of the brand new single deck, 65 seat, 15m long ones – pulls up, blinded M11 London. Is this wise, given that it’s a Friday? Well, this was all irrelevant as we changed to Neoplan Skyliner 50150 (double deck, 91 seat coach) at Perth Broxden Park + Ride.
I called Caroline on the bus, just as the controller came on the coach and yelled almost parallel to the mouthpiece of the phone… and then a young child was crying, quite a bit, so we decided to stick to texts for that point. We got in and out of Glasgow on time, to head south at 1100.
I briefly checked my email several times using the new brick (mobile). I had received an email from Stuart Henry at Travel West Midlands/Travel Dundee re my letter of complaint on Service 14. To their credit, they are willing to have a meeting at work (noting when I will be in and not). Travel Dundee’s MD is currently on annual leave, but back soon. I will deal with that in more depth early next week.
When we got to Preston Bus Station (pre-redevelopment), a few sights taken from the window of the coach included a Solo headed for Blackpool! We were very lucky with roadworks and accidents, because of many miles of stationery traffic on the M6, and then the M60, but both the opposite way! We were due into Manchester at 1540/out 1545, and were a bit late on the way out due to traffic (in the main). Roadworks then started to hit us – the M1 was meant to be a problem. Bear in mind that we were “due” into London at 2015. A few passengers asked about a stop (the toilet was blocked) when we did a driver change at Watford Gap Services, so we stopped there from 1900-1915. I sent Caroline a text at the “35 miles to London” point, but of course, that is when it starts hitting worse with M1 extensions and widening.
I spotted my first London bus – an ALX400 (DLA I think) from Arriva, running off the 142 dead back to Garston (Watford) garage. Now I know that I have (almost) arrived. Soon after, we got to the legendary Staples Corner (junction of the north Circular, Edgware Road, and the M1). It is now home to Staples stationery store, amongst others. Having said that, it was not where the name came from – apparently there used to be a mattress factory here called Staples – I never knew that until last week! We finally got in well over one hour late. I made it out to the tube station, and had enough credit on my Oyster card to make it to Finsbury Park for the First Capital Connect train to Royston. (The previous franchisee, National Express owned WAGN, was informally known as “We Are Going No-where”).
Now, here is a simple figure to work out.
OPTION ONE
Victoria to Kings Cross, £1.50 single by Oyster (off-peak) x 2 = £3.00
Kings Cross to Royston, £24.50 Saver Return
TOTAL - £27.50
OPTION TWO
Victoria to Finsbury Park, £1.50 single by Oyster (off-peak) x 2 = £3.00
Finsbury Park to Royston, £20.50 Saver Return
TOTAL - £23.50
So, work out how the same length of journey can cost an extra four quid, for no additional saving – just a different stop to jump ship. Kings Cross to Finsbury Park is about the same on the Victoria Line as it is on the overground – the latter gets about seven minutes. I had to visit overground briefly to get tickets for this bit of the run, and the first three machines had issues – only the fourth and final one was working! The new Finsbury Park bus station (remember I’ve not been here for some time) has been tidied up quite a bit, from the one I used to remember from years gone by!
So, from Finsbury Park north, not quite the 2057 (fast) or even the 2111 (stopper) that I expected to get – in fact, not until the 2211 stopper an hour later! so I sent a text to Caroline to tell her… and got one back saying “I somehow knew you would not be here until 11 hunny. I’ll be at the station waiting for you”. This is nice… even more so as the train didn’t leave Finsbury Park until two and a half minutes late! The train was a nice electric thingy, but still in Network SouthEast livery (or so it looked like), and the sealing strips were hanging off the side of the wall. Lots of label sticking of new fleetnames, and even a nice poster about how things would improve under the new franchise with First. That sounds familiar… In any case, it was a quiet and smooth journey, and although it sounded like Ned-U-(Don’t)-Like at Hitchin, I was the only one in my carriage for the last few stops to Royston. The train was blinded (and announced) “Cambridge via Stevenage” until after we left there, and it became “all stations to Cambridge”. Anyway, we got in about six minutes late to Royston, and Caroline was there, waiting for me. We chatted for a bit, and then she worked on supper until about 0100 hours on Saturday morning. Appreciated, given that I’d been travelling for 14 hours…
Tomorrow is going to be more fun – a visit to the surgeon and back. The rest of the day is pretty much open. Wonder what might happen…?
Labels: caroline, london, subway, transition, transport
Two from TfL
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone today welcomed the first ever three-year pay and conditions agreement between London Underground and the trade unions covering all staff.
All Tube unions have now advised London Underground that they have accepted the three-year offer, or are balloting their members with a recommendation to accept.
The unprecedented agreement follows a sharp fall in disruption due to industrial disputes since the Mayor took control of the Underground in July 2003.
Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "This three-year agreement is great news for both Tube passengers and staff and is a real landmark achievement.
"Passengers will benefit from the stability provided by the first three-year deal for all staff in the history of the Underground.
"Staff will receive above inflation pay rises each year. At the same time, we will be investing record amounts in renewing the Tube.
"Whilst there will always be differences from time to time, my administration is committed to developing a partnership between the trade unions and management to deliver the best possible services to Londoners.
"This agreement is a good example of what that approach can achieve."
The three-year agreement runs from April 2006 to April 2009 and provides for the following pay increases:
- Year 1 (payable from April 2006): 4 per cent
- Year 2 (payable from April 2007): RPI+0.5 per cent (or 3 per cent whichever is greater)
- Year 3 (payable from April 2008): RPI+0.6 per cent (or 3 per cent whichever is greater)
All Underground staff are also eligible for a bonus of £250 or £500 each year if customer satisfaction targets are met or exceeded.
TSSA members voted to accept the London Underground offer by over 80 per cent in November last year.
The British Transport Officers' Guild has also accepted the offer.
ASLEF is balloting its members on the offer, with a recommendation to accept, and the RMT advised London Underground today that they have accepted the offer.
London Underground Managing Director Tim O'Toole said: "This multi-year pay deal is a real achievement, particularly as it is the first for several years to be accepted by all the trades unions without any industrial action.
"This agreement is good news for both passengers and Underground staff as it delivers stability to the Underground for three years and allows us to concentrate on the delivery of the major line upgrades - the first of which, the Jubilee line, is due to be due to be delivered in 2009."
This pay agreement covers the period to April 2009 and follows a two-year agreement reached between London Underground and the trade unions in the last pay round.
Metropolitan Police officers working with Transport for London (TfL) have arrested a number of suspects believed to be linked to the biggest counterfeit operation ever perpetrated on the capital's transport system.
In an operation on Thursday 22 February, investigators from TfL and officers from the MPS Transport Operational Command Unit raided four commercial premises in west London and one residential address in the Croydon area.
The suspects arrested may hold valuable information about a wide scale counterfeit fraud of Bus Saver tickets, believed to be masterminded by international organised criminals.
This criminal operation has resulted in the need to withdraw the current design of Bus Saver tickets and introduce a new design from the summer.
David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport for TfL said: 'The criminals who have carried out this deception have now added to their list of dubious achievements the exploitation of some of London's most vulnerable people who rely on these discounted tickets to get around the capital.
'We will not tolerate this fraud and we are taking action against those involved this week.
'Every pound these criminals skim off Transport for London's revenue is a pound taken away from transport services for all Londoners.
'We will be withdrawing the current Saver ticket between spring and summer this year to help stamp out this racket, so customers should be aware they have around four months to use up any leftover stocks.'
It is believed the sophisticated counterfeits have penetrated at least 10 per cent of the current Bus Saver ticket circulation - which itself makes up around 10-12 per cent of the Pay-as-you-go market.
Bus Saver tickets account for around 8m bus passenger journeys a year out of a total of 1.8bn journeys overall.
A new design of ticket, with a number of both covert and overt anti- counterfeit measures, is currently being produced and will be on sale from 2 April.
The current design will no longer be accepted on London Buses after 30 June 30, and we would advise anyone with spare tickets at home to use them over the next four months as there will be no refund or exchange of tickets.
Ends
Labels: london, subway, transport
Bam Bam is back!
Over the last few months, I’ve done and seen quite a bit that I’d thought I might never do, or see. This time last year, I remember turning on Kiss100 London, early one morning, and finding no BamBam… who was gone… Bamster.com then later opened up Theshow.com, offering Bam addicts the chance to feed for £1.50 a month, and listen to a lot of vulgar (but funny) stuff that they couldn’t put on the radio anyway. Now, BamBam is, from tonight, working for one of the radio stations he used to spend his time putting down – Capital Radio! Now there’s a surprise (I know I usually say ‘never say never’ but this is an exception)…
So, as I was around tonight, I had a listen to the show. OK, it wasn’t as “in your face” as the original, but maybe it was never going to be (especially, like BamBam said, when you have all the Capital management watching what you are up to)... The show started with a recorded clip of a kid saying something along the lines of “We won’t say anything that might offend young ears, because we’ve got a [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] bleeper…”
What has happened in the last year? Well, Streetboy is not there – believe it or not, he is working the streets of Tottenham. Not “pimping his ass”, but as a roofer! If you want some of the crude stuff, subscribe to TheShow.com.
Capital Radio said
“Listen to the best music and banter.
Monday - Friday 7pm - 10pm Bambam joins Capital to take over the weekday evening show.
Bambam is well known on the London radio sceene (spelt incorrectly for a reason?) for his un-orthodox style on the mic. Now, BamBam, and Kat Shoob (yes, the sexy one from ITV’s ‘The Mint’) are exclusively here at Capital with a new weekday evening show.
He will be bringing his very own unique style and humour to the station. So, listen Monday - Friday 7pm - 10pm.”
That’s putting it politely… BamBam is a talented presenter and individual, so please have a listen beyond the swear words!
Labels: london
Work & Drainspotting
Wednesday – a return to work, and nothing that spectacular happened… today was the first day of the “new brick”, and I can’t get the wap (mobile internet) on it to work… yet…
Regular patrons of London Underground’s Waterloo & City Line know it semi-affectionately as “the drain”. Well, thanks to Simon Cooper for posting this to Tubegroup, but a slightly unusual “Invitation To Tender” has recently appeared on the EU Overseas Journal…
UK-London: wireless telecommunications system
2007/S 45-055783
II.1.5) Short description of the contract or purchase(s):
London Underground (LU) requires the provision of a trial project of
mobile telephony and data services coverage in underground areas on
the Waterloo and City Line station platforms at Bank and Waterloo
stations and the tunnel section in between.
On completion of installation works at the trial sites there will be
a period of evaluation of the performance, suitability, reliability
and maintenance of the installation and services. LU will assess the
results from the trial to determine whether to provide mobile
telephony and data services on the LU network.
Enhancement to LU's customer experience will be significantly
increased with mobile technologies facilitating targeted travel
information 'on the move' in the underground environment to all
customers with a mobile handset. Hearing impaired customers will have
the ability for travel announcements directed to their mobile phones
in a visual format to warn of real time disruptions and line
closures. In addition streaming media will be available on mobile
handsets to keep customers occupied whilst travelling as well as
being able to surf the internet whilst waiting for their train.
Background information:
Current UK cellular telephony is provided by a number of operators
using GSM, GPRS and similar derived technologies including 3G.
UK coverage for mobile users across most operator networks is nearing
100 %.
This coverage includes many difficult environmental areas, such as
road tunnels. Currently mobile and data services coverage is not
available within the underground sections of the LU network including
certain stations, station concourses, passenger walkways, platforms,
trains and train running tunnels. Research has shown that there is
considerable demand and interest from the travelling public and
Mobile Operators for the provision of these services.
Overview of services:
a) Mobile telephony coverage:
LU requires the provision of trial mobile telephony coverage to the
Waterloo and City Line platforms at Bank and Waterloo stations along
with tunnel section in between.
b) Data services coverage:
LU also requires the provision of trial high speed data services
using the same basic operational infrastructure. These services will
include the widest possible range of additional services with
particular interest in mobile and wireless network connectivity
solutions such as WiFi and WiMAX, DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast), DVB
(Digital Video Broadcast).
It is envisaged that the trial services will be provided through a
Neutral Host solution, where a single prime contractor organisation
provides and operates the technical solution and is responsible for
distributing the mobile and data services into the underground. The
contractor will be required to design, install, operate and maintain
the appropriate infrastructure in accordance with the requirements of
LU's Invitation to Tender (ITT) and LU would pay the contractor's
associated costs which will be bid as part of the tender exercise.
The contractor will be required to offer the services to all Mobile
Network Operators for the period of the trial.
At the end of the trial, the contractor will be required to provide
LU with a number of reports which will be set out in the ITT but
which will cover the design, installation, performance, suitability,
maintenance, usage and financial viability of the services including
any lessons learnt and a report on possibly extending the services LU
network wide. The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) resulting from
the trial and the reports, will vest in LU. This information will be
used by LU to determine whether to proceed with a network wide
implementation of the services and if so, to use the information to
feed into any ITT for further LU implantation.
It is envisaged that if the trial is successful, and LU decides to
extend the coverage, a further competition will be undertaken to
appoint a concessionaire to extend the services to other parts of the
LU network whereby the concessionaire would design, install, fund,
operate, maintain and upgrade appropriate infrastructure and provide
a revenue to LU. In return the concessionaire would be granted a
right to exploit the provision of mobile telephony and data services
to third parties in the areas of coverage on the LU network.
TfL and its subsidiaries actively promote green procurement
throughout its procurement chain and welcome applications from
environmentally responsible candidates committed to the principles of
reducing, reusing and recycling resources and to the practices of
buying recycled.
So, why did TfL choose “the drain” for the experiment? Well, it’s just had it’s major multi-month refurbishment, so it should have no engineering type work to screw up the experiment. It’s a fairly short line – two stations i.e. Waterloo & Bank, and a tunnel under the Thames in between – and self-contained in many ways. Perhaps ideal, but the short journey time (especially since refurbishment) might mean getting online takes just about as the journey!
So, why do I mention this? Well, as you probably gather (even just from the “choice cuts” you read on this blog!), TfL have a habit of issuing too many press releases. Back in 2000, when I worked on the tube, was the first press release about the Connect project, mentioning you may well be able to (in the future) use your mobile phone on the tube. This resulted in a passenger asking me when it would start, and which networks were compatible… very eager! As you can see, seven years later and the tenders have gone out… wonder if she still has the same phone that she did then? Must be a bit of a brick now… even by my standards! (Well I’ve upgraded…) Still can’t get my wap to work… so I’d not lose anything if I went “down the drain” now…
Labels: london, transport, work
The LBP is back!
In all the time I have been online, only a small handful of the original sites remain online - while many others have came and gone at the same time. Matt Wharmby's original London Bus Page ran up well over 1.6 MILLION hits since 1995, and yes, some of them have been from me! As he now lives in the sticks, he's used a new title for the replacement - London Bus Page In Exile. I did mean to post this a few weeks back when I first found it... but... sorry! It's back to the original format, i.e. a bit of talk with pictures, so do take a look! Labels: london, transport
