Post by downdc on Apr 1, 2023 15:50:57 GMT
Hi all
I know that the ins and outs of how TfL communicate delays have been discussed on multiple previous occasions on this forum, quite often precipitated by a poster who had a bad experience that day and wanted to grumble and/or vent! Whilst I didn’t have a great experience today I am aware that moaning on this platform is not going to do anybody any good, but the experience has still prompted a few questions. Or mainly one: are there criteria for how the service levels are communicated by TfL? Not necessarily in the public domain, but one does have to wonder if it is based on some sort of mysterious, impenetrable matrix of concepts
Today I intended to travel Moor Park-Ickenham, with a bit of a walk to Moor Park station. When I left, the Met showed as good service. My walk to Moor Park involved a significant reroute due to flooding but when I arrived there were two southbound trains showing on the ticket hall DMI, so I didn’t make a further check on the service status.
Coming up the stairs on to P4 at Harrow On The Hill, I was a bit surprised and perturbed to see no trains showing on the DMI. At this point, shortly after 1300, I checked again to find the status of ‘severe delays between Aldgate and Harrow… GOOD SERVICE on the rest of the line’ (their capitalisation, not mine). I went upstairs to the barriers and was told that the next Uxbridge train would be approximately 25 minutes, having just left Baker Street. A train displaying ‘Uxbridge’ did arrive on P4 after about 25 minutes, and naturally after such a long gap, quite a few people got on. Then, the train just sat there, and sat there, and sat there. No PA on the train, or the platform. I poked my head out a few times and saw a green signal, but nothing, for over 10 minutes. Somewhat exasperated by both the delay but especially the absolutely absence of any communication whatsoever, I walked to the front of the train, to find it driverless! I am aware that drivers change over at HOTH but to have waited a long time for and then sat for a long time on a train which clearly wasn’t actually going anywhere anytime soon, was quite frustrating!
Around 1340, a train arrived on P3 and there was a platform PA announcement that customers for Uxbridge should switch to that train. I did, and it was in fact only going as far as Ruislip; this showed on the DMI, and whilst the driver made welcome announcements about the hopefully imminent departure, they neglected to mention this detail, a rather annoying one for those of us who had now been waiting circa 45 minutes and needed to go more than halfway up the branch! Eventually, we did leave and whilst I pondered waiting on the platform at Ruislip for the following train, I expected it would take quite some time indeed to detrain, so I decided to quick march to my destination near Ickenham station, arriving just in time! One key further detail is that by around Eastcote, the service status had changed to say ‘minor delays between Harrow-Uxbridge and Harrow-Watford’…
Now that I’ve appropriately grumbled and vented, I have to ask, how can a 45-minute wait for an Uxbridge train which only goes as far as Ruislip be described as ‘GOOD SERVICE’?? Or, given that the service status did seem to somewhat belatedly reflect reality, is it the case that this information is just reported that far behind real time? If so, that does seem rather unhelpful from a journey planning point of view. During the many minutes I had to muse on this, I also thought, how can there realistically/reasonably be severe delays between Harrow and Aldgate, but good service on the branches? This seems illogical to me as trains for all the branches have to travel on the route between Aldgate and Harrow (even if only from Baker Street), therefore it only really seems plausible for the situation to be reversed, with delays on the branches but trains combining to offer something on the section which all routes use. I did wonder if perhaps an OK service in one direction means a GOOD SERVICE is shown even if nothing is going the other way? This was based on my observation of quite a regular stream of southbound services whilst I waited at Harrow (none of which detrained and so all of which presumably were continuing in service). To be honest though, and trying to avoid too much self-contradiction, whilst most of these southbound services came off branches showing GOOD SERVICE (I heard a few whistles, suggesting movements from the reversing siding), they all proceeded on to a section showing ‘severe delays’ with apparently a few trains, whereas the route I needed had no trains and a GOOD SERVICE so… I’m confused!
Anybody able to shed any light??
Many thanks
I know that the ins and outs of how TfL communicate delays have been discussed on multiple previous occasions on this forum, quite often precipitated by a poster who had a bad experience that day and wanted to grumble and/or vent! Whilst I didn’t have a great experience today I am aware that moaning on this platform is not going to do anybody any good, but the experience has still prompted a few questions. Or mainly one: are there criteria for how the service levels are communicated by TfL? Not necessarily in the public domain, but one does have to wonder if it is based on some sort of mysterious, impenetrable matrix of concepts
Today I intended to travel Moor Park-Ickenham, with a bit of a walk to Moor Park station. When I left, the Met showed as good service. My walk to Moor Park involved a significant reroute due to flooding but when I arrived there were two southbound trains showing on the ticket hall DMI, so I didn’t make a further check on the service status.
Coming up the stairs on to P4 at Harrow On The Hill, I was a bit surprised and perturbed to see no trains showing on the DMI. At this point, shortly after 1300, I checked again to find the status of ‘severe delays between Aldgate and Harrow… GOOD SERVICE on the rest of the line’ (their capitalisation, not mine). I went upstairs to the barriers and was told that the next Uxbridge train would be approximately 25 minutes, having just left Baker Street. A train displaying ‘Uxbridge’ did arrive on P4 after about 25 minutes, and naturally after such a long gap, quite a few people got on. Then, the train just sat there, and sat there, and sat there. No PA on the train, or the platform. I poked my head out a few times and saw a green signal, but nothing, for over 10 minutes. Somewhat exasperated by both the delay but especially the absolutely absence of any communication whatsoever, I walked to the front of the train, to find it driverless! I am aware that drivers change over at HOTH but to have waited a long time for and then sat for a long time on a train which clearly wasn’t actually going anywhere anytime soon, was quite frustrating!
Around 1340, a train arrived on P3 and there was a platform PA announcement that customers for Uxbridge should switch to that train. I did, and it was in fact only going as far as Ruislip; this showed on the DMI, and whilst the driver made welcome announcements about the hopefully imminent departure, they neglected to mention this detail, a rather annoying one for those of us who had now been waiting circa 45 minutes and needed to go more than halfway up the branch! Eventually, we did leave and whilst I pondered waiting on the platform at Ruislip for the following train, I expected it would take quite some time indeed to detrain, so I decided to quick march to my destination near Ickenham station, arriving just in time! One key further detail is that by around Eastcote, the service status had changed to say ‘minor delays between Harrow-Uxbridge and Harrow-Watford’…
Now that I’ve appropriately grumbled and vented, I have to ask, how can a 45-minute wait for an Uxbridge train which only goes as far as Ruislip be described as ‘GOOD SERVICE’?? Or, given that the service status did seem to somewhat belatedly reflect reality, is it the case that this information is just reported that far behind real time? If so, that does seem rather unhelpful from a journey planning point of view. During the many minutes I had to muse on this, I also thought, how can there realistically/reasonably be severe delays between Harrow and Aldgate, but good service on the branches? This seems illogical to me as trains for all the branches have to travel on the route between Aldgate and Harrow (even if only from Baker Street), therefore it only really seems plausible for the situation to be reversed, with delays on the branches but trains combining to offer something on the section which all routes use. I did wonder if perhaps an OK service in one direction means a GOOD SERVICE is shown even if nothing is going the other way? This was based on my observation of quite a regular stream of southbound services whilst I waited at Harrow (none of which detrained and so all of which presumably were continuing in service). To be honest though, and trying to avoid too much self-contradiction, whilst most of these southbound services came off branches showing GOOD SERVICE (I heard a few whistles, suggesting movements from the reversing siding), they all proceeded on to a section showing ‘severe delays’ with apparently a few trains, whereas the route I needed had no trains and a GOOD SERVICE so… I’m confused!
Anybody able to shed any light??
Many thanks
