I thought I would join the RMT picket line outside Lincoln Central train station.
There was no RMT picket line. Lincoln Central was closed, no trains.
I guess if station closed, no trains, no need for a picket line, if can deploy resources elsewhere.
But I would argue there is a need to have a presence, to explain their case and counter government propaganda.
LNER Azuma into King’s Cross, luckily not busy, but I was one of the few passengers actually wearing a mask.
Outside King’s Cross Station, Black Sheep Coffee shop, never seen before. Not too cold, a mild evening, take a break and have a coffee. They were closing and yet it was not late, not yet yet eight o’clock. I was offered Robusta. You got to be kidding me.
I learnt from an Italian guy bringing in the tables that it was a chain, all over London.
The only reason I walked in I saw their equipment. They had good equipment, always a good sign.
Lady manning barrier at King’s Cross advised I travelled via Oxford Circus, Victoria Line to Oxford Circus, then Bakerloo Line to Waterloo. The reason for this advice, apart from quicker, was that I only had to cross the platform, whereas via Leicester Square I have to negotiate steps.
What struck me was how decrepit the London Underground, and the sparsity of information. In the past there was as enter the platform, opposite the route. Nada. Nor could I find a map pf the system. This is very basic.
Tube not busy, though not deserted as last few tines have passed through London. Only half the passengers wearing masks. To wear a mask is mandatory on Transport for London. Why is it not being enforced?
Waterloo, South Western Railway to Portsmouth. These are usually short trains. I was pleasantly surprised to find a long train of at east ten coaches. This is a marked improvement. The train not busy. Only a tiny minority wearing a mask.
I was very very lucky I passed through London when I did. London was later hit by a heavy downpour, flash flooding, with parts of the London Underground flooded.
For six months a diversion, instead of ten minutes into Lincoln thirty minutes, whilst a roundabout under construction.
Today, an hour late into town, no bus stop, temporary bus stop vanished. What did this mean, back to normal or yobs stolen the bus stop?
There was no information on the bus last week, nothing from drivers to say normal service resumed.
A lady pulled up, to say no bus, now back to previous route, road opened.
To previous bus stop, both sides of the road notice at bus stop to say bus stop not in use. No timetable.
Would it not have made sense to have left temporary bus stop in place for at least a week, notice to say normal service resumed? Or, whoever removed temporary bus stop, notices on other bus stops?
A bus passed by leaving Lincoln, therefore can expect bus into Lincoln to pass by anytime soon.
At Lincoln Central Bus Station, no timetables, not a single timetable. New timetable came into play Sunday. Information office not open. Information office never open.
Afternoon and early evening Friday 4 October 2019 very poor bus service Intercity Buses to and from Larnaca. Local bus service also leaves much to be desired, too few buses leading to overcrowded buses.
At Ayia Napa I almost missed the InterCity Bus to Larnaca, it looked like a tourist bus. But appearances deceptive, a clapped out tourist bus, broken seats.
Bad driving, driver drives off before passengers had the opportunity to sit down.
Return bus at 1800, peak time, many waiting for bus which turns up late, not everyone able to get on the bus. The bus not much larger than a mini-bus.
I decide to wait for next bus, an hour later.
Annoying, had I known, I would have gone for a walk and caught the next bus an hour later.
The local bus, from Ayia Napa little better. Russians park their buggies in the aisle, sit on the folding seats in the allocated bays for buggies. When asked to move, park their buggies in the bays they refuse. Driver failed to intervene.
1800 No 1 Stagecoach Gold bus Aldershot to Camberly via Farnborough.
The bus was late leaving, it had arrived a few minutes before, due to driver late leaving.
This happens all the time, drivers do not arrive at the bus until this bus is due to leave.
As the bus passed through North Camp into south Farnborough, an elderly man in his 90s asked the Nepalese driver where to alight from the bus. He was nearly knocked off his feet due to the bad eratic driving.
Instead of helping the man the driver turned very nasty and started shouting at the elderly passenger.
The man clearly distreseed became confused.
When he got off the bus, and as the bus drove off, man nearly toppled over on to the bus.
The elderly passenger alighted at Albert Road at around 1825, one stop before stop for Franborough Tech.
I alighted a few stops later at Queensmead South. As I was alighting, I spoke with the driver and said I was not happy with his treatment of an elderly man.
The driver then became very aggressive, started shouting at myself, that it was none of my business, shouted at me to get off his bus.
A young lady spoke to me when she got off the bus. She said it was appalling behaviour by the driver.
This is not acceptable behaviour by the driver, either towards the elderly passenger or to myself. He should be fired.
This week the new so-called state-of-the-art Lincoln City Bus Station opened. The bus station is an unmitigated disaster.
What are being experienced are not teething problems, these are serious design flaws. Design flaws a first year university student would spot. Begs the question how the plans ever gained approval?
If there was an award for bad design, Lincoln Central Bus Station would be the leading contender, if not outright winner.
The building resembles a regional airport terminal building without the duty free.
Even before it opened, regular bus passengers were expressing their concern in comparison with the temporary bus station. These concerns have proved to be well founded. The new bus station is far worse than anyone expected.
Journey times into and out of the town centre are now several minutes longer. And that is not rush hour. Rush hour it will be far far longer.
The bus station and 1,000-car car park both feed into the same narrow road.
Two large screens are not displaying all the bus times. Destination displayed, but not the route. Same problem at the bays.
In Hampshire and Surrey, live information linked to GPS showing the route is displayed at bus stops. Also in Prague, A Coruña, Athens, Tenerife.
There needs to be at least three sets of these overhead screens not only one near the entrance. There should be one near the entrance, one half way, one towards the far end.
The one and only set of overhead screens of no use if have arrived on a bus and have to change to another bus.
Where route information displayed it is wrong.
No 2 to Branston display at Bay A from which it departs shown as going via St Giles, Cherry Willingham, Reepham, Sudbrooke, Welton. The No 2 bus route, Washingborough, Heighington, Branston.
As a consequence of incorrect information displayed passengers are catching the wrong buses.
1640 on a Friday afternoon the Information Office closed.
No timetables displayed as was the case at the temporary bus station.
At bus stops, still old timetables displayed. Why not route number prominently displayed at bus stops? The norm elsewhere.
A new bus fleet introduced by Stagecoach, serious design flaws. Seats behind the driver, should be used for a buggy bay. Were the bus to suddenly stop, passenger in these two seats would be propelled out of their seats and smash their heads into the partition. USB charging points low down almost on the floor. Have to be a contortionist to access. On start stop within the city these usb charging points are of little use. Their use is when on a bus city to city. Brand new bus fleet, the video screen displaying no useful information. Why not linked to GPS showing live where are on the route? Why not a display showing next stop? The norm elsewhere
The changed bus routes for Birchwood not acceptable, confusing for passengers, and less frequent, now every fifteen minutes not every ten minutes.
New bus fleet coupled with deteriorated service.
20p to use the toilets.
Floor to ceiling glass walls both sides of the building. One side is south facing. It will function as a greenhouse in the summer with passengers fainting in the heat.
Very congested with passengers. Nigh impossible to walk through the building. And that was mid-afternoon, not rush hour.
At the temporary bus station, a gyrator system. Not at the new bus station. Little room for a bus to manoeuvre. An accident waiting to happen. No 2 Bus to Washingborough, Heighington and Branston from Bay A, had to shunt back and forth to get out. It would be even more difficult for the other bays.
Wednesday morning the bus station log-jammed, no bus could move, none could get out, none could get in. A wait of 5-15 minutes from Pelham Bridge to enter the bus station.
A state-of-the-art bus station that lacks wifi.
The only good thing that could be said, is easy to access the railway station.
But even this does not withstand close scrutiny.
At the temporary bus station, the train station literally the other side of the red brick wall. An entrance could have been created. Better still, an integrated bus rail station building with shops. Shops pay rent. For example Reading.
Car parking at Lincoln Central Station for pick up and drop off has been drastically reduced, creating an open windswept plaza serving no useful purposes
From Lincoln, no direct train services to anywhere.
There should be an hourly service to London and York.
Open the line Grantham to Lincoln, London Kings Cross, Peterborough, Grantham, Lincoln, Doncaster, York.
Had an integral bus-train station been developed at the temporary bus station, where the new bus station has been built, could have been for delivery lorries and vans to park, to then deliver by hand cart or trolley to shops and other businesses. Not as we have at the moment, lorries driving through the pedestrianised city centre smashing up the surface of the streets.
The bus station has an integral coffee shop, Grand Coffee House. Excellent design, let down by the coffee. Also not welcoming with a poster on the door telling people it is not a waiting room. Maybe explains why empty, and with that attitude to bus passengers deserves to be. If welcoming, passengers may be tempted to have a coffee whilst waiting. Though if appreciate good coffee unlikely to be tempted again.
On leaving the bus or train station walk into Sincil Street, a once thriving bustling street of independent traders, now turned into a wasteland by the local council in bed with the Coop.
To see what could be, Hull Old Town, reported by Look North as one of the hipster places to be in the country, indie local businesses, not a chain in sight. Further afield, North Laine in Brighton.
This bus station is an appalling waste of public money. How much public money squandered the local council jobsworths manning the Information Office did not know.
The officials responsible should be fired, the councillors who granted approval should apologise and resign. Is it too much to expect of local councillors to actually scrutinise what is placed before them?
According to Lincoln City Council, to highlight design flaws, of which there are many, is to express negativity.
Lincoln City Council claim
Feedback from users of the facility have been incredibly positive so far, with very few issues raised.
This is not the view of bus drivers, it is not the view of the many complaints from passengers.
But then Lincoln City Council would claim the new bus station a success, wouldn’t they?
Lincoln City Council call this a Transport Hub.
No, it is a Transport Farce. They have made the City of Lincoln a National Laughing Stock.
What is claimed to be a state-of-the-art bus station, it has automatic doors and a few display screens, part of a so-called Transport Hub linked to Lincoln Central Station.
A very cold day, barely above freezing and yet colder inside the bus station than outside.
The new bus station resembles a regional airport terminal building, absent the Duty Free and same shops find in any shopping centre.
Two Jobsworth from Lincoln City Council manning an Information Desk, did not know the cost of the bus station. Figures of £12 million have been bandied about. Although after several minutes looking on-line, they were able to give a figure of £30 million for bus station, car park and cosmetic changes to the railway station. This figure has been widely reported in the media, why did they not know?
A new road currently runs between bus and train station. Work having been done, this will be paved over and made pedestrian between bus and train station.
Pedestrianised as the farce in the town centre, where heavy lorries are allowed through after four in the afternoon, but take no notice of any restrictions and drive through before four as no enforcement?
The empty windswept plaza outside the train station has far less parking spots for pick up and drop off than before, probably less than a quarter. Our helpful jobsworth could see nothing wrong with this.
There was no information at the Information Desk. Not even timetables.
The only bus timetable information was in a cardboard box by one of the bays, no one had troubled to place in racks. This information was a simple leaflet telling what routes if any had timetable changes, but no actual timetables.
Automatic doors open to allow passenger to board or disembark from their bus. This is going to be fun when it goes wrong.
A barrier acts as a deterrent to terrorists hijacking a bus and driving into the terminal building. Or maybe a safeguard if a driver goes crazy.
A state-of-the art bus station that lacks wifi.
Elsewhere in the country, not only do the buses have wifi, they have usb charging points.
Toilets on the first floor. Cheap and tacky. Will not withstand the wear and tear of a bus station.
It is not acceptable to have to pay 20p to use the toilet.
A so-called Transport Hub that lacks direct trains to either London or York. There should be direct trains on the hour every hour.
This is claimed to be part of a regeneration project. Why is it that local Town Halls always claim urban destruction to be regeneration? The same number of people will be travelling every day by bus and train. How is this regeneration?
The City Council in bed with the Coop, has destroyed Sincil Street, a once thriving street of independent thriving local family business.
Integral to the bus station a coffee shop, Grand Coffee House.
Work is still ongoing, heavy machinery at work.
The old bus station was a disgrace, demolition a step in the right direction.
Easier access between bus and train also an improvement.
All we now need is a reliable bus services, buses that run on time.
The irony is most passengers seem to prefer the temporary bus station the other side of the railway tracks. Quick access into and out of town, quick access into the High Street through a narrow alleyway or over the railway bridge into Sincil Street.
A new fleet of buses on the No 64 route Alton came into service last week.
Officially came into service today with the introduction of a new timetable.
The last couple of years has seen new buses introduced on this route.
Now a dedicated fleet.
Free wifi and usb charging points.
Very bad design of the usb charging points, low down between the seats making access very difficult. Though not as bad the new Goldline introduced on the Aldershot-Farnborough-Camberley route a few months ago where the usb charging points are even lower, and ideal for passengers to kick with their feet or rest their feet on. Same bus, internally different seats. On the No 1 Goldline, the usb charging points are almost on the floor.
A power bank, indicating full, charged a couple of weeks ago and only used as occasional torch, to fully charge, what I thought would be a few minutes, from leaving Alton Station until approaching Winchester before indicating fully charged. Either low output or high capacity power bank. Power bank new and have not used before.
I would not risk charging a phone or tablet, but quite happy to use to charge a power bank.
Depressing to see an ignorant female with dirty feet on the seats of a brand new bus. This problem not restricted to this route, also on the Goldline route, passengers putting their dirty feet on the seats of new buses.
On the trains, can be fined for feet on seats.
Timetable improvements that should be made on this route, cut out the detour around Alresford, better connection with trains at Alton.
On the new timetable, the buses are running an hourly late night service.
Roads gridlocked, outside Parliament roads closed.
Why on strike I do not know, or whether or not the demo was connected.
Major problem if wishing to get to Airport, as I did.
No taxis. Had to walk to pick up airport bus.
No bus. One did not turn up, next one very late. An hour wait for a bus. Bus packed.
As a result, miss flight.
Bus back to Athens maybe half an hour late. Packed.
overcrowded SouthWestTrains
Disgraceful train service by SouthWestTrains to Waterloo.
Midday: Only one man manning the ticket office, long queue, train five minutes late, only five coaches, passengers packed in like sardines, standing room only, by the time train leaves running ten minutes late, arrival at Waterloo over ten minutes late.
Service from Waterloo no better.
Late night: Yet another overcrowded train, again only five coaches. Leaves on time, then runs slower and slower, now ten minutes late.
I had ten minutes to catch a bus. Luckily I caught it, as running late.
Time to re-nationalise the rail network.
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