The Definitive View From The New Bus For London
I travelled up to the Angel this morning on a New Bus for London. I sat at the back downstairs looking behind, as depending on what bus fell in behind, I might have made a change.
In the end I had a quick chat with the driver/conductor and he described an incident that could have been serious, due to the ill-thought-out behaviour of a group of pedestrians.
It strikes me that as these buses get more numerous, they might actually improve the safety of pedestrians, if feedback from these all-seeing driver/conductors was fed into the system and this led to better pavements and crossing points in the places, where near misses have been observed.
An Incident On A Bus
I was on a bus this morning, when a couple tried to get on without paying. They seemed to produce an old ticket claiming it had been issued earlier. But obviously, this didn’t fool the driver and he said no.
After a minute or so everyone on the bus started to get a bit impatient ringing the bell and rumbling about moving on. But the couple stood their ground.
it was then that the two biggest passengers on the bus moved forward to try to support the driver and sort the impasse. One was a stockily-built, fifty year old or so, white man in a suit and the other was a much younger, tall black man in jeans and a cotton jacket.
Faced with this irresistible force, the couple got off and possibly waited for another bus.
I was sitting next to a rather slight young lady and remarked that luckily you don’t see that too often. She agreed and we both wished each other well, as we got off a couple of stops later.
Perhaps we should have all cheered, but I think we thought that discretion was the better part of valour.
So, in the end, no-one or nothing was hurt, except perhaps the couple’s pride.
London Bridge Is Falling Down
Not the bridge in the nursery rhyme, but the station.
Admittedly with a little help from its friends.
In a few years time, it will be one of the best stations in London. If this impressive computer generated video. is anything to go by.
Reflections At Stratford Station
I took these pictures from the low-level DLR platforms at Stratford station.
It has become an impressive station over the last few years. It certainly performed well in the Olympics.
A Surfeit Of Ice Cream At The Cable-Car
If you like ice cream, they had lots of it at the north terminal of the cable-car today.
There’s also a stall at the southern end.
Is It Best To Go North-South On The Cable Car?
The Emirates Air-line does seem to be slightly antisymmetric, with more steps on the south side than on the north.
So this means it might be easier to use the cable-car going from the north to the south! Although, there are lifts both end to get you up to the gondolas.
A Too Polite Society
There were about six of us at the bus stop this morning waiting for a bus, in a rather loose queue.
I wanted a 38 or 56 and one duly turned up.
However, we were all being so polite about who should go first and not pushing in, that the driver shut the doors and pushed off. It didn’t matter as after a laugh about what happened, another 38 arrived and two of us got on.
St. Pancras: Gem – Gare du Nord: Dump
The title is not my words, but those of the BBC’s respected correspondent, Hugh Schofield, in this piece, about the differences between Britain and France. This is a typical paragraph.
Now, I am not going to draw any too-facile comparison between France and Britain on the basis of a pair of 19th Century railway termini.
But I will say this – never in 16 years of living in France, and making pretty regular trips back and forth across the Channel, have I ever felt a greater disparity in national moods.
There’s a lot more in the same vein.
As ever with what Hugh Schofield writes, it is a good and thoughtful read.
The Lawyer Likes The New Bus For London
Lawyers get everywhere these days. They’ve even got an article in The Lawyer magazine about the New Bus for London.
Sorting Out Highbury Corner
Highbury Corner is one of London’s busiest interchanges, which is being restructured to make it easier for all users. The picture shows the terminus of the 277 bus.
277 Buses At Highbury Corner
I regularly get a bus from here to my house and the stop is badly placed for the Underground. It is also a very busy stop, just off the roundabout towards Dalston and not the nicest place to wait for a bus.
I think that whatever you do, you’re not going to make a great improvement, unless the 277 route was extended a bit towards Holloway. But then there probably isn’t another suitable terminus.
Traffic was particularly bad last night, as Arsenal were playing at home and people will insist on driving to the Emirates.
The Anonymous Widower 