Closure 19-20/11

This weekend is different form previous closures. Previous closures have had the Circle suspended and the H&C suspended only between Royal Oak & Baker St. So you could still travel from Baker St towards Barking.

I'm leaning towards the need to offer an "normal" service on the bottom of the Circle due to more users on Sunday visiting the Whitehall area. That or there are issues that preclude them from running the H&C.

Explaining the change of service pattern would surely have been a good use of the upgrade section of the TfL website?

Just to clarify (not sure everyone is talking about the same weekend - apologies if you).

Next weekend as I write, the company is creating the regular confusion that it does since the introduction of the extended Circle Line.

The "Circle" (as it is now - Hammersmith>Circle>Edgware Road, not as it used to be Circle>Circle) will not be running between Edgware Road and Hammersmith.

So it will be running Circle>Circle and not Hammersmith>Circle>Edgware Road. Confused?

Technically, the "line" (as in the Circle Line) will be closed (well, not running) Edgware Road to Hammersmith. For that branch, see the "alternative" H&C service that will be running between Hammersmith and Moorgate.

I think that I'm just confused!

That's exactly how I see it and I will go and do a 'full circle' this weekend.

MetControl probably has a creative solution for that.

MetControl is always right plus having it continuously terminate at Edgware Road seems illogical, and I like the old circle xD

The problem with these announcements is actually that they cause more confusion than they prevent. To most travellers west of Paddington, whether the train is a circle or a Hammersmith is moot, especially as only the dumbest of tourists is going to stand around at Ladbroke Grove waiting for a circle so they can get to Tower Hill.

But those same idiots (and, to be fair most ordinary people with no prior knowledge or interest) see the sign "no service Hammersmith to Edgware road" and think that it means "no service Hammersmith to Edgware Road", not "no through service from Hammersmith around the circle via Aldgate and Tower Hill".

Indeed, and this is the problem. The trouble is, on all the journey planners, maps, publicity etc. etc. the "Circle Line" is no longer the line that travels from [pick a station] round in a big loop to [the same station you picked]. The "Circle Line" is now that line which runs from Hammersmith, via the Circle to Edgware Road. So if trains are not running along that entire Circle route, a suspension is publicised.

However, whenever the Met is suspended between Baker Street and Aldgate, and publicised as such, we do not seem to encounter the same confusion, even though this is following the same "rules."

It's not just customers that get confused. Many staff (including controllers) have to read the publicity more than once to work out what is actually running and what is not. I think there is an ingrained feeling that the Circle will always be the Circle - even if it spends some of its time on the Hammersmith branch, and any mention of Hammersmith must relate to the H&C.

This weekend is mild compared to the: H&C suspended Edgware Road to Barking; Circle Line suspended Hammersmith to Moorgate. (Services run H&C - Hammersmith-Edgware Road and Circle - Edgware Road-Moorgate via Victoria as a "horseshoe").