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Post by njr001 on Feb 12, 2012 11:26:33 GMT
Would I right in assuming that staff wearing blue underground tabards at the stations effected by this weekend's closures are contract staff with no local knowledge? I asked at Ricky how to get to Moor Park and was told to take the bus going to Harrow and that it was stopping at all stations including Moor Park. The buses I saw had no route maps. The TFL provided Florescent Pink & Black lettered signage indicating the bus route was illegible in the dark.
Would it not have been helpful to have station staff on the platform at Harrow to help the Chiltern Shuttle driver, people were boarding the train when it pulled into Platform 1.
On the return bus trip it failed to stop at Northwood Hills only stopping further down the road after much shouting from irate passengers. When we reached Ricky the driver started heading up the Chorleywood Road towards Amersham until I pointed that maybe he should have stopped at Ricky.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2012 12:07:38 GMT
You are right that the staff in blue tabard are not TfL staff and are provided as a part of the replacement bus service. They have no specialised local knowledge apart from what they already know or their briefing pack.
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kabsonline
Best SSL Train: S Stock Best Tube Train: 92 Stock
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Post by kabsonline on Feb 12, 2012 19:40:52 GMT
I offically hate rail replacement. Still took a train trip up London yesterday and had to get the rail replacement. Took absolutely ages. Staff were very helpeful to the customers I saw though
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2012 0:22:20 GMT
Out of interest who were operating the Met line rail reps?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2012 10:47:53 GMT
Rail replacement buses can be dodgy, when i'd starting training at Ricky cabin and unfamiliar with the local roads i had to help the driver with directions (the driver was from bedfordshire iirc) and my cousin who spent some time on contract with LORAL was forever banging heads with the rail replacement operators
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2012 14:59:10 GMT
The correct passenger advice from Ricky to Moor Park would be to travel south to Northwood and catch the shuttle bus (service C) to Moor Park.
Moor Park is a private estate and although LUL has access for business purposes, there are restrictions on the type of vehicles that can be used. As a result the requirement is for small 9m single deck buses which invariably seat no more than 28 passengers. If we served all stations from Amersham to HOH with small vehicles we would soon be overloaded! I did do it once in a double decker and got away with it. But it was one trip very late at night on a special extension.
The chaps (and girls) in Blue are provided by an agency. They are not bus or train staff as already mentioned. LUL procure them directly. To be fair, some are long term veterans of these closures and can be very good.
And no we were not the bus contractor last weekend. We had a Northern Line Job and a Jubilee line job to contend with.
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