Not a data thing but a bit of a shocker on the website.
Take a look at this
" Tuesday 2 January 2024 - Travel advice for the New Year."
ok, so far so good
then
"* See our Status updates map for Tube, London Overground, Rail, DLR and tram services for Monday 2 January
- Check traffic status updates map for Monday 2 January"
What? Tuesday is Monday?
Or is it Sunday?
“Until 06:00 on Sunday 2 January - Black cabs will charge an extra £4 per journey”
I suspect our old friend Copy-and-Paste is responsible (twice over for the taxi bit?) I dare say people will work out which day is really meant but it is more than a little bit shoddy.
They will also find
" Bus - Sunday service (day, night and 24-hour routes)"
Now that has the feel of copy-and-paste as well because 2nd January 2023 would have had a Sunday service. But in 2024 it is surely a normal working day, so I would expect to see a Saturday service at least. Which is what is shows for the tube. If it is not a Sunday service the page is just plain wrong; if it is - why?
1 Like
Hi @mjcarchive I have forwarded this to the team who look after the content pages to correct this.
Regards
Matthew
Hi @mjcarchive this has now been corrected by the content team
Regards
Matthew
@MScanlon
Thanks. I think I would have said “Monday to Friday” rather then “weekday” in the text but maybe that is me being old enough to remember when weekday means Monday to Saturday!
Could I also ask you to pass on to the content team my usual plea at this time of year for a page somewhere that shows precisely when the last buses run on Christmas Eve, as some stop early or (for 24 hour routes) yer actual passengers just see a continuous service. My fear is that people get stranded and have a long wobbly walk home, possibly on their own. That makes it a public safety issue in my view. I know they can check on Journey Planner before travelling but a bespoke list somewhere would offer one or two click access.
The public safety angle is perhaps even more important for New Year’s Eve. The list of extra service running overnight has usually had to be dragged out of TfL, sometimes on the day! The passenger needs to be able to check quickly whether the service that got them home last year is running again this year. My impression from the working timetables seen so far for NYE night is that services will be very different this year, with quite a few having extra service until 0230 or so in the morning. The corollary, I suspect, is that some other services which have run in the past will not run this year. Even without the safety angle, good publicity should surely increase usage of whatever extra services are running - and all that is needed is an extra web page!
Hi @mjcarchive unfortunately there are no documents produced that cover this, but as guide the last buses on 24hr routes would be those that operate on the day portion of the schedule for Christmas Eve and the first buses on the day schedule on Boxing Day. IF it’s of some comfort, we in the JP team are also struggling to find a definitive list of routes that are operating overnight on New Year’s Eve.
Regards
Matthew ( cc @GerardButler )
@MScanlon @geraldbutler
I can tell the day schedule from the night schedule for a 24 hour route because (and only because) the WTTs are published. There is no way the normal passenger can make the distinction.
Even if they could, it would not be reliable. Base don what I have looked at so far, the last buses appear to be at non-standard (usually earlier) times on Christmas Eve on routes 24 47 57 93 108 123 139 158 159 176 188 213 214 264 285 321 344 345 365 472 474 486 and by no means have I looked at all the files. Non-standard Boxing Day start times are much rarer, I think; I have only spotted 8 24 and 285 so far.
It is evident that part of the New Year’s Eve package is extra journeys on some routes until around 0200. This is a new departure and it is not clear to me whether it replaces or enhances what was done last year. All the more reason to get the publicity out there.
I reiterate that leaving passengers in the dark about last buses and NYE overnight services should be seen as a public safety issue. Every journey matters, they say - well let’s give people the info to ensure that the journeys that are crucial to getting home safe and sound are known about. I try not to go ballistic if I can help it but I find the seemingly apathetic approach to this rather shocking.