Sunday, November 29, 2020
If you check the TfL Status updates webpage this weekend you'll see that the DLR is stopping at stations called LewishamStratford and BankBank.
It isn't really, of course, but the TfL website is entirely unable to display a correct list of DLR services. The issue is disappearing line breaks. The text will have been entered as separate lines with a carriage return inbetween, but the software strips these away and runs everything together. The London Overground rail replacement bus section underneath is even worse. Paragraph breaks seem to work fine but line breaks don't.
This isn't a new problem either, it's been happening ever since TfL gave their website an overhaul in March 2014. It's not credible that nobody's noticed, given that the line break error has been occurring for more than 300 weeks. It is possible that nobody cares. It's also possible that nobody at TfL has the wherewithal to update the underlying software because it was delivered by an external team and the contract expired six years ago.
The legibility issue could be solved, in this case, by the judicious use of a handful of semicolons. DLR services will operate as follows: Island Gardens - Lewisham; Stratford - Bank; Bank - Woolwich Arsenal; Stratford International - Woolwich Arsenal; Tower Gateway - Beckton would be perfectly intelligible. But a solution appears to be beyond the capabilities of TfL's website team, who continue to pump out gibberish week in week out. Give us a break.
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