It's now two months since the Overground's six lines weren't renamed, and likely another month until the big switcheroo takes place. But every so often another new sign slips into view, its protective vinyl unaccountably removed, and this was the case at Stratford station a couple of weeks ago. A double-sided Mildmay line panel was revealed at one end of platforms 1 and 2 (click to embiggen), while a separate sign directed passengers up to the Mildmay line from the subway. These were all swiftly covered over so don't bother looking there now, but it's interesting to see how coloured tramlines will be used to depict the other Overground lines on interchange diagrams.
In further confirmation that the renaming is running late, all six of Tim Dunn's deep dives into the new line names are now available wherever you normally get your TfL podcasts, rounding off with a Huguenot-esque and moquette-tastic 'Weaver line' special.
Some bus-related QR codes are woefully inadequate
This poster on the platform at Queen's Park station looks promising. It's titled Scan for local bus information, and you might expect that if you scanned it you'd get local bus information. Not so.
The QR code instead takes you to a generic landing page, tfl.gov.uk/maps, from which you're expected to use the Search nearby feature and enter the name of the station. When you try that on a phone you get "We found several results for Queen's Park. Did you mean" and a choice of 11 options. Picking the tube station leads to a list of bus stops, each listed with route numbers, and it takes one more click to get live bus times and maybe a route if you use two fingers and scroll the map. This is a piss poor customer experience.
It wouldn't have taken much effort for the QR code to link directly to the webpage for Queen's Park station, but it seems the workshy sods in the poster production department have created a generic poster they can slap up anywhere, leaving us to do the extra work, rather than making bespoke posters for individual locations. If you're going to use QR codes for customer information, TfL, try linking to the actual information rather than to a lazy top level domain.
The Dangleway has a special Hallowe'en offer
Well of course it does, because upselling seasonal experiences has become part of the cablecar's ongoing raison d'être. This year's special event starts today and involves "a round trip whilst completing a spooky Scavenger Hunt sheet. Upon completion you will receive a Halloween Goodie Bag and the opportunity to decorate a Halloween mask in the Cable Car Experience." I like to think there's an employee somewhere in TfL's Dangleway department whose job it is to come up with the cheapest possible promotion, and who'll hopefully have been rewarded this year for what boils down to a sheet of paper, a bag of tat, a piece of card and some crayons.
Route 205 is up for an annoying change
Route 205 connects Bow Church to Paddington and has done since 2009, conveniently mirroring tube lines across the northern edge of central London. But a new consultation reveals TfL are up for fiddling with it at its western end, not because it needs changing but because another route needs chopping. The lynchpin of the plan is to curtail route 30 from Marble Arch to Euston, a two-mile cut, and then because passengers still want to go that way to divert route 205 to Marble Arch instead. Anyone who still wants a bus to Paddington can always catch a 27, they argue, although they'll need to change and probably wait longer too.
It's not the first time TfL have proposed a seemingly unnecessary change to route 205. During 2022's apocalyptic Central Bus Review they proposed diverting it to run from Mile End to Parliament Hill Fields to make up for the 214 being diverted to make up for the 88 being diverted to make up for the 24 being withdrawn, i.e. it was the last in a chain of consequential dominos. Thankfully they scrapped that idea and hopefully they'll scrap this too, because sometimes "ah but if we change that then we'll need to change that" goes too far.
Taxi fares might go up
TfL are currently running a consultation asking how much taxi fares should go up. They have seven options, each tweaking the minimum fare and four tariffs in different combinations. "Please let us know which option you would prefer by completing our survey", they say, but given one of the options is "no change/fares frozen" it's very hard to imagine anyone opting for anything else.
Another Superloop timetable is lying
I've discovered another pair of bus timetables with ridiculous sets of journey times, at least one of which must be fictional. These are the timetables for routes SL9 and 140 at Northolt Park heading towards Hayes. The SL9 is supposed to be the faster bus, and yet...
» The SL9 gets to Northolt in 4 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 3.
» The SL9 gets to Yeading White Hart Roundabout in 10 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 7.
» The SL9 gets to Yeading Lane in 14 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 11.
» The SL9 gets to The Grapes in 17 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 13.
» The SL9 gets to Hayes Town Centre in 24 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 18.
» The SL9 gets to Hayes & Harlington station in 26 minutes. The slower 140 gets there in 19.
Be aware that timetables are often bolx.
Easter line closures announced
If you're planning ahead you'll be interested to know what line closures are proposed over the Easter weekend in April 2025. The following will be shut for all four days...
• DLR: Bank/Tower Gateway to Canary Wharf/Canning Town; Stratford to West India Quay
• Piccadilly: Acton Town to Uxbridge
• Windrush: Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction
• Crossrail: Trains will not call at Acton Main Line, Hanwell and West Ealing
...and this pair shut from Saturday to Easter Monday...
• Bakerloo: Stonebridge Park to Harrow & Wealdstone
• Lioness: Euston to Watford Junction
