No.8 • February 2011
QSI INFO GATHERING MOVES INTO 21ST CENTURY
iBUS WILL MONITOR QSI DATA A
LL DRIVERS are being asked to give their full support to the new iBus method of gathering QSI information that is being introduced to bus routes across the capital later this year – including all Go-Ahead services. The vital Quality of Service Indicators information show how long passengers actually wait when compared to scheduled services. Until now, performance of all
London operators has been recorded by a team of data collection staff who stand at pre-set locations and record data on a hand-held device. Locations are currently monitored over eight shifts a week in three-hour time slots. Data is sent to London Buses and the information compared against the timetable to judge how reliable and evenly-spaced the service is.
A GUIDING LIGHT for Maria and Merton: p2
PAUL’S NEW ROUTE success for Belvedere: p6
n Continued on page 2
Pay deal in place ZONING - the colour coded answer to garage safety: p3
AS AGREED, the company recently increased hourly rates by 1.38 per cent on all elements of pay. For bus drivers and other weekly paid staff the revised rates were included in the payroll for week ending January 28, 2011 (paid on February 4). In the case of four weekly paid
staff the increase took effect from the four weekly payroll ending February 26, 2011 (paid on February 23). Note: the increase does not apply to management grades or to ETB and ELBG staff (who transferred under TUPE and are covered by separate agreements).
HELPING DISABLED travel by bus is Pat’s aim: p7
FEATURE: ‘TAKING THE STRAIN...’ RAIL REPLACEMENT PROJECTS p4-5
A guiding light at Merton
A HELPFUL communications exercise has taken place at Merton garage between employees, TfL and representatives from Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Successful In fact, George Marcar, who is driver communications manager for Transport for London, said the visit had proved so successful that he would look to have similar visits
at other garages across the capital to assist drivers’ understanding of disability issues. John Welsman and Dave Kent from Guide Dogs for the Blind visited the garage on January 7 to speak with drivers regarding bus travel.
Difficulties Not only were they able to explain the difficulties some blind passengers face when using public transport, but
Representatives from Guide Dogs for the Blind help Go-Ahead staff understand disability issues. hear what drivers had to say about their role. Operating manager Hannah Self said: We found it a very useful exercise and it was interesting to learn how crucial the iBus announcements are for people with visual impairments. Without the system, bus travel becomes much harder.”
It’s very hard to understand just how a blind person feels
Valuable
A valuable experience for driver Maria Aiken.
Driver Maria Aiken has worked in the industry for five years and she says she found talking to John and Dave extremely valuable. “Unless you have a visual impairment
yourself it’s very hard to understand just how a blind person feels. It really struck me how lost some customers are without the iBus announcements. “I liked being able to put my point of view across, too. I was able to tell John and Dave that I prefer customers to remain seated until the bus has stopped. This allows them to alight safely. “I also explained that if a customer makes me aware of which stop they want to get off at I can tell them when we’re approaching it,” said Maria.
iBus to collect quality of service data n Continued from page 1 But now the data collection is moving into the 21st century to make more effective use of the iBus system; to make it possible to collect (and retrieve) accurate data virtually round the clock (observations will change to one-hour time slots between 7am and midnight) and do away with the need for manual on-street data collection. Gill Tynan, Go-Ahead London’s general manager, service performance, said: “This is a major change and it may be challenging 2
BusTalk l February 2011
for our staff, but it is vitally important that we continue to focus on achieving high QSI scores both for the sake of our customers and for the future success of our business. “The iBus data collection method has the advantage of giving completely accurate information all of the time. The current method only surveys around five per cent of our operations and if a problem badly affects us during the survey time it brings down our overall score.” Gill added: “The most important
contribution drivers can make is to pay even closer attention to the iBus information. Headway signals must be heeded. Controllers will remind drivers if gaps are getting too short, but they shouldn’t need to if drivers observe the iBus alerts and make adjustments themselves.” The changes will be communicated before it is introduced to controllers and drivers. There are plans for garage roadshows and two-day seminars for controllers and it will, in time, be included in driver CPC training.
SUTTON operating manager Mark Cambridge is full of praise for his team, who, he says, did an excellent job in difficult circumstances. “Every single one of our routes was affected by the weather. The roads in Kent and Surrey were particularly bad, but, despite this, employees battled to come into work and carried on with their duties in a professional manner.
“In particular, I’d like to thank the driving staff for their efforts and the route controllers who coped well under tremendous pressure to keep the services running.” Bexleyheath operating manager Graham Johnson said the conditions were “atrocious” with every route affected by the snow and ice. A number of staff walked to work while
There’s sNOw stopping us! HEAVY SNOWFALL, FREEZING TEMPERATURES AND TREACHEROUS ICE...
others spent up to five hours trying to get to the garage. Graham said: “Despite the weather, employees drove very carefully with a good degree of skill. They did a brilliant job.” Road manager Sandra McKinley says employees across all grades demonstrated great teamwork during the snow with everyone pulling together to get the buses out on the road. Sandra said: “It was a chaotic time with roads being shut at short notice by the police and then re-opening again. Bexleyheath, in particular, has a number of hills so buses were getting stuck behind other vehicles, which were slipping and sliding all over the place. “Engineers and controllers did a great job of rescuing the drivers. They spent hours digging the buses out with spades, shovels, rock salt and grit. “All credit to the team for their efforts in really difficult circumstances.”
• The weather conditions were more fitting for the Arctic than the south of England in December. • Yet, despite one of the worst spells of early winter snow, Go-Ahead London employees, especially those working on routes outside of the capital, coped extremely well with the challenges. • Bus Talk highlights just a few examples of where employees went the extra mile to ensure buses made it out onto the road.
Colourful road to safety IN THE company’s continuing drive to improve safety and efficiency, an innovative and more effective way of organising parking allocation within all Go-Ahead London garages has begun – with Merton and Camberwell the first to see the benefits.
Zoning
Frank Thorpe, responsible for its development and introduction, said: “The basic idea is that we take each rotation at a garage, zone it by colour and produce signage to show drivers in which coloured section they will find their vehicle. “Over time each garage will have the new zoning introduced and it will work in exactly the same way at every location. In the past, the way parking has been organised has evolved piecemeal so it is different at every site. That obviously produces difficulties if staff move to another garage, now they will be familiar with each garage layout as every site will use the same colour coding.
Safety Bill Roberts, Camberwell’s general manager said: “The changes were applied after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visit highlighted some potential issues with drivers walking around between buses while looking for their vehicles during run-out. Obviously the safety of our people is our top priority and we were happy to work with Frank on implementing the colour coded zones. It is part of a package of improvements which has also included new walkways and repainting of existing ones.” Merton general manager Colin Langford said:
“The new zoning colour codes are very user-friendly and are working well. A series of posters around the garage ensure clear communication of what the colour coding means. The scheme has been well received by drivers, controllers and engineers alike. Once the zoning has been rolled out to all garages it will certainly make things safer and simpler for drivers, especially when on loan to other garages. “We have also introduced a ‘safe zone’ for drivers who have mechanical problems with their buses. They can park up safely and engineers and controllers can easily identify the driver with a mechanical problem, rather than drivers wandering around the bus movement area looking for assistance.”
Approved The zoning has now been inspected and approved by the HSE at Camberwell and Merton and its introduction at all other sites is scheduled for completion by the end of April. BusTalk l February 2011
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FEATURE: RAIL REPLACEMENT PROJECTS TEAMWORK – it’s the key to Go-Ahead London securing future rail replacement opportunities. Garage teams, including operations and engineering, the schedules team and the commercial department are all involved in ensuring the resources are available to carry out the work. In this special feature, Bus Talk highlights just some of the recent rail replacement projects.
Taking the In our Face 2 Face column, we chat to Ann Marie Brown, who is a driver at Peckham, and has worked for the company for just over four years. We ask Ann Marie 10 light-hearted questions.
Q: What is your favourite area of London? A: I love Trafalgar Square. Q: What is your favourite icecream flavour? A: Rum and raisin. Q: What do you usually have for breakfast? A: Toasted egg sandwich with a cup of tea. Q: What is your favourite song? A: It’s a gospel song, ‘Jesus, How I Love Calling Your Name’, by Shirley Caesar. Q: What two foods do you really dislike? A: Pounded yam and turkey. Q: What did you want to be when you were a child? A: A flight attendant or a singer. Q: Which date on the calendar are you looking forward to? A: December 8 – my birthday! Q: What do you like to do on your days off work? A: Relax, pray or watch TV. Q: Do you have any hidden talents that your colleagues don’t know about? A: I do like to sing. Q: Where would you like to visit on holiday? A: I’d love to go to Jamaica. 4
BusTalk l February 2011
Rail replacement services provide a very important revenue stream
strai
All pulling together AS TfL continues its programme of upgrades to London Overground and London Underground services and Network Rail carries out ongoing engineering work to its infrastructure, Go-Ahead London has been making excellent use of its assets week-in, week-out to carry out a whole host of replacement services. Almost every weekend in 2010 was taken up with rail relief work for the Southern and Southeastern train companies and this is set to continue in 2011. Buses have been covering a network of rail services that run from Portsmouth in Hampshire right across to Ramsgate and Margate on the east coast. Most garages have been involved in the work, although Sutton, Merton and Peckham have been operating the lion’s share of the Southern contract and New Cross and Bexleyheath garages have run the Southeastern contract. During the Christmas period, Waterloo garage managed Southern’s planned rail replacement service between Balham and Victoria. Securing work for London Overground, which is managed by TfL, has also been a feather in Go-Ahead London’s cap this year. Putney, with help from Docklands, has operated much of this rail replacement service (see related story on the next page) covering areas in the north of London. Another engineering blockade is planned for this month (February) – this time between
Gunnersbury and Upper Holloway – and GoAhead has once again won the contract from London Overground. On the Piccadilly Line, Go-Ahead London has won the tender to provide rail replacement shuttles between Ealing Broadway and Boston Manor on February 19-20 and this will involve 30 duties daily. There is also a project to transport District Line passengers between Wimbledon and West Brompton and between Wimbledon and Hammersmith on February 26-27. This will be around 70 duties daily. Commercial manager Colin Farrant said: “Rail replacement services provide a very important revenue stream for the company and we always welcome the opportunity to win more work. “We’re constantly looking at ways to utilise any spare resources we have and use our assets. Rail replacement work allows us to do just that. “The projects give our employees a new challenge and they’ve been doing an excellent job, pulling out all the stops to make things work.”
Christmas getaway
GATWICK EXPRESS
I enjoy helping the passengers...
A replacement bus service operated between Gatwick and London Victoria, and between the airports at Gatwick and Heathrow. In total, 24 duty lines were covered on the day and involved employees from all areas of the business, as well as assistance from outside bus and coach operators. Waterside Way remained operational on Christmas Day and provided a number of vehicles for the work, plus engineering support. Employees from Merton volunteered to carry out the role of baggage handlers – loading customers’ luggage
onto and off the buses. This is the third year running that commercial assistant Bill Tanner (pictured left) has helped out on Christmas Day and on this occasion he was stationed at Gatwick where he helped control the rail replacement service. He said: “I enjoy helping the passengers and hearing what their plans are for the festive period. It’s our job to make their journeys as seamless as possible and advise them when the next connection will be. “I’ve had some excellent feedback over the years and it’s pleasing to know that they appreciate our efforts.”
in ...off the train PLANNED engineering works on the Gatwick Express meant that Go-Ahead employees once again helped customers get to and from the airport on Christmas Day.
In the front line
PUTNEY has been carrying out continuous rail replacement work every fortnight for the past 18 months, but a recent operation on behalf of London Overground Rail Operations Ltd (LOROL) has been singled out for special praise. During the Christmas fortnight a dedicated panel of 30 drivers (including some from Docklands) provided a rail replacement bus service during a 14-day closure of the Overground line between Gunnersbury and Gospel Oak. The blockade had been put in place while improvements were carried out to the line. The team’s outstanding efforts have led to a letter of commendation from Mungo Duncan of the North London Rail Infrastucture Project. He said: “Thanks for the absolutely sterling job delivered under what were frequently difficult operating and climatic conditions…I must tell you that I was highly impressed not only by the professionalism of staff – both controllers and drivers – but also by their energy, enthusiasm and humour. “Special thanks must go to the controller team, which kept juggling with resources to ensure that the service stayed on schedule. The controllers also showed, in my estimation, real leadership qualities in keeping the team motivated under occasionally difficult circumstances…I look forward to continuing to work with your team.”
Putney operating manager Alan McCormack Graham Gadd has been working on the LOROL said: “This recent work in north London was project most weekends for 18 months and says a real pat on the back, particularly as we were it’s been a refreshing challenge. the first garage asked to do it. We’ve now been “I’m enjoying the chance to drive in different awarded another 10-day contract for February, parts of London and get to know new routes. which is an extension of our current Gunnersbury I always take my Big Red Book with me as to Gospel Oak rail replacement service.” many of my customers ask for directions and Driver John Collier has been carrying out the information on other bus routes and train lines. role of controller on the LOROL contract and “I’m constantly inundated with enquiries says it’s been an opportunity for him to gain about what tube lines have been affected by more experience in bus operations and learn engineering works. I’ve started scouring the new skills. Metro newspaper to keep up-to-date with this He said: “It’s part of my role to keep news so I can then pass on this advice to passengers informed customers.” and, in particular, notify them when they can next expect a bus. “Many of our customers are used to travelling by train – not by bus – so they often don’t know the geography of the area and which bus stop to use. I try to be as helpful as possible and ensure their journey runs smoothly.” Drivers Graham Gadd, left, and John Collier spearheading Driver Putney’s rail replacement service.
PUTNEY
BusTalk l February 2011
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New route to success for Belvedere
ROUTE 244 has got off to a successful start at Belvedere after the garage won the contract to start operating the service from January 22. Sister garage Bexleyheath previously operated the 244 before the service came up for retender, but Belvedere is much closer to the route.
The route win has led Belvedere to double in size, with a recent recruitment drive boosting the team from 50 employees to 100. The service runs on a high frequency, seven days a week, and goes from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich to Abbey Wood station. A total of 14 brand new SE Enviro 200s are entering the fleet as part of the contract.
We’re really happy to have won such a substantial contract
Belvedere leading driver Paul Bowhay said: “We’re a small garage so we’re really happy to have won such a substantial contract. We’ve also been pleased to welcome the new members to our team.”
Paul Bowhay enjoying a successful start on Route 244.
High hopes for retention of two route contracts THE results of two major tender submissions to Transport for London were expected as Bus Talk went to press. New contracts for Routes 436 and 453 begin in November and Go-Ahead London has high hopes of retaining them. Both are currently operated by artic vehicles, but will convert to traditional double-deck buses when the contracts begin. The 436, which operates from Lewisham 6
BusTalk l February 2011
to Paddington, uses 26 Citaros and 74 drivers. The new contract requires 32 buses and about seven more drivers. It is based at New Cross. The 453 runs between Marylebone and Deptford Bridge with 23 buses and 81 drivers, including the night service. The new contract requires 35 buses and 11 more drivers. The route will transfer from Mandela Way to New Cross if it is retained.
Route 436: contract news imminent.
Pat promotes bus travel for disabled PUTNEY garage has been helping people from the local community increase their independence through a special bus travel project. Every month, driver Pat Mitchell has been meeting with a group of local people with disabilities and showing them how to get the most out of travelling by bus. He takes a bus from the Putney fleet, parks it up at a bus stop and explains about the process of safely boarding the vehicle, obtaining a ticket and finding a seat.
Some of the people now use the bus regularly
Reassurance
Pat Mitchell enjoys helping disabled travellers in local community. Pat, who has worked in the bus industry for 41 years, said: “Some of the people now use and in that time has helped “I’m really enjoying helping people the bus regularly and I’ve got more than 120 people gain the gain the confidence to make use to know them better when they confidence to travel by bus. of public transport. Some of the travel with me on Route 39.” Operating manager Alan people I have worked with had McCormack said: “TfL originally Confidence never been on a bus before, while asked us to trial the venture to others are in wheelchairs and just Putney garage has been see how helpful it would be to needed a bit of reassurance about working with Transport for people in the local community. how the buses can be lowered to London’s Travel Mentoring I’m pleased to say that it has allow easy-access. Service for nearly two years really blossomed.”
Obituary
The ‘Sergeant Major’ will be sadly missed NEW CROSS employees were sad to learn the news that their colleague David Cormack died on December 23. David had been ill for a while with a lung condition, but colleagues had hoped that he would make a recovery. Described by friends as a “popular, quiet gentleman”, he was fondly nicknamed ‘Sergeant Major’ in the garage because he worked in the army before joining the bus industry
in 1988. He originally worked at Camberwell garage and transferred to New Cross in 1999 to drive on the millennium route. His funeral, held on January 13 at Falconwood Crematorium, was well attended and included many of his former colleagues from the army and from London Central. David will be sadly missed by all at New Cross.
Anthony is Christmas competition winner IT WAS a winning start to the year for Anthony Westney from New Cross. Anthony, who is a driver, entered the Bus Talk Christmas competition and his name was the first out of the “editor’s hat”. He correctly matched the 10 words with the carols and his prize is £50 Marks and Spencer vouchers.
COMMENDATIONS CAMBERWELL n A COMPLIMENT has been sent to driver Howard Brown from Mrs Khan after she noted how “kind, helpful and courteous he was”. Mrs Khan went on to say that Howard’s driving standards were exemplary. DOCKLANDS n NEW driver Gabriel Abe has recently received not one, but two commendations from delighted customers. The first passenger explained how well Gabriel had assisted his family during the journey and the second passenger thanked Gabriel for his helpfulness. MERTON n DRIVER Anwar Hossain has been commended by Mrs Seamark for being “kind and accommodating”. NEW CROSS n MS SMITH wrote to say how “helpful and cheery” Denise Gordon is. Ms Smith said she uses buses every day and cannot believe how willing Denise is to go the extra mile. PECKHAM n A GRATEFUL customer has written to thank Sajid Patel for his thoughtfulness. On boarding the bus, the customer realised she didn’t have enough credit on her Oyster card but Sajid offered to drive her to the next stop where there were shops. Sajid then waited while the customer quickly re-loaded her card before continuing on with the journey. PUTNEY n DRIVER Andrew Smith has been praised by Mr Nichols for observing two minutes’ silence on November 11. Mr Nichols had been a passenger on Andrew’s number 14 bus at the time. STOCKWELL n A CUSTOMER was so impressed by driver Roy Lambe and his colleagues that she not only wrote a letter of praise to the company, but contacted her local BBC radio station, too. Mrs Purkiss had travelled with Roy on the number 11 bus when she accidentally left her case containing Christmas presents behind. Mrs Purkiss said GoAhead London employees were helpful and within 20 minutes she had been reunited with her case. The next day Mrs Purkiss contacted BBC Sussex about her positive experience. n A CUSTOMER has described Christopher Kerr as a “complete gentleman” and an excellent example of what a bus driver should be. n THE excellent service provided by route 24 drivers during 2010 has been applauded by customer Mr Grief. SUTTON n THE following drivers have all received a commendation from members of the public in recent weeks: Bruno Ballarin, Gary Charlton, Grzegorz Gaska, Keith Gibbons, Alan Jones, Glenn Perry, Chris Ramsey, Alan Saker, Ron Stanley, Ian Stephens, Ray Taskas and Peter Yea. BusTalk l February 2011
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Self proposed candidate STOCKWELL bus garage is about to become the hot topic of an ongoing debate to find London’s most important building. As part of the lecture series called Critic’s Choice, author Will Self is proposing Stockwell Bus Garage as “a working building, integrally connected to London’s public transport”. The lecture will take place on March 14 at the Geological Society, Piccadilly. Will is quick to praise the architecture, which was designed by Adie, Button and Partners, with the engineer A E Beer. He notes its “revolutionary, beautiful and highly utilitarian form”. A listed building, Stockwell bus garage was constructed in 1952 and was the largest area enclosed by a single roof in Europe.
If you’d like to find out more about the lecture series, please look up the Royal Academy of Arts website www.royalacademy.org.uk and type Will Self into the search engine. You will then see a link to the Stockwell Bus Garage lecture. Full price tickets for the event cost £12 and can be purchased online, by phoning 020 7300 5839 or by visiting the Royal Academy of Arts ticket office.
Is Stockwell bus garage London’s most important building?
Retirement
Frank hangs up his hat
HE’S become a firm fixture at New Cross garage – ever since he joined the bus industry 44 years ago – but now Frank Leonard is about to retire. Frank “the hat” – a nickname he’s earned over the years after colleagues noticed his penchant for headgear – will wave goodbye to his friends and regular Route 321 customers on April 1. “I’ve enjoyed my long career on the buses – not bad for someone who only intended to stay for six months,” he said. It was the social side of the garage that Frank says really encouraged him to remain with the company. “I’ve made some great friends through the football, sea fishing, darts and golf teams. My wife Kathy and I have also enjoyed the various dances organised by the garage over the years,” Frank said. Having spent his first 19 years in the industry as a conductor, Frank later turned his hand to driving. Now, he’s looking forward to spending more time on the golf course and taking trips to the coast to pursue his life-long passion for sea fishing. “I only live a short distance from New Cross garage so my colleagues haven’t seen the last of me yet!” added Frank. 8
BusTalk l February 2011
London Bus Awards shortlist announced SEVERAL colleagues have been shortlisted in the London Bus Awards. They are: • Julie Jessop of Sutton garage in the ‘best communication with passengers’ category. • Bob Childs of Bexleyheath in the ‘best travel experience’ category. • The Merton mentors in the ‘bus service support’ category. The London Bus Awards, held by Transport for London, celebrate the excellence and hard work of drivers, support teams and front line staff. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on February 23.
New vehicles boost Bexleyheath fleet INVESTMENT is taking place at Bexleyheath with a total of 66 brand new vehicles entering the fleet over the next few weeks. “This is great news,” said operating manager Graham Johnson. “Drivers and customers always like to have new vehicles so I’m sure the buses will be popular.” Of the 66 vehicles, 30 are the SE Enviro 200 – a new type of single-deck vehicle. Route 244 (Woolwich to Abbey Wood Station) will receive 14 of the SE Enviro 200s and Routes B11 (Bexleyheath to Thamesmead town centre) and B16 (Bexleyheath to Kidbrooke Station) will receive the remaining 16. The other 36 buses to arrive at Bexleyheath are WVLs. This is a double-deck vehicle, which has a Volvo B9 chassis and a Wright body.
Graham said: “An interesting feature of the WVL is that it has a unique battery charging system that hopefully will prevent non-starts if the lights are left on accidentally.” The WVLs will go into service
on Route 229 (Thamesmead to Sidcup) and Route 422 (North Greenwich Station to Bexleyheath). Route 401 (Thamesmead to Bexleyheath) is to benefit from refurbished PVLs.
Retirement
End of an era at New Cross COLLEAGUES at New Cross have said a fond farewell to driver William (Willie) Hillsden, one of the garage’s longestserving employees. Willie joined the bus industry in 1967 and drove RTWs, RFs and RMs until becoming an OPO driver in 1976. He became a trade union representative at New Cross in the mid-1980s, a
role he continued with until shortly before he retired. He actively worked for the interest of his members, showing consideration and understanding for all. Willie is one of the company’s best known characters and his retirement marked the end of an era at New Cross. Willie’s colleagues wish him well in his retirement.
Published by Go-Ahead London. Produced by Ruxley Communications, Walton-on-Thames. Printed by Evolve Print Solutions, Rickmansworth.