The Route Masters: Running London's Roads (BBC2)

[Manchester77]

Phew thanks thought its been cancelled or something (Y)

 

[edwin_m]

A very sobering programme instead to mark the 25th anniversary of Piper Alpha.

 

[GodAtum]

Bizarrely, London's trams don't have real time info on the internet, even though buses, Tubes, DLR and trains do.

i find that odd too.

 

[harry42]

BBC2 at 9pm for the past 2-3 weeks then one tonight:

Very well done and written-night buses, new/old routemasters, this week Victoria Coach station.

Comments?!

 

[harry42]

Victoria coach station tonight

 

[90sWereBetter]

At the moment, I can't say that Victoria Coach Station is being painted in a positive light.

Apart from Alan the coach enthusiast, that is. Nice to see he's still hard at his hobby 40 years on.

 

[richw]

the coach enthusiast,

I suspect there is more coach enthusiasts than train enthusiasts, by looking on Flickr at photos, there are many more coach pictures than train pictures.

 

[bicbasher]

The Victoria Coach station ticket clerks appeared to be more happy in comparison to those at Kings Cross in the previous BBC Two documentary.

However, I don't understand why the clerk decided to pay for the passengers ticket as they had a Belgian credit card.

 

[tbtc]

All human life is here... got to admire the way that the staff try to cope with everyone and everything. Can't stop watching though!

 

[Butts]

All human life is here... got to admire the way that the staff try to cope with everyone and everything. Can't stop watching though!

Crazy that you can't smoke in that "open area" especially if you are going to be stuck on a Coach for hours

 

[telstarbox]

If the coach market continues to grow, will services have to move to other terminals?

 

[Surreyman]

If the coach market continues to grow, will services have to move to other terminals?

Makes Heathrow look comfortable & spacious, looks like they need a new coach station at least 3 times the size of Victoria, not much chance of that in Central London!
Maybe Eurolines and all the cross channel operations should have their own separate terminal somewhere to take the pressure off.

 

[jon0844]

Are there any plans to expand the coach station? Perhaps multi level in some way?

I take it there would be issues though. Firstly, how to keep it working during works and secondly, it no doubt being listed.

It certainly doesn't seem able to cope for another 80 years or however old it is!

Good programme though. I had no idea how busy it was, how many routes there were or the types of people that used it (even though it might have been rather obvious).

 

[Morgsie]

What happens to night departures and arrivals at Victoria Coach Station?

I am torn over the ticket person using her credit card to pay for a ticket: she wants to help but she she should not be doing it

The Green Line station did not get a mention

 

[howittpie]

What happens to night departures and arrivals at Victoria Coach Station?

Arrivals after 11pm officaly set down there passengers in departures though from experience of early Megabus arrivals they seem to drop off in the Green Line station. The departures are open until 1am gates 1-10 and 11.45 for the high numbered gates. After 1am the Stansted and Luton Aiport coaches still depart from gates 8 or 9 but passenger have to wait outside the departures building in the area where the coaches pick up from.

As for the quote all human life is here wait for the 1am Megabus to Glasgow and you see it in VCS.

 

[transmanche]

The Green Line station did not get a mention

Probably because it's nothing to do with TfL.

(The series is about the various parts of TfL's Surface Transport directorate.)

 

[Statto]

Are there any plans to expand the coach station? Perhaps multi level in some way?

I take it there would be issues though. Firstly, how to keep it working during works and secondly, it no doubt being listed.

It certainly doesn't seem able to cope for another 80 years or however old it is!

Good programme though. I had no idea how busy it was, how many routes there were or the types of people that used it (even though it might have been rather obvious).

Don't think the VCS site can be expanded. Even 10 years ago plenty of arrivals & departures. I've been to VCS plenty of normally to catch 11:30pm the Coach home, [almost always get off at Heathrow when i'm going to London], even then VCS was very busy with Coaches & passengers departing between 10:30pm & 11:30pm, going to almost every Town/City on the UK Mainland.

 

[GodAtum]

I'm surprised they dont build another coach station on a brownfield site in London. For example, they could have built one when building the olympic park in Stratford.

 

[IanD]

I'm surprised they dont build another coach station on a brownfield site in London. For example, they could have built one when building the olympic park in Stratford.

Sort of a Ryanair definition of London for the coach traveller.

Who'd want to be tipped out at Stratford other than those changing for a destination beyond London? If you get a coach to London, you generally want to be dropped off close to the centre.

There are niche companies that cater for a market which consists of people wishing to travel to non-touristy parts of London (eg Southall) but the majority of passengers would be unhappy to be dumped in the suburbs. Even EasyBus realised this in the end.

 

[jon0844]

I'd say that, assuming the building isn't listed, you might consider a brownfield site to temporarily locate a coach station while you rebuild it.

I guess the area for coaches might remain as it is, but you could perhaps use multiple levels to have larger waiting areas and places to eat/drink etc.

While that work is being done, it would be an inconvenience to be dropped somewhere away from the centre of town - but it would be worth it in the end.

Failing that, rather than try and build some awesome new coach station that's much bigger, what about a second TfL-run site that just takes some of the load off?

 

[radamfi]

If you look at the rebuilds done for Manchester and Birmingham coach stations, they had to find spare land away from the site. Birmingham wasn't too far from the original site but Manchester's one was quite some distance away in a back street part of town.

VCS had a refurbishment around 20 years ago, before that it was absolute chaos trying to find your coach as they were all parked behind each other. I can't remember what the arrangements were at the time, though - can anyone remember where coaches were relocated to?

I had a look at the Sindbad website for fares to Warsaw and the fares don't look terribly cheap. The lowest fare I can find is 683 PLN return which is £138 booking well in advance. OK, that's not that bad given the distance but I was expecting fares much cheaper than Ryanair. Ryanair is more expensive booking at short notice but can of course be much cheaper than £138 return if you don't have much luggage and can organise your trip when the fare is cheap.

 

[sheff'd victoria]

I'm surprised they dont build another coach station on a brownfield site in London. For example, they could have built one when building the olympic park in Stratford.

Think thats a great idea, Ive been to London Vic Coach station and have to say im not impressed, it has come to the end of its working life now and needs to be replaced

 

[transmanche]

I'm surprised they dont build another coach station on a brownfield site in London. For example, they could have built one when building the olympic park in Stratford.

I suggested a Stratford coach station in another thread some time back

Sort of a Ryanair definition of London for the coach traveller.

Who'd want to be tipped out at Stratford other than those changing for a destination beyond London? If you get a coach to London, you generally want to be dropped off close to the centre.

One good point in Stratford's favour is that it has excellent onward transport connections.

 

[cambsy]

Use VCS a lot on my various travels, find it perfectly acceptable and no worse than other coach stations,it may be old building and not modern like other coach stations, but i find it perfectly ok to spend couple hours in if need be, got food out lets, ok seating, and fairly safe, it can get very busy, have seen worse, Aberdeen for example, very poorly designed, seem to be on end of shopping mall type place, no where to wait if late at night, all locked up, sure one day a new coach station will be built in London,would be down to money being available and suitable site.

 

[radamfi]

I don't think anyone expected such a growth in coach travel to consider that a larger place might be needed. But I expect that any new station or refurbishment would have to be paid for by the private sector, or at least clawed back in increased departure charges, which might not be acceptable to some of the operators who may decide to use alternative premises or normal bus stops.

 

[jon0844]

As other travel gets more expensive, especially if coaches are more generous on luggage allowances, I can see coaches getting more popular.

A modern coach is pretty comfortable and air conditioned, which can be nicer than some trains during this heatwave! Not sure about the toilets though as I've never ventured inside one.

 

[notadriver]

But you have to be strapped into a coach with a seatbelt and you could have one of those drivers who tailgates always late on the brakes or you could get a very good one ! Do you take that chance ?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

But you have to be strapped into a coach with a seatbelt and you could have one of those drivers who tailgates always late on the brakes or you could get a very good one ! Do you take that chance ?

I'm sure there are also some less than professional train drivers as well. And less than professional pilots. There's bad apples in every industry.

 

[jon0844]

But you have to be strapped into a coach with a seatbelt and you could have one of those drivers who tailgates always late on the brakes or you could get a very good one ! Do you take that chance ?

I travel on buses quite a bit, where drivers seem to operate as if it's max power or max braking, and people don't wear belts on them. We don't see loads of bus or coach crashes, which is quite reassuring given the fact that a vehicle on the road has more 'unknowns' to contend with than a train should.

I think coaches are probably, for the most part, far safer than a bus. And if you have a driver that is tailgating and taking any other risks, I can't see any problem with reporting them (you'd know what service you were on) to try and help eradicate these bad drivers and make things safer still.

 

[notadriver]

The problem is if you are unlucky to be on (any) road vehicle driven badly you are far more likely to notice than if on a train for a variety of reasons.