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    #26
    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
    Went for a walk just now and a bus went past with zero passengers on it.

    Got a question for Big Boobs and FIRE! - what do gate staff need as proof your journey is essential? Do you need a note from your employer or something.
    Ignore Paul S, he's talking his usual nonsense. The RDG industry guidelines are definitely to keep gatelines in operation, in order to keep revenue protection in place and also to control those getting on trains do have a valid reason.

    You should have a key workers letter from your employer. If not, just the detail as to why your journey fits into one of the four categories for permissible travel.

    They aren't challenging everyone, just those that have repeat unusual travel habbits, or who have something amiss, such as accompanying five children with buckets and spades. BTP are present as well.

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      #27
      Round here the bus drivers are getting so used to having no passengers that they're not that observant when there is a passenger at the stop. Quite a lot of slamming on the brakes when they realise there's someone there, or in my case when the passenger has to step into the road to flag them down.

      They're not going to like it when they do go back to being full again, mind you neither am I, I'm loving my personal key worker buses, I get a bit resentful when a fellow KW is on with me, and very resentful if there are pensioners going shopping, or parents and children. Don't they know there's a war on?

      I have a letter which I'm yet to show to anyone. It's a photocopy which doesn't refer to me by name and is so poor that any attempted forgery would be rumbled for being too competent.

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        #28
        My letter is focused on asking schools to accommodate your kids.

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          #29
          Tube usage 95% down
          Bus usage 87% down

          Congestion charge suspended
          Ultra Low Emission Zone suspended

          Road traffic fatalities down but the seriousness of collisions has increased

          This means no fares income in London and some tough choices for the current Mayor of London. A few sacred cows to be gone over the next few months I fear.

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            #30
            Originally posted by Paul S View Post
            This means no fares income in London and some tough choices for the current Mayor of London.
            It's not like TFL's budget was in good shape anyway with the Crossrail delays, central government cuts and the fare freeze.

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              #31
              BC Ferries (which are as important a part of public transportation as buses and rapid transit) report usage was down 80% over the Easter weekend.

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                #32
                All London buses are now boarding by the middle doors only with no requirement to touch in. This is to protect the driver.

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                  #33
                  Working at the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCeL this afternoon we heard some cheering and applause. Then we saw about a dozen medical staff all come running out, round the corner and down to a road followed by more clapping and cheering. We looked at each other somewhat bewildered.

                  On getting in the car to drive home I heard on the radio the Hospital has just discharged its first two patients after being treated for coronavirus.

                  Keep the faith

                  One of them - a father-of-one in his fifties - was given "expert care on a ventilator", NHS England says.

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                    #34
                    The last cruise ship on earth finally comes home:

                    From political storms to presidential pleas, it has been quite a journey for the MSC Magnifica.

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                      #35
                      Really interesting article, thanks for highlighting it Paul S

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                        #36
                        Ryanair have just got that little bit nastier by refusing to give refunds, or at least, by making it as difficult as possible to get them. If your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund, but Ryanair are only offering people a voucher for a future flight. Apparently if you click on a link of their website to get a refund it sends you to a page telling you you can get a refund but gives no way of actually doing it. Phone calls are also unanswered. I was due to fly from Carlisle to Southend next month with Loganair but they cancelled the route and I got a refund, it was very simple and easy. Ryanair are trying to hold on to people's money. Also, there are reports then when people try and book alternative flights using their voucher, they are being quoted £125 when flights on the website can be bought for £16.99.

                        Consumer group Which? says many of the UK's biggest airlines and travel companies are breaking the law.

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                          #37
                          They have no fear of the supine aviation regulators in U.K. or Ireland. German, French, Italian and Spanish based customers will get everything they ask for (even if they aren't entitled under the Directive), for fear of regulator ire.

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                            #38
                            Just noticed that London buses no longer have front entry, you get on through the middle doors. I presume it's to protect the drivers, about time.

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                              #39
                              Have they also roped off the first few rows (as they did here a month ago)?

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                                #40
                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                Have they also roped off the first few rows (as they did here a month ago)?
                                I couldn't see.

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                                  #41
                                  Yes, the stairs are the furthest you can go towards the front.

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                                    #42
                                    Well, Train companies now been instructed to re-introduce Saturday timetable for 18th May, in anticipation of 'significant increase in demand'.

                                    Also been asked about the feasibility of enforcing all passengers have face masks, and providing for those that don't (well if hospitals don's have them, why would railway companies?).

                                    Challenge from operators that it is impossible to increase service with current social distancing requirements, led to ministerial response of, what if distancing was reduced to 1 metre.

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                                      #43
                                      So the start of lockdown restrictions will be the 18th of May then....mmmm

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                                        #44
                                        Interesting, as this is the date being mentioned when we might start to get some ferries arriving too. This depends on the approval of the French government.

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                                          #45
                                          Preparedness in retail seems to also be looking at 2nd week in May for a return to some semblance of normality.
                                          We received a huge shipment of PPE for colleagues today, which suggests compulsory facemask wearing and reduced proximity is in the pipeline - previously staff could wear a facemask if they wanted, but it was implicitly frowned upon at any sort of managerial level, and none was provided except for Pharmacy, who then stopped doing consultations anyway.

                                          Non-essential retail to reopen along with a fuller transport service detailed above, but I suspect hospitality sector will have to wait a bit longer, with pubs and sport at the back of the queue.

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                                            #46
                                            Makes sense...I am off the 18th, I'll be on the first train to the hills I think...

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post
                                              Just noticed that London buses no longer have front entry, you get on through the middle doors. I presume it's to protect the drivers, about time.
                                              I think I saw that announced last week. I believe all journeys were made free too as you can't tap in on the sensor by the driver.

                                              TfL have announced they are furloughing a quarter of staff today.

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                                                #48
                                                Probably a dumb question, but it should be possible to seal off the bus driver in his own compartment separate from the rest of the bus, and avoid exposure that way, or is that cost prohibitive?

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                                                  #49
                                                  They have compartments like this but you'd have to design and build new buses to "seal them off" in any more significant way.

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                                                    #50
                                                    The buses out here in the provinces don't have middle (or back) doors, but the anti-assault perspex similar to above is deemed to be enough to protect them, along with taping off the seats immediately behind and having a line to stand behind when waiting to get off.

                                                    A lot of very doddery, non-distancing pensioners on the buses in today at 11.00, immediate instinct is to condemn them as stupid or stubborn, but they could just as easily have fallen through the cracks - a few weeks ago there was talk of food parcels for the vulnerable, did that ever get off the ground?

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