Apology not accepted

Just want to go on record as saying I do not accept South West Trains' apology for the disruption to my service last night, in particular as it meant I missed seeing my daughter before her bedtime.  That's priceless.

Also because this morning's service into Waterloo was delayed by four minutes, owing to a slow moving train ahead of us in the Clapham Junction area.  The connecting Bakerloo Line to Edgware Road was a further minute delayed.  That's four minutes overall over when I would have arrived had the initial train been on time.  £10.

Incidentally, what's with the phrasing 'We'd like to apologise...'  That's not actually an apology, is it?  We'd like to apologise, but... we don't want to/don't care/did it on purpose.

What is it with pretending everything's hunky-dory?

UPDATE: a minute's delay on the Bakerloo Line to Waterloo coming home fortunately didn't cause me to miss my connecting train.  Sadly, that train was eight minutes late by the end of the journey (no explanation), so that's another £20.

Elsewhere in the wacky world of TfL, there's another strike a-brewin': cleaners and security staff this time on the DLR.  Pay and benefits squabble.  I've written about this before, and to be honest cleanliness is one thing I don't really have a problem with on the network, so I quite support this action, even if it does involve the odious Bob Crow...

Smart move to join it up to the security staff action: that's something I think TfL will find a little trouble ignoring, even if it is criminally irresponsible, like a police strike.



Yet again, no excuses or apologies offered: a 12-minute delay on the train into Waterloo this morning which, although the connecting Bakerloo tube was on time, lengthened to a 14-minute total delay because of the altered connection timings caused by that initial delay.  That's £35, but it would be nice to know why my journey is so significantly delayed (bear in mind that portion of the commute is supposedly a 36-minute stretch, so 14 minutes' delay is pretty spectacular).  And would an apology be too much to ask for?  Still, I guess no apology is better than a nakedly disinterested and insincere one...

Elsewhere on the TfL network, if you're a north Londoner, don't rely on taking the buses as there'll be a 24-hour strike over - what else? - pay.  I guess a £500 bonus simply for doing your job for two weeks is not enough to cut it these days, what with Christmas just 'round the corner!  And in case any bus drivers are reading this and thinking of complaining because (a) 'everyone else' got a bonus (I didn't, neither did millions of other Britons who were also potentially facing severe disruption, and those that did get one, should have) and (b) it was soooooooooo busy those two weeks, with X million extra passengers and Y million new trains, blah, blah, blah.  So you had a heavy two weeks at work?  Get over it you pathetic children: it happens.

Meanwhile, if you've bought an eco-friendly car and are enjoying congestion charge-free benefits, get set to lose them.  You've not got long to register your disapproval of this either.

This morning's update, and an apology

First, the apology: on a couple of occasions in the last week or so now, I have attempted to add my evening journey updates to the pre-existing morning story of commuting woe.  This worked perfectly when I first began my blog, but for some reason the last two times it has not: my mobile has told me that the update has been published, but upon checking the next morning on a laptop, I have found the update missing.  Oh!  And it also seems to temporarily rearrange the format of the blog, also for reasons unknown (starting to sound representative of the TfL experience, isn't it?).  I don't know what's causing this problem, but will refrain from mobile updates until I can figure it out.

For anyone who's actually taken note of my commands to check back in the evening for updates, and then seen none, I apologise, and I promise I have not been lazy.  I have made the updates, they're just not showing up.

So, without further ado, a reproduction of last night's update, transcribed by my own fair hand from my own diabolical mobile:

"Tube delay on the Bakerloo Line meant I missed my train from Waterloo.  Overall, this resulted in a 32-minute delay in the supposed arrival time.  £80.  Ouch."

So.  Not much in terms of an update, but plenty in terms of readies for your intrepid hero.  It was also especially galling because my daughter had apparently forgone her lunchtime nap during the day and thus needed to go to bed earlier than usual, which meant I barely saw her yesterday.  And I'd even brought her a present (in the form of a favourite snack), which she couldn't then have because she'd already brushed her teeth.

Add that to this morning: a two-minute delay on the train to Waterloo (accrued over the length of the journey with no explanation or apology).  This caused me to take a later tube than the one Journey Planner recommended, which was delayed by a further three minutes, making five in total for another £12.50.  Grand total of 37 minutes and £92.50 between last night and this morning.  That's around 25% of a combined theoretical journey time of a little over two hours.  Unacceptable!


UPDATE: one minute's delay on the Bakerloo Line coming home, but it didn't matter as I made the connecting train anyway (I got skilz).  However, that train was delayed by a minute too, so I'll be claiming another £2.50.  Doesn't seem like much after the recent haul!