Has TfL finally got its act together?

A two-minute delay on the tube yesterday caused by being held at a red signal did not cause me to miss my connecting train home to Hersham last night, which arrived on time, so I will make no charge despite the ineptitude.

This morning, the train arrived in Waterloo a minute early, though this was not enough to allow me to catch an earlier connecting tube to Edgware Road.  The intended (and travelled) tube arrived on time too, so there's no charge at all for this morning's commute either.  Has TfL finally got its act together?  Only time will tell...

What else is new today?  Well, my old journalist friend (though I'm sure he'll barely remember me, if at all) Jack Schofield reports through ZDNet that we may after all be able to pay for TfL transport through near field communications ticketing on our smart phones in the near future.  This is, of course, in complete contrast to previous mutterings by TfL that I have covered in the past.  Jack also gives an uncharacteristic and gratuitous plug to O2's TrainTravel smartphone app, which is essentially the Trainline app branded by O2 (i.e. you can buy tickets on the app but you still have to go and collect a paper ticket before travel).  Now, I'll admit I have a horse in this race, but that's a development that seems a complete waste of time to me, bringing as it does nothing new to the table.

Aside from that snide aside, it's pretty quiet today.  Anyone read any good books lately?

A lot to cover

Sorry for the lack of updates: work and life have been busy in the offline world.  Bonus for you is a bumper crop of updates!

Monday morning, the train from Hersham to Waterloo was a minute late.  The connecting Northern Line tube to Leicester Square (I had a long meeting in Covent Garden) was on time.  Coming back, the tube was a minute early, but this didn't affect the train I could take, which was on time.

Yesterday, I took the train from Norbiton to Waterloo (four minutes late) and the Bakerloo Line to Edgware Road (one minute late: six minutes late overall if I could have taken the tube I would have had the train been on time).  Going home, the first tube was too overcrowded to physically get onto, and the next a minute late (making me four minutes late overall.  The train was on time, and was the one I would have got onto anyway, so no charge for the earlier delay.

This morning, I took the same route in as yesterday.  The train was three minutes late, the tube four - seven minutes late overall if the train had been on time and I'd been able to catch an earlier tube.

So, since the last update, that's 13 minutes and £32.50

In the news recently, TfL boss 'Sir' Peter Hendy is busy gloating about his knighthood for managing to get TfL to work properly over the Olympic period (what about the rest of the time?).  Without even getting started on the cheapening of the knighthood institution (as if it needed more cheapening) by doling them out to people for doing a couple of weeks' good work, the gall of the man is incredible.  Describing his own rise from bus conductor 37 years ago, he glibly tells 'young Londoners' that he sees no reason why they can't accomplish as much as he has too.  I couldn't have put it better myself, though at least he had the decency to recognise it was other people's hard work that got him the knighthood, even if he didn't do the decent thing and refuse it for that reason.

If you're an app developer, or aspiring one, you could enter TfL's not-at-all-a-PR-stunt competition to develop an 'accessibility' app for the TfL network.  Of course, if TfL really cared about making the network more accessible, it would talk to the affected people, build up specs, and commission professionals to just do the work.

And finally, another story about TfL blighting the landscape to line its own pockets with nary a thought for locals.