(13 Jan 2016, 7:02 am)Dan wrote The fact that, yet again, the overhead line has failed on this section of the system. When is the penny going to drop that this is a recurring issue, which needs to be investigated (by all parties), so as to avoid further disruption to customers?
My 35-minute morning commute took two hours yesterday, and that was with using normal public services which were delayed for various reasons (but the one relevant to this thread is the fact that Metro customers were attempting to board with their Metro tickets which weren't being accepted on buses between Sunderland, Heworth, Gateshead and Newcastle).
The buses accepting tickets yesterday morning during the disruption (88 and 27) would have a journey time between Brockley Whins and Heworth of 30 minutes - this does not take into consideration connection times, nor does it take into consideration that buses could go past out of service due to being fully-loaded (an oh too common occurrence when there's issues with the Metro!) Paired with the normal journey times on the Metro, between Park Lane and Brockley Whins then Heworth and Central Station as an example, you're looking at least double the normal journey time. In reality it's going to take a lot more time than that!
Communication on Social Media leaves a lot to be desired, and it seems like (yet again), the utmost priority is to address that it is a Network Rail issue, rather than explaining the issue to customers, advising of alternative travel arrangements, and, most importantly, apologising. They were expecting to have everything back up and running today, but it took them until 06:00am to advise that Metros were still off? Taking into account the increased journey times (as given above), that sort of short notice is not acceptable.
I'm just thankful that I put three days annual leave in for the rest of this week, as the chaos continues today... As for my travel arrangements when I'm driving - it'll be Wessington Way and A1 to Team Valley. The traffic isn't half as bad on this route compared to the Felling Bypass after 8am/5pm. Either way, it wouldn't take me two hours to get to work, like it did yesterday...
I'm thankful my appointment in Newcastle was changed from today to the 27th, although I don't mind getting the 900 as its more reliable than the Metro.