Having travelled down to London yesterday, and taking the number 14 due to the suspension of the District line, I decided to sample the Rail Replacement offering from TfL to maintain a service whilst no District line trains could run westbound from Earls Court due to track renewal works within the station. Three replacement bus services were running to replace the District line, services A, B and C. I sampled the A and the B over their entire lengths, running from Wimbledon to Hammersmith and Earls. Court respectively. The B was fast from Wimbledon to Putney Bridge, serving all stops to Earls Court, whilst the A served all stops to Putney Bridge then ran direct to Hammersmith.
I started in Fulham, taking a number 14 service bus from Munster Road to Putney Bridge. My decision to photograph my ride at Putney Bridge led to me narrowly missing an Ensignbus double decker on the B. Upon asking the member of TfL staff stationed there I was informed there would be a five to ten minute wait, but soon a red Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 with railway replacement on the blind came over the hill. Sadly it sped straight past, but an identical vehicle followed close behind. Within three minutes of arrival I was ushered straight on to the next phase of my journey, with a question about validating my Oyster card met with "Just go straight on, it's a VIP service". This despite a special sign warning of a penalty fare or prosecution for failing to travel with a valid ticket on rail replacement services.
The bus was almost empty, and I had the top deck to myself. We passed many people waiting for the service bus (number 93), and continued nonstop through Wimbledon village. Upon arrival at Wimbledon, I photographed the bus as I alighted from it and then set about finding where service A left from. Enquiring with some inspectors at the B stop, I was told to cross the road and turn right. The first right led down a tiny side road, but a handy map placed inside the station entrance directed me to Argos. As I arrived I saw a Go-ahead Trident turning in, and the TfL CSA kindly made the driver wait as I sprinted down the side of the bus. Jumping on, I took a seat upstairs for the ride to Hammersmith.
This bus was similarly lightly loaded, with only one person upstairs. We made good progress on clear roads, stopping at the local stations between Wimbledon and Putney Bridge. From Putney Bridge, we continued to Hammersmith, where I alighted and made my way to the tube station.
After just missing a Cockfosters train, I waited a couple of minutes until an Arnos Grove bound service arrived. This was shown correctly on the departure boards, but the manual PA announcement described it as going through to Cockfosters. The driver made clear announcements regarding the District line disruption, and had a very cheerful tone within his announcements.
Upon arrival at Earls Court we were directed up some stairs, where clear green arrows directed us towards rail replacement buses. It could not have been much more clear, and it was definitely needed as despite Echo noise barriers the noise of the track relaying activity was horrendous. The District line platforms were visible from the concourse, and they were certainly a hive of activity, as the picture below shows. Various teams in orange did countless tasks, all contributing to the smooth running of trains at one of TfLs busiest underground stations. Clear signs directed passengers to bus stop A for service B, and a quick hop across the road led me to a Tower Transit Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 bound for Putney Bridge. It was announced as being for Wimbledon. But the driver was having none of it, saying he was terminating at Putney Bridge.
We skipped one stop, and stations such as Fulham. Broadway and Parsons Green flew past. Soon we were passing Munster Road, and I waved as we drove straight by. Alighting at Putney Bridge, I crossed the road and hopped on to a 14 again to take me back. On its iBus system the disruption on the District line was advertised, and it was very heavily loaded, perhaps due to people being unaware of the replacement buses, as I was initially.
The service was good, and staff at most stops helped smooth the operation along. Better destination displays would have been helpful, as ironically the only buses that actually displayed District Line were the one hired in from Ensignbus and Arriva from outside of London, which had LED displays. The frequency of the service made up for many faults, as a missed bus or even two was usually of no consequence whatsoever. The revenue protection could be better though, even if the solution was just to activate bus Oyster readers and charge £1.40 a trip. This is especially important for Oyster PAYG users, who have no way of validating their card but the threat of an £80 fine or prosecution hanging over them were an RPI to board. TfL staff directly contradicting their own notices doesn't exhude confidence either.
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