Another near-fatality at North Sheen level crossing

Here's a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

The level crossing at North Sheen today. Mate, the barrier is there for a reason. pic.twitter.com/LDlm2nLFRU
(via @laughingcow4)

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 11, 2017

Unfortunately, this level crossing is a known problem.

1. There's a long list of near misses, broken barriers, suicides or accidental deaths at this crossing, in Mortlake, in White Hart lane and Vine road -4 level crossings in about a couple miles or so.

2. There was a footbridge and Network Rail took it down in the 90ies, it was then reinstated a few years ago -but on the wrong side of the road (meaning if you're coming from the South side, you'd need to go up and down 4 times to get to the station, without ramps for prams or buggies and w/o side railings to take bikes up.

3. We live in a dense urban area, level crossings should not be. Period. 

Not only it's dangerous, but you can wait 15mn to cross. There are often huge queues along Manor Road, all the way back to Upper Richmond road on the South side and to Manor circus (A316) on the North side. Things are about to get much worse if the Stag Brewery in Mortlake gets redeveloped with 900 flats...

To your questions, I don't know who the chap is (no one seems to know him around here). He's certainly nearly won the Darwin Awards.

More on the crossing here > http://richmondtransits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/footbridge 

Including why it's an issue for emergency services, past accidents, etc.

More on the Manor Road level crossing:

• Another accident at North Sheen level crossing
• North Sheen Footbridge update
• At last: the North Sheen footbridge is coming... alas, this is not what you expected!
• Richmond Transits: Join the Facebook group "Stuck at North Sheen ...
• Richmond Transits: Airtrack and North Sheen Crossing
• Richmond Transits: Monday Mayhem at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge
• Richmond Transits: Here's the new camera at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the update on the North Sheenstation ...
• Richmond Transits: Susan Kramer's progress on North SheenStation ...
• Richmond Transits: Another train tragedy in waiting at North
• Richmond Transits: Still waiting at the level crossing...
• Traffic pandemonium: just a sign of things to come?
• More on Manor road and Heathrow
• Richmond Transits: Level crossing tragedy in Barnes
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge

Under Heathrow flight path: emissions, noise and stowaway

The two millions of Londoners living under the Heathrow flight paths are subject to noise, emissions and tragically bodies falling from planes in their final approach.

It happens every 2-4 years as it did this morning > Telegraph: Police discovered stowaway's legs 'sticking out' of roof


This illustration from the Telegraph is obviously wrong as the planes were landing on the South runway that morning, which is aligned with Richmond.

Update: another one on the 14/12/20. 


Related posts:

• Stowaway death is a chilling reminder that the Heathrow runways point directly over London and 2 millions Londoners
• Heathrow is not safe: chilling crash map
• Heathrow is just dangerous where it is
• Stating the obvious: Heathrow expansion will pollute more
• Heathrow is dangerous and should not be expanded, here's why

What's up with TfL and shared spaces?

Saw Richmond Cycling Campaign's draft response to TfL’s consultation on changes at Manor Circus.

 

This consultation is a stark reminder of TfL's absolute incompetence when it comes to designing cycle lanes ; as well as its the fact those consultations are absolute farce since they fail to advertise them to users (no posters on the junction in question) or canvass local residents by way of letterbox flyers.

 

Thankfully they found out and their observations are mostly spot on.
This junction is a danger zone for cyclist, interrupting an important cycle path. As a result, many cyclists use the roundabout.
There's some merit to the proposals in the removal of the 3rd left filter lane on the Westbound A316 and the pavement widening, but the toucan crossings are ill conceived indeed and shared spaces are a recipe for disaster.

 

Here's my response
1. This is a masquerade consultation: why hasn't TfL bothered to post signs on the junction itself to the attention of its users? Why have residents not been leafleted?
2. The intent is laudable: this roundabout bisects an important cycling route and offers no provision for cycling. As a result, many cyclists use the roundabout. In particular, the removal of the Westbound filter lane goes in the right direction.
3. However the execution is ill conceived on many aspects.
3.1. Shared cycle-pedestrians space is in general not safe and should be eliminated ; which should be possible with the filter lane removal and pavement widening.
3.1. Cycle lanes should have right of way to private land entrance -specifically to the BP petrol station and Sainsbury's
3.2. Toucan crossings will introduce much delays and therefore will be ignored -scrap them ; They are set too far back from the roundabout and impose a detour.
3.3. Scrapping those toucan crossings won't impose a widening of the central reservation and thus allow wider pavements -see 3.1.
3.4. Bicycles should not have to give way when merging into Sandycombe road and Manor road
3.5. The cycle lane should have right of way on North road, just like it was decided on Elsinore way.


Previous posts on similar subjects:

• Elsinore and the A316 breadcrumb cycle path
• Alice in Holland, or the tale of crap cycle lanes in Richmond
• Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?
• Chaos in Chalkers Corner
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• When plan B is not an option either

Elsinore and the A316 breadcrumb cycle path

Some more on the 316...

Transport for London has sent us another consultation, to re-re-re-do a portion of the A316.
To cut a long story short, they re-did a while back a cycle lane on the Lower Richmond Road. They got several things wrong, and fixed some a few month later -for instance they moved the bus shelters where the cycle path was between a shelter and the road (duh) or sign posts right on the middle of the path. Or the turning space discussed below which meant cars had to do a 2 or 3 point turn in lieu of a U-turn (re-duh).

Is this the shortest cycle lane in Richmond?

Seriously guys, what's the point of spending our hard earned cash on this?



And the point is??? Kew road into Selwyn avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames



Is this the shortest cycle lane in the World? Selwyn avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames.

 

Related posts:

• Alice in Holland, or the tale of crap cycle lanes in Richmond
• Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?
• At long last, Dutch-style cycle parking and repair shed in Richmond?
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
• Cyclists unloved
• Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!
• Has cycling reached a critical mass in London?
• Good to see cyclists campaigning against road planning
• My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• TfL still has little ideas about cycling lanes...
• Cycle superhighways: an expensive joke?
• When are we going to see this in London?
• Reversing the burden of the proof would encourage cyclingss
• Kingston worst for bike thefts
• Some hope for London cyclists?

Alice in Holland, or the tale of crap cycle lanes in Richmond

The Richmond Cycling Campaign (aka RCC, on Twitter at @RichmondCycling) has a great post on the A316 here:
The A316 – a correspondent writes …

I've wanted to write about that a long time ago, as this cycle path was redone a few years back, but to very low standards -a complete waste of taxpayer money IMHO. Some additional observations to what the RCC posted:

• Shared paths are a stupid idea, period.
• At the start, they had put bus stops across the path, and moved them after when it became obvious that it was a potential risk as bus users would just cross the cycle lane to board. This shows that TfL has absolutely no idea about cycle lanes best practices. Changes of course cost money.
• I discussed those priorities to cars turning with the TfL engineer at a Richmond May fair and he mentioned that drivers "were not expecting to yield on turning." Obviously, they're not there to change minds and improve attitudes.
• Lastly, the cycle lane surface isn't smooth at all and doesn't drain well -no one likes a bumpy ride and puddles aren't great either when you're cycling. Oh, and it's not cleaned very well -there were two Xmas trees obstructing it yesterday for instance.

See some pictures below. Oh, and don't forget to check this page from the Cycling Embassy on Crap Cycle Lanes (credit to the Warrington Cycling Campaign).

This other RCC post is also a must read: What the Cycling Strategy Should Say…



Cycle land on Lower Richmond Road, interrupted by Manor Grove ; see also bus stop dangerously close.



Cycle land on Lower Richmond Road (A316) interrupted by Sainsbury's entrance.



Cycle lane stops at Manor Circus, where you need it most. Shared path with pedestrian is very narrow. At that point, the A316 is 3 lane + 2 lanes wide (left filter lane into Manor Road)

Richmond Circus approach -the A316 cycle lane ends there and there are no provisions to merge into traffic to get into the city centre.

Related post:

• Mini-Holland or mini-Neverland?
• At long last, Dutch-style cycle parking and repair shed in Richmond?
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
• Cyclists unloved
• Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!
• Has cycling reached a critical mass in London?
• Good to see cyclists campaigning against road planning
• My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• TfL still has little ideas about cycling lanes...
• Cycle superhighways: an expensive joke?
• When are we going to see this in London?
• Reversing the burden of the proof would encourage cyclingss
• Kingston worst for bike thefts
• Some hope for London cyclists?

Cyclists unloved

This week's roundup

RT @RichmondCycling
 "Up to 75% of peak traffic now people on bicycles yet no consistent policy for making those roads safe for cycling" http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/local-roads-in-london-up-to-75-of-peak.html

Royal Parks finally comes out: they don't like cyclists. Too pleb?
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/royal-parks-put-stick-in-the-spokes-of-new-boris-cycle-link-8878624.html

North Sheen station closed because of suspected WWII bomb

Following the decision of the lunatics running the council and Network rail of building a footbridge on the wrong side of Manor Road instead of where it happily was before, workmen have found a suspicious device.

Well done all.

JourneyCheck - South West Trains - All Stations to All Stations - Live Train Disruption/Cancellations/Delays and Real Time Departure/Arrival Boards

Line problem: at North Sheen.
Owing to a security alert at North Sheen all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or revised at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.
Customer Advice:
A suspicious device has been found at North Sheen level crossing. Staff are on site and investigating, but until such time as the area can be declared safe, we are unable to run trains between Barnes and Feltham via Richmond.
Local bus services are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Underground services are conveying passengers between Richmond and London Waterloo in both directions until further notice.
Message Received :14/03/2013 13:15

See also:

• North Sheen Footbridge update
• At last: the North Sheen footbridge is coming... alas, this is not what you expected!
• Richmond Transits: Join the Facebook group "Stuck at North Sheen ...
• Richmond Transits: Airtrack and North Sheen Crossing
• Richmond Transits: Monday Mayhem at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge
• Richmond Transits: Here's the new camera at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the update on the North Sheen station ...
• Richmond Transits: Susan Kramer's progress on North Sheen Station ...
• Richmond Transits: Another train tragedy in waiting at North
• Richmond Transits: Still waiting at the level crossing...
• Traffic pandemonium: just a sign of things to come?
• More on Manor road and Heathrow
• Richmond Transits: Level crossing tragedy in Barnes
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge
• Richmond Transits: Preliminary plans for North Sheen footbridge rebuffed
• Richmond Transits: Campaing for suppressing level crossings
• Richmond Transits: Richmond and Twickenham Times: Commuters see red over level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Susan Kramer's progress on North Sheen Station footbridge
• Richmond Transits: Time to remind Susan Kramer about the North Sheen Station footbridge

Boris Bikes, if you can find them?

Damning piece in the Evening Standard on @BarclaysCycle @borisbikes http://pic.twitter.com/nFwclGy9
See this discussion on the BorisBike Forum as well.


Read also:

• Boris Bikes, if you can find them?
• Response from TfL re. Barclays Cycle Hire update PRICE DOUBLING
• To TfL re. Barclays Cycle Hire update PRICE DOUBLING
• Liborate the Boris Bikes?
• Barclaycard, you're failing to provide a good customer experience to commuters
• My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers 
• When will TfL realise they need more BorisBikes at Waterloo?
• Why pay for the gym when you've got the Boris Bikes
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• The Boris bike vs. the French vélib -unfair comparison?

 

Response from TfL re. Barclays Cycle Hire update PRICE DOUBLING

Hi,

It's all well and good except for regular users who I suspect make most of your revenues?

For instance, this morning there wasn't 2x more bikes at the Waterloo

docking stations.

Cheers,

LW>

On 31/12/2012, BarclaysCycleHire barclayscyclehire@tfl.gov.uk wrote:
> Dear Mr Windsor
>
>Thank you for your email regarding the tariff changes for Barclays Cycle
>Hire in 2013.
>
>The scheme is regularly monitored and continually reviewed to identify any
>opportunities for improving users' experience.
>
>We are undertaking important system software upgrades and website
>improvements in 2013 to meet this goal. These include, for example:
>
>Enabling casual users to hire cycles with a single swipe of their payment
>card. This will greatly simplify (and thereby speed up) the process of
>hiring a bike on street
>
>Members will be able to hire bikes as casual users using their registered
>payment card. This will benefit members who may have forgotten to bring
>their key or who would like to casually hire cycles for friends and family
>to accompany them
>
>Changes to the BCH website to improve the user experience, including
>enhanced docking station status information, online account management and
>an improved BCH journey planner.
>
>The on-street experience will also be improved through a number of changes
>at docking stations, including:
>
>Enhancements to the terminal touch screen interface to provide better
>information about nearby docking stations and improved foreign-language
>information about using the scheme, as well as enabling the single-swipe
>payment process noted above
>
>Improvements and updates to the terminal panels themselves, with new and
>updated maps, nearest docking station information, and clearer information
>about tariffs and charges
>
>We will continue to focus on improved bike redistribution and cycle repair
>strategies to ensure that bikes and free docking points are as available to
>users as possible, and that cycles with reported faults are repaired swiftly
>and returned to the scheme. Ongoing maintenance of docking stations will
>also continue to be a priority.
>In addition to these system-wide improvements, the planning and roll-out of
>the Cycle Hire Expansion and Intensification (CHEI) programme into south
>west London is another key focus for us in the coming months. The Mayor has
>always viewed cycle hire as an expanding programme and has asked TfL to look
>at ways to expand and improve the scheme in a sustainable way into the
>future.
>
>Additional revenue generated from the increase in the tariff will be put
>towards the above developments as well as other improvement opportunities
>that may arise, and we are confident that the scheme will continue to grow
>and develop.
>
>Barclays Cycle Hire has been a fantastic success, introducing millions of
>people to the joys of cycling in the capital. Indeed we saw record highs of
>over 47,000 hires in one day, and 3 months of over a million hires during
>the summer.
>
>Kind regards
>
>Tristan John
>Barclays Cycle Hire

To TfL re. Barclays Cycle Hire update PRICE DOUBLING

Hello,

I would like to know what the rationale is behind DOUBLING those fares and what plans you have to improve your service levels?

Cheers,

LW>

---

From: Transport for London <Transport_for_London@info.tfl.gov.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:42 AM
Subject: Barclays Cycle Hire update

If you are having problems viewing this email, you can view a mobile version or an online version. To ensure our email updates are delivered to your inbox, please add Transport_for_London@info.tfl.gov.uk to your email address book. Home Live travel news Getting around Road users Dear Mr Leforestier, We recently announced that the tariff for Barclays Cycle Hire is changing from Wednesday 2 January 2013: 24 hour access will increase from £1 to £2 Weekly access will increase from £5 to £10 Annual membership will increase from £45 to £90 After hiring a bike, the first thirty minutes of use will still be free. All other usage charges and additional charges including late return, non return and bicycle damage will not change. As you have Auto Renew set up on your account, you will automatically be charged the new access fee when you next hire a bike on or after 2 January. Access periods purchased before 2 January are unaffected, even if they run beyond this date. If you have multiple keys on your account, the same access fee will be charged for each key. The access fee increases are the first since the scheme was introduced and will be used to make improvements to the future operation of the scheme. Visit our website to read about our expansion plans. To find out more about the tariff changes, please click here Yours sincerely, Nick Aldworth General Manager, Barclays Cycle Hire Transport for London These are our customer service updates about Barclays Cycle Hire. To unsubscribe, please click here Travel News How services are running and planned weekend works Journey Planner Get public transport, walking and cycling routes Maps Plan ahead with maps for Tube, Bus, DLR and more Follow us Get live service updates and the latest traffic news at tfl.gov.uk/socialmedia Copyright in the contents of this email and its attachments belongs to Transport for London. Any unauthorised usage will infringe that copyright. © Transport for London

How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky?

The Beeb wakes up after under-reporting past cases with this article: BBC News - How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky? Interestingly enough, they don't answer the question.  I've done the maths though: it's one every four years. Just on Richmond borough.

List of reported stowaways reported on Heathrow-bound planes
Year	Provenance	Airline	Number	Condition	Impact/Retrival	Source
2010	Austria	Dubai royal family private jet	1	Alive	LHR	link
1996	India		2	Dead	Sainsbury's building site?	link
2012	South Africa	BA	1	Dead	LHR	link
2001	Bahrein	BA	1	Dead	Homebase car park, Richmond	link
2012			1	Dead	Portman avenue, East Sheen	link
2002	Ghana	Ghana Airways	2	Dead	LHR	link
2002	Ghana	BA		Dead		link
2000			1	Dead	Broadstone farm, Rudwick, Sussex?	link
2002	Uganda	DAS Air Cargo	1	Dead	LHR	link
2007					LHR

See my previous post on the subject:

• Stowaway death is a chilling reminder that the Heathrow runways point directly over London and 2 millions Londoners

Stowaway death is a chilling reminder that the Heathrow runways point directly over London and 2 millions Londoners

A stowaway fell on a Sheen road on Sunday:
UPDATE: 'I heard a monstrous bang', says woman after body found in street (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

In 2001, a man fell from a British Airways Boeing 777 which was heading towards Heathrow and landed in a Homebase car park in Richmond.

Heathrow is in the wrong place, it's only a question of time before someone (or worse, a plane) falls on a house:
http://richmondtransits.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/heathrow-is-not-safe-chilling-crash-map.html

Another accident at North Sheen level crossing

Another proof that a level crossing has no place in a dense urban setting.

A vehicle smashed a barrier at the level crossing on Manor road. The barrier was lying on the pavement tonight (on the right on the picture) and all traffic was interrupted -including for pedestrians as there's no footbridge to the South side of Manor road (see posts below).

At the time of writing, three police patrol cars and a Network Rail engineer were on site.

This is the second incident in a week, as I saw the police at the same place on Monday apparently carrying checks for motorists running through the crossing lights...

See my previous posts on the subject:

• North Sheen Footbridge update
• At last: the North Sheen footbridge is coming... alas, this is not what you expected!
• Richmond Transits: Join the Facebook group "Stuck at North Sheen ...
• Richmond Transits: Airtrack and North Sheen Crossing
• Richmond Transits: Monday Mayhem at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge
• Richmond Transits: Here's the new camera at North Sheen level crossing
• Richmond Transits: Update on the update on the North Sheen station ...
• Richmond Transits: Susan Kramer's progress on North Sheen Station ...
• Richmond Transits: Another train tragedy in waiting at North
• Richmond Transits: Still waiting at the level crossing...
• Traffic pandemonium: just a sign of things to come?
• More on Manor road and Heathrow
• Richmond Transits: Level crossing tragedy in Barnes
• Richmond Transits: Update on the North Sheen station footbridge

Liborate the Boris Bikes?

Saw this picture on a BarclaysCycle bike (@barclayscycle) and it reminded me of this conversation on the BorisBike Forums (@twitter.com/borisbikes).

Read also:

• Barclaycard, you're failing to provide a good customer experience to commuters
• My questions to Barclays Cycle Hire managers 
• When will TfL realise they need more BorisBikes at Waterloo?
• Why pay for the gym when you've got the Boris Bikes
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• The Boris bike vs. the French vélib -unfair comparison?

•  

   

Cyclist fatalities increase in London -I squarely blame TfL for not providing adequate infrastructure

Cyclists in the City just came up with this Boris-seeking missile:  Outrageous: 33% more pedestrians killed, 60% more cyclists killed and 21% more cyclists seriously injured. Boris Johnson - your traffic smoothing policy is killing people.

Personally, I'm not sure Boris or Ken made much improvements -or to put it correctly, they slowly gave in to pressure but both failed to redesign the city to put bikes first. Because you see, this is what the Dutch have done, something that even the LCC don't really recognise.

In essence, the infrastructure is still grossly inadequate -something I've blogged about previously. In a nutshell, I think TfL has absolutely no idea whatsoever on what a "cycle track" is. I don't think any of their engineers actually cycles. Can't be. Or that would be an all time height for ineptitude.

And those sad numbers? As far as I am concerned, the fact there's been a huge increase in cycling can not play a contributing factor. Many of those cyclists are not that proficient either, nor are the drivers.

Related posts:

• Kennington People on Bikes: Why didn't we use the cycle path?
• Sustainable transportation in Richmond?
• Cycling in London: it's about time to do something!
• Has cycling reached a critical mass in London?
• Good to see cyclists campaigning against road planning
• Cyclists living in fear
• Cyclists to be given the right to ride the wrong way
• TfL still has little ideas about cycling lanes...
• Cycle superhighways: an expensive joke?
• When are we going to see this in London?
• Reversing the burden of the proof would encourage cycling
• Some hope for London cyclists?
  

Works in Waterloo: an improvement or just a cash making scheme?

The Evening standard continues with their objective questionable journalistic, er, standards and regurgitates yet another press pack, this time from Network Rail for a change:
Waterloo station turns trendy as Carluccio's, Corney and Barrow, and Thomas Pink open up on new concourse - Transport - News - Evening Standard

Just to put things in perspective:
1. On congestion, Network Rail have made it worse by making the underground concourses longer and shut outside of peak hours

2. The Eurostar platform has been mothballed for the last 5 year... with four EMPTY platforms -quite a disgrace.

3. Finally, are they going to pull down that hideous screen/wall between the concourse and the plaforms? There's no reason Waterloo can't be as beautiful as the Gare du Nord in Paris.

To me it seems the only goal of this revamp is to provide more retail space, in other words it's a cash generating scheme that adds no benefits to the commuters.


Previous posts on Water-loo station: 

• Waterloo plans mean no end of misery for commuters
• Waterloo: more Boris Bikes but still no sign of life for the Eurostar old platforms
• Waterloo plans mean no end of misery for commuters
• Londonist: What Next For Waterloo? 
• The Boris bike vs. the French vélib -unfair comparison?
• What if those who govern us had a long term view about strategic infrastructures?
• When will TfL realise they need more BorisBikes at Waterloo?

Barclaycard, you're failing to provide a good customer experience to commuters

This is a follow-up from my previous post: Dear BarclayCard...

My beef with BarclayCard (BARC:LN, @barclaycard) isn't over, I'm actually quite annoyed now.

My advice to Barclays? If your brand name is associated to transportation services, you should ensure a good customer experience. Failing to do so impacts negatively your brand.

Here's a quick summary:

-          I own a BarclayCard Visa that comes with an OysterCard built-in. Barclays sent me a new card and the Oyster stopped working. Resolving this is quite an annoyance. In the Twitterverse we'd say #fail.

-          I also use Barclays Cyclehire, in fact another TfL service, sponsored by the same bonus-happy bank. I use it everyday but it turns out they can slap you a £150 fine just because their processes are also a #fail. That's more than an annoyance

Failure number one: Barclays, when you send me a new card, just make sure it works

-          I've got a Barclaycard VISA, coming with no less than four payment mechanisms: a magnetic strip, a chip (and PIN), a contactless payment chip (RFID) and an Oyster card.

-          It expired, so they sent me a new one.

-          Because I suspected their processes would be sub-optimal, I called them up to ensure the Oyster would be transferred across to the new card. They assured me it was or would be but I still did not trust them. You see, when I wanted to move from a BarclayCard Platinum to that BarclayCard Oyster, they got me to re-apply just like for a new card. I wasn't impressed, after being a client for over 10 years. So, I did not destroy the old card straight away, just in case…

-          As I feared, the Oyster card did not work.

-          I sent an email to complain and ask Barclays to fix this. They tried to call me when I was at work and after several tries I ended up to speaking to a Barclaycard call-centre agent (actually very nice and patient) who could not solve my problem and had to transfer me to TfL.

-          In between those calls, I tried to register my new Oyster card on the TfL website (turns out the number is on the back of the Barclaycard) but that did not work either. See, Barclaycard registered my card already but did not give me the password.

-          When I finally got to speak with TfL agents, they were equally patient, well trained and polite. They  transferred the balance from the old virtual (because it's on my Barclaycard) Oyster card to the new one. But then to complete it, I have to predict where I'll touch in next as they me to tap my Oyster card on a specific tube station within 8 days. I don't usually commute by tube, so it's hard to know where and when I'll next start a tube journey.

-          The next process failure I have experienced, still speaking with TfL is that once they transfer the balance of an Oyster card and until you've tapped it on a reader at the designated station, you can't transfer the 'auto top-up'. Which I had to do because my old Barclaycard wasn't valid anymore, remember?

Failure number two: Barclays, the Borisbikes give you a bad name

-          I should make clear that just like I am well aware that TfL and Barclays are two distinct companies, I know Barclays only sponsors the London bike rental scheme, which is in fact sub-contracted to Serco –the guys who run the prison vans and other stuff.

-          This is not to complain there's never enough bikes or point that it's ridiculous to require buying a separate key while they could use an Oyster card to unlock your bikes. Actually, given what's above, one could think not using Oyster would be a good thing…

-          It's not. Here's what happened to me. To use bikes, you need to buy a key for £3. You can then set it up and once you unlock your bike you pay £1 for a 24h access period. The actual rental is free for 30 mn. Fair enough.

-          I've used it 3-5 times a week for almost a year, with only hassles when I can't find a bike (the un-predictability isn't great if you have a morning meeting) or can't return them (which means missing your train).

-          Trouble starts if you use your bike after the 'access period' has ended. The problem is that the access period isn't renewed automatically if you're on the bike, resulting in a £150 fine! If you're like me, you're thinking who's going to want to lug those heavy beasts for over 24 hours? But if for instance your train is late on day 1 (I hear it can happen sometimes) and you pick a bike up at say 0830. If on day two you pick a bike up at for instance 0829, cycle to your destination and dock it at 0834, you're done. Bang, they've slapped you a £150 fine.

-          This happened to me. For 40 seconds.

-          Of course it doesn't make sense, but try to explain common sense to TfL.

Bottom line: Barclays should ensure that customer experience is good for services they lend their name to. Failing to do this damages their reputation –exactly the point of this blog post.

Some conclusions for Barclays:

-          Don’t expect your customers to do the leg work: I'm a customer and if break it, I expect you to fix it

-          Make sure you communicate all the information you need (including passwords) on all the products you have on a given card

Some advice to TfL:

-          The obligation to touch in at a given tube station to complete an action is impractical

-          The quality of service for the Boris Bikes is not great but you should at least fix the processes that are plainly wrong