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Post by LBOTG on Mar 28, 2018 20:48:46 GMT
Calling all drivers!
I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation!
I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2018 20:52:19 GMT
Calling all drivers! I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation! I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions? 180 can be quite lively late at night and early in the morning. Especially if you get a WHV!  |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Mar 28, 2018 21:52:49 GMT
Calling all drivers! I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation! I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions? 393 , 325 early morning and evening is tight, 102 late evening is tight, 173 late evening is tight |
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Post by londonbusboy on Mar 28, 2018 22:46:49 GMT
358 on a friday night!
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Post by vjaska on Mar 28, 2018 23:36:49 GMT
Calling all drivers! I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation! I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions? No idea if they are now but the 118 & 154 were tight on a weekend morning journey - did Brixton Hill to Sutton in roughly an hour on a 118 PVL & a 154 EVL. |
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Post by 6HP502C on Mar 29, 2018 0:27:35 GMT
Calling all drivers! I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation! I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions? It's usually possible to tell if it's going to be a fast ride by observing a few things... How does the driver pull into the bus stop? Is the engine roaring? How quickly does the driver apply the handbrake and open the doors - do they open both seats of doors at the same time? Observe their seat height, posture and facial expression... Is it the last trip before the bus goes to bed for the night? As for the routes...the 97 is the first one that springs to mind. Take a ride on it when the roads are clear, preferably with a TA and you'll soon see what I mean. The 177 is notorious among locals for fast driving in the evenings. The 51, 53 and 122 also shift pretty lively in the evenings (there is a pattern developing here). The N21 is a no nonsense route south of New Cross. From Bexleyheath it moves quickly. No scratching whatsoever but the 321 always overtakes it. I usually get off at Eltham High Street in the dead of night and wait the 3 minutes for the 321 if it's an E as it means less time on a NRM and I'll get home more quickly. Win win. The 321 has lost its crown as the fastest night route. Other routes like the 33 and 213 are officially faster if using average speed as the metric, but not by much. The night 47 will send you to sleep from Shoreditch to Canada Water - south of there you might need to find something to hold onto. |
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 29, 2018 1:01:27 GMT
Calling all drivers! I'm one of those enthusiasts who likes getting up at the crack of dawn on trips out and I was wondering if there are any routes, either early in the morning or late in the evening which have particularly tight timetables, or where a lively journey can be expected - I've had enough of all this regulation! I've heard the 321 is very good and I know from experience that the 27 can be fast too, do you have any other suggestions? It's usually possible to tell if it's going to be a fast ride by observing a few things... How does the driver pull into the bus stop? Is the engine roaring? How quickly does the driver apply the handbrake and open the doors - do they open both seats of doors at the same time? Observe their seat height, posture and facial expression... Is it the last trip before the bus goes to bed for the night? As for the routes...the 97 is the first one that springs to mind. Take a ride on it when the roads are clear, preferably with a TA and you'll soon see what I mean. The 177 is notorious among locals for fast driving in the evenings. The 51, 53 and 122 also shift pretty lively in the evenings (there is a pattern developing here). The N21 is a no nonsense route south of New Cross. From Bexleyheath it moves quickly. No scratching whatsoever but the 321 always overtakes it. I usually get off at Eltham High Street in the dead of night and wait the 3 minutes for the 321 if it's an E as it means less time on a NRM and I'll get home more quickly. Win win. The 321 has lost its crown as the fastest night route. Other routes like the 33 and 213 are officially faster, but not by much. The night 47 will send you to sleep from Shoreditch to Canada Water - south of there you might need to find something to hold onto. The 177 and well any Stagecoach High-Frequency service after midnight has to run to card time now so you won't be getting any fast rides on the 177 anymore The B14 is stupidly tight all day long but the MMC's aren't that interesting |
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Post by RandomBusesGirl on Mar 30, 2018 17:15:27 GMT
159N is definitely tight, drivers take no prisoners! Late evening 326 can be very fast (is it still? I've had an insane journey one time I randomly boarded), and 384 - as my Friend found - is fast late. H2 is crazy in the evenings. Whether timetables are actually tight, I don't know though |
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Post by vjaska on Mar 30, 2018 17:33:25 GMT
Another I forgot - the 37 & 196 at times on late evening journeys and nights can have some very fast journeys
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Post by busaholic on Mar 30, 2018 21:06:39 GMT
Another I forgot - the 37 & 196 at times on late evening journeys and nights can have some very fast journeys In the same area, late 3s and the N3 used to be very fast on the Brixton to Palace section, but I've no recent experience. |
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Post by john on Mar 31, 2018 10:23:21 GMT
It's usually possible to tell if it's going to be a fast ride by observing a few things... How does the driver pull into the bus stop? Is the engine roaring? How quickly does the driver apply the handbrake and open the doors - do they open both seats of doors at the same time? Observe their seat height, posture and facial expression... Is it the last trip before the bus goes to bed for the night? As for the routes...the 97 is the first one that springs to mind. Take a ride on it when the roads are clear, preferably with a TA and you'll soon see what I mean. The 177 is notorious among locals for fast driving in the evenings. The 51, 53 and 122 also shift pretty lively in the evenings (there is a pattern developing here). The N21 is a no nonsense route south of New Cross. From Bexleyheath it moves quickly. No scratching whatsoever but the 321 always overtakes it. I usually get off at Eltham High Street in the dead of night and wait the 3 minutes for the 321 if it's an E as it means less time on a NRM and I'll get home more quickly. Win win. The 321 has lost its crown as the fastest night route. Other routes like the 33 and 213 are officially faster, but not by much. The night 47 will send you to sleep from Shoreditch to Canada Water - south of there you might need to find something to hold onto. The 177 and well any Stagecoach High-Frequency service after midnight has to run to card time now so you won't be getting any fast rides on the 177 anymore The B14 is stupidly tight all day long but the MMC's aren't that interesting As ibus put it so well last night, it's all thanks to the 174 ๐๐ ironically, that's not a route that's very tight at night, but can be of a morning. From experience, the first 287 is impossible to do on time. You get so heavily loaded that by the time you get to Barking, you should back on London Road ๐ 256....its known as the race track at Rainham. That should tell you everything about it!!! Get one person on board and you're late. 372 is a hard one, especially being a low frequency route. Sometimes it's impossible to keep to time. 277, you cannot make the times on this route. Not at the road limits in place anyway. Well not until the N277 times come in!! 248 on a Friday/Saturday night. Come to that, the 252 also. Great routes to drive, especially if it's a busy night out in General, but times aren't brilliant to cope with the demand |
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Post by 15002 on Mar 31, 2018 17:50:59 GMT
The 177 and well any Stagecoach High-Frequency service after midnight has to run to card time now so you won't be getting any fast rides on the 177 anymore The B14 is stupidly tight all day long but the MMC's aren't that interesting As ibus put it so well last night, it's all thanks to the 174 ๐๐ ironically, that's not a route that's very tight at night, but can be of a morning. From experience, the first 287 is impossible to do on time. You get so heavily loaded that by the time you get to Barking, you should back on London Road ๐ 256....its known as the race track at Rainham. That should tell you everything about it!!! Get one person on board and you're late. 372 is a hard one, especially being a low frequency route. Sometimes it's impossible to keep to time. 277, you cannot make the times on this route. Not at the road limits in place anyway. Well not until the N277 times come in!! 248 on a Friday/Saturday night. Come to that, the 252 also. Great routes to drive, especially if it's a busy night out in General, but times aren't brilliant to cope with the demand 372 is really fast at the night, Iโve been on it where itโs practically racing through Rainham. That also explains why I miss the 372 sometimes |
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Post by planesandtrains on Mar 31, 2018 20:38:08 GMT
Route 33 can be a very fun and fast journey from about 7:30-8pm onwards and throughout the night.
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Post by enviroPB on Mar 31, 2018 20:39:18 GMT
capitalomnibus I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the 41! It takes just over 20 minutes to do Archway- Tottenham Hale in the early morning duties. The 309 is very very tight late at night; take the last bus out of Canning Town and you clear most of the route & end up at Bethnal Green in 15 minutes!! Notable mentions are the 180, which I've taken late at night in Lewisham to try to catch the 108 I miss at Tunnel Avenue....but sometimes I stay on till Woolwich because the thrashing is so beastly!  It's also notable to state that some routes which have turned 24 hours at weekends have had their journeys 'fleshed out' to standardise the timetable for night running. Route 123 used to be a tight 44 minutes prior to the Night Tube; now it's 49 minutes and drivers struggle to run to time so periodically wait at stops to make up time. The 238N is another to suffer from fleshed out late night journeys. 20-23 minute post-midnight journeys have standardised into 27 minutes from 00:00- 05:30, and drivers try their darndest not to run early but always to no avail. 
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Post by john on Mar 31, 2018 20:58:24 GMT
As ibus put it so well last night, it's all thanks to the 174 ๐๐ ironically, that's not a route that's very tight at night, but can be of a morning. From experience, the first 287 is impossible to do on time. You get so heavily loaded that by the time you get to Barking, you should back on London Road ๐ 256....its known as the race track at Rainham. That should tell you everything about it!!! Get one person on board and you're late. 372 is a hard one, especially being a low frequency route. Sometimes it's impossible to keep to time. 277, you cannot make the times on this route. Not at the road limits in place anyway. Well not until the N277 times come in!! 248 on a Friday/Saturday night. Come to that, the 252 also. Great routes to drive, especially if it's a busy night out in General, but times aren't brilliant to cope with the demand 372 is really fast at the night, Iโve been on it where itโs practically racing through Rainham. That also explains why I miss the 372 sometimes I used to drive the last bus duty alot on my Rota (only 372 duty I did). You'd take over at Tesco and normally it'd be late in, so leave Tesco about 6/7 late. You've got shoppers on and you only got 5 mins stand time. You'd make it up going to Lakeside though lol |
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