Route H32 in Southall

[thesquirrels]

I note from the updates section of Robert Munster's site that route H32 is to receive a new temporary timetable to factor in delays around Western Road in Southall. A typical Sunday early afternoon departure from Southall Town Hall will be timed to take 43 minutes to cover the two miles to the shops on Convent Way Estate, up from 19 minutes in the old timetable. Daytime journeys during the rest of the week, and 7 days a week in the opposite direction, take 15-25 minutes.

I know from experience that traffic can be bad through Southall at all hours but what is causing this? And why is it only on Sundays?

[vjaska]

Feb 5, 2015 22:03:41 GMT thesquirrels said:

I note from the updates section of Robert Munster's site that route H32 is to receive a new temporary timetable to factor in delays around Western Road in Southall. A typical Sunday early afternoon departure from Southall Town Hall will be timed to take 43 minutes to cover the two miles to the shops on Convent Way Estate, up from 19 minutes in the old timetable. Daytime journeys during the rest of the week, and 7 days a week in the opposite direction, take 15-25 minutes.

I know from experience that traffic can be bad through Southall at all hours but what is causing this? And why is it only on Sundays?

I really hate Southall because of the awful traffic through there - I suspect the phasing of all the lights from Uxbridge Road down to Western Road play a part.

[Hassaan]

The new Costco store further down by Hayes Road and Southall Lane opened in September. There were new traffic lights added on Hayes Road as part of the access to it. It is the extra traffic to there that is causing the traffic right the way down Western Road. I know there was bad traffic there on Saturdays and Sundays already, although weekdays it had reduced in recent years for some reason. In 2012 they actually widened most of the bit of Hayes Road from Southall Lane to the Tesco, in that direction only, leaving out a tiny bit where it narrows to single lane again, which is just grass but probably private land so bought its own set of issues.

The traffic approaching Southall Station seems to have reduced in the last few months, even during the rush hours, after road layout changes:
The right-turn lane to Beaconsfield Road (used by the 427/607 diversions) was extended to where the bus lane ends by the Quality Foods store. There was always space to do this.
On the bridge, previously there had been two lanes for northbound traffic (one having a bus lane as well until a few years ago) and just the one lane for southbound, for the whole length of the bridge. That blocked the road when a southbound bus stopped, and the bus stop had to be closed for a while during the main Broadway roadworks to relieve the pressure. This was sorted out by switching the direction of the centre lane by where the bus stop is, giving a clear path for vehicles to get past a bus, although made traffic in the other direction very bad until the roadworks finished.