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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2015 4:10:00 GMT
But to be really honest, I do kind of see a need for a direct bus route between wimbledon chase and kingston. K5 is wayyyyyy to lengthy and it takes 1 hour per bus.
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Post by Steve80 on Apr 21, 2015 5:26:40 GMT
I've not used the 152 but there are regular comments on here about how busy it is. Looking at the bus map it doesn't seem to go anywhere "major" although it serves two tube stations. I note also that it's put on over 1m pass jnys a year over 9 years. The numbers (usual caveats apply) suggest that it is very close to capacity now. Can some group regulars say what the major flows are on the route? Just interested to know what's driving the demand growth. Pollards Hill is a heavily residential area and the 152 is the only direct bus link from there via Eastfield into Mitcham Town Centre, which is where you get large volume of passengers travelling to and from. The 152 is also the only bus service (baring school bus 655) along western road, which is all residential between mitcham and colliers wood. Part of the problem with overcrowding is down to Abellio often putting shorter length buses on route, thus reducing overall route capacity... although that is sometimes counter-balanced with the odd double decker. At least some running numbers need to be with double deckers, particularly those that get the kids out of school in the afternoon. The 655 helps out but it's still not enough. Another factor is that the route suffers badly with traffic along high street colliers wood, merton high street and kingston road. Part of the problem there is that there's hardly any alternative shortcuts traffic can use as many side roads are a 'No Through Road'.... a scheme that was implemented in the late seventies in connection with accidents within residential roads, often involving school kids. The tram crossing signals at Merton Park is just as bad as when the level crossing gates use to be there (just like the ones still at Mitcham Eastfields). The 152 tends to be more busier within the Pollards Hill - Colliers Wood section...as well as from South Wimbledon to Raynes Park via Wimbledon Chase. The parallel 57, 131 and 200 somewhat helps out on the western end of the route. Yes, the quoted post from PVL371 is generally how I feel about the 152. I'm not sure about the mornings but during the late afternoon and evenings, a typical trip from Pollards Hill would see you picking up passengers around those estates in Pollards Hill but most get off at Rowan Road so they can get a choice of a 118 as well as the 60 and 255 towards Streatham. In addition, you do pick up more passengers heading towards Mitcham Eastfields and Mitcham itself. You get a decent load leaving Mitcham but most get off at the Asda store or continuing towards Colliers Wood and Merton High Street. You don't pick up much from there until you get to South Wimbledon Station where you can pick up around 10 more passengers and they get off anywhere along the route between there and Raynes Park. Some will stay on so they can get off at the Big Tesco store in New Malden (Shannon's Corner) and a few more will travel all the way to New Malden. Coming back from New Malden feels like a completely different route. You do pick up a fair bit at the first stop and a couple more along the way where some will alight at Raynes Park. Depending if you get there before the 163 then you are bound to pick up another 10-15 passengers where most will get off at the next few stops all the way to Wimbledon Chase where even more will come on. You don't really drop off much until you get to South Wimbledon where a fair bit will depart. At South Wimbledon, most of the time you don't pick up much there but its understandable as passengers would wait at Merton Bus Garage so they have a choice of the 152 or the 200 and if you get there before the 200 then the bus will get filled up. Even if the 200 is there people will get on the 152 as its more direct to Mitcham. Then the next stop is Colliers Wood which is the stop where your are guaranteed to have standees right upto the windscreen. Unfortunately, quite a few of the passengers will get off in two stops where the Tandem Centre is but depending on how busy the bus is then you probably won't let people on at this stop where many can be waiting. There has already been a few times when I have left passengers at this stop. At the stops along Western Road, you will be dropping off mostly and there will be room inside the bus but at the stop where the Asda store is and at Mitcham Town Centre bus stop you will pick up more. There could be another 15 odd passengers at the Mitcham Library stop which means you filled with plenty of passengers again possibly standing upto the windscreen again. The stop after Mitcham Library, you pick up a fair bit more but then its generally about dropping off passengers all the way to Pollards Hill (except Mitcham Eastfields Station - see below) although you can pick up quite a bit at the Northborough road bus stop if you get there before any of the other Pollards Hill bound buses (60/255/463). Even at Mitcham Eastfields you should be able to take all of the passengers especially as the 463 also serves this stop but with the train barrier constantly closing and traffic building up to such a point where buses could be delayed for upto 20 minutes, then don't be surprised if the Ibus team starts cutting short the buses there. Unfortunately, they keep doing this to an already packed 152 bus and trying to force all those passengers onto another 152 bus and this just doesn't work. Anyway, this is what I seem to encounter most of the time when I do the route. The traffic can be so bad especially in Wimbledon and the surrounding areas. Its no wonder why so many of the regular drivers have left the route and gone onto other routes. After a quick search, I have found other comments I made about the route which are in the links below... tangytango.proboards.com/post/255336/threadtangytango.proboards.com/post/268604/threadtangytango.proboards.com/post/266692/thread
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