Which route has become a shadow of its former self

[Deleted]

The once Optare-operated C2 has blossomed into a high frequency double deck 24-hour route while maintaining its original routeing.
Has any route significantly deteriorated from what it once was?
Not thinking about instances of a re-assigned number - example the 232 originally Hounslow Bus Station-Yeading/Northolt but now Turnpike Lane Station-Brent Cross

[vjaska]

Jan 26, 2016 13:31:30 GMT slimjim said:

The once Optare-operated C2 has blossomed into a high frequency double deck 24-hour route while maintaining its original routeing.
Has any route significantly deteriorated from what it once was?
Not thinking about instances of a re-assigned number - example the 232 originally Hounslow Bus Station-Yeading/Northolt but now Turnpike Lane Station-Brent Cross

35 used to run Chingford to Clapham Common but now runs Shoreditch to Clapham Junction
68 used to run Hampstead Heath to South Croydon (in sections but probably through running on Sundays) but now runs Euston to West Norwood
109 used to run Trafalgar Square to Purley in two overlapping sections Monday to Saturday and right through on Sundays but now runs Brixton to Croydon

[Green Kitten]

The 39... Once a central London route, now a tiddly little round the houses link using single deckers...

[Deleted]

Still miss the old 469, which used to run Queen Elizabeth Hosp to Bexleyheath via Erith but has since been cut back to Erith

[sid]

The 229, it was Orpington to Woolwich then cut back to Bexleyheath Garage in 1977 with a new OPO 269 between Woolwich and Sidcup. Subsequent changes over the years have resulted in the two routes more or less swapping ends.

[Deleted]

290 - Previously one could enjoy a brilliant ride on fast roads on a Metrobus like the superb M999 from Stanies all the way to Hammersmith . Now reduced to darts only as far as Twickenham.

N97 - Shortened at Hammersmith when previously one could get as far as Heathrow or for a short while Sunbury Village

[Eastlondoner62]

Route 15: Once ran from East Ham to Paddington but now has faced so many unecesary cut backs and only makes it as far Central as Trafalgar Square and as Far East as Blackwall.

[twobellstogo]

Jan 26, 2016 15:24:29 GMT sid said:

The 229, it was Orpington to Woolwich then cut back to Bexleyheath Garage in 1977 with a new OPO 269 between Woolwich and Sidcup. Subsequent changes over the years have resulted in the two routes more or less swapping ends.

229 is worthy of a book all on its own!
Started as a Sidcup local service, then went to Orpington, then to Woolwich when the trolleybuses went. Then it shrunk back to Erith/Bexleyheath, but got extended at the other end to Farnborough. Then Roundabout put paid to the Orpington end and it reached its nadir : just Erith/Bexleyheath to Foots Cray. Subsequently it has of course been re routed to Sidcup Queen Mary's, and re-extended over much of its old stomping ground to Abbey Wood, then on to Thamesmead.
So I don't think the 229 is a shadow of its former self now, but you could certainly say it was in the late 80s/early 90s,

[wivenswold]

The 5 which ran from Becontree Heath to Waterloo. Still a very busy and long route though but now the only single digit route that doesn't enter inner London.

[snoggle]

Jan 26, 2016 13:31:30 GMT slimjim said:

The once Optare-operated C2 has blossomed into a high frequency double deck 24-hour route while maintaining its original routeing.
Has any route significantly deteriorated from what it once was?
Not thinking about instances of a re-assigned number - example the 232 originally Hounslow Bus Station-Yeading/Northolt but now Turnpike Lane Station-Brent Cross

It is, of course, worth remembering that the C2 was previously covered by 3 and 53 running north of Oxford Circus to Camden Town and Parliament Hill Fields. I'm also far from clear how a route that was high frequency with minibuses and remains high frequency with double deckers *and* which runs to Victoria can begin to be termed a "shadow of its former self". All that happened was trunk routes were curtailed at Oxo, a minibus service was trialled and then had to be progressively upgraded multiple times because of severe overcrowding. I suspect that the shorter route helped with reliability relative to waiting for buses to trek through from South London. The high frequencies will also have generated some trips but people don't like the minibuses step height and lack of space.


You even get a ride on the C2 on this video with a nice short of the Eastern National X51 coming down Albany Street. There's also a shot where Barry Le Jeune, from LT's Customer Complaints department, is on the bus too.

Customer feedback shown on this clip.

[ServerKing]

The 274 used to be a double decker route based in Ealing

And IIRC the 37 used to run from Peckham to Hounslow? now split between 37, 337, H37

I think www.londonbusroutes.net has more info on changes to routes down the years

[snoggle]

I'd argue that routes like the 1, 172, 176, 141 and 199 which all used to cross central central or extend a long way south (e.g to Bromley) are those which are former shadows of their former selves. Many of these routes provided unique links or turns across Central London but they've been killed off and people are forced to change or use the tube. Other places are devoid of easy links to Central London whereas others retain them. The irony with several of these losses is that development in recent years would generate vast numbers of passengers for the routes and links that are long gone. Unfortunately LT couldn't keep them going after the 1980s.

[danorak]

Jan 26, 2016 14:35:28 GMT Green Kitten said:

The 39... Once a central London route, now a tiddly little round the houses link using single deckers...

Think this is the winner. Other routes I would have nominated have at least partially grown back - for example the 170, which was reduced to Clapham to Roehampton at one point but now reaches Victoria (and coincidentially now covers part of the old 39!).

[Deleted]

312- Used to be a trunk route from Peckham to South Croydon until it switched with the 197 which was also a route of it's shadow self formerly from Norwood Junction to Caterham know just a round the corner route.

A majority of routes can be used especially the current central London trunk routes

[John tuthill]

Jan 26, 2016 18:32:34 GMT danorak said:

Jan 26, 2016 14:35:28 GMT Green Kitten said:

The 39... Once a central London route, now a tiddly little round the houses link using single deckers...

Think this is the winner. Other routes I would have nominated have at least partially grown back - for example the 170, which was reduced to Clapham to Roehampton at one point but now reaches Victoria (and coincidentially now covers part of the old 39!).

Remember the 170 used to go all the way to Hackney