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Post by busman on May 17, 2024 9:46:50 GMT
I saw a bus go up Knee Hill a few days ago - I think it was Monday afternoon around 4:30. I believe it was an out of service 601 running dead back to the garage as it was a nice shiny Evoseti. Does anyone know if Knee Hill (Between the roundabout and Woolwich Road / Bostal Hill) is suitable for buses as TfL and Stagecoach seemed pretty adamant that this road is not to be used as I believe there is overgrown trees / foliage. I took a bus on a dead run via New Road (which runs parallel to Knee Hill / SL3 and 301 route) the other day and I can't say that's much better as there were branches banging into the top of the bus. Surely if a bit of tree pruning was to be done and a risk assessment carried out on Knee Hill, the SL3 could be rerouted and simplified so it goes straight ahead from Abbey Wood Station stop. This would save a few minutes for every trip and surely make the express service more "express". Whilst New Road is quite congested and a pain if a bus is coming the other way - similar to Picardy Road nearby - it is nothing compared to Knee Hill. It is not just a few branches of overhang, the road is very narrow along some of the bends and there is no pavement either side of the road. Two or more buses meeting on one of these bends - or even a bus meeting other traffic - would be difficult. At busy times there is standing traffic on Knee Hill so it would be incredibly problematic for longer vehicles to run up and down there. When meeting a larger vehicle on that stretch in my car I’ve had to mount the kerb and use the few cm of verge to squeeze past.
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Post by busman on May 16, 2024 18:18:03 GMT
Now that the 310 has been added to the tender schedule, I wonder what routing it will take between Golders Green and Stamford Hill? As others have suggested, Golders Green Station is rammed for stand space. I can think of two options: 1. Remove drop off/parking spaces on the H2/H3 stand and convert to stand space for the 310. The first stop for the 310 will be GJ outside Hillsong Church sharing a common stop with the 210 OR 2. Extend to Hendon Brent Green, which has a free stand available. Pros: will serve a larger catchment of the Jewish community and also benefits all passengers by providing new bus links from Hendon beyond Golders Green. Cons: loss of stand space for existing routes to be curtailed. What route will the 310 follow to Stamford Hill? Stoke Newington also has a large Jewish community, so perhaps a routing via Stoke Newington would be beneficial? The most obvious route seems to be for buses to follow route 210 to Archway then continue on to Holloway then up to Finsbury Park and via Seven Sisters Road to Stamford Hill. That would provide some handy around the corner links, but maybe a little too duplicative of the 210? I think the new route shouldn't just be a connection for the Jewish community but an opportunity to provide links for the rest of the general public to utilise as well and within that in mind, Totally agree, but this was an election promise by Sadiq Khan to address safety concerns among the Jewish community and to remove the need to change buses between the 210 and the 253/254 and has come about following lobbying by that community. www.thejc.com/news/community/sadiq-khan-london-mayor-election-tfl-bus-pledge-golders-green-stamford-hill-direct-link-hsptglok
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Post by busman on May 16, 2024 14:52:11 GMT
Now that the 310 has been added to the tender schedule, I wonder what routing it will take between Golders Green and Stamford Hill?
As others have suggested, Golders Green Station is rammed for stand space. I can think of two options:
1. Remove drop off/parking spaces on the H2/H3 stand and convert to stand space for the 310. The first stop for the 310 will be GJ outside Hillsong Church sharing a common stop with the 210
OR
2. Extend to Hendon Brent Green, which has a free stand available. Pros: will serve a larger catchment of the Jewish community and also benefits all passengers by providing new bus links from Hendon beyond Golders Green. Cons: loss of stand space for existing routes to be curtailed.
What route will the 310 follow to Stamford Hill? Stoke Newington also has a large Jewish community, so perhaps a routing via Stoke Newington would be beneficial?
The most obvious route seems to be for buses to follow route 210 to Archway then continue on to Holloway then up to Finsbury Park and via Seven Sisters Road to Stamford Hill. That would provide some handy around the corner links, but maybe a little too duplicative of the 210?
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Post by busman on May 16, 2024 11:06:56 GMT
These closures would have been reviewed and approved beforehand by iSquared as part of the due diligence process. DB would not do anything at this stage that would jeopardise the sale of a unit they have long wanted to dispose of. It’s a shame Arriva UK Bus ops has been run into the ground by the outgoing owners. Decreased competition is not healthy, but hopefully this presents opportunities for new entrants in the market and also for smaller operators to expand. Also new employment opportunities for Arriva workers. Market conditions are tough though and local council budgets are shot to pieces….time will tell what happens.
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Post by busman on Apr 30, 2024 16:08:50 GMT
The bottom line is London does not feel as safe as it once did. Khan is very quick to virtue signal and appeal to the liberal left, but I just wish he would campaign and act strongly to make London safe and help our police to get tougher on crime and the causes of crime as passionately as he champions air pollution. Awful mayor, with completely wrong priorities.
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Post by busman on Apr 30, 2024 8:51:09 GMT
I wonder how many people who previously voted for Khan will simply stay at home. People who want Khan gone will be strongly motivated to vote. I expect it will be close. I hope Khan is gone, but at the end of the day London will get the leader the majority chooses.
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Post by busman on Apr 25, 2024 14:50:47 GMT
The important bit is how competent the governance and management will be. Public sector or private sector…as long as buses are frequent, reliable, clean etc then from a passenger perspective it is all good. What does TfL think it can do better than the private sector bus operators? What cost benefits will be delivered by a conversion to public sector ownership?
From a taxpayer perspective, if London buses are brought into public ownership then it has to be run excellently as a professional company with an aim to generate a surplus each year to reinvest in bus services and infrastructure. It should be financed without any additional burden on local taxes. If anything taxes should reduce as the share of profits due to the private operators is retained by TfL. There should be adequate protections in place to protect services from financial mismanagement in other public sector departments unrelated to transport or from being radically changed unilaterally by any mayor.
Until I see a concrete plan for how London’s buses will be run as a successful public sector service with transparency into the financial projections of making such a change, I think they should remain privatised under the current system.
Would be interested to hear what employees of bus operators think of this latest political campaigning sound bite.
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Post by busman on Apr 17, 2024 15:15:20 GMT
Read the topic of the thread. If the subjective responses annoy you so much, stay off it. Also thank you for repeating the point I acknowledged in my post about the use case for the route 👍 Yes, a horrible convoluted route on the map, and must be awful to drive and one e2e that I couldn't face when I wanted to travel from Woolwich to Blackheath. However, and as you acknowledge useful, may be even a life-line for local people living on roads solely by the route. As someone whose local bus stop is served by just one route, but that's blessed with 5bph I'm always happy to 'bang a drum' for routes on roads solely served by one route. Some 2023 pax numbers for the 'unique' sections served by the 386: 1) Vanbrugh Hill / Westcombe Park Road 114k 2) The loop in Kidbrooke off / returning to Shooter's Hill Road 126k 3) Woolwich Common / Herbert Road 131k Total PAX on 386 1.54m so the numbers serving 'unique' roads represent around 25%, and assuming most if not all return home on a 386 from Greenwich, Woolwich, Blackheath, QEH than you can pretty much double this number The route also has some lovely bus stop names, including: Ha Ha Road Greenwich Heights Begbie Road Ulundi Road Zangwill Road Corelli College Old Royal Military Academy Wat Tyler Road I totally bang the drum for hyper local routes. For many years until last week I lived next to the 469 LOR on a section that was uniquely served. Elderly neighbours, people with heavy shopping, me and my own preferences to travel door to door to nearby meaningful destinations… trust me, I get it. I really do. However, again I refer back to the title of the thread and my post. I said the 386 was annoying. Annoying does not mean the same as useless. Whether a route is annoying or not is entirely personal and completely subjective. Throw out all the stats you like on ridership levels to prove the usefulness of the 386. I wasn’t saying the route is useless or advocating to change it in any way.
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Post by busman on Apr 17, 2024 14:01:03 GMT
The 386 is really annoying with the dizzy routing, small roads and speed humps. Woolwich to Blackheath via 90% of the borough of Greenwich. I guess it provides useful links to people living on roads solely served by the 386, but other than that….it’s actually quicker to walk from Hare Street or the Royal Standard to Blackheath Royal Parade than to take the 386! On a bad day I think I could outwalk it between QE Hospital and Royal Parade too. That’s how crazy the routing is. With due respect - unless a traveller was supremely unaware, they would use the 54 to get from Hare Street or Royal Standard to get to Blackheath Royal Parade. The 386 is not designed for that kind of journey. "I guess it provides useful links to people living on roads solely served by the 386" - yes, that's what it is for. If the route annoys you so much, stay off it. Read the topic of the thread. If the subjective responses annoy you so much, stay off it. Also thank you for repeating the point I acknowledged in my post about the use case for the route 👍
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Post by busman on Apr 17, 2024 13:43:47 GMT
The 386 is really annoying with the dizzy routing, small roads and speed humps. Woolwich to Blackheath via 90% of the borough of Greenwich. I guess it provides useful links to people living on roads solely served by the 386, but other than that….it’s actually quicker to walk from Hare Street or the Royal Standard to Blackheath Royal Parade than to take the 386! On a bad day I think I could outwalk it between QE Hospital and Royal Parade too. That’s how crazy the routing is.
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Post by busman on Apr 15, 2024 9:56:07 GMT
Feels like the Tories really threw away this election. I suspect any strong candidates decided to sit this one out as they feared backlash against the abysmal performance of the government. Khan really does not deserve another term. The most ineffective MoL we have had since powers were devolved and his virtue signalling nonsense really shows his priorities are not in the right place.
Bojo doesn’t seem so bad in comparison.
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Post by busman on Apr 5, 2024 22:10:49 GMT
The 92 being converted to single decker in the 90’s. Horrible times. Also around the same time the 105 being run by London & Country from Addlestone bus garage (or somewhere nearby). Probably the worst breakdown in service I’ve experienced. The first week of operations was a nightmare. You could be waiting for an hour in Greenford before a single bus appeared.
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Post by busman on Apr 5, 2024 16:58:40 GMT
I’m moving at the start of next week. I’m parting company with many items including some old bus maps. They are all in *excellent* condition and the whole lot is available for £10 as long as they go to a good home to someone who will appreciate them. The local maps have details of frequencies and operators of each route. There is also a couple of rogue Nottingham items in the mix too.
If you’re interested and can collect this weekend, please PM me. I’m based a short bus hop away from Woolwich DLR/Lizzie Line/South Eastern.
Maps are as follows: Sutton area – November 1994 Kingston/New Malden/Surbiton – 1993 Barnet area – November 1994 Kilburn area – September 1994 Ealing/Acton/Greenford/Southall – 1992/3 Harrow area – October 1994 Kingston area – September 1994 Barnet/Finchley/Golders Green – 1992 Richmond area – May 1994 Croydon/Thornton Heath/Purley – 1992 Tottenham/Stoke Newington/Stamford Hill/Finsbury Park – 1993 Wood Green/Hornsey/Palmers Green – 1993 Peckham area – April 1995 Uxbridge area – April 1994 Enfield/Edmonton/Southgate – 1992 Wood Green area – April 1995 Wembley area – July 1994 (x2) Bromley/Orpington/Beckenham – 1992 Wimbledon/Tooting/Mitcham – 1992 Ealing area – July 1994 Islington area – October 1994 The All London bus guide – January 1994, April 1994, August 1994 (x2) North West London bus guide – July 2001 South West London’s Night Buses – Leaflet May 1995 Nottingham City Centre Map – 1997 South Notts Bus Leaflet & Timetable – 1, 1X and 507
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Post by busman on Mar 25, 2024 10:39:45 GMT
N507 Running between Holborn and Heathrow Terminal 5. Via: High Holborn Route N207 to Hayes By-Pass Uxbridge Road Hayes The Grapes Coldharbour Lane Route N140 to Heathrow Central Route N9 to Heathrow Terminal 5 Purpose: To link Ealing with Heathrow at night. I was looking at the Greater London maps and saw route called N40 and I googled it it's route operated by National Express and it runs at night and I wondered what if TfL operated a route like that and also made think why TfL done a routing like this. It's basically renumbering of the N207 workings between Holborn and Hayes By-Pass. Reminiscent of the predecessor of the N207, the N89. It had odd occasional workings to Uxbridge via Heathrow Airport. Buses would turn left at Southall Town Hall and run via Brent Road, into Heathrow and then up to Uxbridge via West Drayton. I think all Heathrow journeys (I think it was like 1 or 2 journeys on Sunday around 5am) used to run through to Uxbridge. Additional journeys used to terminate at Southall Brent Road.
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Post by busman on Mar 23, 2024 21:35:08 GMT
469 back to Stagecoach
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