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Post by thelondonthing on Mar 24, 2020 11:54:37 GMT
You mentioned the East Sheen stand being close to a primary school, another one that is really close to a school is the Castelnau stand for routes 33,209 and 485. The buses park right next to the playing fields of ST Paul's School. (which are behind a very spikey fence), certainly - but nowhere near the main gate of the school. In fact, the entrance to St Paul's School from Lonsdale Road is very well insulated from nearby parked vehicles and passing traffic, with barriers on either side of the entryway, zig-zag markings and a zebra crossing, all providing a relatively safe environment for pedestrians. Personally, I think that's quite different to having buses parking and manoeuvring a few feet away from the main school gate - especially given that buses terminating at Castelnau aren't parking up or manoeuvring into stand anywhere near where children and parents are circulating in large numbers. |
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Post by george on Mar 24, 2020 12:03:18 GMT
You mentioned the East Sheen stand being close to a primary school, another one that is really close to a school is the Castelnau stand for routes 33,209 and 485. The buses park right next to the playing fields of ST Paul's School. (which are behind a very spikey fence), certainly - but nowhere near the main gate of the school. In fact, the entrance to St Paul's School from Lonsdale Road is very well insulated from nearby parked vehicles and passing traffic, with barriers on either side of the entryway, zig-zag markings and a zebra crossing, all providing a relatively safe environment for pedestrians. Personally, I think that's quite different to having buses parking and manoeuvring a few feet away from the main school gate - especially given that buses terminating at Castelnau aren't parking up or manoeuvring into stand anywhere near where children and parents are circulating in large numbers. Appreciate that. Shouldn't have mentioned it. |
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Mar 24, 2020 12:11:19 GMT
Not one in a bad place to say, but in terms of bus station stands Stratford has to be up there for the worst. The U turn buses have to make into the stands facing East can often be blocked if the stand is overflowing, which is pretty much all the time. It's always leading to a huge blockage of the bus station, especially during the peaks as when this happens it blocks buses from leaving too.
The Ilford Hill one isn't in the best location either, it again constantly has a capacity issue and once it's at capacity any additional buses will not be able to complete the turn and in turn will block the road.
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Post by thelondonthing on Mar 24, 2020 12:33:50 GMT
Not one in a bad place to say, but in terms of bus station stands Stratford has to be up there for the worst. The U turn buses have to make into the stands facing East can often be blocked if the stand is overflowing, which is pretty much all the time. It's always leading to a huge blockage of the bus station, especially during the peaks as when this happens it blocks buses from leaving too. The Ilford Hill one isn't in the best location either, it again constantly has a capacity issue and once it's at capacity any additional buses will not be able to complete the turn and in turn will block the road. Interesting... I had no idea that such problems existed at Stratford. I'm not very familiar with the Stratford terminal (I've only passed through it a handful of times), but I had always been under the impression that it was hailed as a paragon of bus station design, so it's definitely eye-opening to hear of such issues there. Thank you for sharing that  There are often issues where TfL buses are required to make a U-turn - usually because of space constraints. Another example that springs to mind is West Drayton Station, where a combination of terminating services, and buses serving multiple through-stops within the station complex, can often result in a lengthy queue of buses (often including buses going in opposite directions!). |
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Post by busoccultation on Mar 24, 2020 12:50:57 GMT
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Post by galwhv69 on Mar 24, 2020 12:54:30 GMT
Think that one got changed to accomodate more buses (extra space from the direction of the roundabout) |
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djs76
Conductor
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Post by djs76 on Mar 24, 2020 13:21:46 GMT
What about the 271 at Highgate Village? Not too familiar with it myself but have seen several mentions over the layout and space - or lack of it.
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Post by foxhat on Mar 24, 2020 13:55:42 GMT
What about the 271 at Highgate Village? Not too familiar with it myself but have seen several mentions over the layout and space - or lack of it. It's a very tight stand that is parallel to the pick up/drop off stop. Goes back to the Trolleybus era |
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 24, 2020 14:00:27 GMT
What about the 271 at Highgate Village? Not too familiar with it myself but have seen several mentions over the layout and space - or lack of it. It's a current Bete Noire - it is unsuited to the size of modern buses and doesn't meet today's accessibility requirements for alighting and boarding passengers - but TfL is struggling to come up with an alternative location that is acceptable to the local community. Being on the boundary of two London Boroughs doesn't help matters either. The stand came into being in the late 1930s, when the 611 trolleybus replaced the 11 tram - and it was just as much a headache then trying to find a suitable site. With a tram the driver just changed ends, the conductor flipped the seat backs over - and off it went. Trolleybuses had to have a minimum 30' turning circle, but all the proposed new terminal arrangements would have meant passing Highgate School and the school objected, along with The Metropolitan Borough of Hornsey in which the school was situated, and Middlesex County Council. After lengthy discussions the solution that was finally settled on was the current site, which was just inside the County of London (so sidestepping the objections) and involved expensive compulsory purchase and demolition of property. The delay in settling the issue and constructing the stand meant that the 11 was the last North London tram route to convert to trolleybus, in December 1939 - after that only the three Kingsway Subway tram routes remained in the area. |
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Post by greenboy on Mar 24, 2020 14:17:53 GMT
What about the 271 at Highgate Village? Not too familiar with it myself but have seen several mentions over the layout and space - or lack of it. I think basically it's ok for one bus but if another bus arrives passengers have to get off and on away from the kerb and the bus juts out slightly from the stand. |
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 24, 2020 14:22:41 GMT
What about the 271 at Highgate Village? Not too familiar with it myself but have seen several mentions over the layout and space - or lack of it. I think basically it's ok for one bus but if another bus arrives passengers have to get off and on away from the kerb and the bus juts out slightly from the stand. Even with just one bus, the layout of the road and stand makes it tricky to line up to the kerb in such a way that the ramp can be deployed at the middle door. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2020 14:38:09 GMT
The 237 stand at Hounslow Heath, I hate that stand
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Post by LK65EBO on Mar 24, 2020 14:43:18 GMT
The 237 stand at Hounslow Heath, I hate that stand Hard to overtake buses. Feel sorry for the 423 drivers. |
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Post by rif153 on Mar 24, 2020 16:06:59 GMT
The Brook Green stand at Hammersmith often overflows when an avalanche of rail replacement buses descends on it - makes it very difficult for cars to pass buses as the road is narrow and buses are often badly parked
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Post by riverside on Mar 24, 2020 16:07:02 GMT
Slightly broadening the topic the long closed Riverside Garage on the Hammersmith gyratory could cause problems. The stands within the garage for terminating buses on the 27, 73, 74b and 290 did not cause a problem. Difficulties arose with the peak evening run in. The garage wash facility was situated literally ON the corner of Talgarth Road and Queen Caroline Street. To access the garage at this time buses including 30ft RMLs (I know that is not long nowadays, but it was then), had to be situated in the middle lane of the gyratory ready to do what was about a 45 degree turn. Drivers would have to slide open their cab doors and frantically wave their arms to stop traffic undertaking on the island side of the gyratory.
The inside staff worked very hard to make sure buses were moved up the line as quickly as possible, but on occasions a bus would be sticking slightly out into the traffic if a driver miscalculated the space left. Pedestrians would be forced to wait for the bus to be moved up or have to take their life into their hands and walk out into the contiuous evening peak traffic of Hammersmith Broadway. If a Riverside crew was unlucky they might have to do 4 laps of the gyratory before they could access the washes. An 11 for instance might find the entrance full and proceed around the Broadway to find the buses in the same place. On the second lap a 266 might have accessed the gyratory from Beadon Road and so be ahead of the 11 to gain the next free space. On the 3rd lap a 74b from Fulham Palace Road might gain pole position and so jump the queue.
Needless to say as these buses were empty of passengers they did not have to access the bus station at Butterwick but stayed with the general traffic. If you happened to be waiting for a bus at Butterwick the constant revolutions of the same bus over a short period of time provided a bit of entertainment. Often the driver would quickly pull up on the offside of the gyratory so that the conductor could at least get back to the output to begin to count their takings.
Linking to the modern day like most people on here I could not believe that TfL had the nerve to withdraw the 10. During the 1960s/70s and 80s if you had been waiting at Butterwick in the evening peak you would also have witnessed processions of 73s(the 10s predecessor),disgorging full loads of passengers. The Tottenham crews were certainly hardworked. Having struggled from Stoke Newington or Kings Cross through Oxford Street to Hammersmith Broadway, they would usually be late and often finishing their shift on return. Once all the passengers had alighted at Butterwick, the driver used to look back into the bus and check that the conductor did not need the toilet and head straight round the gyratory back to Tottenham Garage without accessing the stand within Riverside Garage. The Tottenham crews certainly earned their money. I think I read somewhere that at this time during the week Tottenham had 96 duties on the 73.
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