Changes to Richmond area buses from 12 Dec 2020

[thelondonthing]

More than two years after originally launching its consultation, and 19 months later than intended, TfL has announced that a range of changes to bus services in and around the Richmond area will come into effect on 12 December 2020. On the same date, changes to several other routes around south west London will also be introduced.

TfL's original plans were, of course, disrupted by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, leading to a considerable delay in publishing the results of the consultation. As a result, some of the proposals were subsequently revised in June 2020, and it is those revisions that will come into effect next month.

A brief summary of the Richmond area changes:

• Route 110 will no longer serve Twickenham town centre and West Middlesex Hospital. It will be diverted at Powder Mill Lane to run via Percy Road, Whitton, Warren Road, Twickenham Stadium, St Margarets Station and Richmond Bridge to Richmond town centre, and will then continue to Hammersmith Bridge Bus Station via the current route 391. (earlier error corrected)
• The new route 110 will run every 15 minutes Mon-Sat daytimes, and every 20 minutes Mon-Sat evenings. On Sundays, buses will run every 30 mins early morning; every 15 mins daytime; and every 20 mins evening.
• Route 391 will be withdrawn.
• Route H22 will be withdrawn between Twickenham town centre and Richmond. It will be diverted in Twickenham to serve West Middlesex Hospital, replacing the 110 over this section.
• Route H37 gets a new timetable with a reduction in frequency at all times. "On Monday to Friday the H37 will run every 7-8 minutes during the AM peak, midday and PM peak period and every 12 minutes in the evening. The Saturday service will be every 7-8 minutes during the day and 12 minutes in the evening. Sundays will see buses running every 20-30 minutes in the early morning then every 10 minutes during the daytime and 12 minutes in the evening."
• Route 490 gets a new timetable with extra journeys in the morning peaks on weekdays.
• Route 493 will be withdrawn between Richmond town centre and its Manor Road terminus. It will now terminate at Richmond bus station. The rest of the route remains unchanged, and there will be no change to the frequency of service.
• Route R70 will lose its temporary timetable with frequency restored to every 10 minutes during weekday afternoon peaks.

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:

"The merged route would have buses running every 15 minutes rather than every 20 minutes. Existing route 110 passengers using the route between Hounslow and Whitton would receive a frequency increase. It would run via A316 Chertsey Road between Twickenham Stadium and St. Margaret’s, a 1.2 kilometre section of road not currently regularly served by buses. New stops are proposed providing new links to local Richmond and Whitton town centres."

The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:

"Buses will run non-stop between Twickenham Stadium and St Margarets Station in both directions."

This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

One further detail not highlighted in today's announcement, but which was stated in the consultation report: TfL says that it "will operate a special service on match days as we currently do with route 281". However, details of those arrangements remain unclear.

---

Also on 12 December, the temporary timetables on route 117 and route 235 will be removed, restoring their frequencies; and Metroline will take over operation of route 306.

---

Full details of the changes have been published on the TfL Bus Changes page, but since the contents of that page are not permanent, I thought it would be helpful to summarise the full list of changes above for future reference.

[wirewiper]

Nov 20, 2020 12:31:42 GMT thelondonthing said:

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:

"The merged route would have buses running every 15 minutes rather than every 20 minutes. Existing route 110 passengers using the route between Hounslow and Whitton would receive a frequency increase. It would run via A316 Chertsey Road between Twickenham Stadium and St. Margaret’s, a 1.2 kilometre section of road not currently regularly served by buses. New stops are proposed providing new links to local Richmond and Whitton town centres."

The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:

"Buses will run non-stop between Twickenham Stadium and St Margarets Station in both directions."

This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

<snip>

It could be that TfL did not get permission for the proposed new bus stops along the A316.  

[cc2005]

Will the new 110 be operated from V or AV? And what would the TVR for the route be to maintain a 15 min frequency?

[misty]

I thought the 391 went to Hammersmith bus station and not Hammersmith bridge or am i out of date thinking this

[wirewiper]

Nov 20, 2020 13:24:50 GMT misty said:

I thought the 391 went to Hammersmith bus station and not Hammersmith bridge or am i out of date thinking this

That was a typo - the TfL Bus Changes page states (correctly) "then via the current 391 to Hammersmith Bus Station."

[thelondonthing]

Nov 20, 2020 13:24:50 GMT misty said:

I thought the 391 went to Hammersmith bus station and not Hammersmith bridge or am i out of date thinking this

The original plan was to merge the 110 and 419 (which did cross Hammersmith Bridge). The closure of the bridge, and the 419's long-term extension to Roehampton, meant that this was no longer feasible.

Rather than abandon the plan entirely, TfL revised its proposals to merge the 110 with the 391 instead. (And you're right that the 391 does go to Hammersmith Bus Station, and has never crossed Hammersmith Bridge. I've corrected that part of the original post - thanks for pointing it out.)

[thelondonthing]

Nov 20, 2020 13:08:18 GMT wirewiper said:

Nov 20, 2020 12:31:42 GMT thelondonthing said:

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:
The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:
This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

<snip>

It could be that TfL did not get permission for the proposed new bus stops along the A316.  

I think that's the only reasonable explanation.

It's worth bearing in mind that it would be impractical to simply place bus stops on the main roadway; the A316 is a dual carriageway and a major arterial road that gets heavily clogged with traffic (at least, in non-coronavirus conditions). It would be undesirable to have buses stopping on the roadway and holding up traffic further, which means that bay-type stopping arrangements would be preferable - indeed, the stops used by the 290 further down the A316 (where it's a triple carriageway) use stopping bays off the main roadway for this very reason.

Perhaps coronavirus restrictions have made it impractical to install stopping bays for the 110 in a reasonable amount of time, and rather than delay the implementation further, they intend to install those stops at a later date. If that is the case, it seems odd that no mention was made of those plans, given that the introduction of those stops - and the new links they would offer on roads not previously served by buses - was a key part of the proposals.

[vjaska]

Nov 20, 2020 12:31:42 GMT thelondonthing said:

More than two years after originally launching its consultation, and 19 months later than intended, TfL has announced that a range of changes to bus services in and around the Richmond area will come into effect on 12 December 2020. On the same date, changes to several other routes around south west London will also be introduced.

TfL's original plans were, of course, disrupted by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, leading to a considerable delay in publishing the results of the consultation. As a result, some of the proposals were subsequently revised in June 2020, and it is those revisions that will come into effect next month.

A brief summary of the Richmond area changes:

• Route 110 will no longer serve Twickenham town centre and West Middlesex Hospital. It will be diverted at Powder Mill Lane to run via Percy Road, Whitton, Warren Road, Twickenham Stadium, St Margarets Station and Richmond Bridge to Richmond town centre, and will then continue to Hammersmith Bridge Bus Station via the current route 391. (earlier error corrected)
• The new route 110 will run every 15 minutes Mon-Sat daytimes, and every 20 minutes Mon-Sat evenings. On Sundays, buses will run every 30 mins early morning; every 15 mins daytime; and every 20 mins evening.
• Route 391 will be withdrawn.
• Route H22 will be withdrawn between Twickenham town centre and Richmond. It will be diverted in Twickenham to serve West Middlesex Hospital, replacing the 110 over this section.
• Route H37 gets a new timetable with a reduction in frequency at all times. "On Monday to Friday the H37 will run every 7-8 minutes during the AM peak, midday and PM peak period and every 12 minutes in the evening. The Saturday service will be every 7-8 minutes during the day and 12 minutes in the evening. Sundays will see buses running every 20-30 minutes in the early morning then every 10 minutes during the daytime and 12 minutes in the evening."
• Route 490 gets a new timetable with extra journeys in the morning peaks on weekdays.
• Route 493 will be withdrawn between Richmond town centre and its Manor Road terminus. It will now terminate at Richmond bus station. The rest of the route remains unchanged, and there will be no change to the frequency of service.
• Route R70 will lose its temporary timetable with frequency restored to every 10 minutes during weekday afternoon peaks.

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:

"The merged route would have buses running every 15 minutes rather than every 20 minutes. Existing route 110 passengers using the route between Hounslow and Whitton would receive a frequency increase. It would run via A316 Chertsey Road between Twickenham Stadium and St. Margaret’s, a 1.2 kilometre section of road not currently regularly served by buses. New stops are proposed providing new links to local Richmond and Whitton town centres."

The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:

"Buses will run non-stop between Twickenham Stadium and St Margarets Station in both directions."

This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

One further detail not highlighted in today's announcement, but which was stated in the consultation report: TfL says that it "will operate a special service on match days as we currently do with route 281". However, details of those arrangements remain unclear.

---

Also on 12 December, the temporary timetables on route 117 and route 235 will be removed, restoring their frequencies; and Metroline will take over operation of route 306.

---

Full details of the changes have been published on the TfL Bus Changes page, but since the contents of that page are not permanent, I thought it would be helpful to summarise the full list of changes above for future reference.

It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to swap the 490 & R70 around to allow the former to accommodate double deckers by leaving the R70 at Pools on the Park with the 490 going to Manor Circus instead

[redbus]

Nov 20, 2020 13:55:39 GMT thelondonthing said:

Nov 20, 2020 13:08:18 GMT wirewiper said:

It could be that TfL did not get permission for the proposed new bus stops along the A316.  

I think that's the only reasonable explanation.

It's worth bearing in mind that it would be impractical to simply place bus stops on the main roadway; the A316 is a dual carriageway and a major arterial road that gets heavily clogged with traffic (at least, in non-coronavirus conditions). It would be undesirable to have buses stopping on the roadway and holding up traffic further, which means that bay-type stopping arrangements would be preferable - indeed, the stops used by the 290 further down the A316 (where it's a triple carriageway) use stopping bays off the main roadway for this very reason.

Perhaps coronavirus restrictions have made it impractical to install stopping bays for the 110 in a reasonable amount of time, and rather than delay the implementation further, they intend to install those stops at a later date. If that is the case, it seems odd that no mention was made of those plans, given that the introduction of those stops - and the new links they would offer on roads not previously served by buses - was a key part of the proposals.

Whilst this is a perfectly reasonable explanation, it does beg the question what were TfL thinking when suggesting that buses would stop in the consultation? Surely there would or should be aware of such issues of siting bus stops on the A316 and would have known if this were possible / sensible prior to the consuttation?

[evergreenadam]

Nov 20, 2020 14:43:53 GMT redbus said:

Nov 20, 2020 13:55:39 GMT thelondonthing said:

I think that's the only reasonable explanation.

It's worth bearing in mind that it would be impractical to simply place bus stops on the main roadway; the A316 is a dual carriageway and a major arterial road that gets heavily clogged with traffic (at least, in non-coronavirus conditions). It would be undesirable to have buses stopping on the roadway and holding up traffic further, which means that bay-type stopping arrangements would be preferable - indeed, the stops used by the 290 further down the A316 (where it's a triple carriageway) use stopping bays off the main roadway for this very reason.

Perhaps coronavirus restrictions have made it impractical to install stopping bays for the 110 in a reasonable amount of time, and rather than delay the implementation further, they intend to install those stops at a later date. If that is the case, it seems odd that no mention was made of those plans, given that the introduction of those stops - and the new links they would offer on roads not previously served by buses - was a key part of the proposals.

Whilst this is a perfectly reasonable explanation, it does beg the question what were TfL thinking when suggesting that buses would stop in the consultation? Surely there would or should be aware of such issues of siting bus stops on the A316 and would have known if this were possible / sensible prior to the consuttation?

Who would have paid for all the highway works? Is the A316 a TfL road? If so then they don’t have any money to pay for it at the moment.

[evergreenadam]

Nov 20, 2020 14:35:57 GMT vjaska said:

Nov 20, 2020 12:31:42 GMT thelondonthing said:

More than two years after originally launching its consultation, and 19 months later than intended, TfL has announced that a range of changes to bus services in and around the Richmond area will come into effect on 12 December 2020. On the same date, changes to several other routes around south west London will also be introduced.

TfL's original plans were, of course, disrupted by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, leading to a considerable delay in publishing the results of the consultation. As a result, some of the proposals were subsequently revised in June 2020, and it is those revisions that will come into effect next month.

A brief summary of the Richmond area changes:

• Route 110 will no longer serve Twickenham town centre and West Middlesex Hospital. It will be diverted at Powder Mill Lane to run via Percy Road, Whitton, Warren Road, Twickenham Stadium, St Margarets Station and Richmond Bridge to Richmond town centre, and will then continue to Hammersmith Bridge Bus Station via the current route 391. (earlier error corrected)
• The new route 110 will run every 15 minutes Mon-Sat daytimes, and every 20 minutes Mon-Sat evenings. On Sundays, buses will run every 30 mins early morning; every 15 mins daytime; and every 20 mins evening.
• Route 391 will be withdrawn.
• Route H22 will be withdrawn between Twickenham town centre and Richmond. It will be diverted in Twickenham to serve West Middlesex Hospital, replacing the 110 over this section.
• Route H37 gets a new timetable with a reduction in frequency at all times. "On Monday to Friday the H37 will run every 7-8 minutes during the AM peak, midday and PM peak period and every 12 minutes in the evening. The Saturday service will be every 7-8 minutes during the day and 12 minutes in the evening. Sundays will see buses running every 20-30 minutes in the early morning then every 10 minutes during the daytime and 12 minutes in the evening."
• Route 490 gets a new timetable with extra journeys in the morning peaks on weekdays.
• Route 493 will be withdrawn between Richmond town centre and its Manor Road terminus. It will now terminate at Richmond bus station. The rest of the route remains unchanged, and there will be no change to the frequency of service.
• Route R70 will lose its temporary timetable with frequency restored to every 10 minutes during weekday afternoon peaks.

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:
The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:
This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

One further detail not highlighted in today's announcement, but which was stated in the consultation report: TfL says that it "will operate a special service on match days as we currently do with route 281". However, details of those arrangements remain unclear.

---

Also on 12 December, the temporary timetables on route 117 and route 235 will be removed, restoring their frequencies; and Metroline will take over operation of route 306.

---

Full details of the changes have been published on the TfL Bus Changes page, but since the contents of that page are not permanent, I thought it would be helpful to summarise the full list of changes above for future reference.

It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to swap the 490 & R70 around to allow the former to accommodate double deckers by leaving the R70 at Pools on the Park with the 490 going to Manor Circus instead

Very true. Looking forward to seeing how the 490 copes being the only route to Richmond from the Staines Road corridor.

I can’t help but think that rerouting the H22 to West Middlesex Hospital at a vastly increased frequency than the current 110 and paralleling route 267 is a huge waste of resources.

[george]

Nov 20, 2020 14:35:57 GMT vjaska said:

Nov 20, 2020 12:31:42 GMT thelondonthing said:

More than two years after originally launching its consultation, and 19 months later than intended, TfL has announced that a range of changes to bus services in and around the Richmond area will come into effect on 12 December 2020. On the same date, changes to several other routes around south west London will also be introduced.

TfL's original plans were, of course, disrupted by the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, leading to a considerable delay in publishing the results of the consultation. As a result, some of the proposals were subsequently revised in June 2020, and it is those revisions that will come into effect next month.

A brief summary of the Richmond area changes:

• Route 110 will no longer serve Twickenham town centre and West Middlesex Hospital. It will be diverted at Powder Mill Lane to run via Percy Road, Whitton, Warren Road, Twickenham Stadium, St Margarets Station and Richmond Bridge to Richmond town centre, and will then continue to Hammersmith Bridge Bus Station via the current route 391. (earlier error corrected)
• The new route 110 will run every 15 minutes Mon-Sat daytimes, and every 20 minutes Mon-Sat evenings. On Sundays, buses will run every 30 mins early morning; every 15 mins daytime; and every 20 mins evening.
• Route 391 will be withdrawn.
• Route H22 will be withdrawn between Twickenham town centre and Richmond. It will be diverted in Twickenham to serve West Middlesex Hospital, replacing the 110 over this section.
• Route H37 gets a new timetable with a reduction in frequency at all times. "On Monday to Friday the H37 will run every 7-8 minutes during the AM peak, midday and PM peak period and every 12 minutes in the evening. The Saturday service will be every 7-8 minutes during the day and 12 minutes in the evening. Sundays will see buses running every 20-30 minutes in the early morning then every 10 minutes during the daytime and 12 minutes in the evening."
• Route 490 gets a new timetable with extra journeys in the morning peaks on weekdays.
• Route 493 will be withdrawn between Richmond town centre and its Manor Road terminus. It will now terminate at Richmond bus station. The rest of the route remains unchanged, and there will be no change to the frequency of service.
• Route R70 will lose its temporary timetable with frequency restored to every 10 minutes during weekday afternoon peaks.

There is one very significant change in the implementation that deviates from TfL's plans. TfL originally stated that a key benefit of the proposed changes to the 110 would be new connections in the Twickenham and St Margarets areas:
The same point was made, more or less verbatim, when TfL published its consultation report in June. However, while the planned routing has changed, it appears that none of the new bus stops will be provided as planned.

TfL now says:
This will no doubt come as a surprise to many. There seems little benefit to introducing a new service to "a 1.2km section of road not currently regularly served by buses" when those buses won't actually be stopping there.

One further detail not highlighted in today's announcement, but which was stated in the consultation report: TfL says that it "will operate a special service on match days as we currently do with route 281". However, details of those arrangements remain unclear.

---

Also on 12 December, the temporary timetables on route 117 and route 235 will be removed, restoring their frequencies; and Metroline will take over operation of route 306.

---

Full details of the changes have been published on the TfL Bus Changes page, but since the contents of that page are not permanent, I thought it would be helpful to summarise the full list of changes above for future reference.

It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to swap the 490 & R70 around to allow the former to accommodate double deckers by leaving the R70 at Pools on the Park with the 490 going to Manor Circus instead

I believe that the R70/493 stand will be gone next year when 450 new homes are built on the current Homebase site. Of course the 490 could use the current H22 stand without a problem though. 

[vjaska]

Nov 20, 2020 19:44:23 GMT evergreenadam said:

Nov 20, 2020 14:43:53 GMT redbus said:

Whilst this is a perfectly reasonable explanation, it does beg the question what were TfL thinking when suggesting that buses would stop in the consultation? Surely there would or should be aware of such issues of siting bus stops on the A316 and would have known if this were possible / sensible prior to the consuttation?

Who would have paid for all the highway works? Is the A316 a TfL road? If so then they don’t have any money to pay for it at the moment.

I believe the entire stretch of the A316 is indeed TfL's responsibility - certainly an interesting point you mention though and one I never thought of

[thelondonthing]

Nov 20, 2020 20:12:05 GMT george said:

Nov 20, 2020 14:35:57 GMT vjaska said:

It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to swap the 490 & R70 around to allow the former to accommodate double deckers by leaving the R70 at Pools on the Park with the 490 going to Manor Circus instead

I believe that the R70/493 stand will be gone next year when 450 new homes are built on the current Homebase site. Of course the 490 could use the current H22 stand without a problem though. 

The plans that were submitted for the Avanton Manor Road development specifically included provisions to preserve the existing bus stand, along with new landscaping provisions and minor roadway alterations.

The GLA's approval for the development last month was contingent on adhering to the plans that had already been approved before referral to the Mayor's Office, including the set of plans described as "Existing bus layover facility: MNR-AA-ALL-ZZ-DR-A-1600 R1". Unless a further proposal is submitted - and approved by Richmond Council as the local authority - the bus stand won't be removed (although it seems likely that access to the stand may be disrupted during construction).

[snowman]

Nov 20, 2020 20:12:05 GMT george said:

Nov 20, 2020 14:35:57 GMT vjaska said:

It's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to swap the 490 & R70 around to allow the former to accommodate double deckers by leaving the R70 at Pools on the Park with the 490 going to Manor Circus instead

I believe that the R70/493 stand will be gone next year when 450 new homes are built on the current Homebase site. Of course the 490 could use the current H22 stand without a problem though. 

The plans see a phased move of the stand, current stand is replaced by temporary one (where homebase car park is now), and then a new stand (which from memory at looking at plans months ago has one space less) is built roughly where current approach road is after new building on site of current stand is completed.

It is one of those pack them dense, provide no parking, or gardens, style of developments that mayor seems to favour