London Bus Route Usage 2021/2022

[BK15AZR]

Oct 4, 2022 16:21:09 GMT Trafalgax said:

Top 30 most used routes like last time (rounded):


1. Route 18 - 10.73 million (=)
2. Route 149 - 10.66 million (=)
3. Route 29 - 9.47 million (=)
4. Route 5 - 8.77 million (+1)
5. Route 25 - 8.47 million (+2)
6. Route 86 - 8.40 million (=)
7. Route 36 - 8.36 million (+3)
8. Route 207 - 8.35 million (=)
9. Route 243 - 8.26 million (+3)
10. Route 279 - 8.23 million (-6)
11. Route 109 - 7.60 million (-2)
12. Route 55 - 7.32 million (+5)
13. Route 35 - 7.20 million (+4)
14. Route 53 - 7.16 million (-3)
15. Route 141 - 6.75 million (+5)
16. Route 43 - 6.71 million (+9)
17. Route 38 - 6.67 million (new)
18. Route 254 - 6.66 million (-5)
19. Route 183 - 6.63 million (-1)
20. Route 182 - 6.58 million (-4)
21. Route 185 - 6.58 million (-3)
22. Route 158 - 6.55 million (-1)
23. Route 140 - 6.47 million (-8)
24. Route 453 - 6.32 million (+3)
25. Route 427 - 6.26 million (-3)
26. Route 253 - 6.24 million (-12)
27. Route 133 - 6.23 million (-1)
28. Route 21 - 6.14 million (new)
29. Route 159 - 6.02 million (new)
30. Route 65 - 6.01 million (new)

Top 30 most used night routes (Rounded):

1. Route N15 - 981,000 (=)
2. Route N29 - 806,000 (=)
3. Route N25 - 732,000 (+3)
4. Route N207 - 725,000 (=)
5. Route N18 - 723,000 (-2)
6. Route N279 - 602,000 (-1)
7. Route N9 - 594,000 (=)
8. Route N8 - 589,000 (=)
9. Route N98 - 478,000 (=)
10. Route N155 - 466,000 (=)
11. Route N243 - 350,000 (+5)
12. Route N205 - 338,000 (+12)
13. Route N1 - 338,000 (+2)
14. Route N140 - 337,000 (-2)
15. Route N35 - 310,000 (new)
16. Route N68 - 296,000 (-2)
17. Route N63 - 284,000 (+2)
18. Route N149 - 283,000 (new)
19. Route N253 - 276,000 (-2)
20. Route N453 - 270,000 (new)
21. Route N133 - 265,000 (+4)
22. Route N14 - 264,000 (new)
23. Route N136 - 256,000 (-2)
24. Route N109 - 256,000 (-2)
25. Route N16 - 257,000 (-7)
26. Route N26 - 255,000 (+2)
27. Route N3 - 255,000 (new)
28. Route N73 - 253,000 (-1)
29. Route N5 - 247,000 (-3)
30. Route N11 - 245,000 (new)

Interesting to see both the 207 and 427 in the Top 30, while the 607 isn't too far off with a patronage of 5.3 mil - it just suggests how busy that West London corridor is given all these routes are basically spin-offs from the 207.
Also passing the 6 mil mark is the 93, which seems to have gained its popularity over time. A lot of those routes passing the 5 mil mark are long trunk routes in various parts of London, e.g. 34/41/102/123 from the North, 69/97/147 from the East, 136/177 from Southeast etc. but also notice that certain Central London routes (98, 390 etc.) making to the list so this may suggest some recovery of the traffic.

[enviroPB]

Oct 4, 2022 18:01:37 GMT ServerKing said:

Oct 4, 2022 9:22:10 GMT enviroPB said:

Bar the 18 and 36, most of the top 10 is concentrated in the north eastern quadrant of London. Heck, three out of the top 10 pass through Tottenham!

It'll be interesting to see around the A10 if passengers switch from bus to Overground when it's a 6 minute combined frequency on the Liverpool Street- Edmonton Green section. Apart from Edmonton Green, Bruce Grove and Stoke Newington, all other stations mirroring the A10 are awkward to get to. Buses do still prove a viable, and dare one say a popular alternative.

Passengers have the patience of a saint as they sit in traffic on Bruce Grove (the council have brought in LTNs forcing all onto the main roads, and the light phasing is poor), so surprised the 149 and 243 run as well as they do! 243 is always busy though. I used to just sit on the 149 down to Liverpool Street as the train from Bruce Grove used to take longer with all the stops (though this was pre Overground at the time).

LT's on the 149 are due a refurb though

The 243 has been the dark horse of reliability for the routes it mirrors north of Holborn. It helps on Old Street a lot if the 55 throws wobblies along New Oxford Street which is almost daily. City workers as well in the morning peaks out of Waterloo pack out the 243 into the northern end of the City (Farringdon/ Hatton Garden). Everyone knows the role from Shoreditch to Wood Green but the 243 plays a crucial part in the City.

It's earned its place in the top 10 most used routes, that's for sure!

[abellion]

I wish there was a way to sort by Borough on TfL’s spreadsheet. The 170 was a huge success as usual but on a whole it’s hard to see anything about SW London near the top.

[VMH2537]

Thanks greenkitten for the analysis.

I am pleased to see the 456 record its first annual usage which shows its hit since introduction. It's alao noticeable it's other duplicated W9 route only recovered 62% of its pre-covid usage. The 456 did almost certainly take some patronage of the route from my observations, in particular from the Winchmore Hill, The Green and Highlands areas. I won't be surprised if some amendments are made onto both routes in the near future.

Both the 217 and the 327 were both under temporarily timetables for most of the year where recovery hasn't been at the same pace as others. Hopefully it's recovery can catch up next year as the temporary timetables are removed.

Most routes seem to show it recovered around 70% of its pre-covid usage. Some only gained limited recovery such as the W12 at 59%, W9 at 62% and the 215 at 66%.

[VMH2537]

Oct 4, 2022 10:01:37 GMT evergreenadam said:

Oct 4, 2022 9:22:10 GMT enviroPB said:

Bar the 18 and 36, most of the top 10 is concentrated in the north eastern quadrant of London. Heck, three out of the top 10 pass through Tottenham!

It'll be interesting to see around the A10 if passengers switch from bus to Overground when it's a 6 minute combined frequency on the Liverpool Street- Edmonton Green section. Apart from Edmonton Green, Bruce Grove and Stoke Newington, all other stations mirroring the A10 are awkward to get to. Buses do still prove a viable, and dare one say a popular alternative.

When is that frequency increase on the Overground likely to happen?

TfL has been negotiating with Greater Anglia and Network Rail for provision space to be created for the May 2023 timetable change. It's up to the funding available to achieve the 6tph and 3tph on both the Enfield Town and Cheshunt branches as what's currently being proposed.

[ServerKing]

Oct 5, 2022 0:41:58 GMT enviroPB said:

Oct 4, 2022 18:01:37 GMT ServerKing said:

Passengers have the patience of a saint as they sit in traffic on Bruce Grove (the council have brought in LTNs forcing all onto the main roads, and the light phasing is poor), so surprised the 149 and 243 run as well as they do! 243 is always busy though. I used to just sit on the 149 down to Liverpool Street as the train from Bruce Grove used to take longer with all the stops (though this was pre Overground at the time).

LT's on the 149 are due a refurb though

The 243 has been the dark horse of reliability for the routes it mirrors north of Holborn. It helps on Old Street a lot if the 55 throws wobblies along New Oxford Street which is almost daily. City workers as well in the morning peaks out of Waterloo pack out the 243 into the northern end of the City (Farringdon/ Hatton Garden). Everyone knows the role from Shoreditch to Wood Green but the 243 plays a crucial part in the City.

It's earned its place in the top 10 most used routes, that's for sure!

It's nice to see something from Tottenham doing well If the route gets too popular like the 4, TfL might cut it

[WH241]

I had a feeling the 147 would have a high usage considering how rammed it always is!   (5,364,695)

Interesting to see the 325 carries more passengers than the 241 (1,954,842) vs (2,243,936 ) its almost like the allocation of double deckers need to be swapped around.   The night EL1 seems to have very low usage  (93,002) and could potentially be at risk in the future?

[abellion]

Oct 5, 2022 19:13:00 GMT WH241 said:

I had a feeling the 147 would have a high usage considering how rammed it always is!   (5,364,695)

Interesting to see the 325 carries more passengers than the 241 (1,954,842) vs (2,243,936 ) its almost like the allocation of double deckers need to be swapped around.   The night EL1 seems to have very low usage  (93,002) and could potentially be at risk in the future?

On the topic of under-utilised night routes - the need for night links in South London (namely Croydon/Sutton areas) has long been desired for, yet the 213N has been bottoming the charts again, the N213 was withdrawn for low usage and the 154N never broke out of the bottom 10 during its existence. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the numbers are adding up.

Of course the links they provided are still vital. The N20/43/134 following each other and four night buses from Finchley to Central (five with the 43 down the road) for example seems like a huge imbalance in service in favour of certain areas.

[BK15AZR]

It's also interesting to see how busy the routes linking Stratford and Walthamstow are - the 158 is amongst the top 30, while the 69 and 97 are both over 5 mil. The one with least patronage, namely the 257, still has decent load of 3.87 mil. I know they all take different routes, but think these still hint how high the demand for bus service between those two areas.

[Eastlondoner62]

Oct 5, 2022 19:13:00 GMT WH241 said:

I had a feeling the 147 would have a high usage considering how rammed it always is!   (5,364,695)

Interesting to see the 325 carries more passengers than the 241 (1,954,842) vs (2,243,936 ) its almost like the allocation of double deckers need to be swapped around.   The night EL1 seems to have very low usage  (93,002) and could potentially be at risk in the future?

Quite the opposite with the EL1N. Remember the route is only 5 miles long so the ridership needs to be considered in that. If you do pax/mile the EL1N comes out in 36th place out of 117, seeing more people per mile than routes like the N43, N53, N19, N136, N137, N134 and many more. 

[southlondonbus]

Oct 4, 2022 21:35:21 GMT BK15AZR said:

Oct 4, 2022 16:21:09 GMT Trafalgax said:

Top 30 most used routes like last time (rounded):


1. Route 18 - 10.73 million (=)
2. Route 149 - 10.66 million (=)
3. Route 29 - 9.47 million (=)
4. Route 5 - 8.77 million (+1)
5. Route 25 - 8.47 million (+2)
6. Route 86 - 8.40 million (=)
7. Route 36 - 8.36 million (+3)
8. Route 207 - 8.35 million (=)
9. Route 243 - 8.26 million (+3)
10. Route 279 - 8.23 million (-6)
11. Route 109 - 7.60 million (-2)
12. Route 55 - 7.32 million (+5)
13. Route 35 - 7.20 million (+4)
14. Route 53 - 7.16 million (-3)
15. Route 141 - 6.75 million (+5)
16. Route 43 - 6.71 million (+9)
17. Route 38 - 6.67 million (new)
18. Route 254 - 6.66 million (-5)
19. Route 183 - 6.63 million (-1)
20. Route 182 - 6.58 million (-4)
21. Route 185 - 6.58 million (-3)
22. Route 158 - 6.55 million (-1)
23. Route 140 - 6.47 million (-8)
24. Route 453 - 6.32 million (+3)
25. Route 427 - 6.26 million (-3)
26. Route 253 - 6.24 million (-12)
27. Route 133 - 6.23 million (-1)
28. Route 21 - 6.14 million (new)
29. Route 159 - 6.02 million (new)
30. Route 65 - 6.01 million (new)

Top 30 most used night routes (Rounded):

1. Route N15 - 981,000 (=)
2. Route N29 - 806,000 (=)
3. Route N25 - 732,000 (+3)
4. Route N207 - 725,000 (=)
5. Route N18 - 723,000 (-2)
6. Route N279 - 602,000 (-1)
7. Route N9 - 594,000 (=)
8. Route N8 - 589,000 (=)
9. Route N98 - 478,000 (=)
10. Route N155 - 466,000 (=)
11. Route N243 - 350,000 (+5)
12. Route N205 - 338,000 (+12)
13. Route N1 - 338,000 (+2)
14. Route N140 - 337,000 (-2)
15. Route N35 - 310,000 (new)
16. Route N68 - 296,000 (-2)
17. Route N63 - 284,000 (+2)
18. Route N149 - 283,000 (new)
19. Route N253 - 276,000 (-2)
20. Route N453 - 270,000 (new)
21. Route N133 - 265,000 (+4)
22. Route N14 - 264,000 (new)
23. Route N136 - 256,000 (-2)
24. Route N109 - 256,000 (-2)
25. Route N16 - 257,000 (-7)
26. Route N26 - 255,000 (+2)
27. Route N3 - 255,000 (new)
28. Route N73 - 253,000 (-1)
29. Route N5 - 247,000 (-3)
30. Route N11 - 245,000 (new)

Interesting to see both the 207 and 427 in the Top 30, while the 607 isn't too far off with a patronage of 5.3 mil - it just suggests how busy that West London corridor is given all these routes are basically spin-offs from the 207.
Also passing the 6 mil mark is the 93, which seems to have gained its popularity over time. A lot of those routes passing the 5 mil mark are long trunk routes in various parts of London, e.g. 34/41/102/123 from the North, 69/97/147 from the East, 136/177 from Southeast etc. but also notice that certain Central London routes (98, 390 etc.) making to the list so this may suggest some recovery of the traffic.

Yes I noticed the 93 aswell. Could make it into the top 30 in the future. Atleast going forward it has a bit more support with the DD conversion of the 80 on the busiest stretch from Woodstock to Morden Station.

[VMH2537]

Oct 5, 2022 21:01:10 GMT Eastlondoner62 said:

Oct 5, 2022 19:13:00 GMT WH241 said:

I had a feeling the 147 would have a high usage considering how rammed it always is!   (5,364,695)

Interesting to see the 325 carries more passengers than the 241 (1,954,842) vs (2,243,936 ) its almost like the allocation of double deckers need to be swapped around.   The night EL1 seems to have very low usage  (93,002) and could potentially be at risk in the future?

Quite the opposite with the EL1N. Remember the route is only 5 miles long so the ridership needs to be considered in that. If you do pax/mile the EL1N comes out in 36th place out of 117, seeing more people per mile than routes like the N43, N53, N19, N136, N137, N134 and many more. 

The NEL1 has also well recovered most of its night usage at 97% of its pre-pandemic usage, one of the strongest to recover of all night routes.

[enviroPB]

Oct 5, 2022 19:34:38 GMT abellion said:

Oct 5, 2022 19:13:00 GMT WH241 said:

I had a feeling the 147 would have a high usage considering how rammed it always is!   (5,364,695)

Interesting to see the 325 carries more passengers than the 241 (1,954,842) vs (2,243,936 ) its almost like the allocation of double deckers need to be swapped around.   The night EL1 seems to have very low usage  (93,002) and could potentially be at risk in the future?

On the topic of under-utilised night routes - the need for night links in South London (namely Croydon/Sutton areas) has long been desired for, yet the 213N has been bottoming the charts again, the N213 was withdrawn for low usage and the 154N never broke out of the bottom 10 during its existence. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the numbers are adding up.

This is utter rubbish. In addition to the 154N being introduced in 2015 almost a year before any Night Tube line started running, it was the most used weekend night route for the first year of the scheme being live. The 154N spent the fiscal years of 2017 & '18 in the top 5 routes as well.

I still left what you said prior because it has relevance: the old N213 to Croydon won't be a bad idea as there is some demand for it. The 154N revealed this, it's just passenger numbers tapered off by the 24 hour service only being restricted to weekends.

[DE20106]

A few interesting observations I noted from this.

- Route 38: the biggest PVR and arguably highest frequency route in London is in a measly 17th place with just 6.67 million…..
- Route 73: another among the most frequent routes in London, didn’t even reach the top THIRTY….. even the 34 beat it for goodness sake.
- Route 25 is gaining places back towards the top of the table
- The 170 is a very strong single deck performer yet TfL cut its frequency
- Only two routes broke 10 million despite the whole 2021/22 year being fully out of lockdown in this April-April period. Even though the early part of this period there was still some amount of restrictions so I would hope 2022/23 would be an improvement still on these figures.

[southlondonbus]

Oct 6, 2022 12:27:27 GMT DE20106 said:

A few interesting observations I noted from this.

- Route 38: the biggest PVR and arguably highest frequency route in London is in a measly 17th place with just 6.67 million…..
- Route 73: another among the most frequent routes in London, didn’t even reach the top THIRTY….. even the 34 beat it for goodness sake.
- Route 25 is gaining places back towards the top of the table
- The 170 is a very strong single deck performer yet TfL cut its frequency
- Only two routes broke 10 million despite the whole 2021/22 year being fully out of lockdown in this April-April period. Even though the early part of this period there was still some amount of restrictions so I would hope 2022/23 would be an improvement still on these figures.

The 38 and 73 figures could look different when they are not supported by the 14 and 476 (part from Stokie to Newington Green).