I drove the VL1
Finsbury Park to Walthamstow Central Victoria Line replacement service yesterday. My first shift since the 23rd March, when I decided to give it a rest due to social distancing concerns. Things have changed a lot since then and I completed the shift without having to breach the guidelines.
The routeThe VL1 runs at every 3 minutes on Saturdays and every 5 minutes on Sundays. In practice most buses I saw yesterday were running in convoys of up to 4. I was overtaken on several of my trips - the only way anyone can get around me normally is if I've been picking up all the passengers, allowing them gain on my dwell times! Though for balance I did overtake quite a lot of buses.
Stops served are Finsbury Park Station, Finsbury Park, Manor House, Seven Sisters Station, Tottenham Hale (Mill Mead Road), Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Central. Towards Walthamstow there were additional stops at Seven Sisters (College of North East London opposite Tesco) and Walthamstow Market.
The route followed the 259 between Finsbury Park and Seven Sisters Road. Towards Walthamstow it was via Tottenham Swan then the 123 to Blackhorse Road.
Blackhorse Road - Walthamstow Central - Blackhorse Road was one big loop. To Walthamstow the 123 was followed along Forest Road to Hoe Street, then down Hoe Street into Central. On the way back the 230 was followed via St James Street and Blackhorse Road. Tottenham Hale to Seven Sisters was direct via Broad Lane.
The changeover point was in Holloway, Camden Road. Lots of room to park buses and I had my first Nandos since lockdown started, courtesy of a Deliveroo rider who rocked up on an electric bike!
It wasn't the most complicated route but I needed a map due to the one-way workings around Walthamstow and Tottenham and to identify the correct bus stops. There were no signposts and no yellow rail replacement signs on most of the bus stops. I had to obtain a copy upon first arrival at Walthamstow as I didn't have one to get me back to Finsbury Park.
Unbeknownst to us Manor House station was closed due to coronavirus related staff shortages. Therefore the service doubled as a Piccadilly Line replacement to Finsbury Park. There was two way traffic - people getting off hoping to catch the Piccadilly Line into London and the same people getting back on the next bus when realising the station was closed.
There was a bad accident in Manor House yesterday, blocking Seven Sisters Road towards Seven Sisters. I parked at the bus stop on Harringay Green Lanes and did a Code Blue for further instruction. On TfL rail replacement routes there's no going off route without authority from a controller or the NMCC or there's hell to pay. The Network Management Control Centre came back quickly with instructions. Towards Walthamstow buses were diverted via Harringay Green Lanes and St Ann's Road to get to Seven Sisters Road as per route 341. No sooner was this announcement made then I was off - I overtook two buses which were sitting there with hazards on. A 259 went down
Woodberry Grove and got stuck - I had no temptation to follow it.
The problem with the diversion was Haringey Council don't always put road names at junctions. St Ann's Road was totally unmarked and it's entirely possible some buses missed the turn and ended up in Turnpike Lane. By the time I got back on route at Seven Sisters there was a gigantic gap in the service ahead of me. As I left Walthamstow Central the bus in front of me was in Finsbury Park.
LoadingsLockdown light - didn't carry more than about 10 people at any one time. Still had many people knocking on the front door and trying to talk to me through the cab window.
Running timesThe running times were fine. If the traffic conditions were ok, which they never are on the London Underground rail replacement routes, everything would have been fine. This time, temporary traffic lights in Tottenham Hale impacted on the service, adding up to 15 minutes onto the run each way.
Layovers were short at both ends. The result was the actual recovery times were negative.
Nonetheless, by the end of the day I was running on time with no lost mileage. This is often the case during service disruption and nobody really understands why!
Vehicle ChoiceI took over on the road so had no choice. E400H MMCs for both spells. I don't actually mind LTs for Underground routes as many of them have some excellent blind displays installed!
SummaryMany times I have said that I don't like spending my weekends sitting in traffic - even during lockdown, London's roads are still clogged up. It's a fairly short route and could probably support an extension to Highbury & Islington or even Angel. As it is, I'd be quite happy
not to drive this route again.
The route gets a 2 for difficulty due to the one-way workings - these are often a source of confusion. If it wasn't for these it'd get a 1.
Route difficulty rating - 2/3 (intermediate)
Enjoyability - 1/5 (very unenjoyable)
Next route review - Unknown. Hope to be cracking on with some new routes in the coming weeks though!