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Post by DT 11 on Mar 1, 2014 17:44:47 GMT
Now that I have all seen it in the flesh here is the report.
Walking around Lewisham today felt slightly different.
The last stop for the 108 & 261 is Lewisham Clock Tower which is quite strange. I find it very odd that the iBus on the 75, 181, 284 has been changed to Lewisham, Shopping Centre but not the rest of the routes, especially the 108, 178 & 261 which effectively terminate at Lewisham Shopping Centre.
The new bus station is an accident waiting to happen, come Monday Morning Jerrard Street and Thurston Road and Loampit Vale will most likely be gridlocked with traffc, Jerrard Street will have more buses serving it, meaning a queue of buses wanting to turn right and will be even worse in the PM Peaks! Traffic coming from New Cross will probably be slower. I think the PVR of the 136 extension should be thought of twice and have a good amount of running time to deal with what may eventually happen, probably will get turned at Cottage Green before even leaving Lewisham!
The stop "Lewisham Police Station" is now an alighting point for the 75, 89, 178, 181, 208, 284, 484 as well as a bus stop for the 21, 47, 136, 321 436, N21, N47, N89, N136, this is going to cause problems all day an everyday having buses alighting from that stop, the 108 & 261 do not serve Lewisham Police Station, but go straight to Molesworth Street. I personally would have moved the 21, 47, 136, 321 436, N21, N47, N89, N136 to the "Lewisham Clock Tower" Stop and have all buses terminating at Lewisham finish at "Lewisham Police Station" along with lower frequency services 180, 199 & 380 and continue to have the 273 serve "Lewisham Clock Tower" stop In addition the bus stop outside "Glass Mill Leisure Centre" is slightly closer to the Station and could have been an better alighting point for all routes terminating at the new bus station.
I think having the 261 standing on Molesworth Street is ridiculous as commuters from Lewisham Station will forget about the 261 and pack up the 208. The 108s first bus stop Lewisham Centre is now imo the most inaccessible bus route in Lewisham, I personally think it should have been rerouted to start from Lewisham Police Station. The 89 is going to struggle in the mornings due to Sixth Formers and St Matthews Academy youths from Lewisham Station.
The overall main thing is everything is split up and inaccessible now.
In addition, the 208 & P4 no longer have their running numbers in Chronological sequence, but like the 227, 261, 273, 356 they are all in a jumbled order in as both had PVR +1, TB 155 & TL 112 and for the 261 TB 112. The reason for it was stated in another thread when I noticed this on the first day of the 261 takeover. The 484 PVR is now 13 as well.
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Post by Paul on Mar 1, 2014 20:42:03 GMT
Curious to see the effect of the changes in Lewisham first hand. I know, I'll do a 261 job tomorrow
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Post by guybowden on Mar 1, 2014 21:25:14 GMT
This might sound a bit long winded but would it not be better for all terminating services to drop off at the stop between the entrance of the bus station and the railway bridge (can't remember its name but routes going towards Deptford serve it), then turning round at the tescos the other side of the bridge? I know this way you will have to sit in the roundabout traffic twice but it would be alot closer to the station then what TfL have organized!
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Post by DT 11 on Mar 2, 2014 5:49:25 GMT
This might sound a bit long winded but would it not be better for all terminating services to drop off at the stop between the entrance of the bus station and the railway bridge (can't remember its name but routes going towards Deptford serve it), then turning round at the tescos the other side of the bridge? I know this way you will have to sit in the roundabout traffic twice but it would be alot closer to the station then what TfL have organized! Unfortunately that is a bad idea. If every bus was to turn in Lewisham Tesco it would become a congestion spot and affect the reliability of the 273, the Tesco car park is quiten narrow and accidents are likely to happen, it's more suitable for 8.9m buses imo. Lewisham is now such a cramped place that such rubbish arrangements have been put into place. The closed bus station will certainly be missed by many, all in favour of some new building which isn't needed, they want to build all these flats etc, but at the same time make catching buses more difficult, they could have at least kept the old one and sent higher frequency buses 89, 108, 178 & 261 to the new bus station.
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Post by guybowden on Mar 2, 2014 6:33:30 GMT
This might sound a bit long winded but would it not be better for all terminating services to drop off at the stop between the entrance of the bus station and the railway bridge (can't remember its name but routes going towards Deptford serve it), then turning round at the tescos the other side of the bridge? I know this way you will have to sit in the roundabout traffic twice but it would be alot closer to the station then what TfL have organized! Unfortunately that is a bad idea. If every bus was to turn in Lewisham Tesco it would become a congestion spot and affect the reliability of the 273, the Tesco car park is quiten narrow and accidents are likely to happen, it's more suitable for 8.9m buses imo. Lewisham is now such a cramped place that such rubbish arrangements have been put into place. The closed bus station will certainly be missed by many, all in favour of some new building which isn't needed, they want to build all these flats etc, but at the same time make catching buses more difficult, they could have at least kept the old one and sent higher frequency buses 89, 108, 178 & 261 to the new bus station. Fair point, If TfL were really clever they could of got the developer to build a new bus station under the new flats with a few offices inbetween the bus station and flats to dumb out the noise. Alot of the bus stations in Hong Kong are underneath buildings and it works perfectly well, apart from one me and my sister visited but this was because of building work and there being now clear signs or map.
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Post by DT 11 on Mar 2, 2014 9:07:28 GMT
Unfortunately that is a bad idea. If every bus was to turn in Lewisham Tesco it would become a congestion spot and affect the reliability of the 273, the Tesco car park is quiten narrow and accidents are likely to happen, it's more suitable for 8.9m buses imo. Lewisham is now such a cramped place that such rubbish arrangements have been put into place. The closed bus station will certainly be missed by many, all in favour of some new building which isn't needed, they want to build all these flats etc, but at the same time make catching buses more difficult, they could have at least kept the old one and sent higher frequency buses 89, 108, 178 & 261 to the new bus station. Fair point, If TfL were really clever they could of got the developer to build a new bus station under the new flats with a few offices inbetween the bus station and flats to dumb out the noise. Alot of the bus stations in Hong Kong are underneath buildings and it works perfectly well, apart from one me and my sister visited but this was because of building work and there being now clear signs or map. Quite an Interesting idea
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Post by snoggle on Mar 2, 2014 11:56:08 GMT
Unfortunately that is a bad idea. If every bus was to turn in Lewisham Tesco it would become a congestion spot and affect the reliability of the 273, the Tesco car park is quiten narrow and accidents are likely to happen, it's more suitable for 8.9m buses imo. Lewisham is now such a cramped place that such rubbish arrangements have been put into place. The closed bus station will certainly be missed by many, all in favour of some new building which isn't needed, they want to build all these flats etc, but at the same time make catching buses more difficult, they could have at least kept the old one and sent higher frequency buses 89, 108, 178 & 261 to the new bus station. Fair point, If TfL were really clever they could of got the developer to build a new bus station under the new flats with a few offices inbetween the bus station and flats to dumb out the noise. Alot of the bus stations in Hong Kong are underneath buildings and it works perfectly well, apart from one me and my sister visited but this was because of building work and there being now clear signs or map. To be fair there will be a whole pile of new bus stops and stands when the redevelopment completes. You can see this on the plans on Lewisham Council's website. It is just that the interim arrangements are a disaster in terms of interchange with rail and DLR and between bus routes. When the building work starts in earnest then the traffic in Lewisham will go into meltdown (IMO, of course). Having been to Hong Kong many times I am very familiar with "under developments" bus stations. My main comment would be that they are not attractive places to use - dark and full of fumes. London has been getting rid of such places so as to provide a better waiting environment - do we really want a return to the old Stratford bus station under a car park? I don't. Hong Kongers tolerate a whole load of things that we simply would not because of the massive population density in a small area and the need to have compromises due to land values.
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Post by overgroundcommuter on Mar 2, 2014 13:46:47 GMT
Like others, it's a shame there's no longer a direct interchange from the DLR station to the 108, which comes in handy when the DLR has problems.
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Post by Nathan on Mar 2, 2014 15:39:05 GMT
I'm quite surprised that no one has thought of this - Why don't buses terminate at Lewisham Station (Bus Stop F) by the Glass Mill? Surely that's the most logical solution. It's literally by the station, and saves people having to walk from the police station which is further away.
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Post by vjaska on Mar 2, 2014 16:53:57 GMT
I'm quite surprised that no one has thought of this - Why don't buses terminate at Lewisham Station (Bus Stop F) by the Glass Mill? Surely that's the most logical solution. It's literally by the station, and saves people having to walk from the police station which is further away. I don't think any thought has gone into any of the bus network in Lewisham by the sounds of it - it sounds like they've just gone and bung any old route anywhere just like a kid tidying his bedroom.
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Post by Late Again on Mar 3, 2014 1:18:22 GMT
Unfortunately that is a bad idea. If every bus was to turn in Lewisham Tesco it would become a congestion spot and affect the reliability of the 273, the Tesco car park is quiten narrow and accidents are likely to happen, it's more suitable for 8.9m buses imo. Lewisham is now such a cramped place that such rubbish arrangements have been put into place. The closed bus station will certainly be missed by many, all in favour of some new building which isn't needed, they want to build all these flats etc, but at the same time make catching buses more difficult, they could have at least kept the old one and sent higher frequency buses 89, 108, 178 & 261 to the new bus station. Fair point, If TfL were really clever they could of got the developer to build a new bus station under the new flats with a few offices inbetween the bus station and flats to dumb out the noise. Alot of the bus stations in Hong Kong are underneath buildings and it works perfectly well, apart from one me and my sister visited but this was because of building work and there being now clear signs or map. Kind of like how North Finchley bus station is. With the Aldi and apartments on top of it.
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