|
Post by rj131 on Apr 4, 2024 17:26:59 GMT
First time I’ve had the time to sit down and write this, but on the 24th March, I finally did it. Travelled on EVERY London bus route, all 546 done at last after 9 years!! (Excluding school, night and mobility routes. I began on Friday 22nd with a very haphazard group of 23 remaining routes, and safe to say by the end of the day after doing 15 of them I was utterly exhausted. The ones I had left were: 152, 216, 255, 292, 293, 315, 346, 347, 385, 456, 467, 470, 498, 499, 549, H3, K4, K5, R2, R5, R8, R10, and finally the 403. Friday began at Upminster to tick off the 347 straight away being the very hardest to timetable. To Gallows Corner I then got the 498 to Romford Station, then the 499 back to Gallows Corner Tesco, then the 346 back to Upminster. Luckily all being low frequency routes the timetabling fell out nicely and I never waited more then a few minutes for any of them Then from Upminster it was the C2C to West Ham and then the tube up to South Woodford just in time for the 12:30 549. Up to Loughton on that, and then it all went pear shaped as I had to get the 397 to connect with the 385. The 397 to Crooked Billet was running 10 minutes late and there was only a 5 minute layover between that and the 70-min 385. Fortunately the two intersect at Chingford Mount so I bailed out there and made the 385 just in time. Missing that route would have put the whole plan in jeopardy at that frequency so I was very relieved to have made it! Here is where it really did all go pear shaped, thanks to NP and their shambolic operation of the 456. From the 385 I took the 444 over to North Middlesex Hospital, to connect with the 456. However the 456 schedule was completely out of whack, the bus pulled onto the NMH stand 20 minutes after it should have left (on an every 30 min service), then to make matters worse WS79 conked out at the stand, meaning there was no 456 at all, and I had planned to get the train from Winchmore Hill. So instead I had to take the 444 back to Silver Street Station (missing out on the 456 completely) to connect with the tube all the way down to Colliers Wood Station in time to do the South London bus routes. This was a major pain as I now had the 456 to do, an annoying route languishing out on its own with very few rail connections. At Colliers Wood then came the 152, 470, 293 down to Ewell (incredible to think I’d gone to there from Upminster via Edmonton!!), 467 to Hook, then the K4 to Kingston. Then very luckily the very infrequent K5 rolled in to Fairfield Bus Station, take that a couple of stops, then a quick walk over to the Station to tick the 216 off. Knowing I had to go massively out of my way to do the 456 on Saturday (which I didn’t plan for) while I was in South I had to go over to try and tick off the 315 and 255, baring in mind it was now 7:30 in the evening. I took the 131 up to Tooting Broadway, then the Northern line to Balham, then luckily the 255 and 315 came in very quick succession to tick those off for one stop each. I wasn’t bothered about going far on these as I will certainly be going back to do the 255 when it gets its Kites. Now onto Saturday with the 456, H3, 292, and the R2 R5, R8 and R10 to go. What a lovely connecting group of routes l had to do 😂 Firstly I left Central early up to Winchmore Hill on that creepy Thameslink Line, and thankfully the 456 was running properly this time. Up to Enfield on that, then the 307 over to High Barnet, to get the Northern to East Finchley. The H3 turned up straight away, and WOW what a route this was. Certainly gives you an insight into how the other half live 😂 Went to Golders Green on that, then the Northern Line to Edgware, to connect with the 292 to Borehamwood. Then after finishing the 292 to Borehamwood it was all the way to Orpington to do the very infrequent R routes. I’d timed them so I didn’t have to wait, the R2 came first. Then from Walnuts it was to the station on the R10, then waited to it to turn round and come back as the R5 (I got a very weird look from the driver going to the Walnuts centre and back 😂), then finally the R8. Again I wasn’t too bothered about going too far on these, as I’m gonna go back when it gets the new electrics. BUT, I did take the R8 all the way to Biggin Hill and what a route this was!! The amount of cars we forced to reverse up those roads 😂 it was frankly astonishing a bus could fit down there. All I had left to do after this was the 403 in Croydon, which I very deliberately left as my last London bus route to take. On Sunday 24th I went down to Croydon, met my friend who lives there and we went on the 403 down to Warlingham Sainsbury’s, on E199, as my VERY last London bus route. Finally bringing to an end my 9 year mission of taking every single London bus route. When I got off at Warlingham, it was actually a very sad feeling knowing I had finally finished every route, and it hadn’t quite sunk in yet!! So that’s it, every London bus route done!! Probably off to Manchester to do the Bee Network now!!😂
|
|
|
Post by ronnie on Apr 4, 2024 20:32:42 GMT
First time I’ve had the time to sit down and write this, but on the 24th March, I finally did it. Travelled on EVERY London bus route, all 546 done at last after 9 years!! (Excluding school, night and mobility routes. I began on Friday 22nd with a very haphazard group of 23 remaining routes, and safe to say by the end of the day after doing 15 of them I was utterly exhausted. The ones I had left were: 152, 216, 255, 292, 293, 315, 346, 347, 385, 456, 467, 470, 498, 499, 549, H3, K4, K5, R2, R5, R8, R10, and finally the 403. Friday began at Upminster to tick off the 347 straight away being the very hardest to timetable. To Gallows Corner I then got the 498 to Romford Station, then the 499 back to Gallows Corner Tesco, then the 346 back to Upminster. Luckily all being low frequency routes the timetabling fell out nicely and I never waited more then a few minutes for any of them Then from Upminster it was the C2C to West Ham and then the tube up to South Woodford just in time for the 12:30 549. Up to Loughton on that, and then it all went pear shaped as I had to get the 397 to connect with the 385. The 397 to Crooked Billet was running 10 minutes late and there was only a 5 minute layover between that and the 70-min 385. Fortunately the two intersect at Chingford Mount so I bailed out there and made the 385 just in time. Missing that route would have put the whole plan in jeopardy at that frequency so I was very relieved to have made it! Here is where it really did all go pear shaped, thanks to NP and their shambolic operation of the 456. From the 385 I took the 444 over to North Middlesex Hospital, to connect with the 456. However the 456 schedule was completely out of whack, the bus pulled onto the NMH stand 20 minutes after it should have left (on an every 30 min service), then to make matters worse WS79 conked out at the stand, meaning there was no 456 at all, and I had planned to get the train from Winchmore Hill. So instead I had to take the 444 back to Silver Street Station (missing out on the 456 completely) to connect with the tube all the way down to Colliers Wood Station in time to do the South London bus routes. This was a major pain as I now had the 456 to do, an annoying route languishing out on its own with very few rail connections. At Colliers Wood then came the 152, 470, 293 down to Ewell (incredible to think I’d gone to there from Upminster via Edmonton!!), 467 to Hook, then the K4 to Kingston. Then very luckily the very infrequent K5 rolled in to Fairfield Bus Station, take that a couple of stops, then a quick walk over to the Station to tick the 216 off. Knowing I had to go massively out of my way to do the 456 on Saturday (which I didn’t plan for) while I was in South I had to go over to try and tick off the 315 and 255, baring in mind it was now 7:30 in the evening. I took the 131 up to Tooting Broadway, then the Northern line to Balham, then luckily the 255 and 315 came in very quick succession to tick those off for one stop each. I wasn’t bothered about going far on these as I will certainly be going back to do the 255 when it gets its Kites. Now onto Saturday with the 456, H3, 292, and the R2 R5, R8 and R10 to go. What a lovely connecting group of routes l had to do 😂 Firstly I left Central early up to Winchmore Hill on that creepy Thameslink Line, and thankfully the 456 was running properly this time. Up to Enfield on that, then the 307 over to High Barnet, to get the Northern to East Finchley. The H3 turned up straight away, and WOW what a route this was. Certainly gives you an insight into how the other half live 😂 Went to Golders Green on that, then the Northern Line to Edgware, to connect with the 292 to Borehamwood. Then after finishing the 292 to Borehamwood it was all the way to Orpington to do the very infrequent R routes. I’d timed them so I didn’t have to wait, the R2 came first. Then from Walnuts it was to the station on the R10, then waited to it to turn round and come back as the R5 (I got a very weird look from the driver going to the Walnuts centre and back 😂), then finally the R8. Again I wasn’t too bothered about going too far on these, as I’m gonna go back when it gets the new electrics. BUT, I did take the R8 all the way to Biggin Hill and what a route this was!! The amount of cars we forced to reverse up those roads 😂 it was frankly astonishing a bus could fit down there. All I had left to do after this was the 403 in Croydon, which I very deliberately left as my last London bus route to take. On Sunday 24th I went down to Croydon, met my friend who lives there and we went on the 403 down to Warlingham Sainsbury’s, on E199, as my VERY last London bus route. Finally bringing to an end my 9 year mission of taking every single London bus route. When I got off at Warlingham, it was actually a very sad feeling knowing I had finally finished every route, and it hadn’t quite sunk in yet!! So that’s it, every London bus route done!! Probably off to Manchester to do the Bee Network now!!😂 Congratulations! Out of curiosity, are these end to ends or you just need to have used a bus for a few stops?
|
|
|
Post by Busboy105 on Apr 4, 2024 20:36:40 GMT
I think he's only done them in parts not fully
|
|
|
Post by rj131 on Apr 4, 2024 23:34:55 GMT
Congratulations! Out of curiosity, are these end to ends or you just need to have used a bus for a few stops? I think he's only done them in parts not fully Yup that’s right, as long as I’ve taken the bus along the route it counts. I try to avoid taking routes for just 1 or 2 stops where possible, as it’s kind of cheating and doesn’t show me what the route is like. But if it has to be done like that, then so be it. Pretty much like how Geoff Marshall did it. Having said that I have done quite a lot of end to ends (I’ve actually done about 100), in the evenings with little traffic the 65, 111 and 285 are FANTASTIC (well the latter two were under RATP anyway, not sure about now). No way would I have done those three during the day! Now I’ve done all of them I can give a full list of my favourites and absolute worst ones Worst Route : 195 without a second’s hesitation. I actually have a work friend who’s local to the 195 and he avoids it the plague 😂 it literally has not one redeeming feature. The 228 and 491 follow pretty closely behind. Other honourable mentions for worst routes: 224, 226, 228, 287, 297, 386, 393, 491, H32 Favourite Route : 131 obviously as an all rounder for having nice vehicles (imo), highly reliable, useful and dependable Other honourable mentions: Best for scenery/beauty: 412, 210 and W3 at Ally Pally Best for plane spotting: 285 and 473 (going past the Heathrow hangar especially on a DD 285 is a proper wow moment) SL3: a fantastically useful and so far successful SuperLoop route even with LTs I absolutely love all the Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs routes, 135, 277, D7 and D8 For reasons I can’t put my finger on I also LOVE the 115. It’s certainly not a nice route scenery wise, but I’ve always loved the YW17 vehicles which suit it brilliantly, and the heavy footed drivers. Only for personal reasons I love the C10, 432 and 25. I have friends who live on these routes so I use them very frequently. And of course the 403 for being a wonderful route to finish with. I chose it because it’s the only route to be a complete lone wolf after leaving the main terminus. This means it was a nightmare to plan using, as I always would have had to do a wasted journey going back up the route, so thought it was easier to just put as the very last one. Also finishing this route as a lone wolf route really feels like the end of a journey, so it was a very fitting route to end with
|
|
|
Post by rugbyref on Apr 5, 2024 6:51:54 GMT
Well done. I am tackling this really slowly, and have barely scratched the surface, but my list includes long gone services such as the original red arrow 500. I also record previous routing such as the A1 from Hounslow West to Heathrow Central.
|
|
|
Post by ronnie on Apr 5, 2024 8:27:52 GMT
Congratulations! Out of curiosity, are these end to ends or you just need to have used a bus for a few stops? I think he's only done them in parts not fully Yup that’s right, as long as I’ve taken the bus along the route it counts. I try to avoid taking routes for just 1 or 2 stops where possible, as it’s kind of cheating and doesn’t show me what the route is like. But if it has to be done like that, then so be it. Pretty much like how Geoff Marshall did it. Having said that I have done quite a lot of end to ends (I’ve actually done about 100), in the evenings with little traffic the 65, 111 and 285 are FANTASTIC (well the latter two were under RATP anyway, not sure about now). No way would I have done those three during the day! Now I’ve done all of them I can give a full list of my favourites and absolute worst ones Worst Route : 195 without a second’s hesitation. I actually have a work friend who’s local to the 195 and he avoids it the plague 😂 it literally has not one redeeming feature. The 228 and 491 follow pretty closely behind. Other honourable mentions for worst routes: 224, 226, 228, 287, 297, 386, 393, 491, H32 Favourite Route : 131 obviously as an all rounder for having nice vehicles (imo), highly reliable, useful and dependable Other honourable mentions: Best for scenery/beauty: 412, 210 and W3 at Ally Pally Best for plane spotting: 285 and 473 (going past the Heathrow hangar especially on a DD 285 is a proper wow moment) SL3: a fantastically useful and so far successful SuperLoop route even with LTs I absolutely love all the Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs routes, 135, 277, D7 and D8 For reasons I can’t put my finger on I also LOVE the 115. It’s certainly not a nice route scenery wise, but I’ve always loved the YW17 vehicles which suit it brilliantly, and the heavy footed drivers. Only for personal reasons I love the C10, 432 and 25. I have friends who live on these routes so I use them very frequently. And of course the 403 for being a wonderful route to finish with. I chose it because it’s the only route to be a complete lone wolf after leaving the main terminus. This means it was a nightmare to plan using, as I always would have had to do a wasted journey going back up the route, so thought it was easier to just put as the very last one. Also finishing this route as a lone wolf route really feels like the end of a journey, so it was a very fitting route to end with It is a monumental achievement! Some routes (especially the less frequent ones / ones which have no other buses at either end) get more challenging I have done 386 routes end to end and a handful (5-6) routes partially done. I also focus on day routes only - night / mobility / school routes I don’t really plan to do
|
|
|
Post by YY13VKP on Apr 5, 2024 8:34:28 GMT
Congratulations! Out of curiosity, are these end to ends or you just need to have used a bus for a few stops? I think he's only done them in parts not fully Yup that’s right, as long as I’ve taken the bus along the route it counts. I try to avoid taking routes for just 1 or 2 stops where possible, as it’s kind of cheating and doesn’t show me what the route is like. But if it has to be done like that, then so be it. Pretty much like how Geoff Marshall did it. Having said that I have done quite a lot of end to ends (I’ve actually done about 100), in the evenings with little traffic the 65, 111 and 285 are FANTASTIC (well the latter two were under RATP anyway, not sure about now). No way would I have done those three during the day! Now I’ve done all of them I can give a full list of my favourites and absolute worst ones Worst Route : 195 without a second’s hesitation. I actually have a work friend who’s local to the 195 and he avoids it the plague 😂 it literally has not one redeeming feature. The 228 and 491 follow pretty closely behind. Other honourable mentions for worst routes: 224, 226, 228, 287, 297, 386, 393, 491, H32 Favourite Route : 131 obviously as an all rounder for having nice vehicles (imo), highly reliable, useful and dependable Other honourable mentions: Best for scenery/beauty: 412, 210 and W3 at Ally Pally Best for plane spotting: 285 and 473 (going past the Heathrow hangar especially on a DD 285 is a proper wow moment) SL3: a fantastically useful and so far successful SuperLoop route even with LTs I absolutely love all the Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs routes, 135, 277, D7 and D8 For reasons I can’t put my finger on I also LOVE the 115. It’s certainly not a nice route scenery wise, but I’ve always loved the YW17 vehicles which suit it brilliantly, and the heavy footed drivers. Only for personal reasons I love the C10, 432 and 25. I have friends who live on these routes so I use them very frequently. And of course the 403 for being a wonderful route to finish with. I chose it because it’s the only route to be a complete lone wolf after leaving the main terminus. This means it was a nightmare to plan using, as I always would have had to do a wasted journey going back up the route, so thought it was easier to just put as the very last one. Also finishing this route as a lone wolf route really feels like the end of a journey, so it was a very fitting route to end with Fair play, that’s a brilliant effort to have done all routes in 9 years! Congratulations . Glad you enjoyed your ride on the 434 too when you did that
|
|
|
Post by rj131 on Apr 5, 2024 10:27:26 GMT
Yup that’s right, as long as I’ve taken the bus along the route it counts. I try to avoid taking routes for just 1 or 2 stops where possible, as it’s kind of cheating and doesn’t show me what the route is like. But if it has to be done like that, then so be it. Pretty much like how Geoff Marshall did it. Having said that I have done quite a lot of end to ends (I’ve actually done about 100), in the evenings with little traffic the 65, 111 and 285 are FANTASTIC (well the latter two were under RATP anyway, not sure about now). No way would I have done those three during the day! Now I’ve done all of them I can give a full list of my favourites and absolute worst ones Worst Route : 195 without a second’s hesitation. I actually have a work friend who’s local to the 195 and he avoids it the plague 😂 it literally has not one redeeming feature. The 228 and 491 follow pretty closely behind. Other honourable mentions for worst routes: 224, 226, 228, 287, 297, 386, 393, 491, H32 Favourite Route : 131 obviously as an all rounder for having nice vehicles (imo), highly reliable, useful and dependable Other honourable mentions: Best for scenery/beauty: 412, 210 and W3 at Ally Pally Best for plane spotting: 285 and 473 (going past the Heathrow hangar especially on a DD 285 is a proper wow moment) SL3: a fantastically useful and so far successful SuperLoop route even with LTs I absolutely love all the Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs routes, 135, 277, D7 and D8 For reasons I can’t put my finger on I also LOVE the 115. It’s certainly not a nice route scenery wise, but I’ve always loved the YW17 vehicles which suit it brilliantly, and the heavy footed drivers. Only for personal reasons I love the C10, 432 and 25. I have friends who live on these routes so I use them very frequently. And of course the 403 for being a wonderful route to finish with. I chose it because it’s the only route to be a complete lone wolf after leaving the main terminus. This means it was a nightmare to plan using, as I always would have had to do a wasted journey going back up the route, so thought it was easier to just put as the very last one. Also finishing this route as a lone wolf route really feels like the end of a journey, so it was a very fitting route to end with Fair play, that’s a brilliant effort to have done all routes in 9 years! Congratulations . Glad you enjoyed your ride on the 434 too when you did that Yes really liked the 434, and it’s rare for a batch of classic E200s to actually be nice vehicles 😂 and the 439 it’s new sister. The 439 really shouldn’t be running with 9.7’s though they’re too long for it
|
|
|
Post by VMH2537 on Apr 5, 2024 20:17:19 GMT
So after returning from a trip in Whetstone. What a journey that was ment to take 30 minutes turned to a staggering 70 minutes.
1. The first attempt to board the 125 at first seemed smooth with only a 2 minute wait displaying it's destination as Winchmore Hill with everything expected to go in as I see it. This was until the driver informed me he was curtailing at Hampton Square.
2. I was fine by it at first as the one behind was only a few minutes behind. Once I've boarded it, this bus again seemed to change it's destination to Hampton Square. This time by announcing after departing Whetstone.
3. I got off at Pollard Road to see if I can get a 34/251 to Arnos Grove by getting the Piccadilly line from there north. Out of nowhere, just under a 2 minute wait another 125 turned up with again displaying 'Winchmore Hill', this gave me hope and was convincing enough this bus indeed will reach Winchmore Hill with it's destination blind not changed.
Oh, but what happened once I've reached Hampton Square? The driver announced the bus will be terminating and kicked everyone off seemingly.
4. At the Hampton Square stop, there were a pax amount of users assuming from the curtailed ones in front looking all confused on what to do as no 125 seemingly were continuing beyond Hampton Square eastbound.
5. I knew I could continue to Southgate by reaching the 382 across the roundabout, but with this route being very uninformed it was only me and another user who boarded at Hampton Square by making the effort to cross the roundabout for it's Hail & Ride stop.
6. I was very lucky a W9 turned up at Southgate to continue my trip home with quite again a pax load boarding the bus. Again, assuming mostly from the 125 all the way to Highlands Village.
From this whole experience, there are times I do question the operation of RATP controlling services as a whole in particular on the 125 as I referred earlier as 'diarrhea' based on what's said by choosing to effectively abandon a section that has no cause. I'm aware the 125 isn't just in victim, but one of the many cases of how incompetent an organisation can be as well often clueless on how to handle service disruption.
|
|
|
Post by capitalomnibus on Apr 5, 2024 21:59:50 GMT
So after returning from a trip in Whetstone. What a journey that was ment to take 30 minutes turned to a staggering 70 minutes. 1. The first attempt to board the 125 at first seemed smooth with only a 2 minute wait displaying it's destination as Winchmore Hill with everything expected to go in as I see it. This was until the driver informed me he was curtailing at Hampton Square. 2. I was fine by it at first as the one behind was only a few minutes behind. Once I've boarded it, this bus again seemed to change it's destination to Hampton Square. This time by announcing after departing Whetstone. 3. I got off at Pollard Road to see if I can get a 34/251 to Arnos Grove by getting the Piccadilly line from there north. Out of nowhere, just under a 2 minute wait another 125 turned up with again displaying 'Winchmore Hill', this gave me hope and was convincing enough this bus indeed will reach Winchmore Hill with it's destination blind not changed. Oh, but what happened once I've reached Hampton Square? The driver announced the bus will be terminating and kicked everyone off seemingly. 4. At the Hampton Square stop, there were a pax amount of users assuming from the curtailed ones in front looking all confused on what to do as no 125 seemingly were continuing beyond Hampton Square eastbound. 5. I knew I could continue to Southgate by reaching the 382 across the roundabout, but with this route being very uninformed it was only me and another user who boarded at Hampton Square by making the effort to cross the roundabout for it's Hail & Ride stop. 6. I was very lucky a W9 turned up at Southgate to continue my trip home with quite again a pax load boarding the bus. Again, assuming mostly from the 125 all the way to Highlands Village. From this whole experience, there are times I do question the operation of RATP controlling services as a whole in particular on the 125 as I referred earlier as 'diarrhea' based on what's said by choosing to effectively abandon a section that has no cause. I'm aware the 125 isn't just in victim, but one of the many cases of how incompetent an organisation can be as well often clueless on how to handle service disruption. I thought that thing only happens with Arriva
|
|
|
Post by Eastlondoner62 on Apr 5, 2024 22:24:53 GMT
So after returning from a trip in Whetstone. What a journey that was ment to take 30 minutes turned to a staggering 70 minutes. 1. The first attempt to board the 125 at first seemed smooth with only a 2 minute wait displaying it's destination as Winchmore Hill with everything expected to go in as I see it. This was until the driver informed me he was curtailing at Hampton Square. 2. I was fine by it at first as the one behind was only a few minutes behind. Once I've boarded it, this bus again seemed to change it's destination to Hampton Square. This time by announcing after departing Whetstone. 3. I got off at Pollard Road to see if I can get a 34/251 to Arnos Grove by getting the Piccadilly line from there north. Out of nowhere, just under a 2 minute wait another 125 turned up with again displaying 'Winchmore Hill', this gave me hope and was convincing enough this bus indeed will reach Winchmore Hill with it's destination blind not changed. Oh, but what happened once I've reached Hampton Square? The driver announced the bus will be terminating and kicked everyone off seemingly. 4. At the Hampton Square stop, there were a pax amount of users assuming from the curtailed ones in front looking all confused on what to do as no 125 seemingly were continuing beyond Hampton Square eastbound. 5. I knew I could continue to Southgate by reaching the 382 across the roundabout, but with this route being very uninformed it was only me and another user who boarded at Hampton Square by making the effort to cross the roundabout for it's Hail & Ride stop. 6. I was very lucky a W9 turned up at Southgate to continue my trip home with quite again a pax load boarding the bus. Again, assuming mostly from the 125 all the way to Highlands Village. From this whole experience, there are times I do question the operation of RATP controlling services as a whole in particular on the 125 as I referred earlier as 'diarrhea' based on what's said by choosing to effectively abandon a section that has no cause. I'm aware the 125 isn't just in victim, but one of the many cases of how incompetent an organisation can be as well often clueless on how to handle service disruption. Nice to see that other people know what happens when a certain operator in East London pulls this trick off on a daily now. Jokes aside, I think this highlights the massive problems of the 'turn everything' strategy. I think there really should be a rule against turning buses in a row.
|
|
|
Post by Busboy105 on Apr 6, 2024 19:50:24 GMT
Over A month into the Sutton & Croydon bus changes so I headed to Sutton for the Sutton side of the changes (got a big day planned for the Croydon side)
Piccadilly line- Wood Green to King's Cross St Pancras Thameslink- St Pancras International to St Helier As I left St Helier there was a nice bus just waiting, and it was about to leave in a minute. I made it obviously. SEe304 (S2)- St Helier Station to Epsom High Street (decent loadings throughout. Liked the section around Ewell) Walked to Epsom Station SWR- Epsom to Worcester Park DOE49 (151)- Worcester Park Station to Sutton Green (love to see the DOEs still around) 8149 (S3)- Sutton Green to H&R Broomloan Lane SE??? (470)- H&R Broomloan Lane to Sutton Station Walked to Sutton Station Southern- Sutton to Victoria Victoria line- Victoria to Finsbury Park Piccadilly line- Finsbury Park to Wood Green Walked home
|
|
|
Post by southlondon413 on Apr 6, 2024 19:58:34 GMT
Over A month into the Sutton & Croydon bus changes so I headed to Sutton for the Sutton side of the changes (got a big day planned for the Croydon side) Piccadilly line- Wood Green to King's Cross St Pancras Thameslink- St Pancras International to St Helier As I left St Helier there was a nice bus just waiting, and it was about to leave in a minute. I made it obviously. SEe304 (S2)- St Helier Station to Epsom High Street (decent loadings throughout. Liked the section around Ewell) Walked to Epsom Station SWR- Epsom to Worcester Park DOE49 (151)- Worcester Park Station to Sutton Green (love to see the DOEs still around) 8149 (S3)- Sutton Green to H&R Broomloan Lane SE284 (470)- H&R Broomloan Lane to Sutton Station Walked to Sutton Station Southern- Sutton to Victoria Victoria line- Victoria to Finsbury Park Piccadilly line- Finsbury Park to Wood Green Walked home Can’t be SE284 on the 470, that’s at MG for the 286.
|
|
|
Post by billa on Apr 6, 2024 20:08:03 GMT
So after returning from a trip in Whetstone. What a journey that was ment to take 30 minutes turned to a staggering 70 minutes. 1. The first attempt to board the 125 at first seemed smooth with only a 2 minute wait displaying it's destination as Winchmore Hill with everything expected to go in as I see it. This was until the driver informed me he was curtailing at Hampton Square. 2. I was fine by it at first as the one behind was only a few minutes behind. Once I've boarded it, this bus again seemed to change it's destination to Hampton Square. This time by announcing after departing Whetstone. 3. I got off at Pollard Road to see if I can get a 34/251 to Arnos Grove by getting the Piccadilly line from there north. Out of nowhere, just under a 2 minute wait another 125 turned up with again displaying 'Winchmore Hill', this gave me hope and was convincing enough this bus indeed will reach Winchmore Hill with it's destination blind not changed. Oh, but what happened once I've reached Hampton Square? The driver announced the bus will be terminating and kicked everyone off seemingly. 4. At the Hampton Square stop, there were a pax amount of users assuming from the curtailed ones in front looking all confused on what to do as no 125 seemingly were continuing beyond Hampton Square eastbound. 5. I knew I could continue to Southgate by reaching the 382 across the roundabout, but with this route being very uninformed it was only me and another user who boarded at Hampton Square by making the effort to cross the roundabout for it's Hail & Ride stop. 6. I was very lucky a W9 turned up at Southgate to continue my trip home with quite again a pax load boarding the bus. Again, assuming mostly from the 125 all the way to Highlands Village. From this whole experience, there are times I do question the operation of RATP controlling services as a whole in particular on the 125 as I referred earlier as 'diarrhea' based on what's said by choosing to effectively abandon a section that has no cause. I'm aware the 125 isn't just in victim, but one of the many cases of how incompetent an organisation can be as well often clueless on how to handle service disruption. Nice to see that other people know what happens when a certain operator in East London pulls this trick off on a daily now. Jokes aside, I think this highlights the massive problems of the 'turn everything' strategy. I think there really should be a rule against turning buses in a row. The opposite is true, having a reduced service is actually a rule stipulated by TFL in the contract. If less then 30% of the scheduled buses pass between two QSI points within an hour the result gets cancelled. It makes far more sense for us controllers to chop everything, let one or two buses through to a end point and get a 1.5 EWT result for the day instead of turning every other bus to cobble together a 20 mins service and getting a 2.0 as an example.
|
|
|
Post by ronnie on Apr 6, 2024 23:33:21 GMT
21/3/24 - did a few end to ends
I was grabbing coffee with a friend near Piccadilly Circus. Took the 38 to Victoria and then the district to Putney Bridge to start the day
85 (Putney bridge to Kingston): nice quick route and has several green bits which I liked. Was a surprisingly quick journey considering we were going all the way to Kingston and the 57 seems like a long trudge. That leaves just the 93, 265, 424 and 485 at Putney yet to be done
131 (Kingston to rooting Broadway): hadn’t realised that the 85 doesn’t terminate at Fairfield bus station so had to scramble back. The 131 is an important link and has a fair bit of its route to itself. Despite the length was a pretty quick journey
Walked into pret for coffee (subscription!) and greggs for lunch. Came out exactly as the 127 turned up
127 (Tooting Broadway to purley): another route which has several green bits; I had driven through the southern bit of the route recently so was keen to get it done. Quite an enjoyable route given the leafy bits
289 (Purley to Elmers End): these buses are starting to show their age. This was a journey of two halves. The driver initially floored the accelerator and was very quick, even overtaking cars through some clever positioning. I was pretty sure that he was due for a break and rightly at Thornton Heath bus garage we had a change of driver. The next driver was painfully slow, took ages (>5 min) to start the bus and also spent an era at the next stop in getting a person on with a wheelchair - who got off after 1 stop with the same degree of slowness (so we ended up taking 10-12 min to go 2 stops!). Didn’t help that it was school ending time and traffic was building up so the journey post west Croydon was a torture. Took us almost 80 min end to end; while I have had longer journeys this was excruciatingly slow
Took the tram to east Croydon
154 (Croydon town centre to Morden): this is where I ran into a spot of bother. There were no scheduled departures for the 154 from west Croydon for almost 15 min and I had to be back in Victoria by 6pm. There was, however, one bus which turned at Croydon town centre so managed to grab that. Having done the 157 a few days back, the 154 has some degree of similar territory but does go through some unique sections of its own (and has new buses!). Somewhat slow due to rush hour traffic but managed to get to Morden in under an hour
Took northern and Victoria to Victoria to meet a friend
Then did Victoria and Piccadilly to Russell Square
SL6 (Russell square to west Croydon): had to run to get this (penultimate departure of the day). This is a difficult route to do given the with-the-flow nature and limited time during which it operates. I think almost all seats were taken by Waterloo and then we had the non-stop section. While I know this is an express route, was actually quicker than I thought it would be. Bring on more express routes!
154 (west Croydon to Croydon town centre): luckily a 154 was due to depart so managed to do the small outstanding bit to complete the end to end
Walked to the first stop of the SL5 (it’s such a maze!)
SL5 (Croydon to Bromley north): another short and sweet expresss route. Very fast half an hour ride
Just missed an SL3 so had a 15 min wait
SL3 (Bromley north to thamesmead): annoyingly this bus left 10 min late so ended up having a 25 min wait. Must say this is a great introduction - is long, has very few stops and has leafy bits. Must be more traffic impacted during the day but given this was a 20:55 departure, traffic was very light. The bit through chislehurst was quite interesting in the night! Spotted the previous SL3 conked out at chislehurst war memorial (so maybe missing it wasn’t too bad!). The section using the A2 was great as well. Took just about an hour end to end (didn’t have too many passengers) but clearly one of my h favourite routes in recent times
Took 244-53-335 to go back home
|
|