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Post by snoggle on Dec 31, 2015 21:33:19 GMT
It may just be me but does anyone else find the network of routes and myriad roads and twists and turns around Central Middlesex Hospital / Park Royal / Harlesden the most bewildering part of the TfL bus network. How the drivers remember which way to go I just don't know. I'm beginning to feel I've done every possible side road, turning, way round Park Royal ASDA and secret link road at the Hospital that's physically possible and yet I still have to do the 187 and 228!!  What local TfL bus networks do you find the most confusing? |
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Post by wivenswold on Dec 31, 2015 22:23:06 GMT
Beckton, 101 North to South and 173 East to West when I lived near there. Now it's just utterly confusing. I've got lost in my car round there too.
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Post by vjaska on Dec 31, 2015 23:30:41 GMT
Have to agree with both suggestions above - in both areas, I've wondered where the hell are we going. In a small way, the road network around Cyprus used to confuse me when I first went to Newham, same thing with the Keir Hardie Estate.
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Post by thewintersoldier on Jan 1, 2016 12:27:42 GMT
I've got a funny story about exactly this.
When my brother was a driver at ON and I was "feeding my addiction to decide whether to drive buses or not" he used to drive the 224. It had a loop via central Middlesex and ASDA. I think in the direction of Willesden Junction you served the hospital first then the ASDA, the other direction you did the reverse. Anyway we were chatting away and he was driving and he went in the ASDA first then went in the hospital then drove back to the ASDA. Which I found hilarious. Lots of routes in that area didn't do the same routing, the 187 served the hospital but not the ASDA, the PR1 served both, the PR2 served both (terminating at ASDA if I remember) 226 was the same, 260 neither (?) the H40 ASDA but not the hospital. Most of these buses all went the same directions but ventured off via different directions via various side roads.
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Post by DT 11 on Jan 1, 2016 13:22:47 GMT
The 124, 181 & 284 are a good example of this, all 3 go to Catford & Grove Park the latter go to Lewisham, all 3 routes take the back streets and meet up. All serving Sangley Road/Sandhurst Road. The 124 & 284 are much alike betwen Catford & Grove Park, the 124 serves Torridon Road, Hazelbank Road, Baudwin Road, Castillion Road, Boundfield Road, Battersby Road, Waters Road before turning onto Verdant Lane, whilst the 284 serves the full Length of Sandhurst Road and turning onto Verdant Lane and meeting up with the 124 later, when reaching Downham Way the 124 & 284 then meet up with the 181 all going to Grove Park. Torridon Road is served by the 124 & 181 on two different ends of the road.
The 181 & 284 meet up 3 times along the route. Lewisham, Catford & Grove Park. From the Top of Sandhurst Road it is quicker to get the 181 to Lewisham over the 284, From Grove Park it is quicker to get the 284 to Catford over the 181 as well as the 136, the 261 however is quicker than all of them.
Anyone new to the Catford area would be slighty confused. The 160 is the odd one out in that area.
When all these routes were run by Stagecoach all the buses looked exactly the same so would be easy for anyone not paying attention to walk on the wrong bus.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2016 13:58:10 GMT
The 124, 181 & 284 are a good example of this, all 3 go to Catford & Grove Park the latter go to Lewisham, all 3 routes take the back streets and meet up. All serving Sangley Road/Sandhurst Road. The 124 & 284 are much alike betwen Catford & Grove Park, the 124 serves Torridon Road, Hazelbank Road, Baudwin Road, Castillion Road, Boundfield Road, Battersby Road, Waters Road before turning onto Verdant Lane, whilst the 284 serves the full Length of Sandhurst Road and turning onto Verdant Lane and meeting up with the 124 later, when reaching Downham Way the 124 & 284 then meet up with the 181 all going to Grove Park. Torridon Road is served by the 124 & 181 on two different ends of the road. The 181 & 284 meet up 3 times along the route. Lewisham, Catford & Grove Park. From the Top of Sandhurst Road it is quicker to get the 181 to Lewisham over the 284, From Grove Park it is quicker to get the 284 to Catford over the 181 as well as the 136, the 261 however is quicker than all of them. Anyone new to the Catford area would be slighty confused. The 160 is the odd one out in that area. When all these routes were run by Stagecoach all the buses looked exactly the same so would be easy for anyone not paying attention to walk on the wrong bus. How does one walk into the wrong bus? |
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Post by sid on Jan 1, 2016 14:12:35 GMT
The 124, 181 & 284 are a good example of this, all 3 go to Catford & Grove Park the latter go to Lewisham, all 3 routes take the back streets and meet up. All serving Sangley Road/Sandhurst Road. The 124 & 284 are much alike betwen Catford & Grove Park, the 124 serves Torridon Road, Hazelbank Road, Baudwin Road, Castillion Road, Boundfield Road, Battersby Road, Waters Road before turning onto Verdant Lane, whilst the 284 serves the full Length of Sandhurst Road and turning onto Verdant Lane and meeting up with the 124 later, when reaching Downham Way the 124 & 284 then meet up with the 181 all going to Grove Park. Torridon Road is served by the 124 & 181 on two different ends of the road. The 181 & 284 meet up 3 times along the route. Lewisham, Catford & Grove Park. From the Top of Sandhurst Road it is quicker to get the 181 to Lewisham over the 284, From Grove Park it is quicker to get the 284 to Catford over the 181 as well as the 136, the 261 however is quicker than all of them. Anyone new to the Catford area would be slighty confused. The 160 is the odd one out in that area. When all these routes were run by Stagecoach all the buses looked exactly the same so would be easy for anyone not paying attention to walk on the wrong bus. I've done the 181 and 284 and had to deal with numerous questions from confused passengers. The 358 is another route that catches a lot of people out, certainly the Bromley to Crystal Palace section. |
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Post by DT 11 on Jan 1, 2016 14:28:36 GMT
The 124, 181 & 284 are a good example of this, all 3 go to Catford & Grove Park the latter go to Lewisham, all 3 routes take the back streets and meet up. All serving Sangley Road/Sandhurst Road. The 124 & 284 are much alike betwen Catford & Grove Park, the 124 serves Torridon Road, Hazelbank Road, Baudwin Road, Castillion Road, Boundfield Road, Battersby Road, Waters Road before turning onto Verdant Lane, whilst the 284 serves the full Length of Sandhurst Road and turning onto Verdant Lane and meeting up with the 124 later, when reaching Downham Way the 124 & 284 then meet up with the 181 all going to Grove Park. Torridon Road is served by the 124 & 181 on two different ends of the road. The 181 & 284 meet up 3 times along the route. Lewisham, Catford & Grove Park. From the Top of Sandhurst Road it is quicker to get the 181 to Lewisham over the 284, From Grove Park it is quicker to get the 284 to Catford over the 181 as well as the 136, the 261 however is quicker than all of them. Anyone new to the Catford area would be slighty confused. The 160 is the odd one out in that area. When all these routes were run by Stagecoach all the buses looked exactly the same so would be easy for anyone not paying attention to walk on the wrong bus. I've done the 181 and 284 and had to deal with numerous questions from confused passengers. The 358 is another route that catches a lot of people out, certainly the Bromley to Crystal Palace section. Hardly surprising, I've grown up with these routes and people still get confused. I've had people board the 181 in Lewisham thinking it is the 284 and confused where they are going. The 227 & 358 is a great example I agree. |
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Post by planesandtrains on Jan 1, 2016 20:33:39 GMT
Kingston is one of the most confusing. For definatly. You can go to Tolworth on the 281 from cromwell road bus station but you cant go the other way from the same stop. (Or the 218 as TFL likes to call it on the local area bus maps)
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Post by routew15 on Jan 1, 2016 21:32:51 GMT
Orpington catches me out every time I still find it confusing which bus to catch from the station  |
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Post by DT 11 on Jan 1, 2016 21:44:52 GMT
Orpington catches me out every time I still find it confusing which bus to catch from the station If your new to the area try getting used to the R Network. Quite a confusing bunch when I first went to Orpington. The 51, 61, 208 & 353 are pretty simple routes really. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2016 12:12:23 GMT
The R11 Green Street Green to Queen Marys Hospital is a quite straightforward route in the Orpington area. You only really need to check the destination of the bus when it stops at the bus stops at Orpington Hospital and Footscray Tesco's due to buses operating in both directions stopping at the same bus stop. Similar to the 108 at North Greenwich Station.
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Post by Hassaan on Jan 18, 2016 0:42:48 GMT
Beckton, 101 North to South and 173 East to West when I lived near there. Now it's just utterly confusing. I've got lost in my car round there too. Have to agree with both suggestions above - in both areas, I've wondered where the hell are we going. In a small way, the road network around Cyprus used to confuse me when I first went to Newham, same thing with the Keir Hardie Estate. I also got confused around Cyprus Station when I went there for the first time!  It was August 2012 and I'd decided to sample a Voith E200. Got the 366 from Barking Town Centre to Beckton Station and there were roundabouts and turns everywhere, plus two double runs (East Beckton Sainsbury's and Gallions Reach Shopping Park). Then took a 474 to Canning Town which was a SOC OmniCity (remember those?!) and it was even worse. Very hot upstairs and a knackered suspension. Traverse the entire Cyprus bit again, double run at North Woolwich Free Ferry, followed by crossing over to Factory Road using temporary roads over the disused railway line, back to Albert Road, then back again to Factory Road before going on the biggest double run ever to London City Airport, so many twists and turns there. Both routes took forever to complete. In a twist of fate 12 months later, I got a place at the University of East London and moved out there, making the area around Cyprus and Gallions Reach Stations my local!  The A13 bit on the 173 never seemed to end when I took it for the first time (return journey to Aldi in Dagenham) but these days it is over in a flash. The other bit I like is the 101 north of Manor Park, so different to the bit south of there. But I've only been that way 3 times in 28 months! |
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Post by Alex on Jan 18, 2016 1:01:03 GMT
Bit of a rubbish comparison, but I found the whole 'Crossway - Bentham Road' thing a pain to get to used to in Thamesmead. Couldn't remember which way the 472 went round the loop for ages, then the penny dropped - a Thamesmead Town Centre outbound trip would hit Crossway first (any people wanting the direct routing crossing the road to the stop by Wilko/Next, or the last stop in Bentham Road) - this being true also of 177, 229 and 401 heading to Crossway, a good memory prompt.
386 is a strange one from Woolwich, heading away from there to then head towards Shooters Hill. As for complete local networks that bewilder me, I always found the one way system in Sutton an odd one, with so many local 'bendy, round houses' routes such as the S routes, 80 and 151.
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Post by lonmark on Jan 18, 2016 6:36:32 GMT
When you in Bromley South bus stop and want to go to Lewisham Station. You find both bus turn up as 208/261 toward Lewisham. So You need to work out which one is fast to get there in Lewisham area? That good question!
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It was August 2012 and I'd decided to sample a Voith E200. Got the 366 from Barking Town Centre to Beckton Station and there were roundabouts and turns everywhere, plus two double runs (East Beckton Sainsbury's and Gallions Reach Shopping Park). Then took a 474 to Canning Town which was a SOC OmniCity (remember those?!) and it was even worse. Very hot upstairs and a knackered suspension. Traverse the entire Cyprus bit again, double run at North Woolwich Free Ferry, followed by crossing over to Factory Road using temporary roads over the disused railway line, back to Albert Road, then back again to Factory Road before going on the biggest double run ever to London City Airport, so many twists and turns there. Both routes took forever to complete.
The A13 bit on the 173 never seemed to end when I took it for the first time (return journey to Aldi in Dagenham) but these days it is over in a flash. The other bit I like is the 101 north of Manor Park, so different to the bit south of there. But I've only been that way 3 times in 28 months!
