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Post by Nathan on Jan 18, 2016 9:53:08 GMT
The 472 loop is a bit annoying if you want to do the route end-to-end. If I remember correctly... It essentially passes the roundabout near its terminus before looping around Thamesmead somewhere...then returns back the the roundabout again. I suppose the 171/172 arrangement can be confusing for people who don't use the routes often. Between Elephant & Castle and New Cross Gate the 172 is much faster. Although if both routes have a turn at the same place (e.g. Waterloo or Brockley Rise) then this may confuse people on which one to board. Same with the 136 if it turns at Bellingham, Catford Bus Garage as this route is far quicker than the 171. Another one is the 155 and 333 which both go to E&C from Tooting Broadway. Having done both routes, I believe the 155 is much quicker. To be fair, the routes go in different directions so this may not confuse people so much. Another confusing pattern is the 57/131 arrangement. If the 57 curtails to Tooting Broadway, or if both routes curtail at Wimbledon (both of which happen often) passengers boarding at Kingston may be confused. Oh, and as far as East London routes go...ALL of them are confusing as far as I'm concerned Well...those are all the ones I can think of lol. 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) This isn't really confusing as there's a giant one way system in the area, so it makes sense. You can't travel in the other direction on other routes from the bus station too (obviously excluding the ones that terminate there).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2016 10:38:03 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. The 224 serves Asda once only. If you were on a bus that served it twice, that was driver error. The 187 serves the little "bus station" right beside Asda when going towards Finchley Road and stops right outside Asda when going towards the hospital where it terminates. All buses from Willeseden County Court, except for the 206, serve the hospital via a tiny "buses only" road and the 487 which has a more roundabout way of getting into the hospital. I wouldn't call Acton Lane or Coronation Road side roads. Acton Lane is the main route back towards Harlesden while Coronation Road is the route taken by the 226 towards Ealing. 187 to Finchley Road, turns right out of the hospital to serve Asda before proceeding across Park Royal Road and down Minerva Road 224 To Wembley Stadium, turns right out of the hospital to serve Asda, drives all the way around Asda to reach its right turn onto Abbey Road 224 to St. Raphael's, turns left out of the hospital and proceeds down Acton Lane 226 to Golders Green, turns left out of the hospital into Acton Lane proceeding towards Harlesden 226 to Ealing Broadway, turns right out of the hospital to pass Asda and proceed down Coronation Road 260 to Golders Green turns left out of the hospital to proceed down Acton Lane 260 to White City/487 to South Harrow, go straight across the junction into Park Royal Road 487 to Willesden Junction has its own little way out of the hospital grounds via Central Way before joining Acton Lane
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Post by rmz19 on Jan 18, 2016 11:59:19 GMT
Brent Park can be a confusing area regarding routes 206 and 224. Routes 92, 232 and 332 are easier to comprehend in comparison and the 112 just goes straight past without deviating. The n/b 206 crosses the North Circular, goes via Drury Way and does a double run via Tesco then turns left on to Great Central Way. The s/b 206 comes from Great Central Way, does a double run via Tesco then turns right on to Drury Way, turns right again to continue on to Great Central way and turns left on to the North Circular, then left again on to Brentfield Road. The 224 is even more confusing! Then again it's a confusing route anyway. The e/b 224 also crosses the North Circular, goes via Drury Way and does a double run via Tesco, then turns left back on to itself via Drury Way and turns right towards St. Raphael's. The w/b 224 turns left on to Drury Way, does a double run via Tesco and follows the 206 to Brentfield Road, it then continues its madness towards Wembley Stadium. I would certainly nominate the 224 to be the most confusing route in London
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Post by Hassaan on Jan 18, 2016 14:24:24 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. About 2 years ago I took the 386 once instead of 177 when going from Greenwich Station to Woolwich Arsenal Station. I'd narrowly missed a 177 on a freezing cold afternoon and couldn't be bothered to wait 7 minutes for the next . Turned out it goes via Vanbrugh Hill, Kidbrooke, Charlton (Q E Hosp) and Woolwich Common, taking 41 minutes instead of the 24 minutes the 177 was booked for. What a mistake that was.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2016 20:39:14 GMT
Lest we forget about the whole shenanigans at Brent Park...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2016 20:44:31 GMT
147 To Canning Town Station if boaded from Barking Road is rather long and twisted.
241 the same if boarded at Abbey Arms are good 10 - 15 mins instead of 5 min trip down the Barking Road.
Same as the 474 and 300 if boarded in East Ham High Street.
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Post by TB141 on Feb 4, 2016 13:25:41 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! Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same.
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Post by DT 11 on Feb 4, 2016 13:41:58 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! Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same. Metrobus drivers used to floor the Scanias, when the 261 is not busy journeys are quick, journeys are always slow now. The 126 is always overtaking as well. I've always found the 261 a lot quicker though to Lewisham than the 208.
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Post by Nathan on Feb 4, 2016 13:42:11 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! Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same. The 208 may seem quicker seeing as it just travels down one long road. The 261 takes twists and turns here and there. Personally prefer to take the 208.
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Post by TB141 on Feb 4, 2016 13:45:41 GMT
Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same. Metrobus drivers used to floor the Scanias, when the 261 is not busy journeys are quick, journeys are always slow now. The 126 is always overtaking as well. I've always found the 261 a lot quicker though to Lewisham than the 208. From what I've heard the timings used to be ridiculously tight on the 261. Especially at night. Half hour road with 2-3 minutes stand time at each end.
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Post by DT 11 on Feb 4, 2016 13:51:49 GMT
Metrobus drivers used to floor the Scanias, when the 261 is not busy journeys are quick, journeys are always slow now. The 126 is always overtaking as well. I've always found the 261 a lot quicker though to Lewisham than the 208. From what I've heard the timings used to be ridiculously tight on the 261. Especially at night. Half hour road with 2-3 minutes stand time at each end. Explains why the journeys take longer. During MB days it was not uncommon to see 261s go in then out of Lewisham Station, and in the mornings it was not uncommon to see turns.
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Post by DT 11 on Feb 4, 2016 13:55:12 GMT
Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same. The 208 may seem quicker seeing as it just travels down one long road. The 261 takes twists and turns here and there. Personally prefer to take the 208. The 261 hardly turns either. Once your on College Road, its one straight road all the way to Baring Road via Burnt Ash Lane, after that Burnt Ash Road, the left onto Lee High Road to Lewisham.
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Post by TB141 on Feb 4, 2016 14:18:55 GMT
From what I've heard the timings used to be ridiculously tight on the 261. Especially at night. Half hour road with 2-3 minutes stand time at each end. Explains why the journeys take longer. During MB days it was not uncommon to see 261s go in then out of Lewisham Station, and in the mornings it was not uncommon to see turns. AM curtailments are still VERY common on the 261. The traffic queuing go get through the lights at Grove Park can easily make you 30 minutes late. Usually a multitude of Bromley Common and Bromley Garage turns towards PRU and Lee Green towards Lewisham.
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Post by ThinLizzy on Feb 4, 2016 15:03:47 GMT
Not being local to the area Croydon confuses the hell out of me, buses coming out of what seems to be nearly every side road, buses going along dual carriageways one way then coming out of a side road and being in the centre of Croydon.
No doubt someone on here local to the area will say Croydon isn't complicated at all...
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Post by vjaska on Feb 4, 2016 15:15:58 GMT
Everyone seems to assume that the 208 is quicker but I find the 261 is about the same. The 208 may seem quicker seeing as it just travels down one long road. The 261 takes twists and turns here and there. Personally prefer to take the 208. Personally, I found the 208 to take longer than the 261 especially as the 261 drivers only had Bromley & Lewisham to contend with plus the fact the drivers would thrash the excellent T, V & 51 reg Lolynes.
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