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Post by vjaska on Feb 4, 2016 15:17:36 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... I'd be one of them only because I was a student at Croydon College for three years - at first, I found the whole network confusing but you can get used to it surprisingly quick.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 4, 2016 15:32:43 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... It's a bit complicated and certainly not helped by the closure of West Croydon bus station. That used to provide a reasonable focus for a lot of services but with start and end stops now scattered all over the place it's not easy to know what goes where. I haven't done all the Croydon routes so am certainly not any sort of expert.
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Post by bengady3 on Feb 4, 2016 17:24:00 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. To me they are roughly the same but. But the route the 208 takes looks more direct
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2016 18:49:00 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... It's a bit complicated and certainly not helped by the closure of West Croydon bus station. That used to provide a reasonable focus for a lot of services but with start and end stops now scattered all over the place it's not easy to know what goes where. I haven't done all the Croydon routes so am certainly not any sort of expert. I'm local to Croydon so I am used to the area and to me it's not that complicated but the tram doesn't help out plus the pedestrianised high street, one ways, also even West Croydon was open not all buses stopped their (50,468) some buses stand at different places to their first stop (50,250,197,264, X26) the x26 bus stop is towards the stand not near West Croydon due to the bus station being closed also bus stops going in the same area stopping at different stops so 197,312 & 410 not stopping at East Croydon bus station and 455 stopping at Park Street not Croydon Library, stopping at Flyover with 60 & 468, this can be swapped with the 407,412, 405, 166 and at Swan & Sugar Loaf also destination blinds not being precise as well, So I do understand why.
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Post by RandomBusesGirl on Feb 25, 2016 10:32:01 GMT
I agree about Kingston, Brent and few others mentioned; Since no-one's listed those, Imma add Richmond to the list - you know how some buses enter the one-way bus station one direction, but finding ones that go opposite is quite difficult. Ealing Broadway - I remember the old layout when it had million of little stops at Haven Green, and forced so much walking and looking… Not mentioning a lot of buses drop off at the high road, and for some people it may be difficult to get to the main starting area. And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 25, 2016 11:24:56 GMT
And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. Yes Newham Council are working on plans to remove the gyratory. I suspect, though, that there are no easy answers for bus services depending on what the objectives are. If the aim is for everything to serve the bus station are in both directions then journeys on through services will become excrutiatingly slow or complicated. If the Council aims to take traffic away from the three lanes by the bus station and send it all through the Broadway then you will have three or four complex traffic light controlled junctions to deal with all the current traffic flows. There also remains the issue of car access to the car park above the old Stratford Centre. You could add a row of bus stops opposite the bus station for westbound buses as there's no scope to run more routes through the existing bus station. However you still have to deal with high pedestrian flows mingling with lots of bus movements. Whatever they come up with is unlikely to work for everyone.
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Post by vjaska on Feb 25, 2016 13:36:02 GMT
And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. Yes Newham Council are working on plans to remove the gyratory. I suspect, though, that there are no easy answers for bus services depending on what the objectives are. If the aim is for everything to serve the bus station are in both directions then journeys on through services will become excrutiatingly slow or complicated. If the Council aims to take traffic away from the three lanes by the bus station and send it all through the Broadway then you will have three or four complex traffic light controlled junctions to deal with all the current traffic flows. There also remains the issue of car access to the car park above the old Stratford Centre. You could add a row of bus stops opposite the bus station for westbound buses as there's no scope to run more routes through the existing bus station. However you still have to deal with high pedestrian flows mingling with lots of bus movements. Whatever they come up with is unlikely to work for everyone. So the answer is carry on as we are - never had a problem with Stratford personally. Traffic flows & buses have a contraflow bus lane around to Broadway.
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Post by vjaska on Feb 25, 2016 13:37:31 GMT
I agree about Kingston, Brent and few others mentioned; Since no-one's listed those, Imma add Richmond to the list - you know how some buses enter the one-way bus station one direction, but finding ones that go opposite is quite difficult. Ealing Broadway - I remember the old layout when it had million of little stops at Haven Green, and forced so much walking and looking… Not mentioning a lot of buses drop off at the high road, and for some people it may be difficult to get to the main starting area. And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. Things would only get worse if the one way system at Stratford is removed. Anytime I'm up there, it's never an issue to navigate around it and Angel Lane
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 20:22:31 GMT
And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. I go through Stratford all the time, and I think the gyratory works perfectly with the traffic system around there. But I would say the disadvantage about it is the bus routes, meaning routes 25, 69, 241, 276 and 308 can't serve the bus station in both directions, although the way the 69, 241 and 308 works for me. The fact that the 69 doesn't serve the bus station towards Canning Town, is always see people pass the Stratford Centre stop saying "Where's Stratford Station?" The joke about it is the fact that on the next stop visuals it says "Stratford Centre for Stratford Station & Westfield"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 20:35:22 GMT
And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. Yes Newham Council are working on plans to remove the gyratory. I suspect, though, that there are no easy answers for bus services depending on what the objectives are. If the aim is for everything to serve the bus station are in both directions then journeys on through services will become excrutiatingly slow or complicated. If the Council aims to take traffic away from the three lanes by the bus station and send it all through the Broadway then you will have three or four complex traffic light controlled junctions to deal with all the current traffic flows. There also remains the issue of car access to the car park above the old Stratford Centre. You could add a row of bus stops opposite the bus station for westbound buses as there's no scope to run more routes through the existing bus station. However you still have to deal with high pedestrian flows mingling with lots of bus movements. Whatever they come up with is unlikely to work for everyone. If they did remove the gyratory, according to the bus services, wouldn't it be best to remove The Grove, so between Morrison's and The Broadway. I would also build a bus stand at Stratford Broadway for routes 108, 158, 257 and 425. The bus services would then commonly run like this through Stratford: - Waltham Forest and Stratford City (69, 158, 241, 257, 308, N8) head north out of the bus station towards Angel Lane. Terminating services terminate at Stratford Broadway
- Bow bus routes (25, 108, 276, 425) would double run via the bus station. Terminating services terminate at Stratford Broadway. As route N8 would come from Waltham Forest, it wouldn't double run, but be the only bus route not to serve Stratford Broadway
- Ilford, Plaistow and Upton Park terminating services would remain as they are (86, 104, 238, 262, 473, N86). Through services would run via these routes out of Stratford via The Broadway (25, 69, 241, 276, 308)
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Post by enviroPB on Feb 25, 2016 23:40:46 GMT
And again if you're not local - Stratford Especially for 308 that passes it instead of terminating like most, and 69 to a lesser extent. I once had to help a friend and her mum with something, but we parted our ways before I've realised I should've told them where is the stop to get 308 back to Wanstead, and they couldn't find it… The whole Angel Lane and 1-way system is really a mess sometimes. I heard rumours they intend to carry out huge works, but in my opinion this is decades overdue and will only jeopardise traffic and local transport like Aldgate. Whaaa? Everyone knows the through services in Stratford are the 25, 69, 276 and 308...and now the 241...and maybe the 339 as well loool. The 1 way system for interchange works fine with most people as they've adapted to the 4 decade system. As snoggle pointed out from another post; demand for the 86 continue to rise along all sections including journeys west of Ilford because people are too lazy to walk the 3 minutes through Stratford Centre to the station when a bus can transport them there just as easily. My opinion is that Stratford has coped fine with its gyratory and any traffic problems there are normally a by-product of A12 carnage at Bow. I admit the gyratory is not the friendliest for pedestrian/cycle interchange so welcome plans to make it safer for local residents and visitors. As long as it's done right and traffic doesn't get worse as a result. To highlight RandomBusesGirl's point, people find it most frustrating to change for Stratford station on the 308 eastbound. This is primarily because of all the trough routes mentioned above that pass through Stratford town centre (i.e. not the 339), both directions of the 25, 69, 241, and 276 serve Stratford Broadway. Due to its routeing the 308 serves Broadway and the bus station bound for Clapton but for Wanstead, the closest interchange for the station is at Angel Lane. Now that it goes through Stratford City I was hoping commuters on the 308 will stop being caught out by that; or if you find the walk from Angel Lane a bit daunting, you can always jump on the 158 and see all that Stratford gyratory has to offer!
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Post by enviroPB on Feb 26, 2016 0:08:53 GMT
I shall hear no bashing of east London in terms of confusing routes. We will instead hold our hands up to the D3, 241, W16 (more north-east than east), 364, 366, 462 and worst of them all, the 499!
Apart from accepting a long time ago that learning Park Royal routes will not be remembered by me, the 232 through St Raphael's is the penultimate contender for most confusing route, with the crown going to Orpington and in particular, the 358.
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Post by vjaska on Feb 26, 2016 2:20:27 GMT
Not a pattern of routes but surely the G1 deserves a mention just by itself - it goes through every nook and cranny in a wide part of South West London. Apparently, even regular drivers have got lost while driving the route lol.
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