3 mini London bus blogs

Tuesday 22nd October 2024

A ride on route 310

I finally managed to take a ride on TfL’s recently introduced route 310 which provides a direct link between the two Jewish communities in Golders Green and Stamford Hill, removing the need for a bus change in Finsbury Park between parallel routes 210 and 253/254 as described in a blog last month.

Now in its eighth week, I wondered how many passengers would travel across Finsbury Park justifying the cost of eight extra buses to provide the 20 minute frequency service at an annual cost of around £2-2.5 million.

And, to cut to the chase, the answer is four passengers – on the 12:36 departure from Golders Green on a Thursday which took 56 minutes for its end-to-end journey compared to a scheduled time of 51 minutes mainly due to a delay of eight minutes in a queue of traffic under the railway bridges in Stroud Green Road waiting to join Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park.

So not too bad a response and if (and it’s a big IF) that’s a typical average use then multiplying the 77 single journeys each weekday (76 at weekends) by the number of days in a year (minus Christmas Day) gives us 27,848 journeys and (times 4 passengers) is 111,392 passenger journeys benefiting from not having to change buses across a year. Taking a guess the extra annual costs are £2.25 million gives us a cost per single passenger journey of £20.19 – or £40.38 per return journey.

I’ll leave it to readers to decide whether that’s good value for not requiring passengers to change buses bearing in mind the sensitivities of the cultural and religious issues involved. I wonder how much a UBER would cost?

Incidentally the 310 doesn’t seem to have any stand space in the bus station alongside Golders Green Underground station and instead waits by its first bus stop partly blocking things for buses on route 210 and 268.

I arrived at the stop at 12:20 and a bus on route 210 came and picked up ten waiting passengers at 12:34. We left two minutes later at 12:36 with three boarding and aside from one on and off at the next stop did nothing until Highgate Village, 14 minutes later, where we picked eight up with six more joining us between there and Archway station. Ten more joined through to Finsbury Park with the bus emptying out either in Stroud Green Road or round the corner in Seven Sisters Road other than for the aforementioned four who travelled through, two of whom went all the way from Golders Green to Stamford Hill but the other two just made local “round the corner” trips (eg Hornsey to Manor House). We picked six passengers up between Manor House and Stamford Hill making short journeys.

And that was it.

Pedestrianising Oxford Street is bad news for bus passengers

Hearing about Mayor Khan’s renewed keenness to introduce full pedestrianisation of Oxford Street (initially, west of Oxford Circus) led me to take a look at the situation on the ground and what it’ll mean for bus passengers.

TfL has cut back the number of bus routes using Oxford Street over the last few years with just five now left providing 34-35 buses per hour in each direction.

Route 7, turns at Oxford Circus and provides a 5 buses per hour (bph) link to Edgware Road, Paddington, Ladbroke Grove and East Action.

Route 94 uses Regent Street to turn round at Piccadilly Circus and provides a 7 bph link west to Notting Hill Gate, Shepherds Bush and Acton Green.

Route 98 continues east to Holborn and provides a 7 bph link north west up Edgware Road to Maida Vale, Kilburn and Willesden

Route 139 uses Regent Street, Trafalgar Square, Strand and Waterloo Bridge to turn round at Waterloo station and provides a 7-8 bph link north up Baker Street, Abbey Road, West Hampstead and Golders Green.

Route 390 uses Park Lane and Hyde Park Corner to turn round at Victoria and provides a 7 bph link to Warren Street, Euston, Kings Cross, Tufnell Park and Archway.

Despite previous cut backs and route withdrawals buses continue to provide direct links to a significant number of destinations east, west, north and south.

Four things struck me as I wandered along Oxford Street from Oxford Circus to Selfridges.

Firstly how quiet the road seemed. It’s nothing like the old days of “wall-to-wall” buses and taxis queuing all along the street.

Secondly, how busy the bus stops are. Despite good frequencies on the five routes, it doesn’t take long for lots of passengers to soon be at each stop, conveniently sited right by the shops.

Thirdly, how congested Wigmore Street gets. It runs parallel with (and north of) Oxford Street and is the only realistic alternative for buses to be routed along. Without serious traffic management measures to give buses priority (for which there’s no room), they’ll get badly delayed.

And fourthly, the 250 yards between Oxford Street and Wigmore Street feels like a long walk up one of the roads which join the two such as Marylebone Place (photographed below).

In the past, residents and businesses in Wigmore Street have been very vociferous in their objections to buses being routed along that road, probably fearing it might lead to calls for restrictions on other traffic.

But Wigmore Street is not a satisfactory alternative to get passengers close to the shops.

In an ideal world, pedestrianisation of main shopping thoroughfares is a noble objective. It dramatically improves the ambiance for pedestrians and shoppers. But you have to look at each case on its merits and what can realistically be achieved with the available road layout, without making things worse for bus passengers. Which this would.

A compromise could be the implementation of much improved public realm in Oxford Street with more chicanes and build outs to create widened pavements in places and the feeling of a “shared space” as has happened in Queen Street, Oxford by the Westgate Centre.

Perhaps greater restrictions could be introduced on taxis – controversial I know, but leave the buses alone.

Where are the ieTrams?

How long does it take to introduce new electric buses, once built, on to a London bus route? Judging by Go-Ahead London’s experience with its swish Irizar manufactured ieTrams, the answer seems to be “over two years”.

The tram like looking buses were first displayed to industry watchers at the EuroBus EXPO Bus and Coach show at the NEC, Birmingham in early November 2022 with expectations of an introduction on to TfL’s 15 mile route 358 between Orpington and Crystal Palace in “early 2023”.

Readers may recall I took a ride on the route later that November to assess how the new vehicles, with their narrow entrance door and tight spacing inside, would fair on what is a busy suburban route. I came away with the thought that while the much more comfortable seats on the Irizar would wow passengers, the spacing and leg room don’t compare well with the Mercedes Citaros currently running the service.

It wouldn’t be long, I thought back then, until we’d be able to test out the new buses in service and see passenger reaction.

“Early 2023” came and went, with the introduction date for the buses revised to “summer 2023” and then in “summer 2023” it was updated to “November 2023“….

… with the delay explained as being due to “power connections and land ownership”.

“November 2023” came and went, with the introduction date revised to “Summer 2024” and the delay explained as “it is important to get the hardware installed properly before the buses are introduced” referring to the pantograph ‘opportunity charging’ the buses will deploy at the terminal points.

Two years seems a very long time from when buses are ready to enter service, and either paid for or leasing costs commence for the bus company, and not turn a wheel. I can’t imagine the Finance Director being very happy with the situation.

Is the introduction now imminent? Changes were made to departure bus stops in Orpington bus station at the end of last month “to make space for new pantograph bus charging for new electric buses on route 358” which I would have thought was something that would have been addressed back in “early 2023” rather than September 2024, but at least it might indicate the wait is coming to an end.

However, a site visit on Sunday confirmed the pantograph infrastructure is ready and waiting (including for anticipated use by double deck buses) on the far right of the parking area behind the departure bus stops so I can’t understand why some bus routes had to be changed around.

It’s obviously not led to an immediate introduction of the new vehicles anyway as that was a month ago.

The impasse, whatever it is, obviously continues. Having sorted Euston maybe Passenger-in-Chief Louise Haig could intervene here to “fix it and fast”.

One other concern about the design of these buses is the lack of a decency panel to hide passenger’s legs in the seating area in the front section. I just hope if more public comments are made about this deficiency it doesn’t cause another delay while it’s fixed.

The two-yearly EuroBus EXPO Bus and Coach Show comes round again early next month at the NEC, Birmingham and guess what? Irizar are displaying another new ieTram bus bound for Go-Ahead London.

This time it’s destined for the new Fastrack contract the company has won commencing from 10 November. Let’s hope these buses take to the road before November 2026.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS

Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.