Thursday 18 August 2016

More night buses to come in line with Night Tube


Newbury Park station which serves the Central Line

Last year I published an article back on 29th August 2015 when I was disappointed with route 296 operating a night service in order to connect people from Newbury Park station to Romford.

But thankfully route 296 will operate their weekend night service in line with the Night Tube on 19th August 2016.



TfL introduces new Friday and Saturday night bus services to support Night Tube

Onward bus connections for Night Tube customers will be boosted when the new services launch on 19 August after TfL announced eight new 24-hour bus services.

The new 24-hour bus services will run on Friday and Saturday nights to complement the Night Tube and ensure customers travelling in the early hours of the morning have easy options to get home.

Night Tube services begin on the Central and Victoria lines on Friday and Saturday nights from 19 August, and at the same time the following bus routes will have 24-hour services for the first time:

·         34 (Barnet Church to Walthamstow Central)
·         123 (Ilford High Road to Wood Green)
·         145 (Leytonstone to Dagenham)
·         158 (Stratford to Chingford Mount)
·         296 (Ilford Broadway to Romford)
·         E1 (Greenford Broadway to Ealing Broadway)
·         W3 (Finsbury Park to Northumberland Park)
·         W7 (Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill Broadway).

The new services will run every 30 minutes throughout Friday and Saturday nights, other than the W7, which will run every 20 minutes. The enhancements follow the introduction of seven new night bus services already made in anticipation of the introduction of the Night Tube.

Mike Weston, TfL's Director of Buses, said: 'These additional 24-hour bus services will enhance our London-wide, night time bus network and complement the Night Tube, making it easier for our customers to get home in the early hours of the morning.

'This will enable customers to make the most of London at night and will in turn help to boost the Capital's vibrant and growing night-time economy.'

There are a total of 123 bus routes that operate overnight, of which 73 are 24-hour services and 50 are night bus routes.

The number of night bus services has increased significantly in recent years with passenger numbers more than doubling since 2000. More than half the users are people travelling to or from work.

Ridership levels on all night bus services will be monitored to see how demand changes following the introduction of the Night Tube.

London has one of the most extensive and accessible bus networks anywhere in the world. TfL's bus network comprises around 700 routes across Greater London, operated by 7,900 buses at peak times, carrying almost 2.4 billion passengers every year, which equates to half of all bus journeys made in England.

Since TfL was formed in 2000 it has invested strongly in London's bus network - resulting in a 69% increase in passenger numbers.

·         From Friday 19 August Night Tube services will operate on the Victoria line with trains running on average every 10 minutes across the entire lines
·         From this date services will also operate on the Central line with trains running approximately every 10 minutes between White City and Leytonstone and approximately every 20 minutes between Ealing Broadway to White City and Leytonstone to Loughton/ Hainault. There will be no service between North Acton and West Ruislip, Loughton and Epping and Woodford and Hainault
·         Previous improvements to night bus services that have been made in anticipation of the Night Tube are:
·         A 24-hour service introduced on bus route 47 on all nights
·         The re-routeing of the N1 via Evelyn St on all nights
·         A new service introduced on the N199 on all nights
·         Re-routeing the night service of the 188 via Canada Water Bus Station on all nights
·         Re-routeing the N381 via Canada Water Bus Station on all nights
·         The extension of the N133 (Liverpool Street to Streatham) to Morden Station.
·         All-week, 24-hour services on the 222 (Hounslow to Uxbridge) and 238 (Stratford to Barking
·         Weekend-only, 24-hour services on the 132 (North Greenwich to Bexleyheath), 154 (West Croydon to Morden), 486 (North Greenwich to Bexleyheath) and H37 (Hounslow to Richmond).

At least this is good news we’re seeing.

Here you can find the timetables from London Bus Routes and Traveline South East.

Lastly, I want to wish the best of luck to London Bus operators and London Underground for operating the Night Tube.

You can follow me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92

Image Attribution
By Sunil060902 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8853070

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