Increased services for London Buses Route 5 by only two buses!

TFL have issued the following press release in regards to Route 5's increased peak vehicle requirement.

Local bus services in the east London area are to get a further boost as Transport for London (TfL) again introduces additional buses on route 5, which will provide extra capacity to meet increased passenger demand during the busiest commuter peaks and at school finishing times.

The route, which operates between Romford Market and Canning Town via Barking and East Ham will see more capacity from Monday 16 March:

·Two additional journeys to run from Becontree Heath Bus Station to Canning Town in the morning rush hour;

·Two additional journeys to run from Becontree Heath Bus Station (opposite All Saints School & Technology College) to Canning Town at school finishing times;

·Two additional journeys to run from Canning Town to Romford in the evening rush hour.

John Barry, TfL's Head of Network Development for buses, said:

'Route 5 is the one of the busiest routes in London and demand for its services continues to grow. We added extra capacity last year - to give our passengers the best possible service and we're now adding more so that we can continue to cater for this growth in demand.'

Source

London Bus Routes website have also reported on the Route 5 increase

New Monday to Friday timetable introduced incorporating additional journeys from Becontree Heath to Canning Town at 0733, 0803, 1525 and 1530, and from Canning Town to Romford at 1632 and 1648. PVR changed to 33. Expected date 16 Mar 15

Source

Route 5 operates from Barking (BK) and Bow (BW) Garage which will have an increased peak vehicle requirement from 31 to 33 buses, only two extra buses. The route 5 operation is tendered to Stagecoach London.

This isn't the first time that Route 5 has had extra buses added on the route. TFL issued this press release on 31^st March 2014

Bus passengers on route 5 will receive a boost during the busiest times in the morning and evening peaks from today, Monday 31 March, as Transport for London (TfL) puts on further extra capacity for the route which operates between Canning Town and Romford.

An extra journey will run at the busiest times which will mean there will now be 13 buses towards Canning Town in the morning peak hour (07:30 - 08:30). 

During the evening peak there will be 12 buses towards Romford in the busiest hour (17:00 -18:00). 

These changes are part of a series of improvements to this route which has seen capacity increase by a third over the last eight years.

John Barry, Head of Network Development for TfL's buses, said: `We have now increased capacity on route 5 by over a third since 2006 but we know more is now needed.

`Working with Barking and Dagenham Council we are putting on these extra journeys in the peak hours and they will be kept under review.'

Source

So its been a year now since Route 5's capacity was increased with extra buses and the route will see further increases with more buses added later this year.

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 Image attribution

"Stagecoach East London bus 17887 (LX03 OPV) 2003 Transbus Trident 2 Transbus ALX400, Romford, route 5, 11 June 2011" by Robin Webster. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.