There is going to be improvements made on a couple of London Bus services. The 308 and N15 will see a frequency increase for their service.
The following is TFL’s press release on route 308:
Local bus services in the east London area are to get a boost from Saturday (11 April), as TfL increases the frequency of route 308 to provide extra capacity on the route to meet increased passenger demand.
The route, which is operated by Tower Transit, runs between Wanstead and Clapton (Lea Bridge Road) via Forest Gate and Stratford. The route was greatly enhanced as recently as January 2014. As part of the package of bus improvements to serve the Olympic Park, the route was extended from Stratford to Clapton via East Village and Homerton Hospital with frequencies increased at all times of day.
Improved route
Following feedback from passengers, the improved route has seen high demand for the service between 06:00 and 09:00. From 11 April, a package of changes will be coming in to further boost the service:
There will be an increase in frequency from the first bus meaning that buses will operate at every 12 minutes from the start of service on Mondays to Fridays. Buses currently run every 15 minutes at the start of service building up to every 12 minutes during the peak hours
Two additional buses will be introduced from Wanstead to Clapton between 0700 and 0900 to provide a service of every 10 minutes at Forest Gate Station. The additional buses will be double deck to further increase capacity at this busy time
One additional bus from Clapton to Wanstead will be added on Mondays to Fridays departing Clapton at 1525
On Saturdays, the first services will start earlier; buses will now depart from Wanstead at 04:50 and Clapton at 05:19. On Sundays, the first services will start earlier; buses will now depart from Wanstead at 06:15 and Clapton at 06:11
John Barry, TfL's Head of Network Development for Buses, said: 'We value customer feedback on our services and it is fantastic to respond to the success of route 308 by making further improvements.'
London Bus Routes website have reported, “New timetable to improve reliability and incorporating Monday to Friday early morning service increased to every 12 minutes, Monday to Friday AM peak frequency towards Clapton increased to every 10 minutes, an additional MF PM journey towards Wanstead, earlier journeys towards Clapton on Saturdays, and earlier journeys in both directions on Sundays. PVR changed to 13, including two double deck vehicles.”
The expected date for the change will start on 11th April 2015.
It’s interesting that the double decks will be in place to relieve congestion during the busy times on route 308. There have also been cases where some of the single decker routes are converted to double decks in order to increase capacity. One example is London Buses Route 66.
Below is TFL’s press release on route N15:
N15 sees frequency increase on weekends and weeknights, following frequency increases on other local routes - N26, N55 and N205 - last year
Local night bus services in the east London area are to get a further boost from Saturday (11 April), as TfL increases the frequency of the N15 to provide extra capacity on the route to meet increased passenger demand.
The route, which operates between Romford Market and Trafalgar Square (Northumberland Avenue) via Barking, East Ham, Canning Town, Limehouse, Aldgate, Tower Hill, Mansion House and Ludgate Circus will see a weekend night frequency increase from every 10 minutes to every seven to eight minutes. This represents a 33% capacity increase on the route during these times. During weeknights the service will be increased from every 15 minutes to every 10 minutes. This will result in a 50% increase in capacity on the route at these times.
Service improvement
This service improvement follows a number of others that were made in east London last year including a frequency increase in weekend services on route N26 from a bus every 20 minutes to one every 12 minutes; and a weekend frequency increase on route N55 from a bus every 15 minutes to one every 12 minutes. The N205 also saw an increase in frequency from a bus every 30 minutes to one every 20 minutes.
John Barry, TfL's Head of Network Development for buses, said: 'To provide our passengers with the best possible service we regularly review the network. Route N15 is a prime example, with this busy route getting more frequent buses and increased capacity.'
It’s interesting to see the night bus increases, but I have read that when the ‘Night Tube’ begins soon this year, London Buses is proposing to make cuts to night services because it would need to fund the ‘Night Tube’. But the ‘Night Tube’ is only in operation on a few of the Deep Level London Underground Lines: Central Line, Jubilee Line, Northern Line, Piccadilly Line and Victoria Line. They are running on parts of the line but not on all of the lines which they do on weekdays - for more information see here.
News for London Buses route 73:
"London Bus route 73 Oxford Street 054" by Panhard - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.
LOTS (London Omnibus Traction Society) have reported “Training is now under way for the LT conversion of route 73 which should start during May.”
This means that New Routemasters are coming over to route 73 by May 2015. It also means the return of open boarding which used to be served by Bendy Buses (Mercedes-Benz Citaro Artics) from 4 September 2004, which replaced crew operated AEC Routemasters up until 2 September 2011 by Wright Volvo B5LH Hybrids. Another route which uses hybrids will soon be replaced by another type of hybrid bus, which is the New Routemaster.
Route 73, which is operated by Arriva for London Buses, serves Stoke Newington, Islington, King's Cross, Tottenham Court Road, Marble Arch and Victoria. The Peak Vehicle Requirement for the route is 52 buses and the weekday frequency is every 5 minutes.
Since there are New Routemaster routes which were served by AEC Routemasters and/or Mercedes Benz Citaro Artics, I have updated the list as a follow up from my previous article.
NRM
Route
|
Served by AEC Routemasters?
|
Served by Mercedes Citaro Artics?
|
8
|
Yes
|
No
|
9
|
Yes
|
No
|
10
|
Yes
|
No
|
11
|
Yes
|
No
|
12
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
15
|
Yes
|
No
|
24
|
Yes
|
No
|
38
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
55
|
Yes
|
No
|
73
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
137
|
Yes
|
No
|
148
|
No
|
No
|
149
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
390
|
Yes
|
No
|
453
|
No
|
Yes
|
So if you think TFL are making London buses boring by rolling out too many New Routemaster buses then feel free to express your opinion about the New Routemaster project below.
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