Sunday, 2 October 2016

Big proposals for the City of London Bus Routes

There’s going to be big changes to routes 11/N11, 23 100, 133/N133, 153, 214 and 388 which serves the City of London, also known as the Square Mile.



Travel habits are changing in Central London and the West End. The number of people travelling by bus, east-west in particular, is falling. We want to ensure that the bus network meets demand, both now and in the future. We have reviewed bus routes serving the Liverpool Street area to make sure that they can match future travel demand in the best way possible.

In carrying out this review, we’ve looked at local travel patterns and considered the impacts of other wider developments, such as the opening of the Elizabeth line (Crossrail) in 2018. We’ve also taken account of stakeholder aspirations including that of the City of London and Crossrail to permanently close Liverpool Street between Old Broad Street and Blomfield Street.

We’re proposing changes to the following bus routes:
Route 23 would no longer run between Aldwych and Liverpool Street bus station
Route 11/N11 would be rerouted via Bishopsgate to Worship Street
Route 42 would be rerouted to Liverpool Street bus station
Route 78 would be rerouted to Liverpool Street bus station
Route 133/N133 would serve Liverpool Street bus station via King William Street, Threadneedle Street and Old Broad Street in both directions
Route 153 would be permanently extended to Liverpool Street bus station via Blomfield Street and London Wall      
Route 214 would be extended from Finsbury Square to Blomfield Street



When will these changes happen?

Depending on the feedback from this consultation, we hope to make the changes to routes 11/N11, 23, 42 and 78 in January 2017.

Routes 133/N133 are already temporarily on the proposed permanent routeings. We plan to make the change to route 153 from March 2017.

The change to route 214 is dependent on the delivery of a new bus stand on Blomfield Street following completion of Crossrail-related development.

More detailed information on these proposed changes can be seen here.

TFL Consultations have a separate consultation page for routes 100 and 388.

Route 100 runs between Wapping and Elephant and Castle, with demand highest between Wapping and the City. It uses single deck buses because of the nature of the roads it uses in Wapping.

Route 388 runs between Stratford City bus station and Blackfriars station. The busiest point on the route is at Shoreditch High Street towards Stratford in the evening. The route is used less between Liverpool Street and Blackfriars stations.

Having considered the usage patterns for the two routes, we are proposing to extend route 388 to Elephant & Castle using the current route 100 routeing from Wormwood Street (via London Wall, St Paul’s, and Blackfriars Bridge). Under this proposal, the route would no longer serve Bishopsgate (south of Wormwood Street), Threadneedle Street and the eastern end of Queen Victoria Street.

At the same time, we would no longer run route 100 between the Museum of London and Elephant & Castle, while making the current diversion of route 100 via London Wall avoiding Liverpool Street bus station permanent.

The main benefits of this proposal include:
New links created between Shoreditch/Bethnal Green and Southwark/Elephant & Castle
A reduction in resources by better matching capacity with usage, which can be used elsewhere on the network
Removal of a bus route from Bank junction. Buses using this junction frequently get delayed due to congestion. The City of London would like to reduce traffic levels at this congestion hotspot which could help to facilitate the improvement of urban realm and the pedestrian environment
 
As both routes are less busy west of Liverpool Street, only running one of these routes between the City and Blackfriars/Elephant & Castle would still provide enough capacity.

Route 8 will continue to provide a link from Bethnal Green and Shoreditch to the Bank area.

These changes will require a new bus stand for route 100 in the London Wall/Museum of London area, and options are still being considered in partnership with the City of London.

There would no changes to the frequency of either route as a result of the proposed changes.

Depending on the feedback from this consultation, we hope to make these changes in January 2017.

The new contract for route 388 starts on 21st January 2017 operated by CT Plus. The hybrid bus type is still unknown according to London Bus Routes Service Changes page.

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