please empty your brain below

I was at Gallions Reach only last week. It always seems to be on the edge of closing, Decathlon seem to be pulling out already. The DLR station would be a lot easier to get to if there were a footpath but the roads in the area appear to have been designed to exclude or deter foot traffic.
Really helpful map; many thanks.
Must say leaving the whole of that part of Beckton to the 366 seems incredibly mean.

I have had cause to visit Gallions in the past both by car and by public transport, when travelling by the latter method as all three routes run on a 10-12 minute frequency they have a habit of appearing close to one another, after a longish gap. Not unusual in an un-coordinated London environment. It is true that the 101 and 262 tend to be carrying a handful of passengers but the 366 is well loaded with folks travelling from Beckton towards Barking and Ilford - standing loads aren't uncommon.

It's true that you could probably shoehorn all of the farepaying passengers onto the 366, but I'm curious as to whether the numbercrunching factors in the older folk with their shopping trolleys, parents with children, or those more encumbered with their spoils in general.

It's a shame to see Newham lose a link to what is still a perfectly adequate shopping area. Not everyone wants to join the melee at Stratford - at least at Gallions you can move about at your own pace. (I'd say 'room to breathe' but if the wind is cutting across the sewage works then perhaps not!)

I will be responding to the consultation.
The phenomenon of all the buses coming along together is also timetabled on the Isle of Dogs. Waiting for a bus at Canary Wharf, along will come the trio of busses headed off the island - D7, 277 and 135 and then the trio headed around the island - D7, 277 and 135. They jostle and overtake one another so that often the first bus to reach Eastferry Road will be the last in the trio at the Wharf. But no point gaming the situation just get on the first one with a seat. We call this the 'bus-train' phenomenon.

Do the planners do it deliberately to potentially defuse the competition for wheelchair/buggy spaces - less chance of an argument if the alternative bus-with-an-empty-space is right behind?

I think this is not a new thing, forty years ago the two every-20-minute routes from where I lived in Battersea came within two minutes of one another rather than being evenly spaced.
Savage indeed. The majority of people boarding 147/241 at Canning Town are on short journeys through Keir Hardie Estate, so their BPH will be reduced 50% to 6.

dg writes: Their BPH will be reduced by 1 to 11.

I have always wondered how many of the cars at Gallions are commuters breaking their car journey to travel onwards by public transport.

The once mighty 101 is again snipped, and routes that serve shopping centres are withdrawn from 2 shopping estates, to the detriment of non car drivers in a poor Borough.

Never mind, Newham Council staff have another bus service passing by, although it is unlikely that it will be safe to stop as it sweeps down Royal Albert Way.
Your lovely big bus map DG reminds me just how excellent these maps were, so easy to use and helpful for discerning alternative routes.
Tempted to suggest you go into business producing new maps for the whole network but no doubt you would not find that amusing.

As for buses arriving all together, it was long ago explained to me by a conductor on the 14 that they always did this because one of them was torpedoed during the war and they’ve gone along in convoy ever since.
I remember when the 262 used to go through to Showcase Cinemas. In fact, I must have used the bus to get to/from the cinema on a couple of occasions. It's a shame to see it cut back like this.
With the Mayoral election this year, I wonder if buses will become an election issue. And indeed whether TfL's priorities (notably between cycle provision and buses) are popular with the wider public, especially older residents of London
Gallions Reach Shopping Park is very much a car centric location, even though there are various residential areas nearby as well as student accommodation, you wouldn't 'pop down the shops', its not something you would pass on your way to somewhere else either.

Shame if you work there and use the 101 or 262, it's an additional unwanted wait to travel a comparatively short distance, but thanks to the hopper fare the illusion is given that they are doing you some sort of favour because you won't pay more for the inconvenience.

Outside London a route like the 173 would have served Beckton in a loop, so calling at the Shopping Park and Beckton - instead of just one of them, with a pause point, like the 366 does at the Redbridge end.
The usual thing of putting route capacity ahead of passengers' through journey needs, hiding behind "won't cost you any more with the Hopper facility".

We know TfL is artificially skint (thanks, George who never uses public transport but lets his reporters rage about it) but passengers pay dearly for that in inconvenience.

Public transport is an enabling mechanism ["instrument of derived demand" in neo-classical economics], a means to achieve something else. Those providing that 'something else' benefit without realistically contributing to it. Transport must be 'value for money' not 'lowest common denominator chasing a monetary surplus'.
I usually shop in Ilford rather than Gallions Reach because the 366 is so unreliable. It seems perverse to reduce the bus service so severely when the priority is to discourage car use. Or perhaps the idea is to discourage people from travelling there so they have an excuse to close the Shopping Park and build flats instead.
I’ve used the 262 so many times from Stratford and Plaistow to the Sainsbury’s, and I then hop a few stops to Gallions Reach to do more shopping. It’s not as if I will crowd onto the 366
to make this trip, I will not go to the area at all. Doesn’t bode well for the retail parks at all, and hopefully they cause a fuss.
That whole area/development is straight out of JG Ballard. Gives me the willies.
Outcome of consultation:
• 101 will be cut back to Beckton station
• 241 will be extended to Royal Wharf
• 262 will only be cut back to Gallions Reach (maintaining a decent service to the shops)
• 325 will be extended, but only when a bus stand is built at RAD (which, judging by the current tumbleweed may be never)
Route 241 is (finally) to be extended from Custom House to Royal Wharf on Saturday 24th September 2022.










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