please empty your brain below

I'd forgotten about the W7 being pay-before-boarding - but wasn't it a trial for cashless bendy and Zone 1 buses, from the days when they still had repurposed car park ticket machines at bus stops?

dg writes: Tweaked, thanks.
It's fascinating to hear the bus is as crowded as ever. Back in the 50's and 60's after the Alexandra Palace branch line dropped from being included as a part of the Northern Line this route to Finsbury Park Station has been busy. Commuters from Muswell Hill have had to suffer since 1954 without a direct rail link.

Also the 134 and 43 buses from Muswell Hill took people up to Highgate Station for the train. Back then the Archway Road was one permanent traffic jam at rush hour with lorries heading to the London Docks which made for a slow start to the commute.
Ah you would have gone directly past the first flat I ever lived in on arriving in London. In the 90s when I lived there the bus was so crowded in the morning going to Finsbury Park that it was impossible to board if you tried to get on at any of the stops beyond Crouch End.
One of only two London buses I ride semi-regularly, I'd wondered where in the Top-10 the W7 would feature. I'd predicted higher than 6th, and am intrigued to hear the raison d'etra for the five shorter routes.
The incongruity of the Hornsey war memorial chapel sitting beside the ultra-modern Neighbourhood Health Centre results from it's construction within the grounds of the 1910 cottage hospital - known locally as the memorial hospital until it's demolition earlier this century.
All this talk of Muswell Hill is making me watch the music video to Madness' "Driving In My Car"
Although its been renumbered twice
111 >> 212 (Oct '34) >> W7 (May '69)
the W7 has been doing the same thing since May 1915 - making it the oldest unchanged route in London (in other words there are routes that are older, but the present day versions are different to the originals, although some of the route is the same) - yes it had live garage journeys to Muswell Hill, North Finchley and presumably the original Holloway, plus the terminal working at Finsbury Park has been changed a few times, but its been running between Muswell Hill and Finsbury Park along the same roads for 104 years.

It was introduced in April 1914, but was suspended between the bottom and top of the hill from August 1914 until May 1915 (plus all the times we've had heavy snow).

A weight restriction on the bridge over the railway at the top of Muswell Hill restricted it to single deck buses - although this may have applied at Crouch Hill as well, double deck buses weren't introduced until January 1960.

Its now been a double deck route longer than its been single deck.
• Single deck 1914-1960 + 1969-1975 = 52 years
• Double deck 1960-1969 + 1975-present = 53 years

That's one of my semi-regular buses, but only when the Overground is running between Barking and Crouch Hill.

I do agree that the view from the front top deck on the way down from Muswell hill is hard to beat.
Before the cashless trial there was an earlier scheme to speed up boarding on the W7, whereby ticketholders (of Bus Passes, Travelcards etc) could walk on without showing their ticket to the driver. The idea was that there would be two streams of boarders at busy stops, with those paying cash using the left hand side of the entrance.

Of course this scheme needed to be backed up with extra revenue protection. I vividly remember one inspection which ended with the inspector shouting "I know where you live" at two ticketless lads who were running away, having managed to escape his clutches.
Bring on the new station entrance to Finsbury Park to avoid the walk under the railway line.

During peak hours you still can’t board a w7 south of crouch end unless there’s a platoon of buses. 210 is the only guaranteed way of getting on a bus on Stroud green road though really people should be walking from there.

The queue etiquette of the w7 always impressed me especially at the crouch end broadway stop.
Muswell Hill was also Fletcher's home turf in "Porridge", wasn't it?

@Frank F
If they are the ones I expect, most of them have similar raisons d'etre to the ones covered so far - linking outlying estates with their nearest station. Most are numbered in the 300s. But DG always manages to surprise.
My manor. The pub on Park Road is the Princess Alexandra or The Alex, not the Princess Alice. You threw me there for a minute.

dg writes: Can't read my own writing, sorry.
The initial bus stop actually on the roundabout is a fairly recent innovation. Previously the first stop was a short distance down the hill outside the primary school. You could see the bus pull away from its parking spot on the roundabout so you'd go hurtling downhill to the bus stop to make it in time - try that when it's frosty!!

dg adds: seemingly from 2012.

Also don't even think of taking that bus at school time. So crowded it would be illegal for cattle. There's two large secondary schools on the route.
I think the H2 might make the top 5
@Flare, indeed there is a very strong queuing etiquette for both the W3 and the W7. On the W3 route, my stop in Crouch End (Tottenham Lane) is the last one before 'compulsory' queuing occurs, which has always fascinated me, and pleased me.

Also, if you're trying to board south of Stapleton Hall Road, you also have the choice of the W3, but agree with you - people should be walking from there! I am always surprised at the no of people taking the W3 or W7 one stop from Finsbury Park northbound.

Finally, I honestly thought the W7 terminus stop in Muswell Hill moved way later than 2012. I've started needing that stop c.2014, and I am pretty sure it wasn't there then... Was the 2012 stop just a temporary one, as per the trial mentioned in your link? Running down the hill in the wet or snow was always hairy.
I had a look on Google streetview for the Broadway Hair Stylist. Interesting that Google have blurred some of the faces but not others.
https://goo.gl/maps/yPtMp3NiZ6q
I travelled to school on the 212 bus from Stroud Green to Crouch End in the 1960s. We also used this bus to travel to Muswell Hill Odeon or the ABC Cinema. In Park Road , next to the War Memorial Hospial, there was the Open Air Swimming Pool or Lido which we used in the summer, and where I learnt to swim. Ah, happy days!
If the 'London Buses' Incident Response Team' can look after a broken timetable panel', they sound just the chappies to make the tiles correct at Bus Stop M.
Priory Park is indeed 'hidden' from the view of the W7 route but I think the park in Park Road is a reference to Alexandra Park.

As mentioned above, the bus station at Finsbury Park is only inconvenient because the Wells Terrace exit from the station has been closed for 'redevelopment'. When open, it is most convenient. One result of the closure has been people approaching waiting buses from the 'wrong end' (front not back) and the very un-British behaviour of 'queuing from the front' - i.e. pushing in. Not sure why people are worried about Brexit or Brussels when immigrants can't integrate if no-one shows them how to queue properly. These are the real threats to our way of life. (Removes tongue from cheek).
I was expecting the H2 as well, but it looks like it's missed out

The length of the H2, being a circular route, is a bit ambiguous though.










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