please empty your brain below
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This painfully slow journey is a good illustration of why the bus network in central London is almost unusable after 23 years of TfL stewardship.
Passengers have been conditioned into accepting this as 'normal' - or they do what I did and abandon the bus network and just use the tube.
TfL hates buses.
Still Anon | 06.04.23 - 7:36 a.m. | #
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Great example of why TfL’s central London bus routes are withering away. It’s quicker to walk.
The traffic lights at the end of The Strand into Trafalgar Square let 3 (4 if you’re quick) vehicles through on each green phase which is insufficient for the volume of taxis/buses.
Roger French | Homepage | 06.04.23 - 7:37 a.m. | #
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Hadn't realised the 360 changes have now been announced to support the 507 withdrawal, thanks for the heads-up... enjoy your ride on the fancy buses, hope you board on the rear door for the last time.
I'm tickled by the pettiness of TfL in withdrawing the 507, making all the senior mandarins at the DfT now walk one bus stop to Millbank get their connection to Waterloo. It's just the right level of mild annoyance that will remind them daily of the Mayoral dispute!
Sarah | Homepage | 06.04.23 - 8:03 a.m. | #
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I've always thought of the 11 as the prime Central London bus route (despite the then contrary claims of the 9, 24, 25, 73 etc). But when I first met it the route ran between Shepherd's Bush and Liverpool Street (Broad Street actually) with garage runs to Dalston. How are the mighty fallen!
Ian | 06.04.23 - 8:35 a.m. | #
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Forty years ago, I used to travel most mornings on the No.11 from Liverpool St to Westminster station. It was generally quicker than the Circle Line.
The fare (still in graduated fares) was 24p and the time taken 24 minutes.
Things only got worse when the Ludgate Hill bus priority measures were introduced by Red Ken
How crass of TFL to abolish this flagship route, and to how little purpose.
Crispy | 06.04.23 - 8:39 a.m. | #
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What's the solution to speeding up bus journeys in central London? There's already the ULEZ and the congestion charge. Banning taxi's and minicabs might be a step too far.
Ed | 06.04.23 - 8:41 a.m. | #
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If time is the issue why on earth are you not using the Underground?
Bryn Davies | 06.04.23 - 8:44 a.m. | #
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Banning taxis and minicabs might be a step too far but drastically cutting the numbers wouldn't.
mclm | 06.04.23 - 8:52 a.m. | #
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You only have to look at the number of taxis queuing in the left hand lane of the Strand to enter the taxi rank at Charing Cross to understand why there’s a bottleneck there. Every other vehicle has to merge into the right hand lane to pass them.
Then there’s the ridiculous upsurge in mini cabs (Uber) over the last 10 years and all the vans delivering online purchases.
quirke | 06.04.23 - 8:54 a.m. | #
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Pedantically I note that Strand is simply that, without the definitive article up front. To be fair, many people seem happy to add the 'The', and the music hall song that refers to the road also gets it wrong. But in an online discussion about such things many years ago I remember being reminded that we don't say 'The Whitehall', and the lesson stuck.
Stuart R | 06.04.23 - 9:13 a.m. | #
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I thought there was a scheme to charge utilities and contractors a substantial daily rent, to encourage them to get work done quicker or at night. What happened to that?
Malcolm of Kent | 06.04.23 - 9:46 a.m. | #
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Says it all that TfL have a dedicated Cycling Commissioner but no bus equivalent. They even seem to hate the word ‘Buses’ by subsuming the department into ‘Surface’. They continue to prefer to pander to the white, middle-class, 20-something, minority pursuit of cycling.
Kim | 06.04.23 - 11:23 a.m. | #
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One answer to congestion is to increase the congestion charge.
JohnC | 06.04.23 - 11:37 a.m. | #
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You’re right, we all dress in Lycra for our daily Bus Hate meeting where we throw model Routemasters into a blazing fire.
That, or else you’re overthinking this.
TfL Surface Commissioner | 06.04.23 - 11:43 a.m. | #
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London Buses has vetoed more cycling schemes than you can imagine. If a cycle scheme is predicted to have any impact whatsoever on bus journey times, it's very unlikely to go ahead.
TfL employs a Walking & Cycling Commissioner because literally everyone else at the top table is a bus or tube person. And he's part time and has close to zero power.
Graham | 06.04.23 - 1:14 p.m. | #
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Kim has the right idea: the law must be changed to permit non-white, older, upper and working class people to save money and time by being able to cycle everywhere. The sooner the better. Otherwise they're stuck with clogging up the roads with their cars, taxis and ubers.
felix | 06.04.23 - 1:34 p.m. | #
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Converting some roads to bus-only might help the problem. Include a sidewalk, a cycle lane, allow black cabs certain times of the day, etc. Sure, the tabloids complaining about their fantasy "war on cars", but I believe it's a net positive.
Also, I feel TfL's priority should be improving bus routes in outer London, and if cutting central routes allows them to create routes like the Superloop it's a fair tradeoff. Those outside Central London are more reliant on buses due to a lack of other options (not everyone's near a tube/rail station), as well as the ULEZ expansion. Compared to Central London, where you can take the tube, hire a cycle, or simply just walk.
And to claim TfL hates buses is an over-exaggeration. The hopper fare is a great counter example of a recent change that has helped buses, another is the congestion charge.
TW | 06.04.23 - 1:42 p.m. | #
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Agree; from the Parliament area it's always quicker to walk to Trafalgar Square and some distance beyond, and the Strand is a complete nightmare.
David B | 06.04.23 - 2:14 p.m. | #
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Streets that were 'over-bussed' (in TFL jargon) are now severely 'under-bussed' - all for the sake of reducing the number of routes running along Oxford St. I walked from City Thameslink to Holborn the other weekday without any buses passing me. Where there used to be the 8, 25, 242 and 521, only the first and last of these remain, and the 521 is also changing soon.
Paul | 06.04.23 - 2:47 p.m. | #
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In its summary of the 'consultation' on route changes proposed last year, TfL gives an answer to the question (which I and no doubt others raised) whether extending the 26 to Victoria makes the service unreliable. The TfL response is that there is no evidence to support that. Given the extended 26 will now have to navigate the three sets of traffic jams reported here, this TfL paradigm does appear to lack reality.
Changes for buses on route 26 have started. Buses have new destination blinds, so buses running on route 26 now show "Waterloo Station" (formerly just "Waterloo") for their western destination, a display only needed for four weeks. No other Stagecoach bus route serves Waterloo, a small waste in order to have correct blinds ready on day 1 of the extension. Dafter still are the new bus stop panel timetables for route 26, which show the new timings to Waterloo, and which will have to be replaced in the next four weeks.
Joel | 06.04.23 - 3:08 p.m. | #
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I'm saddened to learn that the bus that passed by the hotel I plan to stay at in the near future won't take me to the places I had intended it to take me. **goes to his planning map and crosses off the 11**....back to the drawing board.
Steven | 06.04.23 - 3:43 p.m. | #
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Forty years ago, I drove 11s from GM garage. In fact, it was the last bus route I ever drove. It never was a very busy route, not like the likes of the 38, 73 or the 25 even. But it was a hell of a route to control as it got caught up in nearly all major demonstrations, state visits etc, etc. It was however, LT's flagship route and was probably on the front of more postcards from London than any other bus route. Perhaps it was the most famous bus route ever?
I personally think the changes are logical, but maybe it would have been better to renumber the eastern end (ex-route 26) as 11. Taking the 11 back to its old stomping ground of Hackney Road, as well as passing Whitehall, St Paul's and Bank. The Waterloo to Fulham section could've kept the link to 11 as 211 and the new route Hammersmith to Clapham Junction as 311. That would have given all parts of the traditional route a link to a service with 11 in the number.
Sadly, That's not to be, but the history of many London bus routes has often been 'what might have been, but never was'.
Steve | Homepage | 07.04.23 - 8:42 a.m. | #
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Feel free to do more than 1 bus post a week!
TW, bus-only (and taxi-free) TCR is still incredibly slow. London seems to have an obsession with (poorly-optimised) traffic lights.
Imo a team should travel each bus route back and forth extensively to pinpoint the specific points of congestion. For example, the light sequence at the bottom of Kingsway at Aldwych is too short. The coach parking taking up the bus lane is also a problem (though the trees overhanging may mean DDs wouldn't be able to use that lane anyway).
Matthieu | 07.04.23 - 2:18 p.m. | #
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R.I.P £1.75 Sightseeing bus
We will remember you.
My dearest condolences to Stockwell Garage.
Al B | Homepage | 09.04.23 - 10:11 a.m. | #
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Make the Congestion Charge £25 a day 24/7/365. Give the local residents a 50% discount if they have a ULEZ compliant vehicle otherwise nothing unless a Heritage vehicle. Drive out the private vehicles from the central area to leave it open for TfL, Taxi's PHV & blue badge users. There really isnt a valid reason for private drivers to enter central London nowadays. Public transport should be the norm with the exception of a couple of dedicated through routes to stop traffic being pushed onto otherwise quiet residential areas
Andrew Jarman | 09.04.23 - 12:11 p.m. | #
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