The Mayor Rubs It In!
I took these pictures whilst waiting to get home this morning from Moorgate, whilst waiting for a 141 bus.
It’s one thing to reroute the buses, but quite another to send them up and down the old route, with plenty of space for passengers. Although, I don’t think this will help his reelection chances next year.
When the 141 bus did arrive, it was about ninety percent full.
I predicted in a letter to my MP. that this overcrowding would happen because the opening of the Elizabeth Line and the Bank Station Upgrade.
I also said similar things in Does London Need High Capacity Bus Routes To Extend Crossrail?, which I wrote in February 2022, before the Elizabeth Line opened in May.
But I didn’t get it all right, as it appeared the biggest increase in passenger numbers happened after the new escalators between the Docklands Light Railway and the Northern Line opened at Bank station. That puzzled me and I can only assume that there is a lot of traffic between the catchment area of the DLR and North East London.
Predicting the number of passengers, who will use a new railway, road or bus service is a difficult science, which very often results in a wrong answer.
In the Mysterious Case Of Rerouting The 21 Bus, it would have been better to have completed all the works at Bank, Moorgate and Old Street stations, before trying to solve the best way to deploy the buses.
- Bank and Moorgate stations are almost completed.
- The completion of Old Street station and the associated road works are still several months away, as I wrote in Is Old Street Roundabout A ‘Too Many Cooks’ Project?
In Does London Need High Capacity Bus Routes To Extend Crossrail?, I said this about the buses needed.
I suspect any route seen as an extension of Crossrail needs to have the following characteristics.
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- High frequency of perhaps a bus every ten minutes.
- Interior finish on a par with the Class 345 trains.
- Wi-fi and phone charging.
I would also hope the buses were carbon-free. Given that some of these routes could be quite long, I would suspect hydrogen with its longer range could be better.
Get the design of these buses correct and they could attract a large number of passengers from their cars to public transport.
- Ten year old buses, as on the 141 bus are unacceptable.
- Before the 21 bus was withdrawn, you noticed that some passengers wait an extra minute to get a 21 bus with its greater space and comfort.
- Because of the better design of the stairs on modern buses and New Routemasters, I will go upstairs on these buses. But I don’t chance it on an older bus.
- Wi-fi and phone charging would make up for the fact that the Class 345 trains don’t have it.
From experience of the 141 bus in recent days, a frequency of a bus every five minutes is probably needed now.
The Anonymous Widower 
TfL has a Q&A section on its website https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/routes-21-143-263-271/widgets/36766/faqs
that amongst other things says.
Q. “Will you be increasing the amount of buses on route 141 to compensate for the loss of route 21 between Newington Green and New North Road?
A. We are planning to increase the number of buses running in the peak hour on routes 76 and “141 to provide additional capacity.”
In view of your photos, perhaps you should bend the ear of Glynn Barton, Interim Chief Operating Officer, after all he’s responsible for ensuring TfL’s directly operated and contracted services provide “operations …..planned and managed effectively” so that you have a “reliable and high-quality service.
Comment by fammorris | February 24, 2023 |
It was particularly bad on Sunday. I didn’t know that counted as the Peak.
Comment by AnonW | February 24, 2023 |