Riding The X26 Bus Between West Croydon Bus Station And Heathrow Airport
I did this journey, which will be part of the Superloop, in the pouring rain yesterday, and took these were the awful pictures.
Note.
- The rain didn’t help, but the journey was so slow and it is timetabled for an hour and forty minutes.
- There was a lot of traffic and this meant we were a few minutes late.
- I was sitting up front, with another pensioner, who was going to have lunch with mates in Kingston.
It may be an express bus, but I can’t see the speed of this section attracting a lot of passengers.
When I took my ride across Birmingham in a hydrogen bus, which I wrote about in Riding Birmingham’s New Hydrogen-Powered Buses, where I said this about the Wrightbuses.
I very much feel that the buses are the best hydrogen-powered vehicles, that I’ve travelled in, as they are smooth, comfortable, quiet and seem to have excellent performance.
There were some sections of dual-carriageway in Birmingham, where the buses were able to use their excellent acceleration to get through the traffic and make up many seconds.
It should also be noted, that Dublin uses the same hydrogen buses for a long-distance commuter bus.
The Anonymous Widower 
I don’t think any bus on the Superloop can ever be sold on the idea of speed. Starting in the early 1950s, the 725 which ran over the route and beyond for more than 30 years offered the attraction that it was the only direct route that didn’t involve getting to a station and taking a train via Clapham Common or Waterloo.
Incidentally back in the 60s it took around 4 hours to go from Dartford to Windsor, but then again that was more than double the length of the current X26 route.
Comment by fammorris | March 29, 2023 |
The X140 was certainly faster than the X26, as the roads weren’t as congested and new electric buses have better acceleration.
Comment by AnonW | March 29, 2023 |