London Bridge Bus Station Is Open Again
After the closure caused by the sewer failure, the bus station at London Bridge station is now open again.
London Bridge Bus Station Is Open Again
I’m pleased as it gives me an easy way home from the Jubilee line, with a Marks and Spencer’s at the interchange to the bus.
Through The City Of London Under Blue Skies
Yesterday morning, I took a 141 bus, through the City of London to London Bridge station.
Sunday mornings, and especially fine ones, are a good time to visit the City of London. At that time, you can usually get up front on a double-decker bus, to get the best pictures.
Why Doesn’t The New Bus for London Have A Top Hat?
Some of the RT London buses of the 1950s and 1960s had the route number shown at roof level at the front of the bus. This was variously called a lighthouse box, a top box or a top hat. It’s the latter that I prefer and it was a great help when catching a bus, as you could more easily identify if the one in the distance was the bus you wanted.
It’s the one feature, I would have put into the New Bus for London, that Heatherwick didn’t!
A Late Running New Bus for London
It was running to the timetable, but tonight I travelled on a New Bus for London from the Angel to my house, catching the bus at The Angel a few minutes after nine o’clock. It was probably on time, but running later than I’d ever seen one before.
It was surprisingly full for a bus at that time, but I suspect like me, a lot of people got off the following 73 to go to Hackney rather than Stoke Newington. As the New Bus has three doors and the downstairs is more spacious, I think we’re going to see more of this bus-swapping, as for people like me, it gets me to a stop nearer my house and even if I was paying my own fare, I wouldn’t be charged any extra.
This hop-off and hop-on behaviour is one of the advantages of London’s automated Oystercard system. About the only interaction between driver and passenger on a London bus, as most people get on, is either a smile, a gesture or perhaps a quick greeting.
The bus tonight was running in one-person mode, with the driver controlling all three doors at stops.
It’ll be interesting to see, how the actual capacity changes when the next route for the New Bus for London; route 24, is fully operational. There are a lot of factors that will come into play.
1. The middle and rear doors are positioned by their own staircase and they have their own Oyster reader. So many passengers will get on through the more convenient door, touch in and go upstairs.
2. The middle door has a larger lobby than a standard bus and the rear door has the platform, so passengers will get themselves ready to leave the bus earlier. I know I do this on a New Bus for London, especially, if I’m going to jump off the back.
3. Because of the three doors, the front one only becomes an entry point for someone, who has to pay the driver, show a paper ticket bought elsewhere or is using the door as it’s the most convenient.
4. Buggies and wheelchairs usually go in the middle door. On a standard bus, wheelchairs come in the middle door, but buggy pushers generally have to use the front entrance. If they use the middle one, they then have to walk to the front to touch in or pay the driver.
5. The New Bus for London also develops its own unofficial stops. At the Angel, there is a light controlled crossing just before the stops by the station, when going south. I’ve got off at the lights, when they are red several times. Also at the Angel, there is often a queue to get on the bus stops at busy times. Passengers use the rear entry on a New Bus for London to avoid waiting for the bus to get on the stop.
All of these factors mean that the New Buses for London, load and unload passengers much quicker than the standard bus. This can lead to a shorter journey time from one end of the route to the other.
I also think that as passengers use the New Bus for London more, they will modify their behaviour to get a faster journey. There can’t be many people, who don’t like going as fast as possible from A to B.
The Timetable For The New Buses for London On Route 38
This post is for my benefit and it links to a timetable for the New Buses for London operating on Route 38.
Why I Often Wait For A New Bus for London At The Angel
Today, I went up to the Angel to do some shopping. I don’t use a reusable bag, as I haven’t found one I like, since my old Waitrose one collapsed.
So today, I was coming back with two plastic bags of shopping, of which one was particularly awkward as it contained a double large box of tissues. With only one good hand, getting on a normal bus is sometimes difficult, as the entrance is often crowded as people buy their tickets.
But if I go to the rear platform or middle door of a New Bus for London, getting on is usually a much more straightforward affair. Especially, at the rear platform, where many use it as a quick way to get upstairs. As the bus has three Oyster card readers, if it is particularly busy, I will sometimes get in and then reach back to become a legal rider.
Today, I saw a Hackney Central bus was arriving in a minute. So I waited! I struck lucky with a New Bus for London and I was able to ride home in First Class!
Demolition At London Bridge Station
Work has properly started on the new London Bridge station, as the pictures show.
The bus station is still closed, but according to a guy in the buses information booth, it might be open next Monday. I think he did mean the 11th and he blamed the weight of the Shard for the damage to the sewer that caused the need for closure. He didn’t like the building either, as I don’t!
For more details on the rebuilding of the station, look here on the Network Rail web site.
Winding Through The Crossrail Works
Crossrail are building their rail line along the line of the old North London Line to North Woolwich. Their blue fences were everywhere.
Some of the pictures were taken from a pedestrian bridge over the site and others were taken on that excellent photographic platform, a London double-deck bus. In this case it was a 473, that goes from Canning Town station to North Woolwich, where the Woolwich Ferry berths.
Note how the Brick Lane Music Hall dominates the first part of the route.
Doing Her Mending On The Bus
I’ve seen women knitting on the Tube, but I haven’t ever seen anybody doing their mending on a bus before.
That is until today, when I saw a young lady sorting out some errant hem with a needle and thread at the front of the top deck of a number 30 bus.
It’s funny though, but I’ve never seen anybody doing serious embroidery on a bus or train!
The Only Disadvantage Of London’s Two Door Wheelchair-Accessible Buses
Tonight I took the bus to the Angel to get some money and have some supper at Carluccio’s.
I had a lamb shank, which was excellent, as was my handling of the carving of the meat from the bone. The last time I had one in Liverpool, soon after my stroke, I made a complete mess of the operation. So I must be doing something right!
Catching the bus back was very easy and as soon as I got to the stop in the Essex Road, a 56 arrived to take me home.
The only problem was the cold weather, which meant that when a lady in a wheelchair backed it out of the bus down the ramp under the middle door, the time taken allowed an awful lot of cold air to get in through the open door.
But if that is all that we’ll have to live with because of full wheelchair access to the buses, I don’t think we have much to complain about.
Could this be the reason that the North and Manchester in particular doesn’t have second middle doors on their buses? The extra door will let much more awful cold and wet weather in to annoy the other passengers.
The Anonymous Widower 