Bus 205: Bow Church - Paddington Location: London east/central Length of journey: 9 miles, 70 minutes
When I moved to Bow it wasn't blessed with buses, but now you can't move for them. The latest arrival is the 205 - a post-millennial route that originally ran from Paddington to Whitechapel, then got extended to Mile End, and has just been extended again to Bow. Why run the bus empty to Bow Garage, argued the bus company, when we could pick up passengers along Bow Road instead. Which is great. There's now, finally, eventually, at last, a 24-hour alternative to the bendy 25 all the way from Bow up to Aldgate. And I'd much rather sit on a half-empty top deck in a comfy seat than stand shoulder to armpit in TfL's East End cattle truck. So that's what I did.
They stand out, the new 205 buses, because they're very new, very red and very shiny. Let London's hordes aboard for more than a fortnight and that'll change, but for now every trip is like a pristine maiden voyage. Hop on at Bow Church and you can pretty much guarantee getting a grandstand front seat for the glide down the A11. All human life is here. Thankfully very little of it ever attempts to climb on board. Most westbound passengers seem to want to squeeze onto a 25 instead, which is great because the 205 can overtake and overtake some more and speed down to Aldgate rather quicker. In only 15 minutes, when I gave it a try.
There's a definite change in buzz as the bus crosses from Tower Hamlets into the City. The only serious skyscraper has been the new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, but now there are gleaming towers and seated coffee-sippers and rushing suits everywhere. I swear that last time I passed the Heron Tower it was a hole in the ground, and now its skeleton is umpteen storeys tall. The 205 doesn't have a lot of competition on the Angel run, apart from the Northern line that is, so there's rather more upper deck passenger action from here on. Polite, ordinary folk - the sort you're always very pleased to be travelling with, but who'll never make for an interesting blogpost.
Along the City Road there are workmen making a racket with a digger outside a hospital. Our bus queues patiently to squeeze past, then manoeuvres precariously between a traffic island and a grab bucket. It's going to be a slow journey from this point on. I had expected quite the opposite - a broad straight-ish road from here to Paddington, what could possibly hold us back? But no, we don't get to do the straight line, we keep being diverted off round one-way loops. Roadworks at Angel - two extra traffic lights. Wedge-shaped detour before King's Cross - one more. Lack of room for bus lane on the Euston Road - double extra red-light. I'm reminded why I pay extra to take the tube, when I can, because it's amazing how much of life is wasted above ground in traffic at junction after junction after junction.
By Baker Street the 205 has peaked. Not so many want to trail too far up the Marylebone Road, and nobody's interested in yet another off-Road detour to the station of the same name. I'm momentarily distracted by a semi-familiar bloke poking around in the boot of a blue Audi outside the local gym. He looks like Michelle's husband out of EastEnders from 20 years ago, only considerably more than 20 years older. Everything circumstantial tells me I'm correct, but my eyes can't quite believe that Lofty's grown up quite so far.
We've nearly caught up with the 205 in front, but it stays tantalisingly out of reach, creeping through every consecutive traffic light one green ahead of us. We skim across Edgware Road into hotel country, and the last few straggling passengers disembark. The driver is no doubt wondering what on earth I'm still doing upstairs as he pulls off from Paddington station one stop round the corner to Eastbourne Terrace. There's no earthly reason for someone from Bow to want to ride to this tedious street full of queued taxis and parked-up buses, except for the sake of it. And not when I could have taken the Hammersmith & City line and got here in half the time. So hurrah for the extended 205 - it's lovely to know it's there, although I can't see any reason to ever want to use it quite this far again.
Other London bus-route bloggers: » Ben(doing them all from 1 to 499, not in order) » One at a time(doing them all in order, on a Freedom Pass)
Bus 205: Bow Church - Paddington
They stand out, the new 205 buses, because they're very new, very red and very shiny. Let London's hordes aboard for more than a fortnight and that'll change, but for now every trip is like a pristine maiden voyage. Hop on at Bow Church and you can pretty much guarantee getting a grandstand front seat for the glide down the A11. All human life is here. Thankfully very little of it ever attempts to climb on board. Most westbound passengers seem to want to squeeze onto a 25 instead, which is great because the 205 can overtake and overtake some more and speed down to Aldgate rather quicker. In only 15 minutes, when I gave it a try.
By Baker Street the 205 has peaked. Not so many want to trail too far up the Marylebone Road, and nobody's interested in yet another off-Road detour to the station of the same name. I'm momentarily distracted by a semi-familiar bloke poking around in the boot of a blue Audi outside the local gym. He looks like Michelle's husband out of EastEnders from 20 years ago, only considerably more than 20 years older. Everything circumstantial tells me I'm correct, but my eyes can't quite believe that Lofty's grown up quite so far.
