Saturday, December 23, 2017
Since June TfL have been quietly chipping away at London's bus network without almost anybody noticing. Rather than cutting routes they've been reducing the frequency of the buses, affecting almost 10% of daytime routes and more than 15% of overnighters. I've been keeping track here and here.
This table summarises which bus routes have had their daytime frequencies cut, month by month, and how many buses per hour they've lost.
| Number of buses cut per hour |
½ a bus | 1 bus | 1½ buses | 2 buses | 2½ | 3 |
Jun | | | | 48, 176 | E3 | |
Jul | 22, C1 | 253, 384 | 14, 74 | 31 | | 63 |
Aug | | 5 | | | | |
Sep | 205 | 47, 209, 225, 269, 345, 391, 488 | 156, 210, 222, H98 | 11, 29, C3 | | |
Oct | | 42, 187, 276, E6, P12 | 321, C11, U4 | | | |
Nov | 24, 368 | 89, 105, 119, W11 | 106, 349 | 483 | 100 | |
Dec | | 200, W12 | 28 | | | |
That's 48 bus routes cut, by a total of 60 buses per hour.
Here's a similar table for weekend nightbuses.
| Number of nightbuses cut per hour |
1 bus | 2 buses | 3 buses | 4 buses | 8 buses |
Jun-Aug | N41, N73 | N15 | | | |
Sep | 43, 88, N16 | 6, 24, 94, N8, N91, N98, N207 | 134, N9 | N5, N20 | N29 |
Oct-Dec | N89 | N26, N55 | | N97 | |
That's 22 nightbus routes cut, by a total of 50 buses per hour. 30% of "nightbuses beginning with N" have been cut. September was particularly savage. The N29 was the biggest casualty.
One reason for the cuts is that fewer people are travelling by bus, so fare revenue is lower and it's become uneconomic to run too many buses. The outcome of the cuts is that passengers will have to wait a bit longer for each bus, so might drift off to other modes of transport, which'd mean fewer people travelling by bus. A potentially vicious circle.
Meanwhile these are the 21 bus cuts TfL already have lined up for January.
Daytime bus frequency cuts in January 2018
Route | Frequency before | Frequency after | Cut in frequency |
39 | every 7-8 mins | every 8 mins | ½ bus an hour |
93 | every 6 mins | every 6-7 mins | 1 bus an hour |
163 | every 8 mins | every 10 mins | 1½ buses an hour |
230 | every 12 mins | every 15 mins | 1 bus an hour |
269 | every 10 mins | every 12 mins | 1 bus an hour |
279 | every 4-5 mins | every 5-7 mins | 3 buses an hour |
285 | every 10 mins | every 12 mins | 1 bus an hour |
329 | every 6-7 mins | every 7-8 mins | 1 bus an hour |
430 | every 8 mins | every 10 mins | 1½ buses an hour |
452 | every 7-8 mins | every 8-9 mins | 1 bus an hour |
484 | every 10 mins | every 12 mins | 1 bus an hour |
Weekend nightbus frequency cuts in January 2018
Route | Frequency before | Frequency after | Cut in frequency |
14 | every 12 mins | every 20 mins | 2 buses an hour |
25 | every 6 mins | every 12 mins | 5 buses an hour |
53 | every 12 mins | every 15 mins | 1 bus an hour |
242 | every 20 mins | every 30 mins | 1 bus an hour |
N22 | every 20 mins | every 30 mins | 1 bus an hour |
N86 | every 15 mins | every 20 mins | 1 bus an hour |
N87 | every 10 mins | every 15 mins | 2 buses an hour |
N109 | every 20 mins | every 30 mins | 1 bus an hour |
N155 | every 8 mins | every 15 mins | 3½ buses an hour |
N279 | every 12 mins | every 20 mins | 2 buses an hour |
More cuts will be announced later, I'm sure. I'll report back as the new year progresses. I wonder when Londoners will finally notice.
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