diamond geezer

 Saturday, April 02, 2022

(more niche bus content disguised as clickbait)

I didn't ride the extinct bus and you won't believe how long it took



The number 84 bus has been running between St Albans and New Barnet since 1969, but as of today is no longer a London service. It wasn't making the previous operator enough money so they threw in the towel, and the new operator doesn't want to run the London bit so are curtailing the service at Potters Bar. Such are the perils of provincial operation.

This has opened up a new bus-free gap between Barnet and Potters Bar, a road with very little in the way of population once you cross the Greater London boundary. The only way to make the former 10 minute journey now is to drive, or of course to catch the train, or to waste your time doglegging aboard two TfL buses. I tackled the two-bus option.



What I should have done was ride the 84 bus because yesterday was its last day of London operation so I could have joined the MWLB for a farewell ride. Instead I donned my public service hat and tested the new set-up in case it's of use to future travellers. Also I've blogged the 84 ride before and I wanted to ride the dinkybus.

The 399 is London's least used bus and for good reason. It only runs six times a day and only between 10am and 3pm, for complicated reasons previously discussed, and ventures deep into car-rich suburbia. Essentially it exists to help a few pensioners go shopping, indeed it's rubbish as a connection unless you happen to be outside The Spires shopping centre at precisely the right moment. I made sure I was.


Route 399: Barnet to Hadley Wood
Length of bus journey: 3 miles, 15 minutes

After skirting the shops the 399 heads north into the adorable village of Monken Hadley. The 84 did this until yesterday, skipping past the ducks, ditches and daffodils on the village green, but now only the 399 bothers. It then turns right at the pre-Worboys fingerpost and aims for the parish church, which means the bus stops on Hadley Highstone are suddenly redundant. Everything ahead is Hail and Ride.

I love the section where the 399 twists past quaint cottages with immaculate front gardens, then squeezes through a white-painted gate and emerges onto Monken Hadley Common. The backdrop is all tumbling trees, as you'll know if you've walked London Loop section 16, while the grass in front has ample space for a picnic or a kickabout. There being a public school across the road it was actually being used by three lads for rugby passing practice.

Camlet Way is lined by a succession of detached mansions, or obscene displays of residential wealth if that's your preferred viewpoint. These houses have gates with intercoms, clipped topiary, multiple vehicles out front and signs displaying which interior design company is doing work within. Their owners have no need of buses so the existence of the 399 is mainly moot, but evidence suggests their cleaners find it useful.

The 399 has no intention of going direct, it bears off after the railway in case anyone lives down a handful of leafy backroads. One elderly gentlemen does - he dings the bell and the driver continues for a while before stopping outside what turns out to be exactly the right house. Another woman performs the same trick three bends later. Customer service on the 399, with its regular clientele and regular driver, is second to none.

Once back on the original road it's all about knowing where to get off. Don't ding by the golf club, that's too early, nor by the gated private cul-de-sac, nor by the superprime luxury flats. Instead continue almost to the foot of Beech Hill and ding there, because there isn't a joint bus stop on the Cockfosters Road because that would be too easy. I made sure to say thanks to the driver before alighting because the 399 is that kind of bus.
Onward travel is at the mercy of the next bus which is the 298. According to the timetable it runs every 20 minutes, but traffic is often awful elsewhere on the route so take that with a pinch of salt. I checked my app and was told I had 16 minutes to wait, which was unfortunate, but this actually turned out to be 25. In that time I could have walked almost to the M25, or even back to almost Cockfosters, but instead I admired a ploughed field amid a flurry of snow.


Route 298: Hadley Wood to Potters Bar
Length of bus journey: 3 miles, 10 minutes

You never know what's going to turn up on the 298 - could be a single decker, could be a double. I got the big one so enjoyed an elevated view as we sped north, first past the houses on the very edge of Hadley Wood, then out into open countryside. The road ahead is spectacular, at least for London, with the entire valley of the Salmon's Brook laid out to either side. Think rolling farmland with winding hedgerows and pockets of woodland, and think Green Belt which is why somehow none of this is houses.

Hertfordshire starts at the top of the ridge beneath a line of pylons. This is Stagg Hill, as you can tell from the name of a bus stop that almost nobody will ever need but TfL have put in just in case. Junction 24 of the M25 lies almost immediately ahead, which does drag the scenery down somewhat, and then the outskirts of Potters Bar kick in. Multi-storey Maple House is not a welcoming beacon for the town, and if the traffic's bad it may be looming for some time.

Depending on which bit of Potters Bar you want you might be able to get off here. I stayed on past Tesco and the fire station to the main shopping parade, where schoolkids flooded McDonalds and pensioners braved the chill at a cafe with pavement seating. The 298 terminates outside the railway station, or more accurately under the eaves of an ugly Sainsbury's, at what is the northernmost stop used by any TfL bus service.


My bus ride from Barnet to Potters Bar had taken 25 minutes, but unfortunately with a 25 minute wait in the middle so a grand total of 50 minutes. That's about five times longer than the journey would have taken aboard the now-defunct 84. Also it relied on taking a ridiculously rare bus so isn't entirely practical... especially in the reverse direction where you might end up with an hour's wait, or no bus at all.

A more reliable journey would be to take the 384 from Barnet to Cockfosters and change there, except the 384 (still) goes all round the houses so that's 20 minutes all by itself. A better option would be to take the 307 instead, which is both quicker and more frequent but also indirect, so can't beat the 399 on a good day. Basically there are no good options any more other than to take the train, so long as you've got the spare cash.

Barnet to Potters Bar
 by train(any day) £4.20 5 minutes
 by 84 bus (until yesterday)  £2.90 10 minutes
 by two buses (from now on) £1.65  30-50 minutes

Ironically the roads north of Barnet and Cockfosters are regularly plied by empty buses running out of service to Potters Bar bus garage. You couldn't timetable them but it does feel like a waste of resources now that the wider public are being told to find their own way. The problem with bus networks based on London and not-London is that cross-boundary journeys are the first to fall by the wayside when funding fades. Services between Barnet and Potters Bar aren't the first casualty and won't be the last.


<< click for Newer posts

click for Older Posts >>


click to return to the main page


...or read more in my monthly archives
Jan24  Feb24  Mar24
Jan23  Feb23  Mar23  Apr23  May23  Jun23  Jul23  Aug23  Sep23  Oct23  Nov23  Dec23
Jan22  Feb22  Mar22  Apr22  May22  Jun22  Jul22  Aug22  Sep22  Oct22  Nov22  Dec22
Jan21  Feb21  Mar21  Apr21  May21  Jun21  Jul21  Aug21  Sep21  Oct21  Nov21  Dec21
Jan20  Feb20  Mar20  Apr20  May20  Jun20  Jul20  Aug20  Sep20  Oct20  Nov20  Dec20
Jan19  Feb19  Mar19  Apr19  May19  Jun19  Jul19  Aug19  Sep19  Oct19  Nov19  Dec19
Jan18  Feb18  Mar18  Apr18  May18  Jun18  Jul18  Aug18  Sep18  Oct18  Nov18  Dec18
Jan17  Feb17  Mar17  Apr17  May17  Jun17  Jul17  Aug17  Sep17  Oct17  Nov17  Dec17
Jan16  Feb16  Mar16  Apr16  May16  Jun16  Jul16  Aug16  Sep16  Oct16  Nov16  Dec16
Jan15  Feb15  Mar15  Apr15  May15  Jun15  Jul15  Aug15  Sep15  Oct15  Nov15  Dec15
Jan14  Feb14  Mar14  Apr14  May14  Jun14  Jul14  Aug14  Sep14  Oct14  Nov14  Dec14
Jan13  Feb13  Mar13  Apr13  May13  Jun13  Jul13  Aug13  Sep13  Oct13  Nov13  Dec13
Jan12  Feb12  Mar12  Apr12  May12  Jun12  Jul12  Aug12  Sep12  Oct12  Nov12  Dec12
Jan11  Feb11  Mar11  Apr11  May11  Jun11  Jul11  Aug11  Sep11  Oct11  Nov11  Dec11
Jan10  Feb10  Mar10  Apr10  May10  Jun10  Jul10  Aug10  Sep10  Oct10  Nov10  Dec10 
Jan09  Feb09  Mar09  Apr09  May09  Jun09  Jul09  Aug09  Sep09  Oct09  Nov09  Dec09
Jan08  Feb08  Mar08  Apr08  May08  Jun08  Jul08  Aug08  Sep08  Oct08  Nov08  Dec08
Jan07  Feb07  Mar07  Apr07  May07  Jun07  Jul07  Aug07  Sep07  Oct07  Nov07  Dec07
Jan06  Feb06  Mar06  Apr06  May06  Jun06  Jul06  Aug06  Sep06  Oct06  Nov06  Dec06
Jan05  Feb05  Mar05  Apr05  May05  Jun05  Jul05  Aug05  Sep05  Oct05  Nov05  Dec05
Jan04  Feb04  Mar04  Apr04  May04  Jun04  Jul04  Aug04  Sep04  Oct04  Nov04  Dec04
Jan03  Feb03  Mar03  Apr03  May03  Jun03  Jul03  Aug03  Sep03  Oct03  Nov03  Dec03
 Jan02  Feb02  Mar02  Apr02  May02  Jun02  Jul02 Aug02  Sep02  Oct02  Nov02  Dec02 

jack of diamonds
Life viewed from London E3

» email me
» follow me on twitter
» follow the blog on Twitter
» follow the blog on RSS

» my flickr photostream

twenty blogs
our bow
arseblog
ian visits
londonist
broken tv
blue witch
on london
the great wen
edith's streets
spitalfields life
linkmachinego
round the island
wanstead meteo
christopher fowler
the greenwich wire
bus and train user
ruth's coastal walk
round the rails we go
london reconnections
from the murky depths

quick reference features
Things to do in Outer London
Things to do outside London
Inner London toilet map
20 years of blog series
The DG Tour of Britain
London's most...

read the archive
Mar24  Feb24  Jan24
Dec23  Nov23  Oct23  Sep23
Aug23  Jul23  Jun23  May23
Apr23  Mar23  Feb23  Jan23
Dec22  Nov22  Oct22  Sep22
Aug22  Jul22  Jun22  May22
Apr22  Mar22  Feb22  Jan22
Dec21  Nov21  Oct21  Sep21
Aug21  Jul21  Jun21  May21
Apr21  Mar21  Feb21  Jan21
Dec20  Nov20  Oct20  Sep20
Aug20  Jul20  Jun20  May20
Apr20  Mar20  Feb20  Jan20
Dec19  Nov19  Oct19  Sep19
Aug19  Jul19  Jun19  May19
Apr19  Mar19  Feb19  Jan19
Dec18  Nov18  Oct18  Sep18
Aug18  Jul18  Jun18  May18
Apr18  Mar18  Feb18  Jan18
Dec17  Nov17  Oct17  Sep17
Aug17  Jul17  Jun17  May17
Apr17  Mar17  Feb17  Jan17
Dec16  Nov16  Oct16  Sep16
Aug16  Jul16  Jun16  May16
Apr16  Mar16  Feb16  Jan16
Dec15  Nov15  Oct15  Sep15
Aug15  Jul15  Jun15  May15
Apr15  Mar15  Feb15  Jan15
Dec14  Nov14  Oct14  Sep14
Aug14  Jul14  Jun14  May14
Apr14  Mar14  Feb14  Jan14
Dec13  Nov13  Oct13  Sep13
Aug13  Jul13  Jun13  May13
Apr13  Mar13  Feb13  Jan13
Dec12  Nov12  Oct12  Sep12
Aug12  Jul12  Jun12  May12
Apr12  Mar12  Feb12  Jan12
Dec11  Nov11  Oct11  Sep11
Aug11  Jul11  Jun11  May11
Apr11  Mar11  Feb11  Jan11
Dec10  Nov10  Oct10  Sep10
Aug10  Jul10  Jun10  May10
Apr10  Mar10  Feb10  Jan10
Dec09  Nov09  Oct09  Sep09
Aug09  Jul09  Jun09  May09
Apr09  Mar09  Feb09  Jan09
Dec08  Nov08  Oct08  Sep08
Aug08  Jul08  Jun08  May08
Apr08  Mar08  Feb08  Jan08
Dec07  Nov07  Oct07  Sep07
Aug07  Jul07  Jun07  May07
Apr07  Mar07  Feb07  Jan07
Dec06  Nov06  Oct06  Sep06
Aug06  Jul06  Jun06  May06
Apr06  Mar06  Feb06  Jan06
Dec05  Nov05  Oct05  Sep05
Aug05  Jul05  Jun05  May05
Apr05  Mar05  Feb05  Jan05
Dec04  Nov04  Oct04  Sep04
Aug04  Jul04  Jun04  May04
Apr04  Mar04  Feb04  Jan04
Dec03  Nov03  Oct03  Sep03
Aug03  Jul03  Jun03  May03
Apr03  Mar03  Feb03  Jan03
Dec02  Nov02  Oct02  Sep02
back to main page

the diamond geezer index
2023 2022
2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
2011 2010 2009 2008 2007
2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

my special London features
a-z of london museums
E3 - local history month
greenwich meridian (N)
greenwich meridian (S)
the real eastenders
london's lost rivers
olympic park 2007
great british roads
oranges & lemons
random boroughs
bow road station
high street 2012
river westbourne
trafalgar square
capital numbers
east london line
lea valley walk
olympics 2005
regent's canal
square routes
silver jubilee
unlost rivers
cube routes
Herbert Dip
metro-land
capital ring
river fleet
piccadilly
bakerloo

ten of my favourite posts
the seven ages of blog
my new Z470xi mobile
five equations of blog
the dome of doom
chemical attraction
quality & risk
london 2102
single life
boredom
april fool

ten sets of lovely photos
my "most interesting" photos
london 2012 olympic zone
harris and the hebrides
betjeman's metro-land
marking the meridian
tracing the river fleet
london's lost rivers
inside the gherkin
seven sisters
iceland

just surfed in?
here's where to find...
diamond geezers
flash mob #1  #2  #3  #4
ben schott's miscellany
london underground
watch with mother
cigarette warnings
digital time delay
wheelie suitcases
war of the worlds
transit of venus
top of the pops
old buckenham
ladybird books
acorn antiques
digital watches
outer hebrides
olympics 2012
school dinners
pet shop boys
west wycombe
bletchley park
george orwell
big breakfast
clapton pond
san francisco
thunderbirds
routemaster
children's tv
east enders
trunk roads
amsterdam
little britain
credit cards
jury service
big brother
jubilee line
number 1s
titan arum
typewriters
doctor who
coronation
comments
blue peter
matchgirls
hurricanes
buzzwords
brookside
monopoly
peter pan
starbucks
feng shui
leap year
manbags
bbc three
vision on
piccadilly
meridian
concorde
wembley
islington
ID cards
bedtime
freeview
beckton
blogads
eclipses
letraset
arsenal
sitcoms
gherkin
calories
everest
muffins
sudoku
camilla
london
ceefax
robbie
becks
dome
BBC2
paris
lotto
118
itv