Back in April TfL withdrew the 507 and 521.
Now they want to withdraw the 549.
They really have it in for the 500-and-somethings.
The 549 exists to serve a sliver of streets between Woodford and Roding Valley and is one of London's least frequent buses, running every 90 minutes. In good news it's going to be replaced in its entirety by a bus running every 60 minutes, so that's a win. In less good news the frequency was only extended to every 90 minutes last year due to heavy traffic, so all that's really happening here is the reinstatement of an hourly service last operated in 2012. But let's chalk this up as a positive.
The real meat in the consultation is a lot of mucking about with routes W12, W13 and W14 across Waltham Forest and Redbridge.
Here's the current situation. TfL are a lot better at showing maps in consultations these days, even if these are sometimes unnecessarily over-complicated (which is why I'm not showing you the headline geographic map which mostly confuses).
• The W14 will be technically withdrawn.
• The W13 will be extended to take over the W14's southern end between Leytonstone and Leyton ASDA.
• The W12 will no longer serve Walthamstow Village, instead skirting it to the north. Between Whipps Cross and Snaresbrook it'll no longer take the direct route, instead deviating south via Leytonstone and Wanstead. After South Woodford it'll also no longer serve Nightingale Lane, extending instead to Woodford Bridge to make up for the loss of the W14.
• The 549, renumbered W14, will be extended from South Woodford to Whipps Cross. First it'll head south via Nightingale Lane, picking up one lost section of the W12, then take the direct route from Snaresbrook to Whipps Cross picking up another.
» The W13 remains at 4 buses an hour.
» The W12 doubles in frequency to 4 buses an hour.
» The new W14 will run only once an hour (down from 4).
Here's all that on another map. The faces are my addition.
The big winners
• Residents down Coppermill Lane will get twice as many buses into Walthamstow.
• 30% more buses will link Whipps Cross Hospital to Leytonstone tube station.
• Those currently served by route 549 will see a bus every 60 minutes, not every 90 minutes, plus the introduction of a Sunday service.
The big losers
• Walthamstow Village loses all its buses. Waltham Forest council requested this change "to meet their public realm aspirations for Walthamstow Village". Passengers will now need to walk up to 500m to other bus stops.
• The frequency of buses on Snaresbrook Road drops from two an hour to just one.
• The frequency of buses around Nightingale Lane drops from two an hour to just one.
TfL giveth and TfL taketh away.
If you live along the 549 they're only giving.
If you live along the current W12 they may be significantly taking away.
◆ This has been a diamond geezer Plain English Challenge, attempting to distil a complex consultation into fewer than 500 words.
