It hardly seems possible, but it's 10 years since the infamous Bus Stop M debacle first turned heads. The incompetent implementation of a bus stop bypass as part of Cycle Superhighway 2 caused all sorts of inconvenience for passengers in Bow, and also a few red faces at TfL HQ. But I've never summarised it properly before, only spoonfed it across dozens of sequential blogposts, so today I thought I'd sum it all up in a single post. (all dates clickable for additional background reportage)
This pair of maps might help.
Bus Stop M - a full history
Autumn2010: Cycle Superhighway 2 is introduced between Aldgate and the Bow Roundabout. It would be too expensive to build a segregated lane so instead a blue stripe is painted along the edge of the road, with gaps where all the bus stops are.
October/November2011: Two cyclists die in separate accidents on the approach to the Bow Roundabout. It becomes clear to all that a blue stripe painted on the road is inadequate.
September 2014: A full upgrade to Cycle Superhighway 2 is confirmed, featuring a segregated lane for cyclists. Bus stop bypasses will be introduced, including either side of Bow Church. Three eastbound bus stops will need to be merged into one.
February 2015: Work starts here for 58 weeks. Expect delays.
March 2015: Buses on route 25 are temporarily diverted over the Bow Flyover to dodge some of the roadworks, skipping Bus Stop M.
July 2015: It's confirmed that Bus Stop E (Bow Church) will be permanently relocated 50m east and combined with Bus Stop G (Bow Church), while Bus Stop M (Bow Flyover) will be permanently closed.
August 2015: Bus Stop G is closed for several weeks so it can be transformed into a bus stop bypass. Displaced buses stop at Bus Stop E instead.
September 2015: A consultation proposes diverting route 25 across the flyover permanently.
25 September 2015: Down by the flyover, Bus Stop M loses its bus stop post. Buses suddenly stop stopping there, even though it's not shown as closed. Waiting passengers are bemused and annoyed.
1 October 2015: The bus stop post that used to be at Bus Stop M (by the flyover) has been transplanted to the new pedestrian island at Bus Stop G (opposite the church), which is thus now labelled Bus Stop M.
(this was the crucial move - by shifting the post, former Bus Stop G became new Bus Stop M)
2 October 2015: The barriers surrounding new Bus Stop M have been removed. It looks open and people are now waiting here. Unfortunately all the buses are still stopping at Bus Stop E. Passengers are not happy at having to suddenly dash 50m up the road to catch their bus.
"As of Friday evening, the situation is like this: Bus Stop E: Soon to be retired bus stop, with temporary sign - ALL BUSES STOP HERE Bus Stop G: Reopened and looks convincing, but has an M on top and buses generally aren't stopping Bus Stop M: Still has its bus shelter but has lost its post, and is probably no longer a bus stop (probably)
In summary, buses are stopping at E but people are still waiting at M, and now additionally at G because nobody's told them not to. This end of Bow Road currently has one open bus stop that's soon to close, one possibly open bus stop that appears still to be closed, and one probably closed bus stop that still looks open. Could somebody official possibly pop down and sort this mess out?"
3 October 2015: Bus drivers have now been told to stop serving Bus Stop E and start serving Bus Stop M instead. The new Bus Stop M is officially born. Bus Stop E still has a sign saying ALL BUSES STOP HERE but they don't any more. It's now passengers at Bus Stop E who are not happy at suddenly having to dash 50m down the road to catch their bus.
3 October 2015: Alas the bus stop bypass cannot open to cyclists because there's still a lamppost in the middle of it.
5 October 2015: It transpires construction workers have been making changes to bus stops ahead of schedule. TfL, alerted by my blogposts, arrive on the scene to try to sort things out. Bus Stop E now has a sign saying Bus Stop Closed, not ALL BUSES STOP HERE. After decades of long service, Bus Stop E is officially dead.
5 October 2015: The old Bus Stop M also now has a sign saying Bus Stop Closed. The poster lists five affected bus routes, including one that didn't stop here and omitting two that did. The advice scrawled in marker pen is "Please Use Stop M", which this was but no longer is.
(the endgame has been reached - of the three former bus stops only G has survived but is now called M)
5 October 2015: New Bus Stop M includes a tile for route 205 which does not stop here and never has.
7 October 2015: Former bus stops E and M are now surrounded by orange barriers, thus patently closed.
10 October 2015: The digital iBus database alas still thinks the new Bus Stop M is the old Bus Stop M. Aboard a bus it calls the next stop 'Bow Flyover' instead of 'Bow Church', and aboard the 25 it thinks the bus doesn't stop even though it does.
12 October 2015: Former bus stops E and M have been physically removed.
29 October 2015: Yellow BUS STOP markings are finally added on the road at Bus Stop M (the same day I blogged and pointed out there weren't any).
4 November 2015: The lamppost in the middle of the bus stop bypass is removed. The replacement lamppost is not yet switched on so it's a bit dark at night. However, the cycle lane either side of Bus Stop M is still incomplete so the bypass remains closed.
26 November 2015: The iBus system finally recognises that route 25 stops at Bus Stop M.
19 December 2015: Timetables have finally been replaced to match times at the new Bus Stop M, not the old Bus Stop M. A bus spider map has appeared in the shelter.
January 2016: Workmen have returned to dig up the centre of the bus stop bypass to add step-free access for pedestrians crossing to the bus stop. They've had to add two humps because the bus stop is very long and divided into two separate islands.
March 2016: The segregated lane is complete but the bus stop bypass is still not open to cyclists. Every day someone shifts the orange barriers out of the way so cyclists can use it anyway, and every night someone official blocks it again.
May 2016: The bus stop bypass is finally opened to cyclists, hurrah. The new lamppost is finally switched on, hurrah. A countdown display is installed in the bus shelter, hurrah. Then suddenly the bus stop post is unexpectedly carted away on the back of a lorry.
June 2016: The bus stop post returns. Bus Stop M and the bus stop bypass are now fully functional, ten months after construction began.
July 2016: Bus Stop M on Tredegar Road is renamed Bus Stop E, because someone's noticed it's unhelpful to have two Bus Stop Ms on the same spider map.
February 2019: Bus Stop M is closed for a week so that workmen can add white stripes to the pedestrian crossings.
That's the end of the main story although obviously Bus Stop M continues unabated. It's currently displaying all the right timetables and all the right tiles, so that's a win, and has a very useful Countdown display passengers didn't enjoy before all this happened. Its spider map was removed in spring 2020 despite still being correct, so that's a shame. The centre of the cycle lane used to flood a lot but they seem to have sorted that now.
These days Bus Stop Mjustgenerallyworks, which is as it should be, and would have worked so much quicker if only someone had continued to called it Bus Stop G rather than Bus Stop M.
