On Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:22:41 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

AIUI the problem was that the 726 timings were horribly unreliable by
the time it reached Sutton, never mind Kingston, and it only ran hourly.
This made it a bit dodgy to use for getting to to the airport and only
much use for other trips if you had a lot of time on your hands. It also
stopped everywhere, so people going one stop slowed it down even more.
[...]
It did improve west of Croydon - doubled in frequency, chopped some stops.

From my westerly location I got the feeling that reliability improved
dramatically when it went to Metrobus... am I being unfair? Perhaps
it was cut back to Croydon on the same date.

The doubling in frequency of the X26 was, as you'll know, more recent
and a Boris-inspired trial of orbital express routes. I recall a
report saying that it hadn't really proved the point but they'd keep
the new frequency (to avoid the embarrassment of cutting it so soon?).
Still, at the new frequency it seems very well-used. Ken's point
elsewhere is a good one I think - it would have been a perfect route
for early Countdown 1.0 installation.

A pity that (your?) N213 had to suffer at around the same time.

Let's see what Quality Line make of the X26, new Citaros on the way I
think.

On the point of tram conversions without through fares, having through
fares between any bus routes on Oyster would, I think, address many
people's complaints in what is clearly one of the best bus networks in
the world. I'm not joking! But would people support the increase in
fares that would be necessary?

Richard.