38 debendification imminent
 

Spotted in Clapton: a notice at a bus stop announcing "double deck
buses and a more frequent service for Route 38 - starting Saturday 14
November".

It says the N38 frequency will increase to a bus every 12 minutes; no
mention of the daytime frequency.

There's also a line drawing of what looks like an Enviro 400, but that
could just be representative.

- martin

38 debendification imminent
 

"martin" wrote in message
...
Spotted in Clapton: a notice at a bus stop announcing "double deck
buses and a more frequent service for Route 38 - starting Saturday 14
November".

It says the N38 frequency will increase to a bus every 12 minutes; no
mention of the daytime frequency.

There's also a line drawing of what looks like an Enviro 400, but that
could just be representative.

From http://www.londonbusroutes.net/changes.htm

70 new double deckers introduced (mixture of 56 10.4m DB300/Gemini 2 DL
and 16 9.9m Trident/Enviro400). Frequency increased to every 2-3 minutes
Monday to Friday peak hours, 3-4 Monday to Saturday shopping hours, 5
Sunday shopping hours and daily early evenings. On Mondays to Fridays
(except evenings) alternate buses will terminate at Hackney Central
station.

Peter Smyth

38 debendification imminent
 

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:11:42 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

It's a mixed fleet - mostly Wrightbus Gemini 2s on VDL DB300 chassis
plus some Enviro 400s. Only 72 buses to replace something like 47!

Having been working near Tower Bridge and having walked from Aldwych
to there every day last week, it is quite noticeable that there is
pretty much always a Red Arrow or two in sight whenever you look up
since they were "debendified".

The stupid thing is that, even if you agree with the idea of removing
bendies, those two routes are the ones that would have made more sense
remaining as bendies anyway.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

38 debendification imminent
 

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:47:31 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:11:42 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

It's a mixed fleet - mostly Wrightbus Gemini 2s on VDL DB300 chassis
plus some Enviro 400s. Only 72 buses to replace something like 47!

Having been working near Tower Bridge and having walked from Aldwych
to there every day last week, it is quite noticeable that there is
pretty much always a Red Arrow or two in sight whenever you look up
since they were "debendified".

The stupid thing is that, even if you agree with the idea of removing
bendies, those two routes are the ones that would have made more sense
remaining as bendies anyway.


But sense doesn't come into it - this is Boris's hobby-horse.

38 debendification imminent
 

In article ,
(Bruce) wrote:

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:47:31 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:11:42 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

It's a mixed fleet - mostly Wrightbus Gemini 2s on VDL DB300 chassis
plus some Enviro 400s. Only 72 buses to replace something like 47!

Having been working near Tower Bridge and having walked from Aldwych
to there every day last week, it is quite noticeable that there is
pretty much always a Red Arrow or two in sight whenever you look up
since they were "debendified".

The stupid thing is that, even if you agree with the idea of removing
bendies, those two routes are the ones that would have made more sense
remaining as bendies anyway.

But sense doesn't come into it - this is Boris's hobby-horse.

Now there's a thought! How about hobby horses to replace bendies?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

38 debendification imminent
 

Neil Williams wrote:

Having been working near Tower Bridge and having walked from Aldwych
to there every day last week, it is quite noticeable that there is
pretty much always a Red Arrow or two in sight whenever you look up
since they were "debendified".


I did eventually, after a few days, catch a four-in-a-row of 521s, but
they've been on diversion recently which has mucked up the timings.
Cellar collapse in Procter Street, or something. Two-in-a-row is so
common as not to be worth a second glance. Generally by the time they
reach about St. Pauls heading east there are single-digit passenger
loads on each one, too.

the 38, the original announcement read as if the off-peak frequency
was unchanged from bendies - is that still the case? Note that this is
the first time ever that someone's tried to run the 38 with single-door
boarding double deckers, and thus pretty much counts as a Boris
transport innovation.

*popcorn*

Tom

38 debendification imminent
 

On 8 Nov, 19:11, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 8 Nov 2009 09:46:22 -0800 (PST), martin

wrote:
Spotted in Clapton: a notice at a bus stop announcing "double deck
buses and a more frequent service for Route 38 - starting Saturday 14
November".

Correct

It says the N38 frequency will increase to a bus every 12 minutes; no
mention of the daytime frequency.

At weekends it is x12 on each leg so every 6 minutes Picc Circus to
Walthamstow. The N38 has always been double deck.

The frequencies for the daytime service are increased at all times I
think. Up to every 2-3 mins or so in the peaks.

Note that only half the service on M-F (not evenings) extends beyond
Hackney Central to Clapton Pond. *This is a break with the more usual
"all buses run end to end" approach to TfL services although there have
always been exceptions (186, 221).

Wasn't that more "all routes will be shortened to improve reliability
statistics", with the result that routes that had included stopping
short of the end of the route no longer did so, and new overlapping
routes got created (eg 36 into 36 plus 436)?

The 208 still runs in overlapping sections though.

38 debendification imminent
 

On Nov 8, 7:11*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

Note that only half the service on M-F (not evenings) extends beyond
Hackney Central to Clapton Pond. *This is a break with the more usual
"all buses run end to end" approach to TfL services although there have
always been exceptions (186, 221).

Would the 73 not be a fairly high-profile example of this?

It barely seems worthwhile terminating at Hackney Central. It's only
cutting a mile from the route, and won't do anything to reduce
congestion on the Narrowway, as the empty buses will still presumably
run around Amhurst Road to get to the starting point outside the old
Town Hall.

38 debendification imminent
 

On Sun, Nov 08, 2009 at 07:11:42PM +0000, Paul Corfield wrote:

Note that only half the service on M-F (not evenings) extends beyond
Hackney Central to Clapton Pond. This is a break with the more usual
"all buses run end to end" approach to TfL services although there have
always been exceptions (186, 221).

38 frequently turns short of its destination right now, so maybe
actually putting that in the timetable will make the service more
reliable.

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

The Law of Daves: in any gathering of technical people, the
number of Daves will be greater than the number of women.

38 debendification imminent
 

On 9 Nov, 10:11, martin wrote:
On Nov 8, 7:11*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

Note that only half the service on M-F (not evenings) extends beyond
Hackney Central to Clapton Pond. *This is a break with the more usual
"all buses run end to end" approach to TfL services although there have
always been exceptions (186, 221).

Would the 73 not be a fairly high-profile example of this?

I can remember about 45 years ago my father taking me and my brother
to visit London for the first time and we stayed at the YMCA near
Tottenham Court Road. My brother and I had several bets as to whether
the next in each case of a seemingly incessant procession of RMs on
the 73 would be going to "Stoke Newington" or "Tottenham Garage".

--
gordon