In the seventies Green Line became very unreliable due to traffic delays which wrecked the timetable, but also due to staff shortages at the time. In those days the morning Radio London traffic news would include a long list of Green Line cancellations and regular passengers who could not rely on the service would give up and find an alternative.
Aberystwyth - London is very busy.
Which was rather the point I was seeking to make, obviously not very effectively! The regular passenger, knowing when his/her coach was due, arrives at the stop and has that 'unexpected' half hour or hour's wait. A couple of 'unexpected' occurrences within a short period leads to it being half-expected, then probable, by which time the bird has flown, never to be seen again. Biggest case study, the 721 Aldgate to Brentwood, still every 12 minutes all day in the early 1970s, gone without replacement a decade later.
Many people have said that the coaches not being a replaced is a sign of the service not doing so well - whilst maybe the usage has dropped slightly, the withdrawal of the X90 should help to improve usage slightly as I'd expect most passengers still using it to transfer to the Oxford Tube. I'd say that Oxfordshire probably need to spend their funds more on upgrading their bus fleet - the coaches are still in pretty good condition and they are ULEZ compliant, I don't see any reason to replace them prematurely?
The 721 was a nice example of how a number of small(ish) issues built up.
To which might be added, if the author and photographer Jim Blake is to be believed, the downgrading to Leyland Nationals making the final straw. On what level could these be said to be coaches?
I'm not sure if they have been using it as a cash cow, but a few years back they did have the highest profit margins in the country! There has been a definite lack of investment for the last 2 years, but hopefully that will be made up over the last few years.
As a regular user with RTs, RCLs and the Nationals on that route I did prefer the routemasters but never found the Nationals to be an issue apart from the slower boarding. No coach quality vehicles were used in LT or NBC days.
I heard it said that Green Line inspectors at Aldgate were unimpressed with coaches arriving in the wrong order on the 721, so bunching was common: the 'follow my leader' principle. Any idea whether there was some truth in this?
I think that I only used the whole length of the route once in my life. My normal travel was between Romford and Brentwood and there was no bunching at this end of the route.
I saw none too when I was sent to do some 'observations' on the route, the reasons for which were never conveyed to me. Whether 'red' buses would try to make something of the Brentwood to Ilford section, say, in GLC days and gradual retrenchment from beyond the London boundary is doubtful. I know the very rough loadings figures I handed over would not have encouraged LT!
Makes sense, the 102 looks like it will have a PVR of 4. Presumably the 101/3/5 will keep the Streetlites?
Or historic department stores closing down.