London bus route 266 restructuring

[Busaholic]

TfL have announced that Metroline have re-won the contract for this route, commencing in July, but they are awarding it on a short term basis, terminating December 2019 at latest, 'to allow for restructuring,,, in connection with the opening of the Elizabeth Line.'

This intrigued me, as the 266 is basically a north-south route, whereas the E.L. is basically east-west, so potential transit mode change seems limited. I can only assume that Old Oak Common on Crossrail is seen as a potential magnet in drawing people from north or south of it (or both?) who currently use other Underground/rail services. North of Old Oak seems more likely, as the Central and H&C already serve much of the central area covered by Crossrail, but the Euston-Watford and Bakerloo may be targeted?

Anyone any ideas?

 

[deltic]

I would have thought that it will be impacted by HS2 construction works at Old Oak Common that will lead to a number of road closures and diversions. While Crossrail will serve the new station seems a bit misleading to say the route will be impacted by Crossrail rather than HS2

 

[plcd1]

There was a scheme mooted a while ago to restructure some routes in and around Acton. This affected the 266, 440 and a new route planned to take over part of route 72 over Hammersmith Bridge and then via the 266 towards Acton. I suspect the issues with Hammersmith Bridge and delays to repairs until late 2018 has kyboshed TfL's wishes to chop the 266 to bit earlier. The huge cuts to planned increases in bus mileage also present issues for TfL.

I expect there will be some restructuring of routes to feed into Acton Main Line which the 266 passes. The 266 is notoriously unreliable - I tried to ride it end to end and was kicked off short turning buses twice. How people tolerate that on a regular basis I know not. A lot of the curtailments affect the Willesden - Acton - Hammersmith end. Again I've waited with about 80 other people near Acton Town Centre for well over 20 mins for a bus when they should be every 7-8 mins.

As already said HS2 construction won't help matters around Willesden and Park Royal but it's clear (to me) that TfL are preparing to slaughter a lot of "bus sacred cows" on the alter of Crossrail. There are going to be multiple packages of bus changes stretching from Southall all the way to Harold Hill and Bexleyheath. The 266 is going to be put on the alter of sacrifice along with the 25 and 427 (routes with short term contracts due to Crossrail issues).

 

[Busaholic]

There was a scheme mooted a while ago to restructure some routes in and around Acton. This affected the 266, 440 and a new route planned to take over part of route 72 over Hammersmith Bridge and then via the 266 towards Acton. I suspect the issues with Hammersmith Bridge and delays to repairs until late 2018 has kyboshed TfL's wishes to chop the 266 to bit earlier. The huge cuts to planned increases in bus mileage also present issues for TfL.

I expect there will be some restructuring of routes to feed into Acton Main Line which the 266 passes. The 266 is notoriously unreliable - I tried to ride it end to end and was kicked off short turning buses twice. How people tolerate that on a regular basis I know not. A lot of the curtailments affect the Willesden - Acton - Hammersmith end. Again I've waited with about 80 other people near Acton Town Centre for well over 20 mins for a bus when they should be every 7-8 mins.

As already said HS2 construction won't help matters around Willesden and Park Royal but it's clear (to me) that TfL are preparing to slaughter a lot of "bus sacred cows" on the alter of Crossrail. There are going to be multiple packages of bus changes stretching from Southall all the way to Harold Hill and Bexleyheath. The 266 is going to be put on the alter of sacrifice along with the 25 and 427 (routes with short term contracts due to Crossrail issues).

Thank you for all that, which I found very interesting.I hadn't been aware of the Hammersmith Bridge proposals before.

Just an aside really, but in the 1970s when the 260 paralleled the 266 more than now, the Saturday service was Golders Green to Hammersmith, with a four bus allocation on a 24 minute headway. I was waiting at Golders Green when all four buses entered the bus station, nose to tail. About five minutes later all four left together, the first being curtailed at Willesden Garage, the second Willesden Junction, the third Acton Vale, Bromyard Avenue with only the last going through to Hammersmith! They kept that order, all proceeding at a stately pace until the first three had all peeled off. Willesden operated the route, but only on Saturdays, and their reputation for stroppiness was plain to see.

On the 25, I've always assumed that the current route couldn't long survive Crossrail, so I was very surprised to see in the Oxford Street consultation proposals that it was to continue to Oxford Circus, whereas the 8 will continue to be cut back to Tottenham Court Road. The 242 is, of course, being cut back from TCR to St. Paul's: I'd have thought 8 to OC, 242 to TCR and 25 to SP would be more logical, and headways wouldn't have to be tweaked very much.