Most Frequent Bus Routes in London

[HSTEd]

Well we occasionally have threads about bus routes in London which are over a set number of busses per day... which rapidly breaks down thanks to the insane number of routes you could list..

So I will try a different tack?
Which is the busiest bus route in London and how many buses does it have a day? (Using Monday-to-Friday as the baseline).

EDIT:

For the avoidance of doubt, the question relates to the frequency of the busses involved rather than actual passenger numbers.

 

[vicbury]

From my experience, the 38, whilst being one of the most frequent, is not as busy as the 29, which is usually packed.

 

[radamfi]

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/details.htm

shows the 25 having the highest PVR of 59, although the 38 has a higher PVR of 64 if you include the New Bus for London extra journeys.

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/038N038.htm

shows the 38 running every 2 minutes at peak times and every 3 minutes most of the day. The 521 runs every 2 minutes in peak as well, although of course a much shorter route. However, there is a massive drop to every 10 minutes in the middle of the day. The even shorter 507 runs every 3 minutes in peak. The 25 runs every 3-4 minutes on most of the route. The 25 is the busiest bus route in the UK (and probably western Europe) in terms of passenger numbers. It even runs every 8 minutes throughout the night!

 

[nicobobinus]

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/details.htm

shows the 25 having the highest PVR of 59, although the 38 has a higher PVR of 64 if you include the New Bus for London extra journeys.

http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/038N038.htm

shows the 38 running every 2 minutes at peak times and every 3 minutes most of the day. The 521 runs every 2 minutes in peak as well, although of course a much shorter route. However, there is a massive drop to every 10 minutes in the middle of the day. The even shorter 507 runs every 3 minutes in peak. The 25 runs every 3-4 minutes on most of the route. The 25 is the busiest bus route in the UK (and probably western Europe) in terms of passenger numbers. It even runs every 8 minutes throughout the night!

The 38 has had it's frequency hacked back by TfL, meaning it only runs every three minutes throughout the peak now. That said, buses leave Hackney Central every two minutes for a period between 7-8am to keep an even frequency in the thickening traffic on the way down, although they tend to be three minutes apart by Victoria. Apart from some arguably sledgehammer specification tactics by TfL when the route was debendified, I think the vastly improved Overground/Victoria line combination has pinched some of the Hackney/Dalston-WC1-West End traffic that may have relied on the 38 in the past. It doesn't need 28bph, at any rate.

The N29 also merits a mention for running every 3-4 minutes (closer to 3 - 18bph) on Friday Night/Sat morning & Sat night/Sunday morning - hands down the most frequent night route, it runs at a higher frequency than it's day counterpart. The 5 mile corridor from Tottenham Court Road to Manor House gets a whopping 28 buses an hour all night when you include the N253 and N279, and the loadings justify it!

 

[moogal]

I seem to remember at debendification (is that a word?) the 38 being timetabled to run about every minute in the morning peak. Of course what this actually lead to were bunches of six 38s running mostly empty down Essex Road in convoy, followed by a 5 minute gap...

The 25's one of my local routes, it's very frequent but it needs it! Peak/weekend evening services can be very overcrowded.

 

[Deerfold]

The 38 has had it's frequency hacked back by TfL, meaning it only runs every three minutes throughout the peak now.

Yes, that's really been hacked - to only a bus every 3 minutes.

The only route to run every 2 minutes for a full hour is the 521.

Before debendification the most frequent peak service was the W7 with 19 bph during the morning peak.

Aftwards the 38 ran 24 bph, 12 running the full length of the route - the Borisbuses were later added to this.

The 25 only runs 16 buses an hour in the peak with 8 of these terminating at Holborn.

The high frequncies on the N29 are largely due to it replacing much of the Northern line overnight.

 

[nicobobinus]

The high frequncies on the N29 are largely due to it replacing much of the Northern line overnight.

Piccadilly, shurely? And while it covers the northern line up the CX branch and on to Camden, there are four other night routes that cover those roads..

The 38 is about to get another 'swingeing' cut - the boris supplementary schedule is being axed and the vehicles are being mixed into the normal service, so it really will be 20bph (albeit with the two minute gaps in Hackney). It will manage fine. I'm about to take a ride in up Essex Road, and I can guarantee I'll pass at least one half-empty bus parked up on hazards waiting time. The pre-bendy studies looking at capacity on the 38 and 73 singled out Essex Road up to the Angel as the 'crush' point where more capacity was needed - these days, it is rare for buses to leave people behind along there at all, let alone elsewhere on the route. And when they do, there's another one within sight up the road.

At a time when TfL buses don't have the cash to fund an improvement without cutting something somewhere else, there are other routes creaking at the seams - the 25 being one (53/453 to name two others), that could benefit vastly from the resources that have been over-stuffed into the 38.

 

[madannie77]

Way back in time when I lived in London (the mid 1990s, actually) the 253 was advertised as every 2-4 minutes on Monday-Friday and every 1-5 minutes on Saturdays over it's central section (Holloway to Hackney). I used it regularly and it always seemed to be very busy.

It is now two separate routes, 253 and 254, each of which is a pitiful 4-8 minutes now.

 

[nicobobinus]

Way back in time when I lived in London (the mid 1990s, actually) the 253 was advertised as every 2-4 minutes on Monday-Friday and every 1-5 minutes on Saturdays over it's central section (Holloway to Hackney). I used it regularly and it always seemed to be very busy.

It is now two separate routes, 253 and 254, each of which is a pitiful 4-8 minutes now.

The combined 253 had the highest PVR in London in the mid 90s. I live about halfway along the 'common' 253/254 stretch and to Arriva's credit, the two routes are still run very similarly to the combined overlap operation of olde - they generally turn up 2-3 minutes apart in alternation. Until it all falls apart, but that is another discussion..

 

[radamfi]

The 253 ran in overlapping sections anyway so the 254 is really just a renumbering of one of the sections.

 

[EM2]

The 25 can be horrendous, even when it was a bendy. Early Sunday morning (5.20-ish), and with engineering work on the GEML, it wasn't unknown for me to have to let two go from Princess Alice to be able to even get on, and be standing through to Chancery Lane.
My record since de-bendification has been seeing four in a row, in Manor Park heading west.

 

[Deerfold]

The combined 253 had the highest PVR in London in the mid 90s. I live about halfway along the 'common' 253/254 stretch and to Arriva's credit, the two routes are still run very similarly to the combined overlap operation of olde - they generally turn up 2-3 minutes apart in alternation. Until it all falls apart, but that is another discussion..

The combined PVR is just one short of the PVR for the 38 (which dropped by 12 in February and will fall by another 5 next weekend).

 

[bb21]

Surprised no one has mentioned the 73 yet, which has 27 buses between 0700 and 0800 from Stoke Newington to Victoria, as opposed to 25 buses on the 38 between Hackney and Victoria.

The 521 has 29 buses between 0800 and 0900, and I can't see anything more frequent than that.

 

[Deerfold]

The 521 has 29 buses between 0800 and 0900, and I can't see anything more frequent than that.

There isn't.

The 521 and N29 are the most frequent day and night routes respectively with the W7 being the most frequent that doesn't enter Zone 1.

 

[Antman]

Piccadilly, shurely? And while it covers the northern line up the CX branch and on to Camden, there are four other night routes that cover those roads..

The 38 is about to get another 'swingeing' cut - the boris supplementary schedule is being axed and the vehicles are being mixed into the normal service, so it really will be 20bph (albeit with the two minute gaps in Hackney). It will manage fine. I'm about to take a ride in up Essex Road, and I can guarantee I'll pass at least one half-empty bus parked up on hazards waiting time. The pre-bendy studies looking at capacity on the 38 and 73 singled out Essex Road up to the Angel as the 'crush' point where more capacity was needed - these days, it is rare for buses to leave people behind along there at all, let alone elsewhere on the route. And when they do, there's another one within sight up the road.

At a time when TfL buses don't have the cash to fund an improvement without cutting something somewhere else, there are other routes creaking at the seams - the 25 being one (53/453 to name two others), that could benefit vastly from the resources that have been over-stuffed into the 38.

The 38 has been overbussed since bendybuses were removed, presumably the free loaders now travel by other means?

 

[transmanche]

The 38 has been overbussed since bendybuses were removed, presumably the free loaders now travel by other means?

No, they just use the BorisBuses on the 38. Which use the same boarding system as the bendy-buses (i.e. board at any door) and the conductor doesn't check tickets...

 

[Antman]

No, they just use the BorisBuses on the 38. Which use the same boarding system as the bendy-buses (i.e. board at any door) and the conductor doesn't check tickets...

Only 6 out of the 60 plus allocation are "Borisbuses" and they are being removed from the 38 soon.

 

[Deerfold]

Only 6 out of the 60 plus allocation are "Borisbuses" and they are being removed from the 38 soon.

Nope, the PVR is being reduced but it'll be "normal" buses coming off the route. 5 NBfLs will remain on the 38 but integrated into the normal timetable (+1 spare) instead of running to their own separate one so the total number of buses required will be 57.