Trivia: Craziest/Weirdest bus terminus locations in London

[Popz]

A good example of this would be the 380 which terminates right at the gates of Belmarsh Prison. Any other odd examples?

 

[Roger1973]

Not unique - route 80 terminates at High Down / Down View Prisons, Belmont (Street view here) - suppose there's enough travel by staff and visitors even if the residents might only make one journey home from the site, as well as being a convenient turning point.

I've got an early 1970s national coach timetable (from a year or two before it became National Express) and there's a couple of Timpsons' coach services which ran on official visiting days to Blundeston Prison in Suffolk and Hollesey Bay Colony (borstal / young offenders institution) from Catford via Camberwell, Charing Cross and Stratford.

 

[TrenHotel]

A good example of this would be the 380 which terminates right at the gates of Belmarsh Prison. Any other odd examples?

Not as crazy as you’d think - there’s a big crown court complex there and a lot of housing across the road.

 

[PeterC]

The weirdest terminus that I can think of for a TfL bus isn't in London. The 375 goes rambling off into open country across the county boundary as the Passingford Bridge roundabout is the first place where a bus can turn around.

 

[DunsBus]

The Shaftesbury Estate, Wickersley Road terminus of route G1 is in a cul-de-sac, with buses using the turning head at its south end to turn around.

 

[Roger1973]

The Shaftesbury Estate, Wickersley Road terminus of route G1 is in a cul-de-sac, with buses using the turning head at its south end to turn around.

Must be fairly unusual by London standards involving a reverse outside a bus station? At one time, that was something London buses (OPO buses at least) did not do.

Forestdale, Court Wood Road, route 353, is also the end of a cul-de-sac, but there is a bus size turning circle, complete (on Street View) with bus.

 

[Popz]

The Shaftesbury Estate, Wickersley Road terminus of route G1 is in a cul-de-sac, with buses using the turning head at its south end to turn around.

That’s incredible. Never seen anything like it.

 

[Busaholic]

Must be fairly unusual by London standards involving a reverse outside a bus station? At one time, that was something London buses (OPO buses at least) did not do.

Sole exception being the 234A at Purley, Old Lodge Lane in opo RF days by special arrangement with TC (Croydon) drivers.How do I know? It was an interview question in 1969 when I applied to join the Bus Schedule department. Rumour was a senior LT bod was a local!

 

[telstarbox]

The 22 terminates between a pub and its outdoor benches on Putney Common which feels quite rural.

 

[PeterC]

The 22 terminates between a pub and its outdoor benches on Putney Common which feels quite rural.

Historical pub yards were common turning points.

 

[Busaholic]

Historical pub yards were common turning points.

Was the Rose and Crown at Green St Green the last such regular terminus?

 

[800301]

The 175 used to terminate inside the Ford works at Dagenham

 

[Roger1973]

if we are going on to historic terminus points, 139 used to turn inside the gates at Dagenham Dock (photo - not mine - on Flickr here.)

There were a number of routes that had dock/s terminus points (Royal Albert Dock 101 and others, Victoria and Albert Docks, 278 and others, Victoria Dock short turn on 69) but don't think any of these went off the public highway. Similarly, there were routes that served other works (Brimsdown and Creekmouth Power Stations, Beckton Gas Works and others) but not sure any of these went inside the gates.

The V+A Docks terminus continued in use some years after the docks had closed, and was quite isolated by the mid 80s (another photo on Flickr - again not mine - here), but it was only as that bit of 'Docklands' developed that it was practical to extend routes beyond that point.

Edit to add -

And the terminus / stop arrangements for the night Inter-Station service at Paddington involved the bus going on to the concourse (or 'Lawn as the GWR called it) at Paddington. Think it called at regular bus stops at all the other stations it served. Photo (once again, not mine) here.

 

[PeterC]

The 175 used to terminate inside the Ford works at Dagenham

At the other end was another pub yard terminus at the Royal Oak (now the Top Oak) at Stapleford Abbotts although most journeys turned short with a rather disconcerting U turn in the middle of the Chase Cross cross roads.

I don't think the turning circle is visible in the pub grounds any more although it was for several decades after services ceased.

I am not sure that the 175 ever ran a full end to end service prior to its truncation and diversion to the present Northern terminus.

 

[Popz]

It’s probably also worth mentioning that the 63 bus route terminating at Honor Oak gets a bus lane designed specifically for completing a U-turn before heading towards King’s Cross. The U-turn symbol can be seen on the traffic lights; I don think I’ve ever seen it used elsewhere.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The 411 terminates in a turning circle outside a Royal Mail sorting office in West Molesey, Surrey. Maybe not that unusual, but it being a TfL branded stop outside Greater London is worthy of note.

 

[stait.john]

It’s probably also worth mentioning that the 63 bus route terminating at Honor Oak gets a bus lane designed specifically for completing a U-turn before heading towards King’s Cross. The U-turn symbol can be seen on the traffic lights; I don think I’ve ever seen it used elsewhere.

Something similar on Waterloo Road just South of the Old Vic to allow buses to turn back Northbound towards Aldwych.

 

[MotCO]

Forestdale, Court Wood Road, route 353, is also the end of a cul-de-sac, but there is a bus size turning circle, complete (on Street View) with bus.

Complete with rare Volvo / Wright Gemini (usually an E400)

 

[Busaholic]

I am not sure that the 175 ever ran a full end to end service prior to its truncation and diversion to the present Northern terminus.

I read an article in The London Bus Magazine some years ago on the history of the 175 route in which it stated that no bus had ever been scheduled to work through from Blackwall Tunnel at Poplar to Stapleford Abbots, let alone Chipping Ongar. I wonder whether any of the garages that worked it actually had terminal blinds featuring all points of the route. i always felt that the 10 and 175 had the two most contrasting ultimate termini, in the postwar period anyway.

 

[JonathanH]

I've always considered "Mortlake Bus Station" to be an odd terminal point, being in a residential street some way away from the economic centre of Mortlake.

 

[PeterC]

I read an article in The London Bus Magazine some years ago on the history of the 175 route in which it stated that no bus had ever been scheduled to work through from Blackwall Tunnel at Poplar to Stapleford Abbots, let alone Chipping Ongar. I wonder whether any of the garages that worked it actually had terminal blinds featuring all points of the route. i always felt that the 10 and 175 had the two most contrasting ultimate termini, in the postwar period anyway.

I remember in my early teens seeing buses in the big layby at Chase Cross with Blackwall Tunnel on the blinds but never coming down the hill from Havering so it's nice to have that confirmed. In the mid 60s the Ongar journeys started and finished in Romford.

 

[TrenHotel]

At the other end was another pub yard terminus at the Royal Oak (now the Top Oak) at Stapleford Abbotts although most journeys turned short with a rather disconcerting U turn in the middle of the Chase Cross cross roads.

I don't think the turning circle is visible in the pub grounds any more although it was for several decades after services ceased.

I am not sure that the 175 ever ran a full end to end service prior to its truncation and diversion to the present Northern terminus.

You can make out the lack of pavement on older Google Streetview images: https://goo.gl/maps/D3bMU1Kxhd1VrTB67

 

[Roger1973]

I read an article in The London Bus Magazine some years ago on the history of the 175 route in which it stated that no bus had ever been scheduled to work through from Blackwall Tunnel at Poplar to Stapleford Abbots, let alone Chipping Ongar. I wonder whether any of the garages that worked it actually had terminal blinds featuring all points of the route.

I remember in my early teens seeing buses in the big layby at Chase Cross with Blackwall Tunnel on the blinds but never coming down the hill from Havering so it's nice to have that confirmed. In the mid 60s the Ongar journeys started and finished in Romford.

Ian Armstrong's site (here) shows a 1958 'red book' extract and 1968 schedule book extract. This shows one journey from Chase Cross to Blackwall Tunnel, but it's not clear where that bus (0651) started to get there. This this implies that at least one of the three garages at the north east end of the route got through to Blackwall Tunnel, and the implication of no journeys to Stapleford Abbots starting further west than Dagenham implies (but doesn't prove) that Upton Park buses didn't get there. But it's not clear if the Stapleford Abbotts journeys were shared between the other three garages, or if just one of the other garages ran them.

The 12 in its day was possibly similar - Croydon buses didn't work north of Oxford Circus, but think Elmers End and Nunhead / Peckham buses did get to Croydon. Don't think there were any journeys scheduled from Croydon through to Willesden / Park Royal. In later years, there were a few Norwood - Willesden journeys, presumably to move buses from the north end to the south end (or vice versa) at the start and end of peak hours.

I've always considered "Mortlake Bus Station" to be an odd terminal point, being in a residential street some way away from the economic centre of Mortlake.

Possibly stating the obvious, but it's on part of the site that was Mortlake Garage (most of the site is now taken up by the block of flats) - the 'bus station' / turning circle was built after the garage was closed, presumably on the basis there wasn't anywhere else convenient to turn / stand route 9 (as it then was) which had previously terminated at, and stood inside the Garage.

 

[Busaholic]

I wonder if 'termini that never were, despite appearances' might count. I present as my evidence the destination Eltham Church that started to appear immediately following the withdrawal of the last trams in July 1952. Some trams had worked 'shorts' between Eltham Church and Woolwich and, in turn, some of the replacement bus 182 journeys followed the same pattern, with the existing 161 and 161A bus routes also joining that particular party. Now the trams had terminated in the middle of Well Hall Road at Eltham Church and then simply reversed direction. Obviously this was beyond buses, and an attempt to make Passey Place, just off the High Street, a terminus foundered due to insufficient room to stand. So what actually happened was that, having dropped off remaining passengers at Eltham Church, buses proceeded via Eltham Hill, right into Sherard Road at Eltham Baths and then down the back way into the bus station at Well Hall Station to stand. These buses had their own dedicated offside parking bays bare of either stops or timetable displays and no passengers were ever legally carried. I spent many hundreds of childhood hours at this bus station and really gained an insight into bus operation, some SP (Sidcup) crews on the circular 132 and the 161 taking meal reliefs at the staff canteen there. To get back into service at the Well Hall Road stop at Eltham Church, the reverse route was followed. The later B1 Eltham Church terminus was genuine though, just down Eltham Hill and left ar the Bob Hope Theatre,

 

[ATrainSpotter]

246 for sure. It terminates in a carpark in Westerham and reverses into the "stand" (which in reality is a coach parking spot), but even more bizarrely when it gets extended to Chartwell on Summer weekends (should happen this week), it randomly terminates in a cornered section of the carpark with no parking cones.

 

[Mikey C]

The weirdest terminus that I can think of for a TfL bus isn't in London. The 375 goes rambling off into open country across the county boundary as the Passingford Bridge roundabout is the first place where a bus can turn around.

Similarly with TfL buses running outside of London, I always find it a bit curious that rather than terminating in the centre of Borehamwood or at the station, the 292 instead continues on to finally terminate in a dull residential suburb on the far edge of town, effectively providing the local bus service for a town in Hertfordshire.

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[Busaholic]

Ian Armstrong's site (here) shows a 1958 'red book' extract and 1968 schedule book extract. This shows one journey from Chase Cross to Blackwall Tunnel, but it's not clear where that bus (0651) started to get there. This this implies that at least one of the three garages at the north east end of the route got through to Blackwall Tunnel, and the implication of no journeys to Stapleford Abbots starting further west than Dagenham implies (but doesn't prove) that Upton Park buses didn't get there. But it's not clear if the Stapleford Abbotts journeys were shared between the other three garages, or if just one of the other garages ran them.

The 12 in its day was possibly similar - Croydon buses didn't work north of Oxford Circus, but think Elmers End and Nunhead / Peckham buses did get to Croydon. Don't think there were any journeys scheduled from Croydon through to Willesden / Park Royal. In later years, there were a few Norwood - Willesden journeys, presumably to move buses from the north end to the south end (or vice versa) at the start and end of peak hours.

Somewhere between 1966 and late 1970, not recorded by Ian Armstrong because it was only a reshuffle of existing garage allocations, the westernmost garage, Upton Park, had its Monday to Friday allocation reduced to four (from memory, but I'm fairly sure) peak hour only workings, a very uncommon practice on LT Central Buses, not least because the bus workers' union detested these spreadover duties and had them restricted at each garage. As the 175 still reached Blackwall Tunnel outside peak hours, at least one of the other three garages that ran the route must have covered those roads. I think, but am not sure, that Barking did the honours, but Romford and/or Hornchurch might have been involved too.

Regarding the 12, those other garages certainly made it through to South Croydon, not least because the odd Sunday only long 59 route was at one time operated by Croydon solo, and so there weren't too many crews available for the 12 on that day. Without looking it up, I think for a time Croydon had no allocation on a Sunday. As you say, through workings on the route weren't scheduled, and I personally don't remember Shepherd's Bush buses working further south than Dulwich, Plough, though Forest Hill is possible.

 

[Roger1973]

had its Monday to Friday allocation reduced to four (from memory, but I'm fairly sure) peak hour only workings, a very uncommon practice on LT Central Buses, not least because the bus workers' union detested these spreadover duties and had them restricted at each garage.

Yes, I'd not heard about an arrangement like that.

Although there were some routes that were peak hours only (36A at Peckham was quite long standing, 18A at Middle Row, and there must have been others) - presume in each case the duties on those routes were part of a bigger rota so as to keep the proportion of spreadover duties within the agreed limit?

 

[Magdalia]

The 22 terminates between a pub and its outdoor benches on Putney Common which feels quite rural.

Historical pub yards were common turning points.

When I first worked in London, more than 40 years ago, pub names were quite common on bus destination blinds, including Putney Heath Green Man. A few others I remember are Dulwich Plough, Poplar Iron Bridge Tavern, Tottenham Swan and Palmers Green Cock. I'm sure there would have been others.

 

[Mike99]

Penge, 'Crooked Billet' for the 227 and Penge 'Pawleyne Arms' for the 12, 75 and 194