New Year in East London
26 February 2023
ABOVE: Stagecoach London LT 245 (LTZ 1245), a Wright New Routemaster, seen here on route 8, is turning from Old Ford Road into St Stephen's Road in Bow, East London (photographed from another bus). All pictures in this article were taken on Bank Holiday Monday 2nd January 2023, unless otherwise stated.
It’s the second day of 2023, and it’s a glorious Bank Holiday Monday morning. Such a shame that my first bus driver of 2023 is such a grumpy one!
I don't have a plan today beyond my first bus, but I'm destined to spend most of the day in East London. Of course, I need to get there first...
I’ve decided to try out route 46 from Paddington, which is a route that I have never used before, despite it being so close to home. As I come out of the Elizabeth Line station at Paddington, the bus is visible at the stop on Eastbourne Terrace.
I greet the driver of this 0915 departure with a cheery “Good Morning”. I get nothing back. Another passenger arrives just after me and is also quite cheerful in greeting the driver; no response. Around the corner, we pick up a third passenger who wishes the driver a “Happy New Year”.
In fact, everybody who boards seems to be quite chipper – New Year, New Hope? But it’s a stony face that welcomes them back.
The reason I have never used the 46 before is because it’s not exactly a direct run into the City of London. Its ultimate destination is just over three miles due east of Paddington, at St Bart's Hospital. But we’re initially heading out of Paddington to the north. Like all buses on this route, it’s a BYD ADL Enviro200EV (EV meaning electric vehicle), operated by Metroline.
I don't have a plan today beyond my first bus, but I'm destined to spend most of the day in East London. Of course, I need to get there first...
I’ve decided to try out route 46 from Paddington, which is a route that I have never used before, despite it being so close to home. As I come out of the Elizabeth Line station at Paddington, the bus is visible at the stop on Eastbourne Terrace.
I greet the driver of this 0915 departure with a cheery “Good Morning”. I get nothing back. Another passenger arrives just after me and is also quite cheerful in greeting the driver; no response. Around the corner, we pick up a third passenger who wishes the driver a “Happy New Year”.
In fact, everybody who boards seems to be quite chipper – New Year, New Hope? But it’s a stony face that welcomes them back.
The reason I have never used the 46 before is because it’s not exactly a direct run into the City of London. Its ultimate destination is just over three miles due east of Paddington, at St Bart's Hospital. But we’re initially heading out of Paddington to the north. Like all buses on this route, it’s a BYD ADL Enviro200EV (EV meaning electric vehicle), operated by Metroline.
Metroline BEL 2524 (LJ18 FHX), a BYD ADL Enviro200EV, is picking up at the Bishops Bridge stop above Paddington station 'throat'. It is working route 46 towards Bart's Hospital on Saturday 11th February 2023.
We start by crossing the main lines at the western end of Paddington station - all 15 tracks, including the Hammersmith & City line Underground tracks (and of course, two more tracks, on the Elizabeth Line, pass underneath all of them). It's a wide bridge!
I doubt that many stations in London have exits that come out beside a canal, but the exit from the Hammersmith & City Line at Paddington does. This is the Paddington Basin, a delightfully cosmopolitan area with cafes and restaurants, both on the canal bank and in boats moored alongside.
Paddington Basin, taken on Saturday 11th February 2023
If you walk down the canal bank you will come to Little Venice, where the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal and the Regent's Canal meet at the entrance to Paddington Basin, forming a triangular waterway junction. The name is technically also applied to the surrounding local area, although I only think of the canals themselves as being Little Venice.
The 46 ventures through this area, giving us a fleeting view of the water, before we reach Warwick Avenue station and turn onto the Edgware Road for a brief north-westerly run to Maida Vale. As we take our signal-controlled left turn, the driver has to brake sharply to avoid an e-scooter rider who has ignored the lights. Our driver takes umbrage at this and toots him aggressively.
We almost catch up with the scooter – now on the pavement – at the next bus stop, where the driver opens the front door to let another passenger on, but also opens his cab door as though preparing to get off to remonstrate with the scooter rider.
Fortunately, the man boarding is a little slow on his feet and, by the time he has touched in and passed, the scooter rider has headed across the junction. The driver closes his cab door and we prepare to turn right. I doubt that the driver would have caught up with the scooter rider, but what might have happened if he had?
There are quite a few customers for this back-street route as it twists around to join the Finchley Road at St John’s Wood station, and heads up to Swiss Cottage. Here we take an unexpected turn (for me at least!) onto College Crescent and start through some pretty posh-looking territory along Fitzjohn's Avenue and up to Hampstead, where a right turn takes us, broadly eastwards, onto Hampstead High Street.
A young couple board – the young lady pays via her Smart Watch. They don’t travel far, but when they reach their stop, they leave by the front door (these are dual-door buses) and attempt to ‘touch off’ as they do so. There's no touching off in London - are these people used to travelling on buses in other parts of the country, perhaps? Of course, this miserable driver isn't going to appraise them of the reason for the double-bleep (ticket not valid or already presented) from the ticket machine.
We pass through Camden Town, now heading south-east, and soon come to St Pancras International. As we turn onto the Euston Road, a pedestrian decides to cross the road, pulling his suitcase behind him, right in front of the bus. He gets an earful of abuse from our miserable driver, including a word that sounds a bit like ‘shunt’ - well we are passing two major London rail termini, I suppose!
The rush hour is in full swing as Metroline BEL 2521 (LJ18 FHU), another BYD ADL Enviro200EV, turns out of Midland Road into Euston Road at dusk on Monday 13th February 2023.
On through Hampstead Heath, and down a tight road that I last passed almost exactly one year earlier whilst riding route C11 to Archway. Here is the terminus of route 24 from Pimlico, a route that is virtually exactly the same as it was in 1912, and is London's longest-standing unchanged bus route.
Wright New Routemaster LT 168 (LTZ 1168), currently operated by Abellio London, is parked up at Hampstead Heath between journeys on route 24.
During the journey we are 'regulated' twice. That basically means that we are being held for a couple of minutes for early running. It does seem a little strange to have excess recovery time built into a Sunday morning schedule though.
We head on to High Holborn. There are only two passengers left now and we both leave here. We’re now due east of Paddington, but have followed a run broadly north and then south-eastwards. Even on a pseudo-Sunday morning it has taken an hour, such is the twisty nature of this route. Rush hour journeys add another quarter-hour to this journey time.
All quiet at Holborn Circus at 10.15am
From here, I have no plan, but a number 8 towards Bow is due in one minute, which feels like as good a choice as any. This is a route that has had various western termini over the years; the traditional one was Willesden. But nowadays, buses venture no further west than Tottenham Court Road, meaning that this service is only a few minutes into its journey.
There’s just one other person on the top deck of this New Routemaster – a man who is intently filming the drive through the front window.
High Holborn is eerily quiet. This part of the City is always quieter on a Sunday, but there are usually people enjoying Sunday morning walks, or heading to one of the markets (we will pass Petticoat Lane on this bus, one of the most famous of all Sunday markets). Being a Bank Holiday Monday, those people aren’t out, the market is closed, and the famous Petticoat Lane is just ordinary, deserted, Middlesex Street. Many people are perhaps enjoying their last lie-ins before the great return to work day tomorrow.
Bank has Monday to Friday restrictions on what traffic can run through its junctions. Do those restrictions apply today? Always an ambiguous point for motorists, and I have paid for parking on a Bank Holiday in the past because the rules are unclear.
The approaches to Bank junction. Do the "Mon - Fri" restrictions apply on a Bank Holiday?
The bus of course is allowed through at any time. Not that there’s anyone much around to notice anyway.
The bus of course is allowed through at any time. Not that there’s anyone much around to notice anyway.
Wright New Routemaster LT 59 (LTZ 1059) works is about to embark on another journey on route 11, operated by Go-Ahead London General. It is seen in Bishopsgate, near Liverpool Street Station
Things start to liven up at Liverpool Street. My filming companion left at Bank, but the upstairs load is now quadrupled as three other people join me.
We start following a 388 service – outwardly still operated by the erstwhile Hackney Community Transport, with only a Stagecoach five-digit fleet number revealing it’s true ownership nowadays.
Arriva London HA2 (LK65 BYY, left) on route 78 is an ADL Enviro400H City. Stagecoach London 12538 (SN65 OHP), on route 388, is an identical vehicle, still with Hackney Community Transport logos, and only the fleet number gives away the change of ownership. They are about to go their separate ways when photographed in Shoreditch High Street.
We follow the 388 down Bethnal Green Road, and our number 8 has a problem pulling into every stop, because these stops are not designed for two buses at once. There are so many side roads that our bus can’t avoid blocking them while it loads and unloads.
My recollection is that the 388 started life as one of the services brought in to improve bus capacity prior to the introduction of the Congestion Charge - specifically to boost capacity alongside route 8 as well as to provide new links. Twenty years old this year, the 388 had always been operated by Hackney Community Transport until that operator gave up the ghost in 2022, at which point it was taken over by Stagecoach London.
The 388 goes its separate way at Bethnal Green, as we head on through the heart of London’s East End, but I’m slightly startled by how quickly we reach Bow Church, the end of the route. It’s not taken more than 35 minutes to get this far. Bank Holiday morning travel can be remarkably quick!
A quick jump into Stratford is achieved via a 425 service, taking less than 10 minutes. It’s quite busy for the hour, but then it does serve Westfield Stratford shopping centre, which will always be popular on a Bank Holiday!
From here, the 104 to Beckton looks interesting. This route used to run to Manor Park, but was revised in May 2022 to run instead to Beckton. But the timetable in the bus stop in Stratford Bus Station hasn't been updated:
It’s a challenging drive, through the tight residential streets of Plashet and Upton Park, and the driver of this Go-Ahead London (Blue Triangle) E400 is earning his keep. Unexpectedly quickly, we reach Beckton bus station, with the whole run having only taken half an hour.
Go-Ahead Blue Triangle E193 (SN61 BJV), an ADL Enviro400, in Lonsdale Avenue, E6
I decide to push straight on, as a 173 towards King George Hospital (on the outskirts of Ilford), is just readying for service. This is another electric bus - a BYD ADL Enviro400EV from Stagecoach London.
The 173 is one of those services that seems to bypass most of the logical traffic objectives. I can't quite describe it as a 'back-street' route as it starts off down the A13 dual carriageway, but it bypasses the road that would take it to Barking Town Centre. Instead, we continue eastwards through some of East London's biggest industrial areas and 'out-of-town' retail parks. There are green spaces too, such as Castle Green Recreation Ground in Goresbrook.
En route, the bus, which never gets especially busy on this run, is 'regulated' twice.
We come to Dagenham Heathway, which has the rare - probably unique in London - distinction of being served by three consecutively numbered bus routes - 173, 174 and 175.
Stagecoach London 14122 (LF70 YUW), a BYD ADL Enviro400EV, calls at the Halbutt Street stop on Heathway, in Dagenham, whilst working route 173 to Beckton
We don't quite get to the major town centres of Ilford or Romford either, despite getting relatively close to them. The Hospital isn't in Ilford itself, but closer to Newbury Park.
But I don't go quite that far. I decide to bail out in Chadwell Heath, so that I can have a ride on route 62 into Barking.
Route 62 had the distinction of being the last route in London to have run the iconic AEC Regent III RT vehicles in 1979. I wasn't there for the farewell run on that last day, but I did get to the 40-year commemoration in 2019, which was certainly a memorable day out!
ABOVE: The 40th anniversary of the last RTs on route 62 was marked, on Saturday 30th March 2019, by: (i) a Running Day on route 62 and various other local routes in the Barking area, (ii) an Open Day at Barking Garage, (iii) vehicle displays at both Barking and River Road garages and (iv) a late afternoon cavalcade of RT vehicles running from Barking garage to Barking station. This was all organised by the London Bus Museum. LEFT: RT 624 (JXC 432) turns from Upney Lane into Longbridge Road, with Barking Garage behind it. RT 624 was the last RT to run in normal service on route 62 and only the Ensignbus logo and legal lettering, and the side blind, give away that this is a recreation (oh and maybe all the enthusiasts standing behind). RIGHT: Apparently there were 29 RTs in the cavalcade that afternoon. How many are visible here? RT 1702 (KYY 529) is at the front of this group.
Today, things are rather quieter on the 62. Buses run every 15 minutes on Sundays, and it's a quiet run on this Bank Holiday. Not only is the bus 'regulated' twice for early running, but a driver change at Barking Garage adds a further few minutes to the journey.
Although it's a Bank Holiday, some businesses are open. A woman boards at Upney with her phone on loudspeaker. She's on hold with a company (can't tell which one, but they keep reassuring her that her call is important to them). She is still waiting for someone to pick up when I leave the bus at Barking 15 minutes later. For all I know she's still on hold with them now.
Although it's a Bank Holiday, some businesses are open. A woman boards at Upney with her phone on loudspeaker. She's on hold with a company (can't tell which one, but they keep reassuring her that her call is important to them). She is still waiting for someone to pick up when I leave the bus at Barking 15 minutes later. For all I know she's still on hold with them now.
Stagecoach London 10762 (LX11 BEJ) is another ADL Enviro400. It's seen here in Upney Lane, near Upney station
At Barking, I break away from the buses briefly to ride down to the new (in summer 2022) Barking Riverside station on the London Overground. The bit from Barking to Barking Riverside is one of only two sections of the Overground that I haven't previously covered, so it's the ideal opportunity to cross it off the list. (That just leaves Romford to Upminster, which isn't operating on the day of my travels.)
From Riverside, I'm catching the EL1 service (known by some as "Eli") back into Barking and on to Ilford.
Go-Ahead Blue Triangle is operating Wright New Routemaster LT 929 (LTZ 2129) on route EL1 on Ilford Lane. The last 100 LTs carry a different series of numberplates to the rest of the batch, and some, like this one, carry the East London Transit branding
The EL1 is part of the East London Transit, a group of three bus routes serving the Barking and Ilford areas as well as Barking Riverside. The Riverside itself is a major development of over 10,000 new homes, commercial and leisure facilities and new schools, and is the raison d'être for the Overground extension.
The three routes are run by Go-Ahead Blue Triangle with New Routemasters, although I suspect that the main reason for this is that TfL didn't know what to do with all of its New Routemasters once the obvious Central London routes had either been converted to the type or ruled out on clearance grounds. These New Routemasters carry a special livery, although they are mixed with other similar buses on other services, so that livery often travels further afield than intended!
I board at Handley Page Road, at what I believe is the third stop on the route. There's only one other passenger (he boards with me), but it's noticeable how quickly the bus gets busy. The EL1 is a straight-forward run through Barking and on to Ilford, and it's busy all the way.
I decide that I need to come back and spend more time one day looking at the three East London Transit routes.
Ilford Town Centre is extremely busy, demonstrating that people like nothing more on a Bank Holiday than a good old trip to the shops! But it's turned 3pm now, and the light is already fading. I normally now have the shiny new Elizabeth Line available from Ilford of course, to whisk me back to West London with one quick change of train part-way. Except that the section from Stratford to Shenfield is closed today for engineering works!
Rather than getting on the Rail Replacement bus, I decide to have one more routine ride to end the day. This is the 147 to Canning Town, a reasonably straight-forward north-east to south-west route across the East London suburbs of East Ham and Plaistow. This is another ADL Enviro400 from Go-Ahead Blue Triangle.
It's very busy as it leaves Ilford, but soon quietens down. It's getting dark now but I manage to get one decent photo in fading light on the "Night" setting of my phone.
Go-Ahead Blue Triangle E170 (SN61 BGZ) passes the London Sri Mahalakshmi Temple on High Street North in East Ham
The territory changes a little bit on the last part of the journey as we come to Custom House station, the Elizabeth Line and DLR station. I could bail out here, but I want to stay to the end of the route. We pass through the Keir Hardie Estate and reach Canning Town bus station, where my first day on the buses in 2023 comes to an end.
I take the Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf and wander through the (also very busy) shopping centre there to the Elizabeth Line. I have a moment before my train arrives to marvel more dubious grammar on the destination display boards, showing a train that is "not stopping at Acton Main Line, Hanwell and Taplow". Surely it should be "or" not "and"?
