An express bus service along the A205 & A406 Roads?

[NorthKent1989]

Would this be practical? And how well used would this service be?

The first route along the North Circular might be easier to run, due to its extensive dual carriage ways, the South Circular might be more difficult but could be useful in linking South East with South West London

Could be overlapping as well for instance
Woolwich to Brixton and Tulse Hill to Chiswick.

Plus the fact that there aren't parallel rail services either and the mid to outer suburbs probably could do with orbital express routes.

 

[Barry K]

TfL would never allow it. They have a severe case of "Not Invented Here" Syndrome....

 

[telstarbox]

Have you ever been on the South Circular? It isn't fast and lots of it is a single carriageway road with no bus lanes.

 

[Tetchytyke]

There are already orbital bus routes all along the North Circular? The 112, 232 and 34 do the job fine.

 

[PeterC]

Also a large slice of the north east section of the NCR is segregated dual carriageway which bypasses any possible destination.

When playing with the crayon box I have always thought that there was a space for a Walthamstow - Ilford service running non-stop via the NCR from Waterworks Corner to Ilford.

 

[Be3G]

Living in North East London my bus travels often take me along or across the North Circular, and yes I think some kind of orbital express route that used it would be very helpful. There're some journeys I've had to make which are currently painfully awkward/circuitous, for example Woodford to the Crooked Billet.

Of course, really I'd like a swathe of orbital express routes not just sticking to the A406. I was so excited when Boris made an election pledge to ‘trial’ said routes years ago… but all the trial was was a frequency increase on the X26, which supposedly didn't result in enough custom to make it worthwhile (yet it retained the frequency increase anyway and now even has double-decker buses on the route).

 

[NorthKent1989]

Living in North East London my bus travels often take me along or across the North Circular, and yes I think some kind of orbital express route that used it would be very helpful. There're some journeys I've had to make which are currently painfully awkward/circuitous, for example Woodford to the Crooked Billet.

Of course, really I'd like a swathe of orbital express routes not just sticking to the A406. I was so excited when Boris made an election pledge to ‘trial’ said routes years ago… but all the trial was was a frequency increase on the X26, which supposedly didn't result in enough custom to make it worthwhile (yet it retained the frequency increase anyway and now even has double-decker buses on the route).

The X26 is now very busy especially around the Kingston and Sutton stretch of the route the stops seem.to be closer together than with the Croydon to Sutton stretch.

Perhaps express routes are better suited to the NC Road, a cross South London express route would be awesome but a pipe dream

 

[radamfi]

Any new express services would cost money, so the question has always been whether the money would be better spent on improved stopping services or new express routes. Nowadays, new express routes would mean cuts elsewhere.

The economics of express routes in congested areas using slow roads (30-40 mph) are poor, as the number of buses and drivers required is not much less than a stopping service. Greater Manchester used to have a comprehensive network of express routes on local roads but they have nearly all gone. However, inter-urban services in other areas using fast roads or motorways still exist.