London Buses help 1st January 2019

[heart-of-wessex]

Hello all,

Was thinking of doing a New Years Day london buses bash on the 1st Jan. I was hoping of getting a lot of the 'Borismasters' in as there is loads I still need to ride on, amongst hundreds of other vehicles.

I looked on the TfL site and it says it will be running a Sunday service, though I suspect there still will be plenty of vehicles to do. However it states under Driving:

• The following roads will not be reopened following New Year's Eve fireworks event: Piccadilly, Whitehall, Lower Regent Street, Haymarket, Waterloo Place, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Strand Westbound and Shaftesbury Avenue Westbound, Parliament Square, Bridge Street, Millbank and Victoria Street.

So all those will be shut all day New Years Day until 18:00? As under buses it says:

A Sunday service is running today. Due to road closures for the New Year's Day Parade, some buses in central London will be diverted or stopped short of their final destination until about 18:00. Please check your travel.

See all today's planned bus changes on our Bus status updates map for Tuesday 1 January 2019.

Sounds like it could be quite awkward, I'm no expert on London but it sounds like anywhere round the north bank of the Thames is shut. I was planning on arriving into Paddington by train, so sounds like maybe just going up and down on the 205 is the best idea :-?

I tried clicking on the Bus status updates map for Tuesday 1 January 2019 link, but gives me no info other than what bus/tube is running at the moment.

I would otherwise think about covering any Borismasters out of Victoria station if any routes out of there are operating?


Any help appreciated!

James.

 

[APT618S]

For "Borismasters" (NBfLs) you could go a bit further east.
Assuming Waterloo Bridge is running as normal there are the 59, 68, 76, 168.
The 8, 11, 48, 149 around Liverpool St are also NBfLs, assuming roads are as normal.
By the way the 205 is run by Stagecoach E40Hs (12xxx) and not NBfLs.
You can see which routes use NBfLs on:
https://lvf.io
Using * as wild - searching LTZ10** will tell you where LT1-LT99 are and LTZ11** for LT100-LT199 so on for each 100.

 

[Mike99]

Many road are closed in the 'central' band Trafalgar Square Regent Street, etc. due to the Lord Mayors Parade. All New-Routemaster routes will operate but for example Route 12 is terminating from the south at Elephant & Castle, all you need to do is avoid the central bit. Victoria will be ok, and as has been mentioned Liverpool Street. Shoreditch for 55's. Robert Munster's excellent site, London Bus Routes has information that may help.

From the TfL website ;;;

'There will be road closures in central London for the New Year's Day Parade. Roads will reopen from 18:00, or as soon as possible.

• The following roads will not be reopened following New Year's Eve fireworks event: Piccadilly, Whitehall, Lower Regent Street, Haymarket, Waterloo Place, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Strand Westbound and Shaftesbury Avenue Westbound, Parliament Square, Bridge Street, Millbank and Victoria Street.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

All routes which use NBfLs will do on 1 January. If arriving at Paddington route 27 is in the process of converting to the type and route 148 is only a short walk from the station.

Lambeth North is another good bet in times of disruption as routess 12, 59, 148, 159, and 453 will turn there.

Use LVF.IO to find out what buses are doing in real time.

 

[plcd1]

You will have NB4Ls on the 27 at Paddington - a recent conversion. It looks like the 453 will still reach Marylebone so could get that at Gt Portland St. Continuing on to Warren St should throw up some more NB4Ls on the 73, 390 and possibly the 88 and 24 (assuming they are operating in two sections). The 88 is also going to take over the C2 in a couple of months and may well lose its NB4Ls at that time so another one to consider snapping. Heading on to Euston should bring in the 168 and 253. Heading to Angel would bring in the 38. The 21, 55 and 76 would be seen at Old Street roundabout and then a short trek down Great Eastern Street would bring in the 8, 48 and 149 at Shoreditch High Street. Worth noting the 48 is almost certain to be withdrawn from March 2019. In short your idea of following the 205 is probably not a bad one in the circumstances. You may also fair better in photographic terms in more open junctions given the propensity for shadowy gloom in the heart of Central London because of the building heights.

It looks like a lot of routes that normally use Whitehall / Westminster Bridge are being diverted via Waterloo Bridge and Strand on 1/1/19 - that covers the 3, 11, 12, 453, 159 (I haven't checked every route on the TfL bus status page for 1/1/19). Given the New Year's Day parade links Piccadilly to Parliament Square via T Square and Whitehall it looks like buses that would normally serve that area would run via Holborn and then along Oxford Street. However I am guessing about this because the TfL status page is not fully detailed for some ludicrous reason.

Finally New Year's Day tends to throw up a lot of odd diversions of other routes with many going via Oxford Street to skirt round the road closures. If you want to snap odd workings then Oxford St can be worth a few minutes effort but beware the crowds / "wombles".

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Thanks very much for the help guys I shall work on from Paddington and see what I get. If I stay around the north part it makes it easier for me to get the bus back as well to do a £4 cap on the oyster.

I know the 205 isn't NBfL's but I've only ever been on 2 of those E400's so I still need the rest. I'm aiming in my life to get as many as I can listed in the LOTS fleetlist, but my main achievement is to have been on all 999 of the LT's (done ST812 already at Imber) so hoping to get some more out the way tomorrow. Last time I did a bus bash I got 50 vehicles done, though I made the mistake of doing some round Oxford Circus, just doung a one bus stop leap took a good 5 minutes.

Forgot about Euston, I remember doing some from there.

Didn't know about being able to do some from Marylebone too, thanks for the heads up!


James.

 

[Mike99]

Thanks very much for the help guys I shall work on from Paddington and see what I get. If I stay around the north part it makes it easier for me to get the bus back as well to do a £4 cap on the oyster.

I know the 205 isn't NBfL's but I've only ever been on 2 of those E400's so I still need the rest. I'm aiming in my life to get as many as I can listed in the LOTS fleetlist, but my main achievement is to have been on all 999 of the LT's (done ST812 already at Imber) so hoping to get some more out the way tomorrow. Last time I did a bus bash I got 50 vehicles done, though I made the mistake of doing some round Oxford Circus, just doung a one bus stop leap took a good 5 minutes.

Forgot about Euston, I remember doing some from there.

Didn't know about being able to do some from Marylebone too, thanks for the heads up!


James.

How did your day go?

 

[ValleyLines142]

I also had a little jolly around London on Tuesday, which was the best decision as the traffic wasn't all that bad compared to what it would be like in the week!

I got off at Victoria and got a tube to Hatton Cross via South Kensington to see some planes landing at Heathrow. Then I got the 285 to the Northern Perimeter Road to see them taking off. I was wondering why people weren't touching in as they were boarding the bus but I forgot that the Heathrow free zone stretches out to Hatton Cross (yet it doesn't on the tube).

Saw a couple of planes taking off and then got the 285 to Feltham. Got a train to Clapham Junction and went spotting around there. Then got a train back to Putney and got the 39 to Putney Pier, where I changed onto a 22 to Sloane Square. Then got a 211 to Waterloo, where we were diverted via Lambeth Bridge. Then got the 341 to Angel station, as apparently Angel has the longest escalator on the tube. Then I got the Northern Line to Euston, and got a 476 to Angel again. Then I got the Northern Line back to Kings Cross, then changed onto the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus. Then I got the 98 to Willesden Green Library, and then returned on the 52 to Victoria!

 

[Joe Paxton]

Many road are closed in the 'central' band Trafalgar Square Regent Street, etc. due to the Lord Mayors Parade. ...

Just to be a pedant, it's not the Lord Mayor's Parade, it's the London’s New Year’s Day Parade, a modern invention (started 1987). The Lord Mayor's Show is something else, held on the second Saturday in November, with its origins in medieval times.

 

[Mike99]

Just to be a pedant, it's not the Lord Mayor's Parade, it's the London’s New Year’s Day Parade, a modern invention (started 1987). The Lord Mayor's Show is something else, held on the second Saturday in November, with its origins in medieval times.

/////

 

[Busaholic]

Just to be a pedant, it's not the Lord Mayor's Parade, it's the London’s New Year’s Day Parade, a modern invention (started 1987). The Lord Mayor's Show is something else, held on the second Saturday in November, with its origins in medieval times.

The 1958 version of the LMS was the occasion when my godmother bought me a copy of 'Buses Illustrated ' magazine; 60 odd years later, I still buy it every month without fail (styled 'Buses' now, of course).

 

[heart-of-wessex]

How did your day go?

Not a bad day, got 34 vehicles in a about 4 and a half hours. 205 to Euston, hopped over to Kings Cross, did an EvoSeti for a couple of stops and cross the road and walked down some other road and got on E200 BEL2512 on the 46. Had absolutely no idea where I was or where I was going, was completely straying off the Euston road where I was going to play but not far down the route I noticed a NBfL go by crossing the road ahead, so got off and got on a 38 towards Victoria for a couple of stops and doubled back on another NBfL on the 38 for another one behind on the 55, however found out I got on where the 55 and 38 split, got off at the next stop to wait for 55 back but was a few minutes wait, road was very quiet and only a handful of people about.

Did that area for a bit and decided to head back to Kings Cross, so got a 45 back there and did a bit of the Kings Cross - Euston section, first bus I tried to go for was Stagecoach 12333 on the 205, but of all the vehicles to turn up this was one of the two I have done before!

King's Cross - Euston seemed to be a pain mostly involved getting off the main road and having to cross over to get to the bus station. I did think about maybe just doing Kings Cross to British Library leaps instead but the bus stops were rather staggered and still involved trying to cross over the main road. Did a turn on the 253, though it was a bit of a wait for one to start service, then was going to get off at the Mornington Crescent stop as there was a 253 in sight coming down the road but wouldn't of had time to cross over and get it as it passed just as we got there, so decided to stay on to the next stop at Camden High Street. Got off there and couldn't find the southbound bus stop, then discovered it was a one way street!

Walked back to Mornington Crescent, 253 back to Euston, had something to eat, did some leaps up to Marylebone, then did a 453 to Baker Street, then an 18 to Paddington, though didn't realise it went the other side of Paddington station, not been round that bit before! Got off there, walked round Paddington station to get to Praed Street and did some Paddington to Edgware road leaps, not as easy as I thought with one way streets, and also ending up doing the 332 once from Paddington to Edgware Road only to find we were going to a different stop on a different road. Other times I got off at Edgware Road, walked down Edgware Road then to the bus stop on Sussex Gardens.

Most of the time was wasted on either 5 minute waits for any bus to turn up or walking around to get from one stop to another, or in the case of Euston having to cross the busy Euston Road to get to the Euston bus station.

Still a few NBfL's done out the way so better than nothing!