Superloop Proposed - Maybe - Possibly
Whist much of the ill-informed media has been enthusiastically conned by Sadiq Khan's big idea, the truth is a little less clear. Here is Transport for London enthusing.
Well, not quite! It certainly does NOT go "right round London" (below YELLOW line) ...
... there is a tiny little gap between the Royal Docks and Bexleyheath. TfL continues.
There it is again, "circle the entire capital". Note the use of the words "proposing", and "would be designed". It goes on.
Here we have "proposed", "to be developed", "could also be", "further development" and, of course, "consultation".
So it is just an idea!
For readers less than familiar with the London scene, even less than familiar with London geography, fbb will take a butchers hook round the "proposal", starting at Croydon.
Once upon a time, London Transport as Green Line ran buses from Windsor via Croydon and Bexleyheath to Gravesend, numbered 725 and 726.
With the break up of London Transport, he privatisation of the green "Country Bus" London network, and the general decline of Green Line as a service and brand, the remaining 726 got hived off to a variety of operators.
Eventually it ended up with Metrobus running from Croydon to Heathrow only as "proper" London Buses X26.
After declining to hourly, it was given a boost to half hourly and then provided with double decks with a bit more quality than the standard London bus comfort of the day.
Although it has a 30 minute frequency seven days a week (hourly in the evenings), don't expect anything like a clock face frequency on most days.
Here is a sample chunk for Schooldays
for Non-Sc hihooldays 
for Saturdays
and for Sundays.
Even on Sundays, fixed interval throughout the route is almost unheard of; not very good for passenger confidence.
Mr Khan proposes to increase the frequency to every 15 minutes. If fbb's sums are right (they rarely are) this will mean at least 14 buses, probably 16, certainly doubling of costs.
Bearing in mind the fact tht TfL has had several attempts to withdraw the service, fbb does wonder what chances of success there might be for the enhanced X26!
One things is certain. A bus running from Croydon to Sutton ...
... from Sutton to Kingston ...
...and from Kingston to Heathrow ...
... is never going to be very "X".
And it isn't.
Like most London bus routes it is plagued with traffic hold-ups and would not be an ideal choice for a tight flight connection at Heathrow. Which is probably why the usage of the original 725/726 slowly declined. Rather than being a super swish link to the airport, it has morphed into a Limited Stop local bus.
It will never be anything else without massive expenditure on bus only roads, bus lanes and traffic light priority. A good dose of towing away cars and white van man parked in bus stops might help!
Already the shine on Mr Khan's jolly good idea is beginning to look a bit tarnished - and this is only the first chunk of the not-awfully-super Superloop.
There might even be branded buses - wow!
More tomorrow, when we go from Heathrow all the way to Walthamstow. That's THREE bus rides, with two possibly dodgy connections to enjoy.
Glorious!
Faster journeys? Yeah right!
===============================
You'd Be Crazy To Risk It
Knowing that they were looking for ways to kill you; knowing that Jerusalem would therefore be a dangerous place; why go there at all? And if, for some strange reason you did go, why provoke anger by challenging the very people who were seeking to get you?
When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple and began to drive out all those who were buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons, and he would not let anyone carry anything through the Temple courtyards. He then taught the people: “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.’ But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!”
The temple, the holiest place in the religion of Jesus' day, had been turned into a money making scam. To worship God, you were required to buy temple money for the offering and buy temple pigeons for the sacrifice - all at premium prices.
Jesus anger at this blasphemy in the Temple courts would only have confirmed his upcoming death sentence.
Either he was crazy; or on a vital, life changing mission.
Not when God's ways were being denigrated or when people deliberately corrupted true worship. These words are from way back in the Old Testament.
What was really needed? Certainly not empty and misplaced religious practices.
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ Everything depend on these two commandments.”
Nothing has changed in nearly 2000 years.
But the provocation is set to continue.
===============================
Next Superloop blog : Tuesday April 4th
The real Poster Child for the Superloop proposals is the X140 (Heathrow Airport-Harrow). Since its introduction in 2019 it has:
ReplyDelete- increased passenger numbers on the 140 corridor by around 15%;
- increased passenger satisfaction levels, with four out of five users surveyed saying they would take the bus more frequently.
Should Diamond Geezer be upset that his creation to illustrate the Superloop has been used without attribution?
ReplyDeleteNot a bad write-up on the X26 by FBB.
ReplyDeleteThe varying scheduled running times are indeed not ideal, but a price to be paid for reliability. It certainly runs better now than it ever has done. The proposed increase to 4bph will mitigate this to an extent as it will become almost a walk-on service.
Heathrow very much is a popular destination. The buses often arrive and depart full, with a good load of suitcases as well.