Gaps In The Number Sequence

Although the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street has been postponed, TfL are still keen to remove as many bus routes as possible from the area even though congestion has reduced significantly since a few years ago. The two latest victims are the 10 and 23, which have been merged to form one Hammersmith to Westbourne Park service, taking the latter number. Although it's only a trivial matter, this restructuring now means the sequence of numbered bus routes jumps from 9 to 11 and having a gap so early on is very irritating.

An Enviro 400H makes a rare appearance on the 10.

The 10 ran between Hammersmith and King's Cross, travelling through High Street Kensington, Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and the British Museum in the process. London United operated the service for just shy of a decade, using Scania OmniCity vehicles until 2014, when these were phased out in favour of New Routemasters. These buses were allocated to the service until its withdrawal and appearances of conventional vehicles after its conversion were rare - once or twice an ADL Enviro400H from the 27 sneaked out. The 10 ran every 8 minutes and had a high peak vehicle requirement for 23 vehicles, leaving a large void at Stamford Brook (V) garage. In compensation, the 391 has been transferred to this base from Fulwell (FW) garage, using ADL Enviro 200s rather than the Optare Versas which were allocated previously. Just after 1am on Saturday 24th November 2018, LT166 worked the last ever 10 service and it was very well attended by enthusiasts, whilst the new 23 (a 24-hour route) started just minutes later and led to many obtaining a money shot at Hammersmith of both services in action, never to be seen again.

LT162 is seen under the Oxford Street lights.

There are many problems with this change, in my opinion, and it has been executed very poorly. From my observations, right until the last day the 10 was easily one of the most oversubscribed services on Oxford Street, being consistently busy with tourists and commuters alike. It provided an array of well established links to Kensington and Hammersmith which were very popular and also served the British Museum, which is quite inconvenient to get to from the West End. Removing the service means that people simply have no choice but to switch to the tube, whilst the British Museum now has no bus service whatsoever, which is pretty disgraceful for such a major tourist attraction. TfL propose to send the number 14 route there next year, but it won't be anywhere near as useful since the service duplicates the Piccadilly Line which goes near the museum anyway! I don't see why, out of the three services from Oxford Circus to King's Cross, the two going via Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street should remain whilst the one uniquely serving Russell Square should go. A simple re-routing of the 73 or 390 wouldn't do any harm, surely? This obsession with removing routes from Oxford Street is now unnecessary - severe congestion is quite rare nowadays and ultimately sending services to the shops brings in money, it's as simple as that. The 6 was sent away from Oxford Street last year and lost 2.5 million annual passengers. I wonder why.

The 23 was an icon on Oxford Street, serving so many tourist attractions.

In happier times, the 23 ran from Westbourne Park to Liverpool Street, via Paddington, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square and St Paul's, being incredibly popular with tourists as a method of crossing Central London and sightseeing simultaneously. In 2017 the route was curtailed to Aldwych, no longer serving Ludgate Circus, St Paul's Cathedral or Bank and with the latest changes the service omits Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus too. There is no denying that usage on the 23 has declined over the past few years, but some of the now missing fundamental links are shambolic.  Piccadilly Circus to Paddington and Fleet Street lacks a direct bus service and with the curtailment of route 25, there's now not a single bus service from Oxford Circus which heads into the City, with the exception of the 55 which skirts around the outside. On Oxford Street itself there is increased strain on the 139, which has the difficult task of being the only route to Aldwych and Waterloo from the West End, whilst the 7 is now the only bus heading to Paddington and Ladbroke Grove. The new, merged service is a bodge job which stuck the outer ends of two routes together even though they're completely irrelevant to each other and aren't symbiotic in any way.

An Enviro 400H is seen working the new service at Westbourne Park.

Route 23 now runs between Hammersmith and Westbourne Park, via High Street Kensington, Marble Arch, Paddington and Ladbroke Grove. It is 9 miles in length, having a peak vehicle requirement for 24 buses which satisifies the 8 minute frequency and taking up to 87 minutes to complete in rush hour. The Hammersmith & City Line does the exact same journey seven times faster. Its allocation remains the same as before, with a mixture of diesel and hybrid Enviro 400s working the service, along with occasional MCV EvoSeti vehicles from the 13. The main problem with the new route is how indirect it is - most of its links are covered by much faster services. From Hammersmith and Kensington to Ladbroke Grove the 295 and 52 provide a direct link much more effectively, whilst the 27 connects these areas to Notting Hill and Paddington via a much quicker routeing. Even the one brand new link created, Knightsbridge to Paddington, was already achievable by taking a 36 or 414 and adding a five minute walk to the end, which is probably quicker to undertake than sit in traffic. The new 23 is incredibly slow, having a loose schedule and trundling around at 5mph everywhere. Passenger usage so far is poor, with most people along the Hammersmith to Hyde Park corridor actively letting go the 23s in favour of the more familiar number 9 service. People from Portobello have stopped using the 23 since it no longer goes to Central London, with usage only remaining stable for local trips around Westbourne Park. The route is hopelessly unreliable, going through so many traffic hotspots, which doesn't make it attractive for new users at all. I can't see the new service lasting more than a couple of years, emphasising how much of a failure this change is.

The new, fallen state of the 27.

Given that New Routemasters aren't the most adaptable vehicles out there, finding a new home for 23 of them was never going to be easy. With the impending curtailment to Hammersmith, the peak vehicle requirement for route 27 will match that of the 10 and as it is also based at Stamford Brook (V) garage, there was no need to introduce them to a new base either. After a re-evaluation, the 27 has somehow passed the test which allows operation of the longer New Routemasters, even if it involves completely ignoring the roundabout at Chiswick Business Park and simply driving over the hump in the middle instead. As the route hasn't been shortened yet, a few ADL Enviro400H vehicles still work the service each day to make up the numbers, although the route has almost converted fully and I'd encourage grabbing a farewell ride end-to-end as soon as possible, as you won't be able to appreciate leafy Chiswick or indeed the rest of the route with proper windows for much longer.

Unfortunately the E3 won't operate with Scania OmniCity vehicles for much longer.

As the ex-27 ADL Enviro400H vehicles are still fairly young, their life at Stamford Brook (V) garage will continue, albeit on the E3 service instead. Since this route joined London United in 2014, its operated with the Scania OmniCity vehicles that used to work the 10, but as a non-standard type which are ageing rapidly almost every operator in London is determined to withdraw them as soon as possible. It's rumoured that these particular Scanias do have a future ahead of them, replacing slightly older versions of the same model, but in a few years the once numerous type will be extinct within London. As not all of the E40Hs are blinded for the E3, in addition to vehicle shortages due to fires and crashes, around six Scanias are still in regular use at Stamford Brook (V) garage, but once the 27 fully converts the type will be gone completely.

ADH45002 is seen at the end of an E3 journey at Greenford Broadway.

In an attempt to remove the Scanias as quickly as possible, two slightly more interesting ADL Enviro400H vehicles have temporarily been drafted in to work the E3. One of these is a loan from Shepherd's Bush (S) garage, which usually works the 94, whilst the other is a demonstrator vehicle that did work the 27 originally, but is not required for the E3 PVR and is actually older than the Scania vehicles it's temporarily replacing.

As you can see, there's been quite a big fall-out as a result of the 10/23 changes, but whether it'll all be worth it in the long run is a question worth asking. Thanks for reading and stay safe!