Useful Info For Tourists; Three Recommended Bus Routes In London

       Hello readers, this post will tell you about the top three recommended bus routes in London. This will be very handy for tourists, but also for people who want a greater understanding of how awesome London is. Some regular London bus routes are almost like sightseeing tours, and who would want to spend well over 40 or 50 pounds when some other London bus routes can show you everything for £1.45 a ride. Remember, you cannot pay cash on London's buses,  you have to use your oyster cards, travelcards, or contactless cards. On two door buses, board at the front and alight at the back. On three door buses, you can board and alight from any door. I wouldn't recommend using one door buses, as they are mainly used for bus routes that go round tight turns in housing estates in greater London.
       
        If boarding a double decker bus, go upstairs and try to get the seats right at the front, so you can enjoy fantastic views of London. If the sun goes into your eyes too much in those seats, three from the front on the left and the seats directly behind the stairwell are also good for views. If you are unable to go upstairs, try and grab a seat near the front of the bus or the raised seats near the back, for some pretty good views as well. Some buses have seats right at the front downstairs, and they give brilliant views too! On a single decker bus, try and either sit near the front (but not the sideways seats) or on the raised seats near the back. If the bus is so full and nearly no seats are available, catch the next one. The bus service on most London bus routes is outstanding compared to other cities. Also, if you're from another country and you are struggling to read this, find our translate button on the right hand side of the blog. There are lots of languages to choose from! Now, all the basic stuff is over, we can move onto the three brilliant bus routes. And just to let you know, you don't just have to ride all the bus routes that I recommend, and you don't have to ride these either, you can decide which ones you think are the best and just ride those instead!


                                               Bus Route 11:

LT66 at Trafalgar Square.

I personally don't like these buses, due to the ridiculously small windows on the upper deck. Still, if you follow my wise instructions you should be able to enjoy some fabulous views. Thanks to London's fabulous iBus system and tube, you can know where to get off and on, as the buses announce the stop names and where the bus is going, and there is also a screen displaying what the next stop is and where the bus is going.

iBus screen on bus route 11, stating the bus is terminating at Liverpool Street.

 I would suggest getting on the bus at the very start of the route at Liverpool Street Bus Station. Catch the bus towards Fulham Broadway. Try and be the first in the queue, board at the front doors and try to get up the stairs as quickly as possible. If you are staying downstairs, try and sit in the best seats possible. You should do this for every bus route you board, unless it is a single decker. The 11 is a double decker, like most touristy bus routes in London. It passes many tourist attractions, including:

• Liverpool Street Station,
• Bank of England. 
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• Fleet Street
• Aldwych/The Strand
• Trafalgar Square
• Whitehall
• Parliament Square (for Houses Of Parliament, Big Ben and London Eye).

        If you want to stay in Central London, I would suggest alighting at the stop "Westminster Station/Parliament Square." However, the bus does continue west and goes past Victoria, Sloane Square and Kings Road. But, by the time the bus is in Fulham, there is nothing to see and it'll be quite hard to get back into Central London again.

                                                   Bus Route 23:

    The buses on route 23 have quite large windows, which are perfect for viewing sights in London. This route also starts at Liverpool Street Bus Station, and it follows the 11 until Trafalgar Square. Catch the 23 towards Westbourne Park, and follow my seating instructions. This bus passes lots and lots of tourist attractions, and goes through some lovely areas of London.

BE WARNED: This bus route gets incredibly busy which is why I'm telling you to get on at the start of the route at Liverpool Street. This bus route also gets stuck in horrific traffic on Oxford Street and Regent Street, so try not to use this route in rush hour (7-9:30 am, 4-7:30 pm). It passes:

• Liverpool Street Station
• Bank of England
• St Paul's Cathedral
• Fleet Street
• Aldwych/The Strand
• Trafalgar Square
• Piccadilly Circus/Regent Street
• Oxford Circus/Oxford Street
• Marble Arch
• Paddington Station

            If you happen to be riding the route on any day except Sunday and Thursday you can also explore the wonderful Portobello Road Market, by staying on further than Paddington Station and alighting at "Colville Road", the closest stop to the market.

                                     Bus Route 15(H):
I apologise for the fact I don't have a picture. But, a heritage shuttle service runs along the number 15 route between Trafalgar Square and Tower Hill, using old Routemasters!! This is the only bus route to use them on a daily basis, and it will certainly be a unique experience. They are so old they don't have the iBus screen/announcements on them, so I would just recommend riding the bus route right from one end to another.  It runs between 9:30am and 6:30pm, from Trafalgar Square-Tower Hill. It passes:

• Trafalgar Square
• Aldwych/The Strand
• Fleet Street
• St. Paul's Cathedral

• Tower Of London 

And, they're the top three routes for tourists! Thanks for reading, and I hope you get a better understanding of how awesome London is.


Postscript:  Other recommended bus routes: 88, 139, RV1, 24



 Another Postscript: Sorry there hasn't been an update for ages, but I've been so busy with schoolwork and stuff like that. Also, I've recently suffered from an illness which has prevented me from going out of the house. I should be playing catch up soon! Thanks for bearing with me, readers, I know you're probably fed up with these long gaps.

Notice/Random Obs 13th September 2014

Hello readers. Posts will now be very infrequent due to school work taking priority. Expect posts to be around once a week, and bus service contract change posts will prioritize. Expect posts to be late as well, but I will do my very best to keep them (kind of) on time. Anyway, here is a little Random Obs for you:

Massive logo on SEL764!

Transferred Scania on the 262.

Transferred Scania on the 473. They look so good with white blinds!

Routemaster outside Stockwell Bus Garage on 21st June 2014.

One of the most infrequent bus routes in London is the 481, which I used to get to Fulwell open day. It's a shame that it has to go through Whitton.

Ex-148 Scania on the 281.

Refurbished Enviro on the 607. I'm glad they've received a refurbishment, they needed it! They were dirty buses, and I'm surprised the extremely noisy Gemini 1's that also run the route haven't been refurbished.

K3 in the rain.

A K2 departs Cromwell Road Bus Station.

The K1 has now received a frequency increase, which means ageing Dart Pointer 8041 has had to cover for this. Here is one of the E200s that make up the main allocation.

The very circuitous route 371 runs from Richmond-Kingston. The 65 takes half the time this does to get between the two places.

Here is an ALX400 on the 131. At the moment, the 57 and the 131 have swapped allocation, so the ex-9 VLEs will now be pounding along Coombe Lane and Colliers Wood.

Unallocated G2 on the 85. This bus is supposed to work the 22, but has taken a greater liking to almost every other Putney double deck route.

 One of the regular Scania's that work the 111.

 

Dart Pointer on the 216.

Mansfield Park is an estate near Chessington, not a novel made in the 1900s.

Minibus on the K5, which runs hourly. There are a lot of infrequent bus routes in Kingston!

A 295 Gemini 2 overtakes an 8 year old Enviro working the 211.

Wow, I didn't know the 9 had been diverted to terminate at Lancaster Gate! Nah, this bus was going through the 148 destinations while at Hammersmith Bus Station.

 Thanks for reading!

From Rattles To Smoothness, From One Good Type To Another

    The conversion of the best bus route in London was a very exciting but sad period. It used to be worked by Scania OmniCity's, which were very bumpy, but everything else about the type was superb, and they suited the route very much.

Note that these buses used to have yellow blinds, but they were substituted for white blinds, when these buses departed the 205, and found a new home (see at the end of the post).

    61-reg Enviro 400 Hybrid's from the 15 also appeared on the route before the conversion in early August. The 61-reg buses have a green interior, which I am very fond of, and I'm disappointed not to find it on any other Stagecoach hybrid.

       My experience on one of these buses was brilliant. The bus was bright, despite it being pretty full, and the view of many landmarks on City Road and Pentonville Road was brilliant. It was after this experience, when the 205 became my favourite route, and the 7 got dropped because of its horrible Gemini 3's that are dark and claustrophobic. Thankfully, it's returned to Russell Square! I'd only been on the 205 between Aldgate and Paddington, but I loved that part of the route so much, it became my favourite, despite me not knowing what lay between Aldgate East and Bow Bus Garage.
     The sole other type of bus to appear on the 205 was the Alexander Trident/ALX400. Now, this was one of my least favourite double deck types, probably because they can get extremely hot inside and the views from the front window are restricted because of a pole. I didn't get a chance to ride one of these buses on the 205, but I could tell that the Scania's and Enviro's suited the route better.

  Now that the new  Enviro Hybrids have been introduced, all ALX400s except for one have departed Bow. They used to be allocated to routes 8 and 277, but both routes now have newer buses on them. I was going to miss the Scania OmniCity's, but the Euro 6 Enviro 400 Hybrids the 205 was about to receive looked promising. Scania OmniCity's are still appearing on the route today, as they are still at Bow, but working a different route. The contract renewal did take place on Saturday 30th August 2014, but new buses started to enter service in mid-June. My blog assistant managed to catch up with 12308 at Paddington Station one Friday evening. The same bus broke down earlier in the week!

Here it is, at the Cleveland Terrace bus stand in Paddington. Can you see the Crossrail works on Eastbourne Terrace behind.

The rear.

   On Saturday 21st June, I decided to test out these new Hybrids between Aldgate and Paddington.

12305 arrives at Aldgate Station.

 The buses were bright inside, and the seats were extremely deep and comfortable. I forgot I was on a bus for one moment! As the bus completed the journey to Paddington, I was very impressed. The buses were clean, comfortable, and had extremely quick acceleration. Passing many areas of London I love, like Shoreditch, Old Street, Kings Cross and Marylebone, I was extremely impressed. It was definitely my favourite route, by quite a margin!

iBus on 12305.

One of the new Enviro's follows a Black Routemaster on the 8, another route to gain new buses at Bow. Behind the buses is the London Overground bridge in Shoreditch.

  

12306, in Old Street.

  On Thursday 28th August, I decided to ride the route end to end, to see what was between Aldgate and Bow Church.

Upstairs interior.

Downstairs rear interior.

My bus, was a new Enviro 400 Hybrid, although two 61-reg's and a Scania were also on the route that day. The new Enviro's were having a day out on routes 8, 15 and 277. The N205 has also received these new buses, so I'm sure late night clubbers will take care of them.
   After waiting a few minutes at Cleveland Terrace, I boarded 12317, and sat upstairs, at the front, on the left. The bus was on a diversion when I boarded, and it used both Westbourne and Eastbourne Terrace to get to Paddington Station. The bus sped along Eastbourne Terrace, passing the diggers working on Crossrail tunnels, taking advantage of not having any other means of transport on the road.

My bus, at Cleveland Terrace.

       The bus loaded up at Paddington Station, and then went down Praed Street to reach Edgware Road Station. 12317 got stuck behind a 27 at Edgware Road, but eventually ADH43 moved off and the Stagecoach Enviro chased it in hot pursuit. However, at Marylebone Station, the 205 detours to stop directly outside the station, whilst the 27 just continues straight down Marylebone Road to reach Baker Street. The 27 wasn't in sight once 12317 had left the station forecourt. Surprisingly, there wasn't much traffic on Marylebone Road, unlike in the evening peak, where the traffic can tail back all the way from Paddington-Kings Cross. Obviously, everyone was either on holiday, or visiting Madame Tussauds, where the queue was as horrible as ever. As the bus got to Great Portland Street Station, I watched a not in service Tower Transit Enviro 400 use the Euston Underpass as a shortcut to reach Euston. I wish the 205 could use it, but then it wouldn't stop at Warren Street, where I have boarded and alighted this route many times.
    After spending a long time at Euston Bus Station picking up passengers, the bus manoeuvred itself through Grafton Place, a very narrow street which many buses use to reach Kings Cross Station. The bus was very busy by that point, and remained this busy until Angel, where many people alighted for Chapel Market, and the Northern Line tube. City Road was empty, allowing the bus to omit stops and move pretty fast until Moorfields Eye Hospital, where the bus picked up more passengers. Weaving through the back streets of Shoreditch, an area which I love, the bus reached Liverpool Street, where nearly all the passengers got off. All the tall, curved buildings came into view and from the top deck and they looked beautiful. I love most bus routes that enter the City Of London, mostly because of the views of the buildings. Through Aldgate, and more narrow streets, our bus got stuck behind a 25, which is a very frequent but overcrowded route that follows the 205 from Aldgate to Bow Church. There wasn't much to see around Mile End, but as I'd never been to the area before, it was still fascinating. Mile End Road was deserted, and the bus sped through Whitechapel and Stepney Green before overtaking two 25s and the 205 I just misssed at Paddington. The bus was empty, with only one other passenger on the top deck that I didn't know. Surprisingly, Bow Church Station isn't the last stop, and I alighted at Bow Bus Garage, which the 205 uses to turn buses around. I love this route, and it will certainly remain the best for many years to come.

A Hybrid blinded for the 8 inside Bow Bus Garage.

A line up of buses at the garage.

  Footnote: So, what happened after the 205 gained its new Enviro Hybrid's? The Scania OmniCity's went to the 277, to replace all the ALX400s at Bow.

In Leamouth, is an ex-205 Scania OmniCity. There are some strange stop names in this area: Nutmeg Lane, Clove Crescent, Oregano Drive. And, they're all consecutive stops!

A line up of buses on stand. The sole ALX400 still at Bow is between them.

  Now that the Scania's have been re-blinded, they have also been appearing on the 15:

Here is one at Trafalgar Square. Appearances still remain quite rare, though.

 Thank you for reading, and sorry for another large gap between posts! Posts will be this infrequent now, sadly.

Highbury Barn-A Misleading Name

     Is there a barn there? No. Were there any other animals other than dogs being walked in sight? No. So why has this area north of Highbury Corner been called this? Perhaps there was a barn there many years ago? Anyway, a new bus route has entered the Highbury Barn area recently, and that is the 263. It has been extended to Highbury Barn to ease overcrowding on the Holloway Road corridor, as there are not an adequate amount of buses serving the area. Still, a route extension is another bus change to cover, and on the 23rd August 2014, I went to Islington to cover this.
    Having alighted a 277, which is a very interesting route from Leamouth-Highbury And Islington, I waited for the 263 at Highbury Corner. I'd already seen the Highbury Barn terminus on a 4, so there was no need to go up there again. Before I'd even boarded, I knew that TFL had made the right decision to extend this route. If the route hadn't been extended, I've have to take 2 buses to get to East Finchley, which isn't ideal, especially when I had to catch an hourly bus straight after (the H3).

TE895 picks up passengers at Highbury Corner.

       The reason I wasn't going all the way to Barnet Hospital, was purely because I didn't think it was an especially nice area, and I'd already been as far out of London as Lakeside at 8am earlier in the day. Even Emma Hignett, the iBus voice, didn't think that Barnet Hospital was interesting. The iBus announcement said "263 to" in a completely normal, average tone of voice. When Emma got to say "Barnet Hospital", she made it sound like a complete dump, with her voice being so low and fierce during the second half of the announcement. The bus stopped at every stop on Holloway Road, and the bus was nearly full up by the time it had reached Holloway Nags Head, where the route formerly started. Clearly, the extension was necessary.

A non-repainted Enviro at Highbury Corner.

   As no other Metroline route terminates at Highbury Barn, new blinds were required. However, only the 263's batch have had them fitted, so when I saw an Enviro from the 82's batch passing the other direction, I wasn't surprised to see it displaying "Holloway, Nags Head" on the front. Obviously, Potters Bar (PB) weren't fully prepared for the extension. The bus quietened down through Archway, but TE895's speedy progress slowed to a crawl after a contraflow near Upper Holloway Station.

A repainted TE passing in the other direction.

By East Finchley, the bus was nearly empty, and because I had 40 minutes to wait for an H3, I stayed on the bus until North Finchley, to get more pictures and the iBus displaying Highbury Barn.

iBus displaying "263 to Highbury Barn", on TE899.

A clear stretch of road!

   Overall, my experience on the 263 was good. The route passes some interesting areas like Highgate and East Finchley (and I think it also goes to some dull ones at the north end of the route), but most importantly, I'm sure the extension was beneficial for many people, and it has made the route more interesting. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the big gap between posts recently!

The Yellow Bus

        Not the company in Bournemouth (Yellow Buses, part of RATP group), but a commercial service run by CT Plus, called the 812. It uses a fleet of three, yellow Bluebird Tucanas, to match a PVR of 2. The route used to be run by Mercedes Sprinters, but they were getting old and weak and one did break down, on a route with runs half-hourly. Oyster cards and stuff like that are NOT accepted on this service, but a £1 cash fare is all you need! The route is aimed at senior citizens, who struggle to use mainstream bus services in this North London area. However, anyone is welcome aboard the service and I caught the penultimate departure at 15:30 from Hoxton, Bridport Place. It is a circular route, and the journey takes about an hour.

A Bluebird makes its way around the turn at Bridport Place.

          At Hoxton, two other people got on the bus. It is Hail And Ride, but if the route passes any fixed bus stops, it stops there too.

Interior facing the rear.

      The bus was very nippy, and sped through the back streets in Hoxton. The other two passengers alighted at Packington Street, and it was then when I noticed the weird door sound. It is an extremely loud whine, but it almost sounds like a cat being strangled. I remained the sole passenger until Chapel Market Sainsbury's, which is where the bus almost reached full capacity! There was banter, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, chatting away to each other. I still remained the sole "young passenger", and I did throughout the journey. The bus weaved through side streets to reach Percy Circus, where it circumnavigated the roundabout, and went back in the direction it came. A couple of people alighted here, but the majority were staying on. Near St. John Street, there is a width barrier, where the bus had to crawl at 5mph to get through! I was surprised it could fit, but I'm sure the regular users think it's perfectly normal.

Here is the other Bluebird Tucana that worked the route that day.

       The bus continued down Skinner Street, and briefly went South along Goswell Road, before turning into another main road, Old Street. That, however, was short-lived, and many people alighted on Golden Lane near Barbican, before the bus encountered more tricky turns near Dufferin Street and Radnor Street. I was so close to Old Street Station, and City Road, which takes you straight to Angel. The bus dived into Lever Street, which then leads onto Goswell Road. I thought the bus would head straight up Goswell Road to reach Angel, but it didn't. I was the sole passenger again, but I didn't figure out the bus wasn't heading North until it was circumnavigating Percy Circus again! I went through the width barrier again, crawling at 5mph, until I alighted at Chapel Market, where the bus reached full capacity with shoppers returning to Hoxton. Overall, I loved this bus route, mostly because of its quirkiness. The route has to get through extremely tight turns, and the type is really nippy. The drivers are really friendly, and will always answer your questions, whether you're an enthusiast (like me), or not. I would highly recommend using this service, and I'm sure it will keep going in the years to come....

BT1, at Chapel Market.

Outside the hotspot venue, here is BT1, at Angel Sainsbury's.

Thanks for reading!

Random Observations- 06/08/14

    Hello readers, sorry it's been such a long time since the last edition. There have been so many contract renewals/changes recently that have been prioritized, but I finally have time to do one of these posts. Hopefully, there will be some photos from East London in this edition, so look forward to it!

Interior of ADH40, on route 27. Despite the buses being 2 years old, they still have that new, rubbery smell to them and are still in a pristine condition.

 On May Day (5th May), there was a running day on routes 15H and 9H, which I didn't know about until on the day. I was covering route 10, and then I saw lots of extra Routemasters on the 9H, and then a First Berkshire Volvo Hybrid Single Decker appeared working route 15H!

 

Many Scania OmniCity's working route 205 have been fitted with white on black blinds, so route 277 destinations can be fitted. The 205 is supposed to use new E40H's, but the Scania's continue to appear.

PVL151, an ageing Volvo President works route 68 run from Camberwell (Q) garage. This bus probably won't be on the road for much longer, considering it is thirteen years old!

A working now possible, thanks to London United for re-blinding most of the Scania's at Fulwell (FW) garage. Here, SP38 works the normally single deck route 110....

.....Some have not been fitted with new blinds, and SP163 is still waiting for the treatment. Here it is working route 267 on Chiswick High Road.

This bus looks rather old, doesn't it? Here is 9001, the first ever B7TL/Gemini delivered to Abellio London.

Am unusual order placed by Go-Ahead London has seen three 11.7m Enviro 400s being used for its Commercial Services Fleet. Here is one on Rail Replacement duty in New Cross.

Another protest march on Whitehall meant the 12 was curtailed to Westminster Bridge Road for the day. Here is a Gemini 2 B5LH demonstrating the short journey.

A trio of buses arrive at High Street Kensington. Inevitably, there is a cycle rack.

The 23 is meant to be 100% Enviro, but here a DB300/Integral Gemini 2 has managed to escape onto the route. These buses are allocated to route 328, and they don't stray that often.

A Trident/ALX400 works route 175 in Romford.

An 11-reg Enviro works route 174 outside the station, on a very warm day in June.

10163 is one of nine Enviro 400s ordered for the contract renewal for route 175, but they managed to escape onto every other Romford (NS) double-deck bus route.

The rear of an Enviro 200 working route 499.

The 5 is a high frequency route that runs from Canning Town-Romford. It does have a dedicated batch of ALX400s for the route, but Enviro's are extremely common too.

A refurbished Scania OmniCity works route 365, from Orchard Village-Havering Park. This vehicle used to work route 106 until the route was lost to Arriva, with new DB300 Gemini 2s.

Here is a new Enviro 400 ordered for the contract renewal of route 252. Scania's also appear on the route.

Here is another 365, gleaming in the morning sun.

 Here is one of the  ALX400s that are allocated to the route.

 

The 86 runs from Stratford-Romford, and is meant to help out the 25 between Stratford and Ilford. However, the 86 gets extremely overcrowded itself, suggesting another route needs to be put along this corridor. An Express route from Oxford Circus-Romford might work.

An ALX400 finishes a route 247 journey at Romford Station.

Here is a Scania/Olympus transferred from Metrobus when the contract of routes 54 and 75 was lost to Stagecoach. The buses work routes 498, 474 and every other school route at Rainham (BE). The buses still retain the Metrobus interior.

Here is the exterior of one working a route 498 journey to Brentwood, which is in Essex, not London...

An E200 works the eclectic route 62, which can see Optare Versas, Enviro 200s, Trident/ALX400s, Dart Pointers, and Enviro 400s! Here is an E200, stopping to pick up passengers with shopping bags.

Here, an Evolution single decker works route 167, in Ilford.

Here is one of the Olympuses on the 474, a brilliant route which goes from Manor Park-Canning Town. The view around London City Airport is amazing.

The 474 also uses Wrightbus Gemini 2 buses, and here is one in East Ham.

Route 541 is a temporary route from Canning Town-Kier Hardie Estate. This route has been re-introduced twice, and Go-Ahead are having a go at the moment. Here is SO2, with no valid destination blind.

Here is the interior of OS27 on route 309, which is a very overcrowded route that runs through estates in Poplar.

Here is one of the two door Optare Solo's that works the route.

The D3 is like the 309, except it doesn't run through estates, and it uses longer buses. Here is 36367 at Crossharbour.

An Arriva London double decker sets out on a 135 journey to Old Street Station. The blind needs to be changed to read Old Street Station.

The 78 is meant to use Enviros, but Gemini's from route 106 appear regularly on Sundays.

Here is a Go-Ahead Gemini 2 on route D7, which goes around the whole of the Isle Of Dogs. It takes about 30 minutes to do so, which isn't surprising, and then there's also the bit to Mile End.

Interior of an Enviro 400 on route 135.

Since the 341 transferred from Lea Valley garage to Tottenham, Gemini 2 Integral's have appeared on the route. Here is one on Essex Road.

On Sundays, the 4 also seems to receive Gemini 2's, but from the common user batch allocated to routes 43/134/W7.

Thanks for reading!