TfL Ref: 2276-1617
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 18 February 2017 asking for information about bus routes 113, 186, 292, 240, 221, 251, 605 and also about bus emissions.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require.
Please could you inform me of any current and planned diversions, service changes, or alterations to timetables and routes for the following bus routes: 113, 186, 292, 240, 221, 251, 605.
The information provided below reflects planned diversions around highways disruption and is a snap-shot of the network at the date of your request. These may suddenly change if dates of related road works move back or forward or if another form of disruption supersedes it. Unplanned diversions may also be required for events for which there is no warning or if more disruption than anticipated is being caused by civils work and a more intervention approach towards bus services is required. The information cannot therefore includes diversions arising from rescheduled or emergency works, and changes to works programs, which are unforeseeable. The list reflects our data as of February 24.
Route 186 towards Northwick Park Hospital (20-22 March 2017)
From Montrose Ave, left Watling Ave, right Orange Hill Road, ahead Deans Lane, right Hale Lane, left Mill Hill Broadway, line of route. This involves nightly road closures for resurfacing from 2000 to 0500.
Route 186 towards Brent Cross (20-22 March 2017)
From Mill Hill Broadway, right Hale Lane, left Deans Lane, ahead Orange Hill Road, left Watling Ave, right Montrose Ave, line of route.
Route 240 towards Edgware (3-12 April 2017)
From Brent Street (Queens Road), left Queens Road, right A41 Watford Way, right The Boroughs, ahead Church Road, left Parson Street, line of route. This is for sewer connection works requiring the closure of Brent High Street.
Route 240 towards Golders Green (3-12 April 2017)
From Parson Street, right Church Road, ahead The Burroughs, left A41 Watford Way, left Queens Road, right Brent Street, line of route.
Route 251 towards Arnos Grove (20-22 March 2017)
From A5 Burnt Oak Broadway, left Deansbrook Road, left Deans Lane, right Hale Lane, left Mill Hill Broadway, line of route. This is for nightly road closure for resurfacing works from 2000 to 0500.
Route 251 towards Edgware (20-22 March 2017)
From Mill Hill Broadway, right Hale Lane, left Deans Lane, right Deansbrook Road, right A5 Burnt Oak Broadway, line of route.
Routes 292, 221 and 605
No diversions are listed.
Permanent Route Changes/Timetable Changes
This information is also a snap-shot of the network. New schemes can be announced at any time in response to new existing civils work impacting on route reliability.
There are major changes coming up for route 113 which will be extended to Oxford Circus following the completion of our public consultation process:
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/routes-13-82-113-139-189/
At this time, the routes mentioned below have no upcoming notes about structural changes but can be subject to change. Some have recently had their contracts re-awarded, others, like the 186 are due to start their new contract later this year.
Route 113 – As per the section above, route 113 is planned to be extended from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus starting from the new contract on 1 April 2017. As a part of this modification, we are looking to increase the frequency to eight buses per hour (bph) Monday to Saturday daytimes, with two additional south-bound journeys in the morning peak and two additional north-bound journeys in the afternoon peak and to five bph on Sundays and all evenings.
Route 186 – New contract due on 22 July 2017. We are planning to increase the frequency of the bus in the early morning from 3 to 5 bph on weekdays.
Route 221 – Contract was awarded in November 2016 with no service changes planned.
Route 240 – Contract is due to be extended by two years as per our performance based contract extension allowance from April 2017. No changes currently planned.
Route 251 – Contract was awarded in September 2016 with no service changes.
Route 292 – Currently mid-contract. Had revised schedules introduced on 31 October 2016 to improve reliability.
Route 605 – New contract due in September 2017. No changes to frequency or route currently planned.
2) Please could you inform me of the measures taken by Metroline at Edgware Bus Garage to reduce the emissions of their Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 buses at present and future schemes (if the buses are to be retrofitted, when will this occur), and whether any hybrid vehicles are going to be based at Edgware in the foreseeable future.
These plans will be put in place as soon as we have completed trials of exhaust upgrade equipment. We can say at this stage that very significant emission improvements will be made to buses at Edgware Garage as part of plans to raise the entire bus fleet up to the Euro VI engine emission standard or better by 2020. This involves a combination of upgrading and replacing buses that are below this standard currently. This process will be accelerated over the next two years by mayoral plans for the bus fleet to meet Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) emissions standard a year early in 2019 instead of 2020 and all new double deck buses entering the fleet from 2018 having to be hybrid or zero-emission. We update our fleet data each quarter and you can keep track of the changes if you go to the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/bus-fleet-data-and-audits.
3) I understand that in the early 2000s there were proposals to single deck the 240 bus route on a higher frequency. Why did this not go ahead, and is this something that will be considered again in the future?
In April 2000, route 240 was renewed with a five-year contract. This contract included a new schedule, that was initially deferred until October 2000.
In October, the frequency of the service was increased from every 15/20 minutes to every 12 minutes for Monday to Friday services between 07:00-19:00. Saturday services were also increased from 09:00 to 18:00 to the same level of frequency and, for Monday-Saturdays, the evening service until 23:00 was increased from every 30 minutes to every 20.
Double-deck buses offer greater capacity over single-deck vehicles in this instance, and are less costly than single-deck buses which would need to run a higher frequency to provide the capacity, entailing additional vehicles and drivers, as well as the fuel costs. Running two single-deck buses instead of a double-deck vehicle would also lead to higher emissions, running contrary to our goal of minimising oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter across the network.
If we were to operate the 240 with single-deck buses this would result in a substantial increase to the route running costs and, since the goal would be to add capacity to the route (which could be solved by using larger vehicles), the benefit for doing so would be very low. Given this, we would not be able to justify the cost of replacing the existing double-deck service with a more frequent single-deck service.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
