Please provide any documents or correspondance explaining the reason and justification for the 491 curtailments. Also, please advise why there has been no public consultation on the curtailments. This bus provides a lifeline for Galliard Road, Bury Street and employment areas at Brimsdown and Enfield Lock. It is the sole route to North Middlesex Hospital for most of east Enfield. The bus is often busy to bursting with queues at the hospital for the service even late at night. In reality, the off peak service should be 4 buses per hour and the peak really ought to be 5 or 6 buses per hour, because the bus is normally full. Indeed, previous TfL assessments were that there was under capacity on this route and we had been promised additional, not less services. Please answer the same question for the 327 bus which is the only bus to serve Turkey Street Station, which is also having its services slashed.

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TfL Ref: FOI-2336-1718

Thank you for your email received by us on 17 November 2017 asking for information about Bus Routes 327 and 491.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:

Please provide any documents or correspondence explaining the reason and justification for the 491 curtailments. Also, please advise why there has been no public consultation on the curtailments.

Please answer the same question for the 327 bus which is the only bus to serve Turkey Street Station, which is also having its services slashed.

Route 491

Route 491 was prohibited from operating through the North Middlesex Hospital site in May 2017 by the NHS Trust. discussions were held with the Trust and LB Enfield in an effort to retains its alignment but were unsuccessful.  Consequently, it was rerouted via Bull Lane, Bridport Road and Gloucester Road towards Waltham Cross.  This additional mileage resulted in significant increases in journey times in the PM peak due to traffic congestion, therefore requiring additional resource which was estimated to cost an additional £143,000 per annum. 

At the same time surveys undertaken at the busiest point last autumn indicated that the 4 bus per hour (bph) service was required during the AM peak towards Waltham Cross but not during the afternoon.  Therefore, the frequency was reduced to 3 bph with one additional journey in the AM peak towards Waltham Cross to provide a 4 bus per hour service where necessary.  This allowed us to better match the demand of the service as well as save enough resource to accommodate the additional time in the schedule.  Whilst providing the additional resource would not have met our cost/benefit criteria, and would therefore not have been value for money. 

Route 327.    

Route 327 suffered from significant reliability issues due to congestion along Bullsmoor Lane, Hertford Road and the M25.  Usage had also dropped by 16% on weekdays and Saturdays over the last 5 years.

When analysing usage it was identified that 94% of passengers travel between 7AM and 7PM.  In order to retain as much of the service as possible whilst making the service reliable in the most efficient manner, it was therefore decided that the headways could be widened from every 30 minutes to every 40 minutes and that the evening service could be withdrawn, whilst allowing us to operate the service more reliably at no additional cost.  Whereas allocating additional resource would not have met our cost/benefit criteria, and would therefore not have been value for money.   

In relation to consultation, TfL Buses has no statutory requirement to formally consult on frequency changes to routes.  However, we are unaware of any curtailments that have taken place. 

If this is not the information you are looking for, please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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