Branch lines.
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| Wikipedia Central Line map |
Look at the Northern Line, to the south it has Battersea Power Station and Morden. To the north it has Edgware and High Barnet/Mill Hill East.
Branches.
Or even other lines with many destinations on one end, then all converge to one at another, Metropolitan at Aldgate for example.
Branches.
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| Current 166 and 466 |
The tube can do it, some buses used to bifurcate (on some routes, like 32 with journeys from Grahame Park Estate, or N25 to Hainault/Harold Hill, N109/N159 to Coulsdon/New Addington), why not buses in 21st century?
The answer is standardisation above all else.
Perhaps there's still scars from confusion of the past (e.g 137 not running on evenings/Sundays but 137A extended from Clapham to Oxford Circus on evenings/Sundays) with suffixes on hundreds of bus routes with variations of all kinds, making it a must for you to know the structure of your bus routes (beyond if they run or don't run) in order to not have a bad day/evening.
Out of our 549 daily routes, there's only 5 examples of two routes in one contract (e.g 389/399).
Quite impressive as it is excessive. Efficiency loss as well from a few factors. Imagine counting +1 on your calculator for every number, with the very rare +2 from the 389/399 example. Ridiculous oversimplification, but you have a little idea now.
The EL1/EL2 from 2010 until 2016 did count. A shared service between Ilford and Thames View Estate, where EL2 diverted further to Dagenham Dock. Obviously no more shared service from 2016 onwards as both routes had sharply increased in frequencies, then EL2 diverted to Becontree Heath instead of Ilford.
The objective is simple: Smarter distribution of buses with the least passenger inconvenience.
Preferably, without reducing frequencies on core parts of a route, compared to completely reducing frequencies haphazardly for the sake of costs..
Let's try a few combinations haphazardly:
Low frequency + low frequency
Low frequency + High frequency
High frequency + High frequency
Doesn't have to be double+double or single+single decks, could be mixed with single+double decks, though should be one type for the sake of convenience and ease.
296/396
166/466 Chipstead/Caterham - Addington Village
25/425
25/425
128/150
The benefits is in the case of 25/425 particularly, a maximum of 3 buses would be on stand, just like how 25 was when it had a PVR of 60 (when 425 only went as far east as Stratford). Currently each of 25 and 425 have two buses on stand each, making a total of four. Inefficiency there.
Another benefit is how in the case of 425 and 466, there is overbus on their outer sections. North of Mile End for 425 and south of Purley for 466, where they already went past their corridor contribution on Romford Road and Brighton Road respectively.
No doubt those corridors require the frequency 425 and 466 provide. Though Stroats Nest Road (and other roads on 466) are plentifully overbussed to the point residents complained. I wouldn't. But hey, they pointed it out, not me.
In the case of 425, it's frequency could easily be justified if it swapped termini with 276 at Homerton Hospital, allowing 425 to go Stoke Newington and 276 diverted to Clapton.
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| Again, from my spreadsheet |
As for the 128/150 example, I have outlined in Interworked routes, the goal is to guarantee the routes operated seamlessly like you'd find in one route, such as the 5. Funnily enough, a combined contract of 128/150 would be the same size as 5 alone. Both a PVR of 30. No doubt it's more hassle but possible.
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| At least Monday-Saturday off-peak sorted. Next is peak hours, Sunday, then evenings. |
The 296/396 when under the same operator worked like one route with shorts, until 296 got a frequency increase meaning the 296 and 396 have different frequencies as opposed to both being every 20, meaning every 10 west of King George's Hospital. Now it's a mess of 4 buses per hour from 296 uncannily added with 396's existing 3 buses per hour. A good amount of times you'd end up with a 296/396 bunched through the fault of zero coordination, especially when both are at different companies.
To add insult, 396 is every 20 daily. The 296 on Sundays is every 30. The remaining common ground on both is on Sunday evenings, both every 30. Every other evening again, a mixed mess.
I prematurely added 301/401 as potentials to do the same as the above, though I have more respect than changing 301's high frequency status to try and claim bifurcating low-frequency and high-frequency routes is possible. So without increasing 401, a cooperated 301/401 can be kept to status quo. "301 should interwork with 401 where possible."
As a substitute, the 262/473 would work well albeit very identical to my modified 166/466 above, though 262/473 would need no modification. Both 262 and 473 share the same frequencies (every 11 Mon-Sat, every 15 Sundays and evenings). Therefore a joint every 5-6 Mon-Sat and every 7-8 can be possible between Stratford and Newham Leisure Centre.
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| Laziness means referencing the Newham University Hospital map |
I figured a workaround that could make these work.
Joint bids extra contracts condition (or other naming scheme)
Fluid contracts, anyone?
The 25/425 last round were a joint bid win, therefore, on the condition you joint bid routes, say 25/425, you enter a condition where if the joint bid is successful it functions as one large contract, similar to 25's standalone contract before 2018. A mammoth PVR 52 route.
The problem with finding out issues in my above idea is the legal issues of what is possible and what is fundamentally not legal to say it bluntly, I am no lawyer and I frankly have no time reading about contracts than I already know of. Besides, my forte is drawing and writing, if I were involved in the law I'd unwittingly cause problems for someone's life unintentionally much in the same way as doctors do in the event the worst case scenario befalls them.
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| Routes like 18 also had similar to the above |
I guess in the end, routes like 38 and 166 effectively do fall short pretty barely from "branching" but only on one end of their route in the form of short workings. Though short workings themselves are stuff TfL have nearly wiped out, save for the hyper-frequent 38 and cross-border-cost-cutting 166.
I was saving the least for last, though we do have "bifurcations" already, just in secret. The 63 has a schoolday journey starting from inside St Saviour and St Olave School grounds towards Honor Oak. The 207 had similar, two journeys from Twyford Abbey School to Hayes-by-Pass but this was withdrawn in 2019.
Norwood School always had a bus to Brixton, though from 2003 to 2005 the schoolday journey was a 2 to Baker Street. Yet no daily 2s served the vicinity since 2003. This was fixed in 2005 by making them 432s. To this day the schoolday journey exists as 432 to Brixton.
Oasis Academy in Coulsdon has 60/466 schoolday journeys. For 60 it's an extension per-say, but for the 466 it is a bifurcation.
As a footnote, the 406/418 used to have a joint schedule under Quality Line, though fell apart under RATP. Thus a 418 leaves 5 minutes after a 406 at either Epsom or Kingston, as opposed to a clean every 10 minute interval.
Not exactly bifurcated/branch as opposed to interworking routes, but 406/418 go separate ways between Tolworth and Epsom.
With all this said and done, I hope this was some enlightenment but above all else, I hope you enjoyed this read, enjoy your Christmas holiday amidst the strike mayhem. Until the next one, stay safe!
Merry Christmas, happy holidays..
Sources:
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