Hail & Ride sections & conversion to Fixed stops

Writing this part of the post in post-mortem to what I have written months before below definitely felt like a blast, considering I tolled away weeks of time into a spreadsheet that would have been redundant if TfL didn't stop updating the quadrant maps (South East/South West and North East/North West) maps, and not hiding away every possible Spider Map whilst updating few into the more useless format of only containing parts of the routes in question.

Time immemorial to me P13 I'd always ride as a route which never had a Hail & Ride section, but it had them. Namely in Dulwich on Whateley Road and Underhill Road. Which explains some of it's stops not having road marks since you can't exactly park a bus next to a parked car and call it a day as that obstructs traffic, I say loosely as that should be correct on the law of the road, even if I worded it like I don't know what I'm talking about.

The 273 was a route for the longest time meant to receive stops in Horn Park and finally got them after gruelling years of being forgotten.

Other routes with Hail & Ride

Two of the last changes, the 233 and B13 of the Eltham areas were a thing. The former with a consultation of it's own outlying the need to remove some parking spaces to fit bus stops. The latter was rushed without a consultation and ensued a non-stop section on the Hail & Ride in New Eltham on it's loop. This actually happened.

The 233's consultation as you could read seems to have faded into obscurity, following the K1's consultation regarding Tolworth which was adequate enough where stops weren't installed as promised though pursuing further negotiations with the borough of Kingston on the final say, whilst in 233's case lengthy distance between stops and of course, parking space removal wasn't adequate either still.

As of writing this post much earlier in the year, on the holy cut day in August 2021 on the 28th, the 223 had an extra pair of stops on Windermere Avenue by Gresmere Avenue, which is rather odd if the whole road doesn't have stops as South Kenton Station already sticks out.

Consecutive
Fixed Stops

Other routes with consultations include 284, C3 (only other full time double deck route in recent times besides 230, now 301 is another H&R decker route), the E9 upon double deck conversion in Barnhill Estate, R2 in Biggin Hill Valley right after it's cut from Petts Wood.

It's not uncommon of Hail & Ride sections to be abused. Anything with a bit of freedom can be abused, be it healthcare, be it plastic bags, be it something not political since the word freedom can only be associated with America.

The abuse would come from constant bell pressing after the bus has just set off, some people taking the approach of 'as close to my house's doorstep as possible' which I haven't not done, just I never do it if say my 322 has just been stopped but there's a dozen metres away from where I'd like.

In this side where I only have the 315, 322 and G1 to be base off of, the 315 and G1 are calm in that respect. Being low frequency routes whose userbase consists more of older people who can't walk the length/terrain/both from their daily shops down in Norwood/Tooting or jumping down to Streatham to the more Norwood-Streatham or Tooting-Streatham centric people who have no need for the Hail & Ride section, and then Valley Road slam in the middle of it's traffic problems for 315.

The 322 on the other hand is less regulated like a route with stops that can't be seen, but slightly more barbaric, a free for all unless it's really the start, end or the estate referred to as Vincennes Estate which is a major source traffic for the route.

ETA

Like other routes with the stopless sections, it has invisible stops. Invisible stops are, well, invisible stops, bus stops in theory without flags without road markings without shelters. They usually have the yellow 4-number stop marker you'd see on bus stops but on lampposts, and might include a timetable. In some cases there's a bus stop but without a flag, there's one on the top of Valley Road westbound which used to be a lamppost but was replaced and moved a short distance away. TfL liked it's position enough to install a bus stop in the place of the original lamppost, and I liked it when it was new, since I never saw anything like it until then.

Highlighted what TfL sees as bus stops in crisp clear 4K

Unlike the 315, the 322 doesn't have timetables on it's invisible stops and seem less structured, in the sense they're not future proofed as future-stops unlike the 315 where most 'invisible stops' have iBus announcements (only appearing on TfL's maps circa 2020) and conveniently seem well placed, which they would be since a bus on a Hail & Ride section should stop at a safe place easy to embark/disembark.

Whereas G1 is a weird mix between the 315 and 322. On a scale of Short-from-actual-bus-stops to the-wild-west, the G1 sits on a 'yes' where it has timetables like the 315, yet it doesn't have iBus recognition like the 322 on neither Tooting-Streatham nor Broomwood Road sections, and bizarrely has an actual bus stop, "Ullathorne Road" in the middle of the Tooting-Streatham section.

Finally, the show of the post, my view of a 322 with stops since I've accepted the fate that 315 could very well be the next route to go fixed stops.

Fiverr artist impression

An April Fools came early image

Legacy of old like on P13 on Downton Avenue where there isn't bus stop cages whilst not affecting parking spaces could be done in theory, but in reality is a long gone practice given you can't have a wheelchair passenger board/get off and difficulty too for those with prams or disabilities.

So using the logic that the bus cage should be a minimum of 15 metres long, using the R2 consultation as a reference for that, how many stops can be safely constructed safely?

I'll also include G1 which too can reuse iBus announcements, mainly "Aldrington Road" which G1 goes on, and "Thrale Road" which it intersects just before/after it's "Ullathorne Road" stop. There's also plenty of existing "Church Lane" stop out there.

Quick inferration

Inspired by TfL's Hatch Lane priority scheme mentioned in their Waltham Forest review regarding the westbound bus stop on Hatch Lane which slows down journey times on 212/357/657 but provides direct access to the shops on it, could instead have it's bus stop relocated to the main road as per the eastbound direction, though requires adding a footpath, though this way there wouldn't be a need to deviate by taking turns but instead advance forward thus reducing times, which increases speeds. Small on the surface but every little helps.

...

An old map semi-updated but containing 2021 Hail & Ride information
Spreadsheet link

Truly an interesting sink of my time that puts the "curiosity killed the cat" to full steam. Alas, the spreadsheet link is clickable and the image above details the whole of London.

I have been Unorm. I have enjoyed learning the routes around me until I've quickly gotten bored of my areas and then interest sparking in other areas which then died too. I've followed through my own curiosity and finished this. It's not a melancholic story or touching but either way.

I hope this was intriguing and until the next one, stay safe and merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!