Therefore I will not be covering those. I'll also stay away from trials to do with drivetrains (hybrids/hydrogen/electric).
Bakerloop bus service from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham - brings forth the Bakerloo Line extension in the flesh early but in bus form. Standard practice in France and Germany with metro extensions.
For starters, many single deck routes that converted to double deck in the past decade were part of consultations one way or another. (Crossrails: 256; 178 244 291) (E10 with promised upsize from 9m to 10.5m) (E9 DD conversion + removal of Hail & Ride) (42 extension to East Dulwich)
Some of these, particularly 62 80 173 368, were [being] done regardless of the outcome of consultation.
Of those some have failed their promise, the 244 was due to resident complaints, thus didn't go ahead. As busy of a route 244 unfortunately is. It's lost out compared to it's less frequent consultation-mate (178) and short route (291). No doubt both 178 and 291 benefited a lot from the extra capacity.
It would be foul to start off without paying tribute to Red Arrow, and the prefix routes (C11 P4 W3 W9 etc) that were all flat-fare. Buses in the olden days you'd pay more the further you went, similar to the tube pretty much.
Red Arrow 500's successful trial as a single-deck route from a main station running along some of the capital's busiest roads that mopped up crowds paved the way for more routes in the network (including short-lived 615/616)
Negative temporary-made-permanent.
One that's hard to forget for myself is how Regent Street's roadworks meant the 3 and 15 were curtailed. The 3 from Oxford Circus to Regent Street, the 15 from Regent Street to Trafalgar Square. Since then, the 3 kept receding and receding until it was rerouted at Millbank to Victoria, replacing Red Arrow 507.
X26 received a frequency increase as part of Boris' mayor election manifesto in 2008 for trialling express orbital bus routes. The hourly X26 became half-hourly X26. It was a success.
the N65 was introduced as 65, to see if passengers recognise the extension as night-only despite lack of N-prefix. This was successful in not being confusing for the people of Richmond, Kingston what have you. For better or for worse, this was reversed in 2016 as new hybrids gained N65 blinds, then bus stops had tiles/timetables changed to reflect the new prefix. Thus, the night 65 is now known as N65.
Route 588 introduced ahead of 388 extension from Hackney Wick to Stratford City via slightly different roads if any difference, whilst the areas in question were mid-construction. Even when 388 was extended, Stagecoach forgot the memo so there was a day 388 and 588 ran simultaneously to Stratford City.
X140 technically a trial for the same ambitions of orbital bus links
383 extended to Finchley Memorial Hospital without consultation, whilst the pandemic was going on
N20 likewise extended to Barnet Hospital (unadvertised at stops, no tiles or timetables) also whilst pandemic was going on.
Both 383 and N20 received consultations after-the-fact and since became permanent.
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If double deckers were trialled on route 244 during the consultation process, perhaps the residents wouldn't have objected as harshly. The extra capacity being very useful and would've made more space for users in the short term, whilst in the long-term making more patronage precisely because there was space made earlier.
Or put another way, a single deck bus at about 90% capacity constantly isn't making as much compared to a double deck bus at about 66% capacity - it has more space to make even more money's worth.
If 25 along Bow Flyover was trialled during it's consultation process, could it have received better response? Around 60-70% objected to it.
If 315 to Peadbody Estate was trialled during it's consultation process, would Peabody residents not have objected so fiercely?... whilst residents along Robson Road as well as the community centre would've been very happy to receive the 315.
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Now expanding to rail, Indonesian High-Speed-Rail is currently 2-hourly on weekdays and 1-hour on weekends, operating commercially. It's very busy, so it's been decided to up the frequency to every 30 soon.
So to end this, I believe we should trial more enhancements to the network before asking for public opinion where possible. The 383 X26 and N20 proved this can be possible. Many single deck routes that converted to double deck didn't ask consultations beforehand (think 308 423 481 H98).
For example, in the latest rounds of consultations regarding ULEZ, (79 83; 315; Brent Cross West), it could've been possible to extend the 79 pre-emptively whilst opinions are being consulted on, or the 315. Not doable for Brent Cross West without the roads existing.
Just now the 367/X26 swapped last stops, which wasn't consulted on in the case of 367.
I had this post in limbo but have remembered about this after the announcement of a "Bakerloop" bus service
As mentioned in the title, I am of the belief we should trial more. There's so much hypothetical that a consultation process can bring about as people reject or agree with the idea, without a clear image of what they're expecting. The reality may well be different, but it is the reality that people will adapt to and utilise. We will also extract data from that.
Thanks for reading, stay safe, bless you.
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