Another East London Line bus disappears
London Underground are thinning out the East London Line replacement bus service again:
From Saturday 19 July 2008, bus service ELS, between Whitechapel and Shoreditch (Bethnal Green Road) will be permanently withdrawn. Route ELW will be extended to serve Shoreditch on Sunday mornings and during Monday to Friday peak hours.Member Dstock7080 on the District Dave forum reports the ELW will also be downgraded from double to single deckers.
From Monday 21 July the ELC frequency will be reduced to every 10 minutes in peak times.
The cuts are probably due to the small number of people using the services (which is puzzling, given they do not collect fares). ELS is the oldest of the routes, having started in June 2006 when Shoreditch tube station closed, and I've never seen anyone on it. The ELC runs between Canada Water and New Cross, and likewise seems to be poorly patronised.
This follows the withdrawal of route ELP in February, probably because it was duplicated by the more frequent Route 381, which became the official replacement bus. Tube ticket acceptance on the 381 has now been extended to Surrey Quays, along the route of the ELC.
(there's a map of the new routes on the last page of the brochure linked above)
3 comments:
If you've ever taken that Shoreditch to Whitechapel bus, it wouldn't be puzzling at all - the route is so circuitous and the traffic so bad that it can easily take 35+ minutes to get to the other station. And I can walk between the stations in 15 minutes, easily. So even though it's free, it still doesn't make any sense to take it (unless you're disabled or infirm, in which case you're pretty much forced to use it).
So although not very PC, it would have been easier to have a black cab firm on standby...
MS
anonymous (MS):
It would probably have been cheaper too. I was on ELW earlier this week, and I was 1 of only 3 people at Whitechapel and the others only made it as far as Wapping.
In contrast the 100 from Wapping to the City was virtually standing room only.
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