The Troubles of London Bridge - Route 21 & 47 Extras

There were extras on Route 21 and 47 during the afternoon peaks to help aid the Jubilee line in handling the crowds caused by the works at London Bridge. What really happened was the Jubilee line took nearly all the slack and extras on the 47 took the rest. The 21 had less people using the extra service. 

The 21 extras ran London Bridge-Lewisham


Go-Ahead London 937 on Route 21 Extra, London Bridge (Aubrey)
Driver complained about the traffic at Elephant and Castle on that day (16/01/15)


Go-Ahead London PVL248 on Route 21 Extra, London Bridge (Aubrey)


London General MEC14 for Route 21 Extra, London Bridge (Aubrey)

The extras on the 47 were more heavily loaded, running between London Bridge and Lewisham (1st journey) then dead to London Bridge, then live London Bridge-Bellingham:


Stagecoach Manchester 17002 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)
Tridents loaned from Stagecoach Manchester were used on the 47, which were all coincidentally ex-London


Stagecoach Manchester 17567 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)


Stagecoach London 17506 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)
Some London and soon to be withdrawn London Tridents were also used on the 47 extras


Stagecoach London 17842 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Jacek)


Stagecoach London 17557 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)
This bus had banditry and did not have anyone on it due to the display and the driver not really encouraging people to get on.


Stagecoach Manchester 17011 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)


Stagecoach Manchester 17010 on Route 47 Extra, Canada Water (Aubrey)

Well, it seems pointless to run a service in only one direction during only the evening peak but at least somebody used it compared to the Ensignbus extras, which means it runs after the Ensignbus extras were withdrawn. The evening peak direction is usually swallowed well by the Jubilee line. The overcrowding at London Bridge did occur on the first day of the return of people to the reworked London Bridge thanks to the shown staggered ticket line:



This proved to be a problem, along with the reduced Southern service (and two platforms being fairly narrow) leading to overcrowding outside the station on the 5th January (seen here) leading to the extras in the first place!