DW482 on the convoluted stand working at Bexleyheath
© Aubrey Morandarte
Operated by Arriva London from Dartford (DT) using used VDL DB300/Wright Gemini 2s from Wood Green, after the hybrid conversion of some routes there. These buses join a plethora of similar buses from various batches at Dartford, with many of the routes being won by Dartford with these buses displaced from inner London routes.
DW455 having done the stand turnaround is about to start a journey to Woolwich
© Aubrey Morandarte
The route uses the formerly emergency stand at Bexleyheath Shopping Centre that is usually designed for about one bus, so squeezing two buses can be tight. Due to the 301 bus stand also being directly opposite the rest of the bus stands, the bus has to travel to the next roundabout enroute to starting its journey.
DW486 climbing up the hill at New Road
© Aubrey Morandarte
The route goes through a number of new roads, which are all not fitted with bus stops. Therefore, a lot of the route between Abbey Wood and Woolwich is hail and ride. However, another new road was not implemented, in favour of New Road with an existing bus route. Some TfL documents and the original consultation had the 301 going up Knee Hill, but due to local authority reasons not modifying the top of Knee Hill to be suitable for buses, the 301 ended up going via the existing B11 route. Said same consultation will also route 469 through New Road, giving an increased service to a road which might not even need more than the singular bus route in the first place!
DW442 meanwhile is descending towards Abbey Wood and Thamesmead
© Aubrey Morandarte
One immediate benefit for the 301 is that it manages to clear the crowds that used to take an hour to clear at Bexleyheath post-school hours in about 20-30 minutes, as there is a significant increase of bus routes on the corridor that follows the 401 out of Bexleyheath. It also should boost capacity between Woolwich and Thamesmead immediately, as the current routes tend to get fairly busy. Currently, the 301 and 472 follow each other up Nathan Road, but after all the Crossrail changes are implemented, the 472 will go via Western Way, leaving the industrial area to the 301 solely.
DW478 approaching Abbey Wood Station
© Aubrey Morandarte
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| One of the posters for the route at Bexleyheath |
The service was poorly publicised by Transport for London, with posters being made and put up by an enterprising citizen wanting to inform a whole local area with A4 posters. A better effort than what TfL ever made for the route. It is slightly stupid to introduce a new route, without any notable prior publicity.
It showed, with light loadings being experienced. This has led to buses being slightly faster, and including how Dartford control their routes, it led to multiple stops for regulating the service. However, coming out of the termini, if there has not been a parallel service for a while (401/472), the bus does fill up at times.
They can be found here: https://twitter.com/LDNBusUpdates
A video of DW442 climbing up New Road hill
© Aubrey Morandarte
The performance of the buses on these routes can vary, depending on when Dartford have managed to derestrict the buses, as well as fixing the faults from their previous service in other parts of London, so the buses can be used at full strength for the hillier parts of South East London. DB300s are good buses, but they have been fairly restricted in the more inner parts of London.
A nearly empty DW532 leaving Bexleyheath heading towards Woolwich
© Aubrey Morandarte
Initial signs show that the bus route is not living to its full potential, but once the Elizabeth Line changes occur, the route will live to its full potential. The changes would mean there would be less parallel to the 472 and the B11. The main increase of patronage will be when the Elizabeth Line opens. If the damned thing actually opens somewhere in my lifetime!
Post by Aubrey Morandarte
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