Route 607

Route 607
9 April 2005

Express services have not generally been too favoured in London, but one that has survived for a while is part of the Uxbridge Road service, now branded as the 607 Express, providing a speedier alternative to the main 207 service.

This corridor, from Shepherd's Bush through Acton, Ealing, Hanwell, Southall and Hayes End to Uxbridge, has been the focus of much experimental work on bus priority measures over the years. Features such as "bus gates" which hold up other traffic at bottlenecks to allow buses a free run, and traffic light transponders to detect the approach of a bus and hold or change the signals as quickly as possible, were extensively tried, tested and developed here, as well as some of the first bus lane police cameras to trap offenders. As if that was not good enough, trams are now likely to return on this route!

Much of this work has been successful; although traffic congestion still delays buses considerably, the buses on the express at least can almost keep up with other traffic, losing at the bus stops but then gaining again in between. Unfortunately this was spoilt a few years ago when a lot of extra running time was added to the schedule which wasn't needed, and caused buses to have to drive slowly to keep to time, rather defeating the object of an express service! Timings have been tightened up again, and overall journey times are a little over an hour for 15 miles, which is considerably better than the average London bus speed of 10 mph.

Nevertheless, there are still bottlenecks, mostly around the shopping centres at Acton, Ealing and Southall. Uxbridge is not a problem because buses can divert round the back of the shopping centre via Chippendale Waye in order to set down at the station in the centre of town; indeed, this is where the 607 gains the largest single advantage over the 207, which skirts all round the other three sides of the shopping centre.

The 607 had been worked by a motley collection of Leyland Lynxes and National 2s fitted with coach seats, as well as one of two prototype National Greenway modernisations obtained by London Transport. These tended to be rather crowded, so a return to double deck operation using new Volvo Olympians in 1996 was welcome, even if the seats were not quite so luxurious. Apart from the new vehicles, the frequency was improved from 4 to 5 an hour. A further increase to 6 buses per hour followed in April 2002, providing a true turn-up-and-go service, and utilising some Olympians made redundant from the 61 by new low floor vehicles.

A new contract commencing on 9 April 2005 resulted in low floor Tridents being cascaded from route 207 – the 207 being converted to articulated single deckers from the same date, perhaps as a foretaste of the trams Ken Livingstone wants to run on the route. TNL 33140 (LT02 ZFM) is seen pulling away from the Hanwell Broadway stop the same day, with one of the new artics on route 207 behind. Note the blue express route blinds in DDA configuration, although, unlike the preceding Olympians, the TNLs carry no special livery (not yet, anyway).

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Chronologically 39 492

Numerically 603 612
See also routes 207, N207, 61

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