John Ray wrote:

A few years ago some routes were "hail and ride", i.e. there were
sections of route without fixed bus stops, but as far as I am aware
these no longer exist. Was this an experiment which was judged to have
failed?

IIRC mainly in industrial areas where workers would use buses mainly at
start/end of shifts so very "peaky" demands at different points. Still
in place on some routes[1] but there ain't so many such areas left in
London and TfL have cut back - sometimes arguing it's getting harder for
drivers to stop safely when hailed. On at least one route I know it
also used to confuse mightily some workers to whom the concept (and
signage) was alien.

[1]
https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1760&bih=935&q=site%3Atfl.gov.uk+"hail+ and+ride"&oq=site%3Atfl.gov.uk+"hail+and+ride"




--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid