"Aidan Stanger" wrote:

Robert Woolley wrote:
With roll-out of the fully accessible fleet in London, there is a
progressive withdrawal of the Mobility Bus network

Are you sure? UIVMM most of the Mobility Bus network is in the outer
suburbs, with long routes that penetrate into estates that regular
routes do not, to provide disabled and elderly people (and anyone else
who wants to use them) a 1 seat ride to the most popular destinations.


You *are* very much mistaken. Robert was quite right - there is a
progressive withdrawal of the Mobility Bus network.

In Autumn 1998, 23 buses were needed to operate the Mobility Bus network.
By Autumn 2003, only 10 buses were needed. Many routes have been
withdrawn - so many, in fact, that the 8xx series of route numbers is no
longer needed (the remaining routes are all numbered in the 9xx series).

Even these figures are a little misleading. Then and now, First Thamesway
need 3 buses for their Mobility Bus routes. In 1998, their network was
fairly typical of this sort of operation - ten routes, each running one or
two days a week, with typically one return journey per day. Now, they only
serve two routes - but each route runs six days a week and has a number of
journeys. The emphasis is much more on plugging gaps in the mainstream
network, rather that providing a specialist service supplementing the
mainstream network (as before) - and it wouldn't seem strange if these two
routes were renumbered to become (albeit rather infrequent) mainstream
routes in their own right. Bearing this in mind, the "true" Mobility Bus
network has declined from 23 buses to just 7 buses over 5 years.



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MetroGnome
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