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Bus journey times since the bridge closure

Like many people I thought that my journey times on the bus between Iceland and Manor House had increased substantially since the closure of the Wightman Road bridge.  I emailed Tfl for data on journey times and they kindly sent me the numbers for the whole of January 2016 (before the bridge closure) and May (after the bridge closure).  I asked for the information on the 29, 141 and 341 buses running between Salisbury Road to Manor House as this is seems to be the most congested part of Green Lanes as it runs through the area.

I've had a quick look and charted the average journey times for the 29 bus, in both directions, which is attached.  In summary what the numbers seems to be saying are

Monday to Friday southbound.  (Iceland to Manor House). There is virtually no difference in the journey times going south.  When the bus lane ceases to be in operation the journey time rises by about 1 minute.

Monday to Friday northbound (Manor House to the Post Office).  About a minute longer on average until the parking restriction cease and then about an extra 4 minutes on average

Saturdays southbound.  Very little difference until 10am then an increase of around 2.5 minutes.

Saturdays northbound.  Same as southbound but a slightly longer increase of 3 minutes on the average journey time from 10am

Sundays southbound.  Hardly any difference until 10am then an increase of about 2 minutes

Sundays northbound.  The mornings are more or less the same but then an increase of almost 6 minutes between 1-4pm and again between 7-10pm

I have to admit to being surprised as I thought journey times would have increased far more but wonder how much of this is down to the perception you have when you're in traffic of going nowhere.

It's also clear that allowing parking on Green Lanes has a real impact on journey times.  The northbound traffic snarls up badly on Sundays when the restaurants and other businesses are the most busy and when the Arena traffic is at it's height.

The northbound data is probably the most interesting because, as there is no bus lane going north, buses travel with the rest of the traffic at all times so average journey times for vehicles is probably about the same or less (as cars don't have to stop at bus stops)

Attached is a PDF of the charts for the 29 bus and the full data sets (Excel) for those with a mind to have a play with them.

Tags for Forum Posts: bus journey, green, lanes, traffic, wightman bridge closure

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Permalink Reply by James Whyte on July 12, 2016 at 7:06
Interesting, but I think the Iceland stop is the wrong one to gauge, as Arena and Endymion haven't changed. It's the traffic from Turnpike / Wightman intersection, Wood Green that adds the perceived 30 min block.
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 12, 2016 at 7:26
I would argue that these are precisely the areas that have seen the biggest change. The Iceland the Manor House block of Green Lanes has been impacted by
- some of the 18,000 vehicles that went up Warham Road now having to travel on Green Lanes
- traffic that would have exited from Wightman/Alroy Road (up to 200,000) to travel south having to travel on Green Lanes
- traffic that would have exited Endymion Road onto Alroy Road/Wightman Road to travel north having to now go through the Arena/Williamson Road junction.
Permalink Reply by Gordon T on July 12, 2016 at 8:23

Also, the southbound traffic on Green Lanes towards Stroud Green/Crouch End that currently has no alternative but to wait to turn right onto Endymion Rd - that clogs up the St Ann's to Arena stretch bigtime.

Permalink Reply by James Whyte on July 13, 2016 at 7:10
My thinking was that once you're at Iceland you're in a single file queue dictated the lights at Arena, the lights at Endymion. So busy day with Wightman open, such as a Sunday, always resulted in a queue. Now the queue is just permanent, but the flow rate should be similar, if that makes sense.

Whereas, up by Turnpike Lane, and by Ducketts, there rarely was a queue, and never for West End Lane junction
Permalink Reply by Maddy on July 12, 2016 at 12:59

Several people have told me that their journeys to and from work are taking between 15 and 45 minutes longer at the moment. I know there are other factors involved - the closure of Stroud Green Road for example - but they all attribute much of it to the increased congestion on GL. And yet I read over and over on HoL that the closure has made little or no difference to journey times - it doesn't add up and I am inclined to believe the people who take the bus every day and have to deal with the fallout.

Permalink Reply by John McMullan on July 12, 2016 at 13:12

Think of how much quicker they'd get to work if we constructed another road into the city as well as reopening Wightman Rd?

I can walk from Harringay (north) into the City of London in 90 minutes. Haringey WALKS to feel good, remember?

Permalink Reply by Pat on July 12, 2016 at 14:51
That is your choice. I run home 2-3 times a week, that is my choice. I also like taking the bus when I feel tired.
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 12, 2016 at 13:45
Mandy, the data is purely for the stretch of Green Lanes. Factors impacting on total journey times are so numerous that I can't map all of them so I took the decision to concentrate on GL as this is where a lot of people posting have said that they were having longer journey times.
By the way, I do take the bus 3 out of 5 weekdays and the data does reflect what I personally experience. In fact I timed myself on the last two journeys where I took the bus beyond GL and the numbers matched with the TfL data very well on the Green Lanes bit but then went totally off when I hit the Threadneedle Street junction by the Bank of England (25 minutes to get to the river for what would be a 5 minute walk) and 29 bus from Trafalgar Square which took 40 minutes to get from Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road to Goodge Street because of the Crossrail works.
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 12, 2016 at 15:02
Sorry......Maddy....damn you autocorrect
Permalink Reply by vaneska on July 13, 2016 at 11:38

I noticed a slightly curious thing yesterday, taking the 141 from Newington Green to Turnpike Lane around 3-4pm.  The bottlenecks at Endymion Road and Turnpike Lane seemed to me far worse yet the road in between was clearer than usual.  Makes sense, I suppose.  I'm a Crouchender so don't experience Green Lanes every day but my previous experience has been that traffic clogging was always roughly Endymion Rd to St Anns Rd then a dramatic clearing up to Turnpike Lane.

Permalink Reply by Luci on July 15, 2016 at 4:20

Antoinette, roughly where on Upper Street - Highbury, Angel or in the middle? Have you looked at the train from Harringay to Highbury or the 341 bus towards the other end? Obviously 341 is horribly affected between Manor House and turnng off at St Ann's Road, but outside that I've never found it as snarly as going via Finsbury Park (it goes Newington Green, Essex Road and Islington Green. When i discovered the train I walked from the far end of Roseberry Gardens to the station up Burgoyne Road -same distance as Manor House but a shorter journey and it emptied out at Finsbury Park (I first found the train when I was travelling further in, to Old Street but much preferred the route to Islington Town Hall as well).

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