24 February (Part 3) - Superloop SL3
Encouraged by a neighbour who got up very early and took the new
SL3 to Bromley North and arrived 54 minutes later, I thought I would take one to
Bexleyheath. I forgot to put on my wrist watch and accidentally left my phone at home but a
bus aficionado from Upper Belvedere exploiting his phone app to the full showed me the registration number of the
next bus which arrived 25 minutes later. His
timings, not mine. All I know is that I let three 301s go by.
On board entertainment was provided by a number of people who were unaware it
was a limited stop service and kept ringing the bell and nine or ten youngsters
filming proceedings for their YouTube channels. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzjUvesqJms)
It was very pleasing to see that these very young people were so enthusiastic
about a ride on a Boris Bus. I thought that sort of thing had died along with my
Ian Allen train spotter’s book.
They were very polite asking permission to have us on camera and they singled out the oldest looking passenger for interview. He
told them about his first ride on a Routemaster and reminisced about trolley buses. If
they had come to me I could have told them about trips through the Kingsway tram
tunnel and the double deckers that ran through Blackwall Tunnel. The
conversation revealed
that I am four years older than their chosen interviewee. Maybe I should be
pleased that they didn’t interview me.
When I got off the bus at Bexleyheath Library I asked them if they planned to
usurp Geoff Marshall or Jago Hazzard (well known transport YouTubers) and they looked at me
in amazement as if an old codger was not supposed to know about such things.
When I said I had spoken to Geoff Marshall face to face they almost swooned.
The outward journey took 31 minutes (using the bus’s clock) and two Thamesmead bound Superloops were
stuck within 50 yards of each other on Albion Road. Thanks to the SuperLoon
who designed Bexley’s roads the Boris Bus mounted the kerb four times
en-route
to Bexleyheath. Bexley Council designed
the Wickham Lane roundabout such that no bus could
get around it and a couple on the SL3 route are not much better. The young
YouTubers were not locals and had filmed all the SL routes introduced so far
and said that Abbey Wood to Bexleyheath was by far the worst journey they had seen. (Maybe they should try Thamesmead to Abbey Wood at about 4.45 on a weekday.)
The journey home was rather better. I came out of the Broadway shopping centre
just as an SL3 was pulling away from the Library stop. I dashed across the road
and the driver kindly stopped and
opened the door for me. We made Abbey Wood station in 29 minutes and only
mounted the kerb three times. Two Bromley bound SL3s were tailing each other in Avenue Road.
The buses were mainly full of tourists and as a Bexley resident I really did
feel embarrassed about the state of Bexley’s roads and got close to apologising to the driver. Congestion is engineered
in. Something really should be done about the abomination at the bottom of New Road.
The bus has a scheduled stop at Florence Road which is good for me - the nearest point to
home - but also for those going to the station. It is quicker to get off there
and climb the steps to the flyover than wait for the SL3 to get through the
traffic. Between five and six in the evening that can be a ten minute drag on a crawling bus.
My neighbour took 84 minutes to get back from Bromley North.
He described the Bexleyheath section as “horrendous”.
