W12 route preserved but only hourly

Image: TfL

Details have become clearer about TfL’s new bus routes serving Wanstead, which are coming into effect this weekend.

At a meeting at the Town Hall in Ilford on Monday night it became clearer that an earlier proposal to remove the Nightingale Estate from the new W14 route, which replaces the W12, has been amended. It now appears the new route will follow the existing one, which will be welcomed by many people who depend on the hail-and-ride service.

However in a major change the new service will run only once every 60 minutes rather than a mix of every 20 and 30 minutes at present. If the same sized buses are being used this will cause serious overcrowding, especially at peak times. It will also limit the usefulness for people using buses for school or to get to Tube stations for work.

And in another significant change, the new services will no longer go into Whipps Cross, but rather stop outside.

Campaigners say their petition goes on.

Details on the new routes are set out by TfL here.

5 thoughts on “W12 route preserved but only hourly”

  1. So we will no longer be able to get to all hospital departments on the bus?
    So we may have to wait for an hour to get to and from the hospital ?
    Disgusting.

    1. Well, yes, but then there is not and never has been any buses near my part of Wanstead that goes to any hospital either. It’s not really TFL’s remit to make sure all parts of London have a single bus journey to their local hospital as currently I would imagine only 1% do.

  2. The TFL website clearly states “Route W12 will continues to serve stops on Hospital Road for Whipps Cross Hospital” it just won’t stop on Whipps Cross Road….And unless I missed something, the proposals were for the W14 to serve the Nightingale Estate right from the start.

    1. I think the issue is about the buses going right into Whipps Cross, as it currently does. And earlier proposals were going to go down Nightingale Lane but not into the Nightingale Estate with the hail-and-ride section – but this has now been reinstated.

  3. So Woodford Road now will have one little bus an hour??
    No route to Wanstead . This is ridiculous….I’m so angry !
    Woodford Road has gone from having W14 every 10 to 12 mins and W12 every 30 minutes to one bus an hour

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