FANS said farewell to a coach dubbed the ‘ghost bus’ because it so rarely carried passengers, when it made its final trip this week.
The Ealing Broadway to Wandsworth Road service has been making its largely pointless journey since 2008 when it was introduced to enable the government to escape some costly red tape.
Don Kennedy, of Ealing, was one of the 26 passengers marking the occasion on Tuesday (June 11).
The 62-year-old said: "The bus journey is supposed to last from 9.45am to 11.55am but one thing of amusement is the variety of routes the bus takes. It was chartered from Cardiff. It’s the bus driver’s job to figure out the route. It’s been like a tourist journey, you see a bit of everything.”
The ghost bus was brought in after a rail service between Manchester and Brighton was cut to beef up capacity in and out of Birmingham and Leeds.
It left a section of track unserved by other passenger trains. Instead of going through the cost, consultation and other legal wrangling required to close it, the government found a loophole.
The minimum replacement service, a weekly bus between Ealing Broadway and Wandsworth Road, was introduced as a ‘temporary’ measure, despite the original rail service never stopping at those stations.
The Department for Transport finally decided to cancel the bus, which cost £450 a week, after a review and consultation last year which should have stopped it running in December. More delays meant it kept going until this week, keeping its small group of fans happy for six months longer.
Some travelled from as far as West Sussex and Northampton for the final ride.
Nick Moore, of West Sussex, said: “This is our third trip. It’s magical, it’s a bus that no one rides on.”
A Department for Transport spokesman, said: “After a detailed review of the situation, the department concluded the service did not offer value for money for the taxpayer and has since gone through the necessary consultation process to allow its closure.”
John Beeston, chairman of Ealing Passenger Transport Users’ Group, said more thought needs to be given to rail services.
He said: “We would like to see a service linking Greenford, West Ealing and Clapham Junction.
“When Crossrail comes the service from Greenford will stop at West Ealing and it will also help relieve a shortage of capacity on the West London Line between Clapham and Shepherd’s Bush.”
