Huge cuts looks set to be made to bus routes in London as part of plans to “reorganise the network” to reflect demand for services.

Transport for London is holding early discussions with councils across the capital on a number of bus routes after “usage of buses in central London significantly dropped”.

According to Transport for London (TfL), the reduced demand for buses is partly due to the number of alternatives now available, including improved cycling facilities and upgraded rail services.

This has meant there are “just more buses than needed in central London, sometimes causing bus-on-bus congestion”, a spokesman for TfL told getwestlondon today (Friday, August 17).

Transport for London says there are too many buses in central London (Photo - DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)

TfL is also predicting more Londoners will rely on Crossrail rather than buses when the line opens in December.

Early discussions propose cutting down the number of bus services running in central London in a bid to allow TfL to “refocus on outer London”, where there are fewer public transport options available.

According to public interest blog 853 , proposed cuts to 32 different services are due to go out to consultation this autumn.

The affected routes could change

When asked about this list, the TfL spokesman said: “The list will all depend on the feedback from the boroughs.

“The reason we’re engaging with them before the consultation launches is to make sure that they can feed back and potentially change the proposals before they go out to consultation with the public.”

If the list is what TfL ends up going with, Route 53, which runs from Plumstead to Woolwich, Charlton, Blackheath, Deptford, Old Kent Road, Elephant & Castle and Whitehall will be cut back to County Hall from March 2019 to reduce the number of buses crossing Westminster Bridge and travelling along Whitehall.

Route 171 from Catford Bus Garage and Brockley to Holborn would be cut back from Holborn to Elephant and Castle.

And a third route, the 172 from Brockley Rise, would be trimmed back from Clerkenwell to Aldwych.

Which routes could be affected by the proposals?

The potentially affected bus routes, according to 853, are listed below.

Transport for London says that although these bus routes were included in an initial list of those which could be reduced or altered, it is not necessarily the finished article as discussions are ongoing.

King Road – Shaftesbury Avenue corridor. Proposed reduction in King’s Road, Piccadilly and Shaftesbury Avenue
Route 9 (Hammersmith – Aldwych): Reroute from Pall Mall to Piccadilly for faster journeys
Route 11 (Liverpool Street – Victoria): Cut back from Fulham Broadway to Victoria
Route 19 (Finsbury Park – Holborn): Cut back from Battersea to Holborn, New Oxford Street
Route 22 (Putney – Piccadilly Circus): Cut back from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly and extended to Piccadilly Circus
New route 311: New route between Fulham Broadway and Oxford Circus via Victoria and Mayfair to retain links broken by 11, 19 and 22 cutbacks

Tottenham Court Road – Proposed reduction
Route 14 (Putney – Russell Square): Cut back from Warren Street to Tottenham Court Road and extended to Russell Square
Route 134 (North Finchley – Warren Street): Cut the 24-hour route back from Tottenham Court Road to Warren Street

Whitehall / Westminster Bridge corridor - Proposed reduction
Route 3 (Crystal Palace – Whitehall): Cut back from Trafalgar Square to Whitehall
Route 53 (Plumstead – County Hall): Cut back from Whitehall to County Hall

Marylebone Road - Altered route proposed
Route 205 (Paddington – Bow Church): Reroute via Marylebone Road instead of Marylebone station

Kingsway – Proposed reduction
Route 171 (Bellingham – Holborn): Cut back from Holborn to Elephant & Castle

Kingsland Road corridor - Proposed reduction
Route 67 (Wood Green – Dalston Junction): Cut back from Dalston Junction to Aldgate
Route 149 (Edmonton Green – London Bridge): Reduce peak frequencies from 11 to 10 buses per hour, add extra peak journeys and increase off-peak frequencies to give sufficient capacity
Route 242 (Homerton – Aldgate): Cut back to Shoreditch from St Paul’s and extend to Aldgate via Commercial Street to retain links from 67 cut back; reduce Monday to Saturday from eight buses per hour to six

City Bridges I (Blackfriars / London). Proposed reduction over London and Blackfriars Bridges and on Farringdon Road
Route 35 (Clapham Junction – Shoreditch): Increase Monday to Friday peak frequencies from six to eight buses per hour to maintain capacity from 40 re-route
Route 40 (Dulwich – Clerkenwell Green): Cut back from Aldgate to Elephant & Castle and extend to Clerkenwell Green via Blackfriars Road to retain broken links from 45 and 388 cutbacks
Route 45 (Clapham Park – Elephant & Castle): Cut back from King’s Cross to Elephant & Castle
Route 46 (Lancaster Gate – St Bart’s): Add one extra AM peak journey to maintain capacity on Gray’s Inn Road due to 45 cutback
Route 100 (Shadwell – St Paul’s): Extend from Museum of London to St Paul’s to retain broken links from 388 cutback
Route RV1: Subject to separate review
Route 343: Subject to separate review
Route 388 (Stratford City – Finsbury Circus): Cutback from Elephant & Castle to Finsbury Circus, reduce frequency from six to five buses per hour

City Bridges II (London) - Proposed reduction over London Bridge and Hackney Road
Route 26 (Hackney Wick – Waterloo): Increase Monday to Friday peak frequencies from six to eight buses per hour to maintain capacity on Hackney Road (from 48 withdrawal)
Route 48 (Leyton – London Bridge): Withdraw route
Route 55 (Walthamstow Central – Oxford Circus): Extend from Leyton to Walthamstow Central to retain links broken by 48 withdrawal

Waterloo – Fleet Street corridor. Proposed reduction across Waterloo Bridge and along Fleet Street
Route 4 (Archway – Blackfriars): Cut back from Waterloo from St Paul’s and extend to Blackfriars via Queen Victoria Street
Route 76 (Tottenham Hale – Waterloo): Re-route from Bank to London Wall to retain links broken by 4 cutback
Route 172 (Bellingham – Aldwych): Cut back from Farringdon to Aldwych (note: it is unclear whether the 172 going to Bellingham is an error, the route starts at Brockley Rise)
Route 341 (Northumberland Park – Waterloo): Re-route from Gray’s Inn Road to Farringdon Street to retain links broken by 172 cutback, terminate at Waterloo Road rather than County Hall
Route 15H (Trafalgar Square – Tower of London): Operate heritage service only summer weekends and Bank Holidays

Euston Road corridor – Proposed reduction
Route 59 (Streatham Hill – Euston): Cut back from Kings Cross to Euston, remove three peak journeys
Route 476 (Northumberland Park – King’s Cross): Cut back from Euston to King’s Cross, Reduce Monday to Saturday from 7.5 to six buses per hour

Geoff Hobbs, director of public transport service planning at TfL, said: “Buses have a crucial role to play in boosting the number of people walking, cycling and using public transport.

“As set out in the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, we’re currently looking at how we can adjust and reorganise the bus network to ensure it reflects a rapidly changing London, including planning for year-on-year increases in bus kilometres in outer London.

“We need to modernise and simplify the network and ensure that bus capacity is in the right places at the right times.

“We’re currently working closely with London’s boroughs on a potential set of proposals and they are helping shape our plans.

“These changes will also be subject to full public consultation before they’re put in place so we can hear from customers.”

Could the changes benefit west London?

More bus services in outer boroughs such as Hounslow and Hillingdon will surely be welcomed by local residents.

In May a bus stop was named the worst in the capital , according to data crunchers, in terms of the number of buses that arrived there late.

Analysis found that two of the worst 10 bus stops were in Hounslow, but TfL poured cold water on the data.

The results came from data firm Kognitio, which analysed 19,687 individual bus stops; 675 bus routes; and 9,641 buses in central and Greater London.

More buses in the likes of Hounslow and Hillingdon would surely be welcomed

Using TfL app data, Kognitio analysts looked at the waiting times between buses and found many bus routes did not fulfil their promised arrival times.

Ringway bus stop between Heston and Southall was afforded the dubious honour as the worst bus stop in London with only 3.6% of buses running on time.

Another Hounslow bus stop, New Heston Road, was recorded as having just 3.9% of buses running to schedule.