On 4th December 2023, White Bus extended its 446 service from Woking to Staines to a new terminus at Hatton Cross.
The extended route leaves from Stop 6 at Staines Bus Station and heads out of Staines using the A308 London Road before turning at the Crooked Billet Roundabout to join the A30.
A loop is made at Ashford Hospital before rejoining the A30 to the Clockhouse roundabout where the Great South West Road and Stanwell Road are used to join the Southern Perimeter Road to Heathrow Terminal 4.
From Terminal 4, the route continues round the Southern Perimeter Road to Hatton Cross station where the bus terminates.
On the return journey, the same route is followed in reverse. Pickup at Hatton Cross is done from Stop A, out by the junction with the Southern Perimeter Road and at Staines the bus returns to Stop 9 for the remainder of the journey to Woking.
The new operating pattern for the 446 during the day on a weekday is a half hourly service between Woking and Staines with every alternate bus continuing on to Hatton Cross. The Staines terminating bus is extended to Ashford Hospital in the morning and evening with the other still continuing all the way to Hatton Cross.
On Saturdays, the service is hourly between Woking and Staines with morning and evening services extending to Ashford Hospital. There is no service to Heathrow or Hatton Cross.
On Sundays, the service is hourly between Woking and Staines Bus Station with no service onwards to Ashford Hospital, Heathrow Terminal 4 or Hatton Cross.
At Staines Bus Station, a timetable has been added to Stop 6 for the times for services on to Ashford Hospital, Heathrow and Hatton Cross. This timetable uses the Surrey County Council standard format that is used for many routes and operators across the county.
At Hatton Cross, both the Hatton Cross-Woking and Woking-Hatton Cross timetables feature on the bus stop flag. As these timetables are not for a stop within Surrey, White Bus have used their own timetable formatting.
I will have to get off at some other stops along the route and see what timetable information is present - presumably Ashford Hospital and Heathrow Terminal 4 both have timetables at the stops.
A new paper timetable has been produced with the timetable, map and basic fare information contained within.
This is good to see, even if the eVoRa buses do not have a timetable holder so they were placed on their side by the ticket machine.
An adult day return on the section of the route from Staines to Hatton Cross is £3.20.
The timetable booklet also lists the WhiteRider, Acorn and Discovery tickets.
This service is using a new fleet of Volvo B8RLE/MCV eVoRa buses to comply with the ULEZ, as they feature Euro 6 engines.
The first one was delivered in summer 2023 with registration LF23 DVW and has been joined by BV73 MKF/G/J/K/L/M/N/O in November.
These buses also appear on the 458 service from Staines to Kingston with infrequent use on other services such as the 441 to Egham and Englefield Green.
At Hatton Cross the bus sits for approximately 25 minutes to allow the service following it from Woking to turn around at Staines (or Ashford Hospital), and become the service ahead of it on the return to Woking.
While waiting here, it is passed on the main road by many other eVoRas. These appear to be taking over the car park shuttle services from the Scania Omnicitys that are over 13 years old and are looking a bit worse for wear now.
The TFL 90 service from Northolt to Feltham (operted by Metroline) is also operated by the Volvo B5LH/MCV EvoSeti from the same family as the eVoRa but with two decks.
Between Staines, Ashford Hospital and Hatton Cross, there is also the 203 operated by London United (RATP).
This route does not go via Heathrow Terminal 4, instead serving Stanwell and the edge of Feltham between Ashford Hospital and Hatton Cross. TFL estimate a 30-35 minute journey on the 203 between Staines and Hatton Cross compared to 25 minutes on the 446.
A trip between Staines and Hatton Cross on the 203 will cost £1.75 each way, £3.50 total, compared to £3.20 for the 446, unless both journeys are done on TFL's Hopper Fare then it is only £1.75 for the return journey. However, the 203 continues onwards from Hatton Cross to Hounslow Bus Station, via Hounslow West Station, allowing for a greater range of interchanges and as Oyster is used, the £1.75 fare is fixed for all bus use within the hour.
The 203 has the advantage that it operates a 20-30 minute frequency, which more than twice as frequent as the 446 during the day on weekdays.
The deciding factor between the two services therefore is faster service from stop to stop on the 446 or greater frequency and Oyster on the 203 for journeys between Staines, Ashford Hospital and Hatton Cross.
I was impressed by the eVoRa that I was on for both the outward and return trips between Staines and Hatton Cross, BV73 MKM.
It was interesting to see one of the 73 registration vehicles next to LF23 DVW as they both appear to have the manufacturer specification on the interior. However, LF23 DVW had red accented seating where as BV73 MKM had a blue accented interior. All of ADL Enviro200 MMCs in the White Bus fleet also have manufacturer specification interiors so the eVoRa's featuring their equivalent interiors is not surprising.
The seats are fitted with seatbelts, this seems to be becoming standard for White Bus with their 71 registration ADL Enviro200 MMCs also fitted with seatbelts.
The ride quality was very smooth and there were only minor rattles and squeakes as we travelled along. Although these vehicles have only been in service a few weeks, so whether it remains that way will have to be seen.
The engine noise was also hardly noticable for most of the journey. I have travelled on one of the electric Volvo BZL demonstrators during its time on the Winchester Park and Ride and I am unsure which had a more noticable engine/motor sound.
It would probably possible to convince someone that this was an electric bus even though it isn't. BV73 MKM also did a good job getting up to speed on the A30 - still without the engine noise being particularly noticable.
One interesting interior feature is the lighting strips in the ceiling. There is a white LED strip facing outwards towards the windows and a blue strip facing the center above each side of the gangway. The white lights appear to dim when the bus is in motion so the light is not as bright. They do a decent job illuminatng the interior well without being too bright in the evening and night. The BZL demonstrator and the eVoRas being used around Heathrow also have this lighting setup
The two services I travelled on on launch day for the route extension were quiet between Hatton Cross and Ashford Hospital however the bus was at about half seated capacity between Ashford Hospital and Staines in both directions. This was very promising and it will help to reduce the load on the 203.
The new extension also provides a direct link between St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey and Ashford Hospital. These two hospitals share an NHS Trust so any staff that need to travel between them have an hourly direct link between them on weekdays.
Another benefit to this service is that it improves the connections from south west London to Woking for onward travel and also provides a better link from Surrey into Heathrow Terminal 4.
From the outset, this route extension has a much brighter future than the last White Bus route in this area, the 440 from Staines to Windsor. New buses and the decent passenger numbers to Ashford Hospital give some confidence in this route staying on the White Bus map for some time to come. Hopefully passengers at Hatton Cross and Heathrow Terminal 4 will increase in number as the service becomes a common sight. Whether this will need the frequency of the Hatton Cross services to increase to half hourly will remain to be seen.
