Best bus route in Stroud Green

NorthNineteen

The contenders:<div><br></div><div>W7:</div><div>+ frequent, seems to run a bit later than the others</div><div>+ one of the few routes where you can easily stay on it from end to end</div><div>- seems to bunch up more than the other routes</div><div>- horrendous queues at Crouch End Broadway</div><div>- people seem rubbish at going up the stairs</div><div><br></div><div>W3:</div><div>+ seems to have less stops than the others so is quicker (stops spaced far apart beyond SGR)</div><div>- very scenic going past Ally Pally</div><div>- impossible to get on south of Mount View Road in morning peak</div><div>- rubbish queuing at the stop opposite Londis on Ferme Park Road</div><div><br></div><div>210:</div><div>+ can always get on it, even stops on Stroud Green Road in the morning</div><div>+ when it's boarding at Finsbury Park you know its about to leave</div><div>+ can always get a seat (almost always on top deck at front)</div><div>- never let you on even in the cold/rain/night at Finsbury Park until its about to leave</div><div>- stops too close to each other (i.e. Crouch Hill station)</div><div>- takes ages to get to Archway</div><div>- less frequent</div><div><br></div><div>91:</div><div>+ 24 hours!</div><div>- doesn't really go anywhere that useful</div><div>- takes ages to get anywhere as lots of traffic especially Nags Head and Hornsey Road</div><div><br></div><div>I think the 210 is my favourite SG bus route, mainly because you can always get on it and you know when it's about to leave Finsbury Park.  It has more interesting people on it too!</div>

Mirandola

91 goes to British Library, British Museum and Trafalgar square. 210 goes straight to Kenwood House.

conformable_kate

Yes, I vote for the 91! As Mirandola says, plus Kings Cross and a short cut through to Covent Garden, and if you get off at Aldwych you can walk over to the South Bank. It's true it is not a bus to take if you're in a hurry, but it's definitely the one I take most.<div><br></div><div><br></div>

miss annie

Only problem with 91 is it doesn't go to Stroud Green. I like the 253, from Euston. On the subject of buses, I am amazed at how many people wait ages for a bus to go two stops from FP station toTesco. Madness, and I bet most of them spend all day sitting at a desk and would benefit from a walk.

TheMimsy

I vote for the 91, too.<div><br></div><div>W3 comes second as I love the scenic route through Alexandra Palace.  However the journey Finsbury Park/Northumberland Park is too long and the journey gets curtailed too often without notice.</div>

gardener-joe

...

Sutent

I have never done this but many friends have fallen asleep on the N91 on the way home. Waking up in Cockfosters is not very fun!

Peter Crumb

Nobody queues for buses in London except for me, or so it seems. London is very un-British in that sense.

conformable_kate

@gardenerjoe - "what is understood to be stroud green" - ah, that debate again. Fair to say that if you live on the Hornsey Rd (west) side of SGR then the 91 is no more than ten minutes walk away. 

Peter Crumb

Also, what's the deal with the W7? The drivers seem to wait for about ten minutes at each end.

Sutent

The drivers are entitiled to a rest

Peter Crumb

I'm sure but it seems like they rest at both ends almost every time? That's probably about a rest a third of the time?

NorthNineteen

The queues for the W3 at Mount View Road (and the one the other side of the hill towards Ally Pally) were always very well organised, I gather it's a good queue at Crouch End Broadway for the W7 too....  The second you get more than one bus stopping at a stop it's difficult to queue.

conformable_kate

The queues for the W buses in Crouch End and on Ferme Park Rd are exemplary, I would say - they remind me of the days when British people were famous for their disciplined love of queuing (anyone remember George Mikes, How to be an Alien?). Maybe it's just Crouch Enders being polite. 

Sutent

The queues for the 29/253/259 on seven sisters road are very orderly too. Outside the station under the bridge and outside LDL too.

graeme

W5<div>+ Stops just about everywhere, for everyone.</div><div>+ Generally friendly, patient, well-known drivers</div><div>+ Stops at the library</div><div>+ Saves you the walk up Endymion Road from Homebase</div><div><br></div><div>- Benches at 'stops' appear to have been purposefully positioned to be not where they need to be</div><div>- Timetable is "fluid"</div><div>- Transitions to an apparent Sunday service timetable around 12pm-2pm every day of the week</div><div>- Full of schoolchildren with no ability to either sit down or move to the back of the bus between 8-9am and 3-4pm</div><div>- Appears/disappears from 'TFL Countdown' info on a whim. ("Due in 24mins - blip - due in 1min")</div><div>- Stops just about everywhere, for everyone (i.e. 4 halts within 20m at junctions where people are too lazy to congregate at one 'stop', despite being able to see each other - around Oakfield/Mountview/Ridge/Uplands).</div><div> </div><div><br></div>

NorthNineteen

Very fair points, agree with all of them. The big negative was me was always the time it took to get out of Sainsburys car park, used to take forever.

conformable_kate

Takes forever in a car, too. It's such a bottleneck. I get it at Christmas, or even weekends, but when you go off-peak, and the shop and carpark are both quite empty, but it still takes twenty minutes to shuffle out, it is embittering. I keep swearing I'll never go again. 

Peter Crumb

Some of these queues are decent by London standards but still quite poor. Getting the W7 from Muswell Hill today and there was still people cutting the queue and for no reason too.