London's Hail and Ride Sections

What they are, what they try to do and why we should probably get rid of them.

What is Hail and Ride

In London many routes (including the 969 which is London's least frequent bus route) have sections which don't have any physical bus stops and are defined as hail and ride. These sections are almost always on very minor roads going "round the houses" which means the route is almost certainly not the most direct way to a destination. But the routes themselves have their uses, and whilst routes with hail and ride sections are generally somewhat infrequent, they fulfil TFL's aim for every resident in London to be within 400m of a bus stop. But these buses are not just a box ticking exercise as they are extremely useful for shorter journeys or as part of a journey to get from your house to the local shops or station.

How it Works

TFL's official advice

In a hail and ride section you just wave down the bus, from virtually anywhere in the section (the hail part) and then get on and travel to your destination (the ride part). You need to be careful though as bus drivers will need to see that you want to ride, so your actions must be clear, and that it is an appropriate place for a bus (a normally small but still a bus) to stop. This is usually only on junctions and sections of road without parked cars.

To get off a bus inside a hail and ride section you press a stop button just before your intended place of departure. And the driver will stop at the "next suitable place" for you to alight. If you are a regular user you know where the driver will most likely stop and you'll be fine. But if you are going somewhere you've never been to before, like going to a relatives house in the area, you need to be very aware otherwise you will be walking further than necessary.

The benefits

Hail and ride sections seem like a really good thing as you get off exactly where you want and it saves money for TFL.

The Benefits for the Few

Hail and ride section theoretically allow you to get off the bus and walk straight ahead directly into your home. Which is nice especially for the elderly and those with mobility issues. Also with the benefits of live bus tracking having a hail and ride section on your doorstep means journey times have no time wasted walking to the nearest bus stop.

And, The Benefits for TFL

Simply for TFL a hail and ride section has no bus stops so no bus shelters and no bus countdowns. This is all money that TFL hasn't paid and if we remove hail and ride the costs to erect bus stops will need to be paid. Right now, in December 2021, TFL is strapped for cash so any changes made to hail and ride will have to be profitable for TFL.

The Problems

Being Unfamiliar to the Area

Hail and ride sections by their very nature have no infrastructure. A road which has a hail and ride and a bus coming in the next few minutes is identical to a road not served by any busses. This is an issue for anyone who is new to the area (it isn't a lot of people as the areas hail and ride serves don't generally have any pieces of interest, but I've been in this situation before) as anyone trying to look for a bus stop won't find any and along with the issues discussed in travel tools you are likely to miss your bus. Other issues with being unfamiliar relate to seeing a bus pass you by which might make you (wrongly) assume that there is a nearby bus stop for you to pick up the next one.

Travel Tools

When you look up bus times in Google Maps, Citymapper, the TFL website or other of the many services using TFLs open data. You are given bus stops which for 99% of places is expected but if you find yourself in a hail and ride area you have no idea that you have can board a bus from the exact place you are standing. Sometimes pseudo bus stops are created but they can be located in a place where you won't be picked up as its unsafe and there won't be a bus stop to help you know that you are in the right place. Also if you know you are in a hail and ride section you have to use the arrival time of the bus to the next or previous actual or pseudo stop which is inaccurate and an issue as bus routes which have hail and ride usually have relatively infrequent busses.

You might now ask how do you actually check where the hail and ride sections near you are. Well TFL has made it difficult for you. Lets first check the route maps on the TFL website, hail and ride sections are (mostly) not there. What about Google Maps, no not there. What about the bus spider maps TFL produce for your area, which are also at some bus shelters, and there hail and ride is shown (TFL's newer spider maps don't show the whole routes so you might need to download a few). If you do manage to actually find a route with hail and ride then the little timetable cards in the bus stops (if they have been provided) do show the locations but by the time you've made it to a bus stop you probably have your route set out.

In the Bus

Hail and ride sections have unintentional gatekeeping as you have read and that continues in the bus. The display in the bus is very useful for most journeys as anyone who has used a bus will know but when it comes to a hail and ride section the information can range from useful do misleading.

1. Useful - The most useful information which is shown on some routes is hail and ride displayed and the current road the bus is on which changes regularly as the bus navigates its route.
2. Some Use - The display does tell you that your in a hail and ride section but where in that section you are is unknown. This is fine for short sections of hail and ride but on longer sections this information is very unhelpful.
3. Completely Useless - On some sections the next real proper bus stop is displayed so you would, without prior knowledge, have no idea that you were in one of London's rare hail and ride sections.

TFL is usually pretty on point with their information delivery with accurate and recognisable signage at tube stations and also informative rainbow boards at stations highlighting the current problems in service.

Why TFL Should Remove Hail and Ride

Whilst hail and ride can be useful for residents of the roads they directly serve they are very difficult for new people to an area as the information about them is sparse. This is also an issue as hail and ride sections are pretty rare and relatively unknown to many people. This is why along with other users of the route not wanting to stay on the same road as the bus not caring if its hail and ride or bus stops (as that is what is present in every other part of London). TFL should add proper stops to hail and ride sections, which should be relatively easy as buses usually stop in the same specific places in the section. And whilst there would be a cost to this it would significantly improve the information on bus services in that area as proper bus stops are correctly shown when searched and have a physical presence in the street.