There’s no better example of how porous London’s borders are than TfL’s 107 bus route. It’s a rare, but not unique, London bus route that leaves Greater London during its journey before returning 5.1 miles later.
Its main objective is to link the two North West London hubs of Edgware and Barnet with the Hertfordshire town of Borehamwood, which is in TfL fare zone 6. It also connects Londoners with hospitals in Brockley Hill and Barnet, and several en-route schools that have students living in both London and Hertfordshire.
Although Borehamwood has always historically been in Hertfordshire, the borders around it have changed several times when the county of Middlesex finally became part of Greater London in 1965. There were also minor changes in 1993/4.
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The route serves as a good example of how varied bus transport links can be between London and its nearest cities. A non-TfL bus route, the 615, also linked Borehamwood and North West London until August 2018.
Neighboring commuter town Watford saw one of its TfL-backed routes, the 350, disappear in 2006. For many years a single-decker route, passenger numbers on the 107 grew steadily as the population of Borehamwood also grew. it grew thanks to new housing developments and the inhabitants of North West London. starting price. Passenger numbers increased by around 25 percent in a decade from 2010 (two million) to 2019 (2.5 million), justifying its conversion to two decks, against the trend of other cross-border services in this area.
By contrast, the other TfL bus link across the border from North West London to Borehamwood, route 292 (formerly the northern section of the long-running route 52 from Victoria) has seen its service degraded. Buses on that parallel route currently run only every 20-30 minutes for much of the day, no doubt made easier by the extra capacity on the 107.
As part of the Mayor’s aim to get 99% of London households within 400 meters of a bus stop, the route played an important role in facilitating a TfL bus service to some of the settlements smaller London fringes in the north-west, particularly Brockley Hill. and Arkley. However, extensions to bus routes 324 and 384 respectively in recent years mean that the 107 is no longer the only bus route on most roads serving London.
The now eastern terminus of the route, between Barnet and New Barnet, was paralleled by Route 84, which was removed in April 2022 after 110 years. Although once part of the London bus network, the route became fully commercial in 2012 before losses made it no longer financially sustainable to operate. Although Hertfordshire County Council now subsidizes a revised route in its council area, it has not reached an agreement with TfL to continue a subsidized service across the border into London, indicating how fragile the bus routes between London are. and local counties. There are currently no regular bus routes between: Barnet and Potters Bar, Chingford and Waltham Abbey, Romford and Abridge/Ongar, Romford and Basildon, Bromley/Orpington and Sevenoaks, Harefield and Rickmansworth – all of which were once robust, long- established bus links.
There are still a handful of routes that leave Greater London briefly before returning, but none to the extent of the 107. They are: 275 (Tomswood Road), 331 (enters Hertfordshire for a short section near Mount Vernon), 462 ( near Grange Hill), R5/R10 (near Knockholt) and various routes in short sections around Sunbury, Worcester Park and Bexley.
Are you traveling on Route 107? What are your impressions about it? Tell us in the comments below.
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