CT Plus route 388: Stratford City, Bus Station - Elephant & Castle, Newington Causeway
Departed HereEast (P), towards Trowbridge Estate (Q)
CT Plus retained route 388 from Ash Grove (HK) on 21 January 2017. New E40H Citys, 2523-2538, were introduced a few weeks later, from 6 February. Furthermore, the route was extended to Elephant & Castle on 10 April, replacing the withdrawn section of route 100.
The former Blackfriars terminus was generally quiet, from my experience, with little demand shown for the route there so they might as well have extended it. However, I'm not too keen on the additional re-route at St. Paul's to which I was previously unaware. Perhaps a strategy to help mitigate traffic at the Threadneedle Street and Wormwood Street approaches to Bishopsgate, the 388 nevertheless feels longer as a result via St. Paul's, Barbican and London Wall instead of direct via Bank to Liverpool Street.
I had quite the aggressive driver showing me the new routing. Departing a bus stop in Bethnal Green, he immediately braked as if caught unawares by passing traffic which further caught a passenger downstairs off-guard, the sound of their trip or at least their falling shopping bags following the driver's correction.
At least the driver reacted, but throughout the journey he seemed to not display the sharpest sense of awareness for other road users; I seemed to notice cars poking their front-ends from side streets to intercept ahead onto the main road, pedestrians crossing wherever they pleased and cyclists before the driver reacted to these variables, of course all generating understandable impatience behind-the-wheel.
I also had to deal with sharp direction changes which sometimes make for a fast and exciting ride but in this instance just felt unnecessary. I'm quite positive about CT Plus' services, but this isn't the first time on the 388 that I've experienced abrupt driving.
I conclude with the annoyingly familiar trait of an Enviro400H's air-conditioning system drowning the sound of the engine, again affecting my enjoyment of the ride. Plus, my opinion of the 388 has gone down slightly now that it is longer and less direct, originally a fast link to east London.
©London Bus Breh 2017.
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