Bus 441 and the dangerous crossing of Stanwell Moor Road

05/06/2015 | By Staff | Comments: 0

Stanwell Moor is currently served by bus service 557, operated by Abellio. This could soon change, as detailed in If Stanwell Moor loses bus 557, will the village die?; in that post, we described the options available to us, the residents of Stanwell Moor, to prevent bus service 557 from bypassing our village (thus causing, among other consequences, a decrease in the value of our properties).

Today we would like to hilight a different problem, connected once again with public transports.

For people living in Stanwell Moor, the alternative to bus 557 is the 441, another service operated by Abellio. This service become pretty much the only option in the evening, coming home from London with the Piccadilly Line, which terminates at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

The problem with bus 441 is twofold. First, it does not visit Stanwell Moor: its two stops - one towards Heathrow, the other towards Staines - are located in Stanwell Moor Road (the A3044, which runs between the Staines Reservoirs and King George VI Reservoir), which (despite its name) is not in Stanwell Moor. From the post office to the nearest of those two stops (towards Heathrow), the walk from the Post Office takes about 15 minutes (if you have good legs!) or more.

Now, that's upleasant, and it makes it very hard for fellow Stanwell Moor residents with walking disabilities to reach the bus stop. But there is a bigger issue, in our opinion.

The other stop for bus 441 is on the other side of Stanwell Moor Road (therefore on the East side of the road). There is where bus 441 leaves you when you return to our village from Heathrow, and there are no zebra lines, no dedicated and safe crossing area. In other countries, e.g. the United States, this would be illegal ("jaywalking"), but the fact that it is legal here (see Green Cross Code) does not make the crossing any less dangerous, especially with low visibility, as in winter and in the evening.

Thus, bus service 441, which is potentially the only bus service left for Stanwell Moor residents after August 2015, requires passengers to take a risk when crossing Stanwell Moor Road to take bus 441.