The 283 bus route – which meanders through White City between Hammersmith and East Acton – could be merged with the 72 bus route.
The 283 bus currently links the central bus station in Hammersmith with Shepherds Bush Market, QPR's Loftus Road stadium and East Acton tube. Transport for London has launched a public consultation about their proposed changes. It will last for six weeks.
If TfL decides to proceed with the changes – which are being put forward to save costs – the 283 route would cease to exist in March 2026. In its place, the 72 bus would be rerouted through the White City Estate.
Cllr Florian Chevoppe-Verdier, H&F Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said:
The council is opposed to the changes because it will reduce services to and from Old Oak – an area not well connected to the rest of the borough and cut off by the Westway. This includes the need for good access to Hammersmith Hospital in Du Cane Road."
The proposal by TfL is to cut the number of buses using Wood Lane. Route 72 would no longer run there, but routes 95, 220 and 272 would continue to serve the road.
If the 72 bus is diverted into a squiggly figure-of-eight route through White City, it will mean longer journey times for passengers travelling from Old Oak Common Lane to Hammersmith.
At peak times the journey time could be 10 minutes longer, although canny passengers will probably transfer to routes 95 or 272 to get to Hammersmith quicker.
TfL calculates that people living or working in the Old Oak and Wulfstan Street area of the borough would be most affected.
YOUR SHOUT: Passengers divided on plan to axe the 283
Some welcome it, some don't. Some think it will improve life, others fear it's just a cost-cutting exercise that will result in a poorer service. We asked passengers on the under-threat 283 route about their opinions.
"I use it to visit my daughter in Wulfstan Street," said retired nurse Dionne Simpson, who has lived in Uxbridge Road for more than 40 years. "I use it each week, and although the 72 goes straight there, the 283 is better for me."
Dionne, 76, said her biggest gripe was the hit-and-miss Countdown service at the bus stops. "I wish they'd sort it out," she said. "Buses appear, and then just disappear. The 283 just keeps disappearing!"
Monitoring the flickering digital timetable suggests she's right. At Shepherds Bush Green, a 283 was promised 'in 5 minutes'. Two minutes later, it vanished completely from the board. A minute later it reappeared, but was promised 'in 18 minutes'. Another minute later, the display read 'in 3 minutes'. It's hard to keep up.
Malcolm Walker, 78, of St Stephen's Avenue, Shepherds Bush, said he would miss the 283 if the service is merged with the 72 route in March 2026, as TfL proposes.
"It's very useful for elderly people who want to get to Hammersmith Hospital in Wormwood Scrubs," said Malcom, who knows the streets well having worked as a council traffic warden for 21 years. "These days I mainly use it to go into Hammersmith. I hadn't heard that it might be disappearing."
Another regular 283 user is Terry Miles, 78, who is registered blind. Terry, who lives near Brook Green, said that he often had 9am appointments at Hammersmith Hospital, and that he used either the 72 or the 283.
But if the 72 route starts going all round the houses in White City before ending up at the hospital, it will add to journey time, he suggested. "People who work at the hospital need a more direct bus route than the 283," he said. "I'm OK. If no 72 is due, I take the 283. I do find the bus a blessing."
New route
TfL's plan is to reroute the 72 so it follows the current course of the 283 – ending the direct current route between Old Oak and Hammersmith bus station. If the change goes ahead and the 283 is axed, the N72 night bus would also go on the fancy loops around Wormholt Park and White City before skirting the Scrubs to East Acton tube station.
TfL says it's all about cost-saving and 'matching capacity', although it admits that passengers on route 72 may have to change on to a 220 or a 272 to finish their journey to White City station.
Triangular promotion boards have started appearing at bus stops along the 283 route, alerting passengers to the consultation exercise, which runs until 7 September.
If anything, an improved 72 route winding through White City and Wood Lane should offer passengers living near QPR's Loftus Road stadium a slightly better service. But current regular users of the 72 who enjoy a quick journey to Hammersmith will find it takes longer than before, will be more prone to hold-ups, and will entail a lot of twisting and turning around very narrow streets.
"You sometimes have a long time to wait for a 72 bus," said regular passenger Kai Ma, who was shopping in Hammersmith with his wife. "But it is the bus that I usually get." Like most passengers, he hadn't been aware of the TfL consultation.
"We need to find urgent cost savings, and suggest that the impact from these route changes will have the least worst impact on services for H&F residents," a TfL spokesman explained.
10 minutes extra?
TfL calculates that by running the 72 around White City, following the current 283 route, will add 10 minutes to the journey time between Hammersmith and Acton. It suggests that passengers in a hurry could save time by transferring at peak times to routes 95 or 272.
Another 283 bus regular, chatting at a Shepherds Bush Green stop on condition of anonymity, said: "The people I feel sorry for are the bus drivers. Some of them will inevitably lose their jobs. If the change does happen, it will affect a lot of people. At the moment, if you want to go to White City you take the 283; it's a very convenient bus for young and old."
She fears that when the schools go back, and the morning and afternoon buses are full of children, a combined 72 and 283 route through White City's estates will be full to bursting at peak times.
