Fictional: Croydon, Night. Fantasy map.

If the network was slightly revised, a fantasy.

 

I thought about the 88/C2 change, where about 7 buses were saved from the fusion of C2 into 88. I thought about the night bus network a bit, then Croydon. The one time I did travel at night around Croydon was on N68 so clearly I have nothing to say.

On a cost saving basis, what can be done?

 

I looked at 64/250, having read about it's night service might not be as justifiable as some think or the likes, I took into consideration extending it to the reaches of Addington to link them back to a tube like the N159 did. Perfect opportunity, Brixton has night tube now (also hopper exists...) Currently both 64/250 provide a total of 9 buses at nights. By fusing both of them, 7 would be required to run Vulcan Way to Brixton. Ignore it stating Homestead Way, TfL's excessive up-to-date knowledge caught up to me.

Not going to lie, I did want to fuse it with 159 but decided not to, given the effort TfL went to separate N159 into N64, 159 and N109.

Still, a round trip including stand time, 172 minutes.

 

As for the N of X26. I've thought of this for a while, limited-stop or all-stops but here it is. At first I wanted it to Bromley as per teasing with their wishes for a direct Heathrow link but in my calculations it might not be doable to legal reasonable driving hours. Calculations of an enthusiast are just mere calculations but I settled with Croydon.

'N526' taking on 154, 213 and 285 in chronological and numerical order, technically reviving the old N213 (West Croydon via Roundshaw to Kingston).

 

Combined 154/213/285 have a PVR of 10 ignoring 154 only being weekends. 'N526' has about 202 minutes of running time, about 7 buses required, the Bromley extension added about 70 mins extra which exceeds 4 hours.

 

So perhaps some savings might be made and have people benefit from a longer reach to the likes of Heathrow by night (might be redundant, or not) or closer to reaching Central with only a bus away. Still, I only went off a route-wise tangent without taking into consideration any other factors.

 

Thoughts welcome.