X5 is an express service that links Loughton with Harlow to one side and Romford to the other side. The number of buses is limited and the stops are restricted (buses only use the stops mentioned below in the route’s timetable). As the route covers a long distance and the buses run every two and a half hours on average, the delays are expected during a rush hour and possible at any other time of the day.

It’s expected that attractability of the route X5 is going to grow because a simple travel to both Harlow and Romford has been long thought by the Loughton residents. Both of those towns have excellent shopping facilities (the huge shopping centres and large outdoor markets - something that we sometimes miss in Loughton and this fact has its positive as well as negative effects) as well as leisure centres, cinemas and hospitals. The parking in Harlow as well as Romford is not free and the petrol is expensive nowadays, so the bus ride may seem like a good idea if you’re not going to be put off by the ride fare or the probability to get delayed due to the large gaps between the buses.

I went from Loughton to Romford and back once and during the outward journey everything was fine but on the way back the bus has arrived 40 minutes late. This is not a fault of a driver but rather a consequence of the busy road traffic in Essex and the luck of local speedy routes in the triangle Harlow - Loughton - Romford. The cost of the return ticket was around 5 pounds.

Below is the X5 bus timetable as it is at the moment (August 2011) and it may change in the future. Considering how bus routes in Essex come and go and considering the economic situation and the cuts that Essex County Council faces, it’s always wise to check that a bus route still exists and the timetable is still valid before making any travel plans.

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Sometimes even those Loughtoners who live and work in Essex, go shopping to Waltham Cross, Harlow or Romford and go on holidays abroad or up North, have to go to London. It’s very good that we have the London Underground, which have been serving us and our parents and grandparents since 1856 but it’s not always the viable transport solution. That is because sometimes it simply doesn’t work. Delays, cancellations, signal failures, people under trains, leaves on the track, ice on the track, scheduled maintenance and closures sadly happen very often as England is not Japan and trains in this country don’t work and probably will never work as everyone expects them to.

Other situations that may “prohibit” the use of the tube are heavy luggage, a pregnant wife, small kids, many points on the route and other things each of us may be dealing with. At the end of the day it could simply be a desire to take a car for a ride and see whether one can still navigate the London roads. And this is of course where the car comes into play.

Obviously when driving to Central London during the week and before 6pm, be prepared to get stuck in the traffic and spend a fortune just to pay for parking and to pay the congestion charge. For all-day parking we’re looking at around 20 pounds while the congestion charge will set a driver back by 10 pounds (the price information is valid for 2011).

On weekends and in the evening it’s much more tolerable. Most Controlling Parking Zones (CPZ) in Central London have the parking restrictions lifted after about 6 o’clock in the evening or 6:30pm. Some have restrictions on Saturdays but in my experience it’s always easy to find CPZ with no Saturday parking restrictions, which is close to one that does have those restrictions. Westminster, Camden, Islington, Southwark and other Central London councils have clear maps of their CPZs and they can be easily found on councils’ websites.

Below are four most common car routes from Loughton to Central London that I often use and recommend to everyone.

Car Routes from Loughton to Central London

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Not a long time ago I wrote in LoughtonEssex.co.uk about Loughton High Road makeover and what has happened as a result. Now, it’s Debden turn: the work has been started on Debden Broadway to put a new road surface and new pavements. At the moment, the work is far from over but I can already see that nothing good will come out out of it.

The number of parking spaces is to be reduced again

The first thing is that the number of available parking spaces available on the Broadway itself will be reduced dramatically and this is a bad news. In 2008, the car parks on the North and on the South of Debden Broadway (Burton Road and Vere Road) have become chargeable. That was done under a good pretense to improve the parking availability and allow people who live nearby to park more easily. In reality, nothing has changed except that everyone except local residents now has to pay for parking during the working days and even on Saturdays (on the North of the Broadway).

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Several years ago High Road in Loughton has had a makeover. Some new lampposts have been added, the road surface has been re-laid, new parking bays have been added instead of the old ones and several sets of traffic lights for pedestrians have been introduced. All this costed a lot of money and for what?

As a result, the traffic in the centre of Loughton now grinds to a halt during the peak hours. Outside of peak hours, it now takes twice as long to cross the town as took before the “improvements”.

You’re probably thinking of yourself crossing Loughton on the car. Please don’t - please think of all those poor pensioners and older people riding a bus instead. For those using buses 20, 167 and 250 it became a very serious problem because they don’t have any other choice.

The new now metered “easy parking” bays on the sides of Loughton High Road is interrupting the traffic flow. Earlier, the parking was on the parallel small strip of the road and it was perfect but now all cars and buses on the road have to wait for a car to park. If the road was wider, this would be less of a problem. But the road is narrow and this causes a huge problem for those travelling by High Road.

The new traffic lights for shoppers are now everywhere and the period of the green light for the road users is very small. What is the point to have traffic lights every 100 yards? So that shoppers would cross the road to glide from one shop to another? In the busy shopping times, the traffic now barely moves anyway because of the new parking spots, so wouldn’t it be easier for example just to add the traffic islands?

This also relates to the two traffic lights just yards from each other on Old Station Road near Sainsbury’s. Why are they there? It would be much better to add a traffic light for pedestrians walking from and to Loughton Underground Station in the place where they are crossing Alderton Hill near the roundabout because the majority of drivers don’t stop there to let people cross the road. This is a hazardous place and the problem of the road crossing here will need to be addressed at some point. Once I was travelling on the bus there with a group of young girls in front of me and one of them said: “The traffic lights are so close to each other, this is pathetic”. Sorry, council, this is pathetic indeed.

One would read all this and say ok, but Loughton High Road is mainly for those, who do shopping and not for those, who just wants to drive through. The people who drive through may use Alderton Hill and Wellfields - there are no traffic lights there (except for the speed bumps near the school on Alderton Hill). Fair enough - I myself sometimes drive there but notice I use the word “sometimes”. That is because the road surface on Alderton Hill is horrendous. The worst ever road surface I’ve ever encountered in Loughton is on Alderton Hill. It seems to me that the town chiefs have just forgotten about this road. They made people use it by bringing the set of traffic suffocating measures to High Road and - seems like in spite - decided not to do anything about the condition of an alternative route. So it’s either waste of time of the Loughton High Road or waste of your car on Alderton Hill. By the way, High Road is repaired fairy regularly. Probably a lot of council people live nearby.

There are only two positive moment I found in the Loughton High Road makeover. These are new brighter lights and a new pavement (although I can’t remember what was wrong with the old one and why it was necessary to replace it).

With the new Loughton traffic scheme the meters came to Loughton, probably to pay for the awfully designed project. How dare council take the money from people for such a disaster? Everyone I met and discussed this matter pointed to me that the High Road makeover was a disaster. It is a spit in the face of all Loughton residents and visitors. I just hope that the council will learn a lesson and the forthcoming Broadway makeover in Debden will be done with the common sense and for the people’s good.