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Bus route 278

Transport
278
Usually an Alexander Dennis Adl Enviro 400 Mmc.

59% on timeof departures in the week ending 31 October 2026, leaving no more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Half of London's timetabled routes managed 71% or better.

The last week, day by day
Share of departures leaving on time.

Watch a day of route 278’s buses: every bus, replayed on the map. Or click a day on the chart.

The weekly figures

The share of departures that left on time.

Week endingHeathrow Central Bus StationBrickwall Lane
21 Jun 2025no datano data
28 Jun 202567%57%
5 Jul 202558% thin58% thin
12 Jul 202553% thin53% thin
19 Jul 202575%57%
26 Jul 202570%41%
2 Aug 202566%49%
9 Aug 202565%52%
16 Aug 202564%51%
23 Aug 202555%49%
30 Aug 202566%61%
6 Sept 202564%51%
13 Sept 202555%47%
20 Sept 202564%56%
27 Sept 202554%48%
4 Oct 202558%45%
11 Oct 202554%42%
18 Oct 202564%53%
25 Oct 202563%56%
1 Nov 202561%55%
8 Nov 202573%51%
15 Nov 202565% thin48% thin
22 Nov 202550% thin54% thin
29 Nov 202547%57%
6 Dec 202561%50%
13 Dec 202546%52%
20 Dec 202564%52%
27 Dec 202560% thin69% thin
3 Jan 202662%62%
10 Jan 202660%65%
17 Jan 202662%60%
24 Jan 202664%55%
31 Jan 202664%64%
7 Feb 202650%58%
14 Feb 202664%43%
21 Feb 2026no datano data
28 Feb 2026no datano data
7 Mar 202671%52%
14 Mar 202666%47%
21 Mar 202663%54%
28 Mar 202669%47%
4 Apr 202674%75%
11 Apr 202670%77%
18 Apr 202644%52%
25 Apr 202673% thin73% thin
2 May 202663%59%
9 May 202682%69%
16 May 202682%72%
23 May 202678%83%
30 May 202680%70%
6 Jun 202666%80%
13 Jun 202679%91%
20 Jun 202685%88%
27 Jun 202672%87%
4 Jul 2026no datano data
11 Jul 202672%76%
18 Jul 202668%76%
25 Jul 202662%72%
1 Aug 2026no datano data
8 Aug 2026no datano data
15 Aug 2026no datano data
22 Aug 2026no datano data
29 Aug 2026no datano data
5 Sept 202657%81%
12 Sept 202672%71%
19 Sept 202665%66%
26 Sept 202683%73%
3 Oct 202680%87%
10 Oct 202678%83%
17 Oct 202681%67%
24 Oct 202685%82%
31 Oct 202668%50%

A passenger going by the timetable at Brickwall Lane would find about five departures in ten leaving more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late.

Heathrow Central Bus Station
On time
68%
Cut short
5.7%
Brickwall Lane
On time
50%
Cut short
8.8%

55 minutes was the longest gap between buses this week, at Nene Road towards Heathrow Central Bus Station, on Monday 26 October from 11:59 to 12:54. This excludes any gaps caused by holes in our own data. Watch it happen →

Journeys cut short

Last week: 7.5% of journeys were turned back before the end of the line in the week ending 31 October 2026. Everyone on board has to get off; for anyone waiting further along the route it's effectively a cancellation.

Last four weeks: 89 journeys on route 278 were turned back before the end of the line over four weeks of watching, 10 October to 31 October 2026 — about 3.2 a day.

00.20.40.6journeys cut short a day, by hour00:00–01:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day00:0001:00–02:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day02:00–03:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day03:00–04:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day04:00–05:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day05:00–06:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day06:00–07:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day06:0007:00–08:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day08:00–09:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day09:00–10:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day10:00–11:00: 0.2 cut short on an average day11:00–12:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day12:00–13:00: 0.2 cut short on an average day12:0013:00–14:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day14:00–15:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day15:00–16:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day16:00–17:00: 0.2 cut short on an average day17:00–18:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day18:00–19:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day18:0019:00–20:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day20:00–21:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day21:00–22:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day22:00–23:00: 0.0 cut short on an average day23:00–00:00: 0.1 cut short on an average daybusiest hour 20:00 — 0.4 a day

Where those journeys fall across the day. Each bar is the number cut short in that hour on an average day, so the bars together come to the daily figure above; hover a bar for its hour. Hours the route was not watched enough to say are shaded rather than drawn as nought.

towards Heathrow Central Bus Station

Last week, 34 of 540 journeys (6%) were turned short.

  • Nene Road1.4 km short of the end 14
  • West End Lane2.7 km short of the end 9
  • Harlington Corner2.3 km short of the end 5
  • Redmead Road4.6 km short of the end 2
  • Mondial Way1.6 km short of the end 1
  • Elsewhere along the route 3

towards Ruislip Station

Last week, 47 of 535 journeys (9%) were turned short.

  • Hillingdon Station3.6 km short of the end 42
  • Hayes & Harlington Station11.0 km short of the end 1
  • Botwell Lane10.1 km short of the end 1
  • Freemans Lane9.5 km short of the end 1
  • Oak Avenue1.9 km short of the end 1
  • Elsewhere along the route 1

Each place is the last stop the bus was timed at before it turned round, with the typical distance it fell short of the end of the line. The five busiest are named; the rest are counted together.

Compared with TfL's own figures

QuarterTfLOurs
2025/26 Q313 Sept – 2 Jan 202675% on timeno figure
2026/27 Q11 Apr – 26 Jun 202686% on timeno figure

TfL's figures come from its own tracking equipment and its own timetable; mine are computed from the buses' public position feed. They are the same calculation on independent data, so they should broadly agree and move together rather than match exactly.

About this data
Data collected, week ending 31 October 2026
100% of the week. This is the share of the week for which we hold bus location data at all, across the whole of London rather than for this route. A week under 60% is not published; under 90% it is marked as thin.
Departures observed
  • Heathrow Central Bus Station: 266 departures seen
  • Brickwall Lane: 254 departures seen
A guide to how much evidence sits behind this week's figures, not a measure of the service.
How it is measured
Every day, 05:00–23:59. On time means leaving no more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. A day with less than four hours of data collected shows no daily figure. How these figures are made.
Gaps in the record for this period (39)

Most recent first. Hover a week on the chart and it will name the gap behind it. Most are a few missing hours on an otherwise ordinary day.

  • 17 Sept 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59: our collector was down (machine off or power cut)
  • 28 Aug 2026 partial day, no data 20:00-23:59: our collector was down (machine off or power cut)
  • 29 Jul – 26 Aug 2026 no collection: the volunteer BODS archive was down and our own collector had not yet started
  • 28 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 11:00-23:59: no collection: the volunteer BODS archive was down and our own collector had not yet started
  • 7 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 15:00-15:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 4 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-21:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 2 Jul – 3 Jul 2026 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 8 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 07:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 7 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59, 18:00-19:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 6 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59, 16:00-16:59, 18:00-18:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 27 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 21 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 20 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 15:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 16 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-15:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 28 Feb 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-18:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 16 Feb – 27 Feb 2026 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 15 Feb 2026 partial day, no data 16:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 30 Jan 2026 partial day, no data 20:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 25 Dec 2025 no bus service on Christmas Day
  • 23 Dec 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Dec 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 24 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 17:00-17:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 17 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 15 Nov – 16 Nov 2025 no London vehicles in the national feed — TfL's export to BODS was down (the volunteer archive itself was collecting)
  • 14 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59, 13:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 31 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 17 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 10 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 3 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 19 Sept 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Sept 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 1 Aug 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 18 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 8 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 6 Jul – 7 Jul 2025 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 18:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 4 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-14:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 25 Jun 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)

For latest timetable and route information, see TfL's official page.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; bus data via the DfT Bus Open Data Service and Transport for London. Figures are computed from observed bus positions, every day, 05:00–23:59. How these figures are made. Bus positions from the Department for Transport’s Bus Open Data Service (BODS); the Department for Transport cannot warrant the accuracy or quality of the data published there. Positions before September 2026 come from the Bus Open Data archive generously built and kept by Open Innovations, with thanks. Route lines and stops: Powered by TfL Open Data. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2016. Geomni UK Map data © and database rights [2019]. These pages and the bus replay are built independently from open data: Transport for London, the Department for Transport and the bus operators had no part in making them, and none of them endorses them. Not for planning a journey.