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Bus route 401

Transport
401
Usually a Wrightbus.

78% on timeof departures in the week ending 17 October 2026, leaving no more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Half of London's timetabled routes managed 73% or better.

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

Watch a day of route 401’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 endingThamesmead Town CentreBexleyheath Clock Tower
21 Jun 2025no datano data
28 Jun 202587%86%
5 Jul 202583% thin72% thin
12 Jul 202572% thin90% thin
19 Jul 202586%83%
26 Jul 202579%83%
2 Aug 202583%73%
9 Aug 202580%73%
16 Aug 202580%75%
23 Aug 202591%71%
30 Aug 202580%62%
6 Sept 202581%79%
13 Sept 202586%67%
20 Sept 202583%67%
27 Sept 202579%77%
4 Oct 202585%77%
11 Oct 202588%78%
18 Oct 202587%73%
25 Oct 202587%74%
1 Nov 202588%67%
8 Nov 202586%77%
15 Nov 202586% thin73% thin
22 Nov 202587% thin66% thin
29 Nov 202588%74%
6 Dec 202586%83%
13 Dec 202589%76%
20 Dec 202586%62%
27 Dec 202582% thin85% thin
3 Jan 202690%87%
10 Jan 202690%71%
17 Jan 202678%72%
24 Jan 202683%83%
31 Jan 202685%75%
7 Feb 202683%72%
14 Feb 202682%67%
21 Feb 2026no datano data
28 Feb 2026no datano data
7 Mar 202688%73%
14 Mar 202685%77%
21 Mar 202691%64%
28 Mar 202690%74%
4 Apr 202690%72%
11 Apr 202687%68%
18 Apr 202686%74%
25 Apr 202676% thin76% thin
2 May 202686%79%
9 May 202687%74%
16 May 202686%78%
23 May 202684%81%
30 May 202691%86%
6 Jun 202686%66%
13 Jun 202680%75%
20 Jun 202685%77%
27 Jun 202690%75%
4 Jul 2026no datano data
11 Jul 202688%59%
18 Jul 202691%76%
25 Jul 202683%73%
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 202683%77%
12 Sept 202690%78%
19 Sept 202688%76%
26 Sept 202682%67%
3 Oct 202683%59%
10 Oct 202682%87%
17 Oct 202686%72%

A passenger going by the timetable at Bexleyheath Clock Tower would find about three departures in ten leaving more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late.

Thamesmead Town Centre
On time
86%
Cut short
18.6%
Bexleyheath Clock Tower
On time
72%
Cut short
0.0%

81 minutes was the longest gap between buses this week, at Thamesmead / Carlyle Road towards Bexleyheath Clock Tower, on Thursday 15 October from 19:57 to 21:18. This excludes any gaps caused by holes in our own data. Watch it happen →

Journeys cut short

Last week: 20.7% of journeys were turned back before the end of the line in the week ending 17 October 2026. Everyone on board has to get off; for anyone waiting further along the route it's effectively a cancellation.

Last four weeks: 313 journeys on route 401 were turned back before the end of the line over four weeks of watching, 26 September to 17 October 2026 — about 11 a day.

00.51.0journeys 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: 0.4 cut short on an average day06:00–07:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day06:0007:00–08:00: 0.5 cut short on an average day08:00–09:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day09:00–10:00: 0.7 cut short on an average day10:00–11:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day11:00–12:00: 0.7 cut short on an average day12:00–13:00: 0.9 cut short on an average day12:0013:00–14:00: 0.9 cut short on an average day14:00–15:00: 0.9 cut short on an average day15:00–16:00: 0.9 cut short on an average day16:00–17:00: 0.5 cut short on an average day17:00–18:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day18:00–19:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day18:0019:00–20:00: 0.7 cut short on an average day20:00–21:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day21:00–22:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day22:00–23:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day23:00–00:00: 0.3 cut short on an average daybusiest hour 12:00 — 0.9 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 Thamesmead Town Centre

Last week, 157 of 415 journeys (38%) were turned short.

  • Lister Walk1.9 km short of the end 99
  • Poplar Place2.3 km short of the end 24
  • Nickelby Close1.0 km short of the end 9
  • Curlew Close2.0 km short of the end 8
  • Hoveton Road0.7 km short of the end 7
  • Elsewhere along the route 10

towards Bexleyheath Clock Tower

Last week, 4 of 364 journeys (1%) were turned short.

  • Thamesmead / Carlyle Road9.7 km short of the end 1
  • Anderson Way5.8 km short of the end 1
  • Heversham Road1.4 km short of the end 1
  • Limestone Walk8.2 km short of the end 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 202686% on timeno figure
2026/27 Q11 Apr – 26 Jun 202689% 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 17 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
  • Thamesmead Town Centre: 229 departures seen
  • Bexleyheath Clock Tower: 294 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.