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Bus route 491

Transport
491

71% 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 491’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 endingWaltham Cross Bus StationNorth Middlesex Hospital
21 Jun 2025no datano data
28 Jun 202564%56%
5 Jul 202559% thin72% thin
12 Jul 202559% thin77% thin
19 Jul 202575%79%
26 Jul 202556%82%
2 Aug 202552%83%
9 Aug 202561%71%
16 Aug 202562%78%
23 Aug 202561%86%
30 Aug 202572%88%
6 Sept 202564%83%
13 Sept 202548%55%
20 Sept 202568%73%
27 Sept 202564%80%
4 Oct 202556%73%
11 Oct 202567%86%
18 Oct 202566%78%
25 Oct 202556%78%
1 Nov 202561%71%
8 Nov 202571%88%
15 Nov 202577% thin96% thin
22 Nov 202562% thin85% thin
29 Nov 202559%78%
6 Dec 202559%63%
13 Dec 202568%81%
20 Dec 202563%74%
27 Dec 202578% thin91% thin
3 Jan 202692%86%
10 Jan 202675%83%
17 Jan 202670%82%
24 Jan 202666%59%
31 Jan 202671%85%
7 Feb 202672%76%
14 Feb 202675%75%
21 Feb 2026no datano data
28 Feb 2026no datano data
7 Mar 202667%73%
14 Mar 202668%80%
21 Mar 202671%66%
28 Mar 202677%66%
4 Apr 202663%74%
11 Apr 202670%75%
18 Apr 202666%74%
25 Apr 202663% thin89% thin
2 May 202667%86%
9 May 202676%80%
16 May 202658%72%
23 May 202660%66%
30 May 202648%73%
6 Jun 202664%81%
13 Jun 202673%78%
20 Jun 202662%67%
27 Jun 202665%75%
4 Jul 2026no datano data
11 Jul 202655%73%
18 Jul 202670%81%
25 Jul 202683%76%
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 202667%82%
12 Sept 202661%58%
19 Sept 202658%74%
26 Sept 202670%67%
3 Oct 202666%71%
10 Oct 202666%75%
17 Oct 202670%73%

A passenger going by the timetable at Waltham Cross Bus Station would find about three departures in ten leaving more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late.

Waltham Cross Bus Station
On time
70%
Cut short
4.1%
North Middlesex Hospital
On time
73%
Cut short
11.1%

53 minutes was the longest gap between buses this week, at Edmonton Green Bus Station towards North Middlesex Hospital, on Tuesday 13 October from 10:34 to 11:27. This excludes any gaps caused by holes in our own data. Watch it happen →

Journeys cut short

Last week: 8.5% 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: 181 journeys on route 491 were turned back before the end of the line over four weeks of watching, 26 September to 17 October 2026 — about 6.5 a day.

00.51.01.5journeys 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: 0.5 cut short on an average day09:00–10:00: 1.1 cut short on an average day10:00–11:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day11:00–12:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day12:00–13:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day12:0013:00–14:00: 0.5 cut short on an average day14:00–15:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day15:00–16:00: 0.4 cut short on an average day16:00–17:00: 0.6 cut short on an average day17:00–18:00: 0.2 cut short on an average day18:00–19:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day18:0019:00–20:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day20:00–21:00: 0.3 cut short on an average day21:00–22:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day22:00–23:00: 0.1 cut short on an average day23:00–00:00: 0.1 cut short on an average daybusiest hour 09:00 — 1.1 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 Waltham Cross Bus Station

Last week, 18 of 383 journeys (5%) were turned short.

  • Enfield Island Village4.4 km short of the end 6
  • Solar Way2.8 km short of the end 4
  • Bullsmoor Lane / Mollison Avenue0.9 km short of the end 2
  • Causeway Bridge / River Lee3.7 km short of the end 1
  • Jeffreys Road7.9 km short of the end 1
  • Elsewhere along the route 4

towards North Middlesex Hospital

Last week, 46 of 371 journeys (12%) were turned short.

  • Edmonton Green Bus Station2.4 km short of the end 41
  • Lea Valley Road7.4 km short of the end 2
  • Gloucester Road0.7 km short of the end 2
  • Angel Corner / Silver Street Station1.0 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 202678% on timeno figure
2026/27 Q11 Apr – 26 Jun 202681% 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
  • Waltham Cross Bus Station: 217 departures seen
  • North Middlesex Hospital: 191 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.