Bus Delays on King Street 'Nonsense', Says First Bus Chief

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Describes it as one of worst bottlenecks in London

Congestion on King Street, Hammersmith. Picture: Liam Downer-Sanderson

January 7, 2026

Hammersmith’s King Street has become one of the worst bottlenecks for buses anywhere in London, according to First Bus London managing director Bill Cahill, who says the layout is causing tailbacks stretching all the way to the Hammersmith gyratory.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Cahill described the westbound-only traffic arrangement — introduced alongside the bi-directional cycle lane — as “basic plumbing gone wrong”, arguing that the redesign has created a choke point where up to eight buses can be seen queuing behind each other outside the stop at Marks & Spencer.

“There are eight bus routes that come down that road,” he said. “It’s not unusual to end up with eight buses queuing all the way back to Hammersmith Broadway, which blocks up Hammersmith gyratory. It’s nonsense. You see not very many bikes and a queue of buses.”

He warned that delays of this scale are driving passengers away, with some journeys taking so long that “you can walk quicker than the bus can drive you there”.

Transport for London defended the King Street layout, saying the changes were made to improve safety for all road users.

“Safety is our top priority, and King Street is an example of a location where the allocation of road space has been adjusted to ensure safety,” a spokesperson said.

TfL added that bus speeds vary widely depending on time of day and location, and that it “constantly monitors” the network to keep London moving “safely and effectively”.

While concerns about King Street dominate the immediate picture for Hammersmith bus users, First Bus is also preparing for a major long-term upgrade at Stamford Brook Garage — one of London’s oldest surviving bus depots.

The garage, dating back to 1896, sits on a site first used for horse-drawn trams in the 1850s and 1860s. It later became home to the London United Electrical Tramways, whose trams ran between Hampton Court and Shepherd’s Bush Green. The neighbouring Power House, which once supplied electricity to the tram network, is now the Metropolis recording studio.

Today the garage operates only four routes (220, 272, 440 and E3) and runs at roughly half its 100-bus capacity. Electrifying the site, however, could bring it “bursting back into life”, Mr Cahill said — though he acknowledged that securing the necessary high-voltage power supply is a major challenge.

First Bus says it is committed to electrifying nine of its ten London depots by 2030, and Stamford Brook is expected to be upgraded within the next 12–24 months. But both the company and TfL stress that the project is still in the feasibility stage, with no final designs agreed.

A First Bus spokesperson said, “Stamford Brook Garage forms part of our wider plans to electrify our fleet, but we remain at the early stages of exploring options and assessing feasibility.”

TfL echoed this, saying it is working closely with First Bus as part of its wider ambition to make the entire London bus network zero-emission.

Stamford Brook’s new general manager, Carl Trainor, appointed in 2024, has a background in zero-emission operations and is tasked with turning the historic depot into one of West London’s key electric bus hubs.

But for now, the immediate concern for many Hammersmith residents remains the daily crawl along King Street — a problem that, according to Mr Cahill, risks undermining the very bus services the electrification programme aims to modernise.

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