Ever wondered if it would be faster to travel to work on board an elephant? Well fear not, we finally have the answer to that age old question.
London buses are often described as travelling at a snail’s pace but a TfL report revealed that buses in Hackney travelled at an average speed of just 8mph last year – the same top speed of a chicken.
With that in mind we decided to find out how buses in our boroughs fare in the animal speed ranks.
Without having to contest with central London traffic, it’s not surprising to hear buses in west London boroughs are among some of the fastest in London.
But knowing that these buses all travel slower than the likes of a wart hog, a komodo dragon and even a squirrel – all of which travel in excess of 12mph – may come as a quite a shock.
Worryingly for residents of Kensington and Chelsea, if ever a swarm of killer bees invades the area –they travel at 12mph for the curious among you – you are probably best off making a run for it rather than get a bus on King’s Road.
Far from a sprint, their bus routes only jog along at 7.5mph meaning it wouldn’t take long before the bees fly in and catch you up.
For the thrill seekers out there, Sutton topped the speed charts with a rather snappy average speed of 11.3mph last year, approximately the top speed of an alligator.
Hot on their heels travelling at a cool 11mph are the pig-paced boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames, who both edge ahead of Merton.
Crawling at 10mph it’s a close contest between the 219 from Wimbledon station and a caiman lizard.
And to answer the question you are all waiting to hear, yes it would be faster to travel to work on board an elephant – they can reach a mighty 24.9mph.
How fast are the buses in your borough?
Borough Bus speed Animal equivalent
Croydon 10.8mph Goat
Hammersmith & Fulham 8.3mph House mouse
Kensington and Chelsea 7.5 mph Tiger beetle
Kingston upon Thames 11mph Pig
Merton 10mph Caiman lizard
Richmond upon Thames 11mph Pig
Sutton 11.3mph Alligator
Wandsworth 8.8mph Chicken
Image courtesy of Karen via Flickr, with thanks
