'Ghost bus' makes final journey

Once a week for five years, it's run between Ealing and Wandsworth.

It didn't appear on any timetable, it rarely had any passengers and it's been costing taxpayers £450 a week.

So, is this the country's most useless bus service?

Ria Chatterjee reports.

The once-weekly 'rail replacement' bus between Ealing Broadway and Wandsworth Road made its final run today. The service was put on to replace a train service between Birmingham and Brighton which ceased in 2008.

The service has been heavily criticised as it cost £500 per week to run but very few if any passengers.

The ghost bus makes its final journey after four years, dubbed one of the most pointless transport services in the country.

The once-weekly 'rail replacement' bus between Ealing Broadway and Wandsworth Road.

The service was put on to "replace" a train service between Birmingham and Brighton which ceased in December 2008, leaving two short sections of track in West London with no scheduled train services.

What seems as a move to avoid the hassle of a formal closure process, and to allow officials to argue that the train line had remained open and avoid a public consultation on closing unused sections of track, this completely useless token weekly bus was put on at a cost to taxpayers of £500 a week.

The once-weekly 'rail replacement' bus between Ealing Broadway and Wandsworth Road will make its final run today. The service was put on to replace a train service between Birmingham and Brighton which ceased in 2008.