Four buses already terminate or stop at the main entrance to Barnet Hospital in Wellhouse Lane -- and a fifth will be added to the list if Hertsmere Borough Council finally gives the go ahead to restoring the 84 service.
If all goes to plan, a restored – and rerouted – 84 will start at Potters Bar station, call at Potters Bar Community Hospital, and then head to Hadley Highstone and High Barnet, terminating at Barnet Hospital.
Restoring this section of the 84 route – after the 84 service from New Barnet to St Albans was withdrawn early last year by Transport for London -- was one of the pledges of the new Labour-led Hertsmere council.
Campaigners for the return of the 84 are increasingly hopeful that approval will be given at a special meeting of the council’s cabinet committee on Wednesday 23 August with the hope that the service could start on Monday 4 September.
So far little has been said publicly: there is no indication yet which bus company will operate the service, or a timetable or precise route.
(An update posted on 15.8.2023 on Hertfordshire County Council's Interlink bus planner said a new 84B service from Potters Bar to High Barnet, to be provided by Galleon Travel, would operate from Monday to Saturday, from September 4).
Councillor Nik Oakley, who is the council’s executive member for transport, told the Barnet Society she had high hopes the special meeting would resolve all the outstanding issues but until decisions had been taken, she could not release any information or make any comment.
Sherry Billings, who has helped to organise several demonstrations calling for the reinstatement of the 84, praised Councillor Oakley’s initiative and her perseverance in seeking to honour a pledge made by the Labour Party in May’s council elections.
“We have campaigned so hard for the 84 to be restored and to be rerouted so that it provides a bus service that connects both Potters Community Hospital and Barnet Hospital.
“For over a year hospital staff and patients, as well as schoolchildren and local people, have been forced to take a roundabout route via Cockfosters which can take a couple of hours or more. At last, we think the final go ahead is close.
“We believe the new service will start at Potters Bar station at 6.30am. We don’t know anything for certain, especially about either the frequency of the replacement service or the precise route it will take within High Barnet, but it will stop at Barnet Hospital which will be a massive relief to so many patients living in Potters Bar.”
Sullivan Buses, which has its garage at South Mymms services at Junction 23, now operates the Potters Bar to St Albans section of the previous 84 route. This followed an agreement with Hertfordshire County Council on financial support.
But the company did not submit a tender to operate the Potters Bar to High Barnet section of the 84 route. Dean Sullivan, managing director, told the Barnet Society that because of the current shortage of drivers Sullivan Buses could not take on new services at present.
Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, says she has received an assurance from the Transport Minister Richard Holden that the rules of the Bus Service Improvement Grant would allow Hertfordshire County Council to use some of these funds to pay for the restoration of the Potters Bar to High Barnet route.
Hertfordshire is due to receive £1,488,381 in grant funding in the 2023-24 financial year and the guidance now says this money can be used to “support existing services” as well as the focus on “improving bus services”.
Ms Villiers says she believes the restoration of the 84 will require some support and funding from the Mayor of London and Transport for London and she will be having meetings to see if this can be resolved.
Encouraging news about an imminent announcement about reconnecting High Barnet and Potters will be greeted with relief by residents of Hadley Highstone and Monken Hadley who have been without a bus service to and from the town centre.
The St Albans Road stop in Barnet High Street still advertises a connection to Potters Bar – and passengers hope that will soon become a reality once again.
At present the only service is the restricted 399 from The Spires to Hadley Wood Station which only runs between 11am and 2pm.
Improved bus connections to Barnet Hospital have become of increasing importance given the difficulties facing elderly patients.
The introduction of the Low Emissions Zone -- and now the Ultra Low Emissions Zone – has further heightened the pressure for a direct bus service from Potters Bar.
The four existing services available at the Wellhouse Lane terminus are: 263, Barnet Hospital to Highbury Barn; 307, Barnet Hospital to Brimsdown; 384, from Edgware to Cockfosters; and N20, Barnet Hospital to Trafalgar Square.
