Proposed changes to routes 698, 697 and new school route 695
The consultation has now closed. You can find updates on the scheme in the 'Next steps' section.
Proposals
To improve school bus services for The Douay Martyrs Catholic School, we propose to:
- Introduce a NEW school bus route 695 between West Drayton and The Douay Martyrs Catholic School via Falling Lane and Cherry Lane
- Reroute school bus 698 between Hayes and The Douay Martyrs Catholic School via Hayes Town and Bourne Avenue
- The last stop on school bus routes 698, 697 and 695 would be at Swakeleys Drive, instead of Ickenham Station
- School bus routes 698 and 697 would no longer stop at Hillingdon station in either direction
Benefits of the proposals include:
- Faster journey times for West Drayton, Yiewsley and Hayes
- More capacity where it’s needed
- Encourage students to travel by bus, instead of car
Click map for larger versionOn school day mornings, the 698 would start at Bourne Avenue, Hayes Town.
It would go along the same roads as the U4 bus Carnarvon Drive, Pinkwell Lane, Mildred Avenue, Bourne Avenue, Dawley Road and Station Road to Hayes and Harlington Station. From Hayes and Harlington Station, it would follow the current 698 route to Douay Martyrs.
In the afternoon, the route would run in reverse.
The 698 would no longer stop at Shepiston Lane
Route 695
On school day mornings, the 695 would start at Cherry Lane.
It would go along the same roads as the current 698 route to West Drayton. Then, via High Street, Falling Lane, Park View Road, Stockley Road, West Drayton Road, Harlington Road and Lees Road. From Lees Road, it would follow the same roads as route 698 along Uxbridge Road and Long Lane to The Douay Martyrs Catholic School.
In the afternoon, the route would run in reverse.
How it impacts you
1. Changing bus
A small number of passengers would no longer have direct bus between the West Drayton and Hayes Town areas.
Of these 30 passengers:
- 20 passengers would need to change buses once, onto the 350, 278, U4 or 222
- 10 passengers would need to change bus more than once
2. Cherry Lane Cemetery
Bus stops on Shepiston Lane (Cherry Lane Cemetery) would no longer be served. However recent data shows students are not using these stops anyway.
3. Number of 698 journeys
- There are currently four journeys in the morning and five in the afternoon on route 698
- These changes would mean there would be three journeys in the morning and afternoon on new school route 695, and two journeys in the morning and afternoon on the 698
- Our proposals would better match demand
Accessible Information
We want to make sure everyone is able to take part in our consultations. To help make it accessible to everyone we have provided:
You can translate the information on this page into another language by using the ‘Select language’ button at the bottom of the page
Connecting with London's deaf community on our consultations
To further enhance how we consult with London's deaf community we offer:
- A British Sign Language (BSL) video of our proposals and survey
- A BSL conversation service. This allows the TfL consultation lead to have a two-way BSL translated discussion with a BSL user. To request a BSL conversation please contact us at haveyoursay@tfl.gov.uk and we will be in contact to arrange a convenient time
Tell us your views
You can reply by completing our survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete or if you are short on time, you can submit a quick response.
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The closing date for comments is Wednesday 18 June 2025.
Return to the top of the pageQuestions?
You can use our question tool during the consultation period. We will respond to your questions as soon as we can.
You can also contact us by email, via our telephone call back service (020 3054 6037) or in writing (FREEPOST TFL HAVE YOUR SAY(698))
Return to the top of the pageNext steps
Update 5 August 2025
Between 7 May and 18 June 2025, we held a public consultation on proposals to make changes to the bus service 698, 697 and 695.
We have now published our report on the outcomes of the consultation.
There were 71 responses, all from members of the public. 15 of the responses were about vehicle types and therefore out of scope. Overall, the proposals were supported. People thought that the 695 would speed up travel to and from school, and also welcomed the new direct journey opportunities. The most frequently raised concerns were:
• That there would be insufficient capacity
• The loss of direct journey opportunities
• Making the Swakeleys Drive stop the last stop in the morning.
After fully considering the consultation responses, we have decided to proceed with the scheme as consulted upon.
We intend to make the bus service changes in time for the start of the new school term in September 2025.
Thank you once again to everyone who participated in the consultation.
