Anyone else on the 40 bus this morning (and other bus issues)

[Sue]

Which stopped for what seemed like hours at East Dulwich Station whilst awaiting police to evict a fare evader who refused to get off the bus .....

We got off/on/off/on whilst other (full) buses sailed past ...... or stopped to let a zillionth of the people on "our" bus on .....

Eventually a police van and car arrived, lights flashing, sirens screaming, hurtling down Dog Kennel Hill and screeching to a halt by the bus ....

No wonder the response time isn't great if they send so many to one minor incident :-S

And from a sod's law point of view, I'd got up early to get an early start at work, too :))

[????]

Buses are shite at the moment - this must be the time of year when the least people are on holiday, all the fairweather cyclists give up, so there all packed and there are pain in the arse roadworks at LL and on the home leg bit at Elephant...I'm almost tempted to buy an extra car and start driving in (which would also annoy Sean).>:D

[????]

*they're.....for the benefit of the Grammar Police

[Sue]

You bored at all, f??? ???

Edited to say, I mean ????

:))

[Applespider]

Happened to me on the 363 that 'stopped' until the next 63 had gone past before deciding he'd finish the route and make us all get off for the next one. Last time I take that option rather than going for the 'straight down LL' route!

Buses are nuts. I'm lucky in that I get on far enough up the road that I usually get a seat but generally, by the time the bus hits the Plough (not literally), it's starting to creak at the seams. I tried writing to TFL a couple of times about the general busyness of the 176/185 routes but just got a 'Thanks. The routes are reviewed annually' message back. I'm convinced that both routes must be reviewed in July/August when it's less busy since it's ridiculous for most of the year.

It's just as bad in the evenings too trying to get on at Denmark Hill - I've given up getting off the train there before 9pm since I know I won't get on a bus easily and even then it's not a guarantee.

[Sue]

Emailing TfL (via their website) in my experience results in a "this email address is not known" message - presumably so they can claim they have had no complaints (td)

But let's be fair, I can hardly blame them for the incident this morning!

[will dex]

You could have gotten to work on time if you had given the person ?2 and saved the police call out (and felt smug)

[Sue]

No way was he getting off that bus, for any money :))

[Amelie]

I wondered what had caused the huge tailbacks this morning, the #185 disappeared and the traffic was bedlam. It took me an hour and 40 minutes to get from ED to Victoria.

[SCSB79]

What time was this? We got on the bus at our usual 7.35ish and it was clear...

[Sue]

The bus was marooned at East Dulwich Station at about ???8.30???? 8.15 ?????? My brain doesn't function at that time of the morning :))

Early for me, possibly late for others :))

I don't think it can have caused any tailbacks, other buses were stopping at the bus stop and moving on past OK :-S

[glau]

I can report no improvement in evening service - just got home on the no 40 where two old ladies, one drunk, one deranged, got into a fight, making it a tedious if slightly hallucinogenic journey. Are the trains any better?

[Sue]

No. Worse. Much, much worse.

[Applespider]

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Emailing TfL (via their website) in my experience

> results in a "this email address is not known"

> message - presumably so they can claim they have

> had no complaints (td)

I've used the email form a few times and always had a written reply back from them in the post that was personalised to what I'd asked about - even if no action was really forthcoming. Although I did complain about first the lack of a bus shelter and then about the positioning of it, and it's moved so maybe it does do some good.

[Sue]

Applespider Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sue Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Emailing TfL (via their website) in my

> experience

> > results in a "this email address is not known"

> > message - presumably so they can claim they

> have

> > had no complaints (td)

>

> I've used the email form a few times and always

> had a written reply back from them in the post

> that was personalised to what I'd asked about -

> even if no action was really forthcoming.

> Although I did complain about first the lack of a

> bus shelter and then about the positioning of it,

> and it's moved so maybe it does do some good.

xxxx

Let's be charitable then, maybe it was a temporary email glitch every time I've tried to contact TfL :-S

[HonaloochieB]

glau Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I can report no improvement in evening service -

> just got home on the no 40 where two old ladies,

> one drunk, one deranged, got into a fight, making

> it a tedious if slightly hallucinogenic journey.

I feel obliged to defend myself here.

The two old ladies made certain comments regarding my cravat, that a boulavardier such as I could not but take isssue with, if only for the sake of my tailor's reputation. Their insistence that the brightish red scarf with horse racing motifs, binoculars, riding crops etc, clashed violently with my brown leather safari coat caused me to forget their grey hairs and inform them, with some heat, that tweed and brogues in London were not at all the thing.

A little harsh perhaps, but by thunder they were asking for it. As for the deranged, he really did ask for it by taking it upon himself to pass remark upon my spats in a derogatory fashion. Noticing that his own footwear indicated he was all set to take part in a sport of some kind, I suggested he try taking a run at himself.

Naturally he took offence and an embarrasing melee ensued.

Bloody glad when I got to my stop, conveniently close to a grog house and was able to avail myself of a couple of largish sharpeners before making my way home.

Sorry for any inconvenience, and all that sort of rot.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Caught 2 40's yesterday. And a 45 for good measure. No problems on any of them. Again

Very occasionally something weird as described above happens - I usually decide it isn't the end of the world

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Get a bike and some waterproofs.

[Jeremy]

I hate buses. They are my least favorite method of transport, after train, walking, and car.

I hate the way they crawl along, sometimes "rocking" back and forth, as if intentionally trying to make the passengers sick.

I hate the dickheads who get on without paying, and then insist on staying put even after the drivers has turned off the engine.

I hate the kids who sit there playing stupid music on their phones, as if they're daring someone to challenge them.

I hate the way delivery vans park along the bus lanes.

I hate the way you never know when the next one's going to come, because they don't (can't) run to any sort of timetable, and we don't have those red dot-matrix info boards here. Even if we did, they'd probably get smashed up.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Some of those things are true Jeremy - but several bus stops on LL have the dot matrix displays - by the Co-op chemist near Budgens for example. And on the main routes they are so much more frequent these days I never worry - and some days I have to catch a 5:30am bus to Waterloo

The main thing that vexes me about buses is if Ihaven't got something to read - if I have something then I can tune everything out until I get wherever I'm going. If I don't have anything then pretty much everything can annoy me

But overall I like them - they get me everywhere I want to go cheaply

[Asset]

shouldn't this be in the petty annoyances thread? What is the point of this thread anyway?

[Brendan]

I have to say I agree with Jeremy. The day I can say that I no longer have to travel by London bus will be a very happy one indeed.

What I hate the most is that rocking and jerking around.

What really gets me is that the drivers do this on purpose.

I didn?t think so at first. Always giving people the benefit of the doubt I assumed that these (fully automatic, drive by wire, sophisticated urban buses) were for some inexplicable reason very, very difficult to control properly. Then I started to notice that every once in a while you would get a driver that on the same route somehow manages to pilot the thing through heavy traffic without so much as breaking a single pensioner?s hip.

There?s that and the fact that when I greet them in the morning the average driver at best won?t even raise it?s vacant, morose countenance to acknowledge my presence or else it will just scowl at me aggressively. Consequently I now have a deep and uncharacteristic repugnance for a profession that as a boy I always saw as exciting and noble.

And don?t give me this, ?It?s a difficult stressful job.? bollocks. We all deal with difficult stressful situations and some very unpleasant people on a day to day basis. It doesn?t give us licence to treat everyone we encounter professionally like shit. In most of our cases that would cost us our jobs.

[Jeremy]

I was expecting a much more spirited argument from SeanMacGabhann! Come on, is that all you've got?!

Personally, I can't read on buses. Firstly, I would get travel sick, and secondly, I can't focus with all the aforementioned rocking and jerking.

[SeanMacGabhann]

No point arguing if I agree with much of what you say Jeremy!

Mostly I'm agreeing with Asset at the moment - this thread isn't ED specific is it?

[HonaloochieB]

A book and earplugs make any journey so much easier.