London Transport- The Consumers Complaint List-In the Public Domain

I have been using connex buses route 196 since changing jobs in september 2001 - this service is supposed to run every 10 minutes at peak times, and my journey to work is 5 miles.

Despite traffic, once on the bus, this journey takes 30 minutes maximum. Yet my average daily travel time, including waiting at bus stops, averages closer to 3 hours. Buses that are not full do not stop, or more frequently, one usually has to wait 20/30 minutes in each direction for a bus to show up.

Multiple compaints made via London Transport to Connex Buses have in nearly a year yielded exactly one response, claiming that drastic improvements were in the offing...these have so far failed to materialise.

Meanwhile, London Trasnport, from blaiming lack of driver numbers are now blaming traffic. However, the return journey bus stop is served by 3 other bus services (sadly not going in my direction), run by another company, advertising a similar service frequency. All of these seem to run a much more regular service to the advertised timetable, yet there seems to be nothing to do, as apparently one can only bring in the london regional passengers committee when all other aveneues have been exhausted.

What I want to know is why a bus contract was ever given to a company whose poor performance on the railways is notorious... It is ridiculous.

Editorial Comments

One thing Connex was particularly well known for as a train operator was not answering letters, so this is unsurprising. I cannot move in urban areas without a multimodal ticket because you need the choice these offer. Here in sunny Glasgow, the express buses by the motorway are excellent except in the rush hour when the route is logjammed; the trains are excellent but there are none on Sundays or late at night. If we have tickets like Travelcard or our Zonecard which give us choice, the risk of delays is reduced because if one service goes west there is enough redundancy to use others instead. Tickets valid only on a particular route are likely to be less good value.
Martin Bucknall ... 4 November 2003
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So I am not the only one with Connex issues! My vote for the worst bus route in the universe would be Connex C3 route from Earls Court to Clapham Junction. Problems include rude offensive drivers, tiny single-decker buses that cannot hope to accommodate the numbers of people battling to board the bus, infrequency (1/2 hour waits are the norm), buses sailing past the stop when empty, drivers urinating on the bus stand, drivers being abusive when people don't have correct change.......The list goes on. Anybody travelling between Clapham and Earls Court would be better walking or taking the tube in to town and back out. Connex and Transport for London have no plans to improve the service either. Adam Seymour-Davies ... 5 January 2004