SE23 Forum

This is a bit of a rant really. What a DIRE service!

I waited from 8.30 until 9.20 am at Forest Hill swimming baths for a bus going to Peckham, where I work, this morning. One still hadn't come, so I walked up to Sydenham Hill to catch a 363 (and even then one didn't pass me on the way, meaning it would have been over an hour since the last one). They often don't go all the way to Peckham, sometimes changing their destination en route. I regularly wait over half an hour at Peckham garage coming home.

If you know a bus isn't going to come, you choose another route. But, you know how it is when you're waiting... I'll just give it another couple of minutes...

They have the gall to put "every 10 minutes" on the notice.

All bus stops have a phone number on them that will tell you what the situation is and when the next bus is due. They will also register a complaint.

You did ought to complain to TFL or they will never know about the poor service and may award the contract to the same people.

The 197 is severely disrupted northbound towards Peckham due to roadworks on Penge High Street where they're dug up one side of the road next to Homebase. It took me 40 mins to get back to FH on Thursday afternoon because of it.

Good suggestion about the phonecall (I'd always suspected that would be a useless automated service and not worth bothering with). Although, strangely, I was unable to get a phone service from Forest Hill when trying to call my employer about lateness - which was weird, and made things doubly frustrating.

Thanks also for the info about delays. Actually, have just checked tfl's site and find the following information: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews...mode=buses . So, there will be severe delays to a number of routes around the Sydenham/Penge area until December. Great (especially having had severe delays for around 3 months earlier this year, after the water mains work)! There did appear to be plenty of the other buses, however... apart from the 197.

Time to get another bike, I think (not forgetting the very heavy duty lock, to prevent a third theft).

Bizarrely TfL's own website doesn't mention the Penge High Street roadworks.

The irony is the roadworks that the site mentions isn't really affecting the 176 and 197 in Sydenham.