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P4 rant
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helenS29


Posts: 24
Joined: Mar 2012
Post: #1
24-06-2014 04:52 PM

Sorry for this rant - I just need to vent my frustration. Why is the service on the p4 so very very poor? I've lived in London for 12 years and I've never lived on a bus route where I've regularly had to wait for over half an hour for a bus. I can't face the overground anymore as it's so busy and I'm pregnant - and have been put off asking for a seat when I need it by the lovely man who refused to stand up from the priority seat last week. So p4 it has to be - but it's driving me crazy! Sadly I still have to get to work somehow 😬 Can someone tell me if I'm just imagining the p4's terrible - maybe all bus routes are this bad now!

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shzl400


Posts: 729
Joined: Oct 2007
Post: #2
24-06-2014 07:18 PM

As it goes, I've been thinking recently that the P4 is actually better these days than it used to be.

Termination at Loughborough Junction seem less frequent, returning from Brixton in the evening is less of a bun fight to get on board and I've generally only been waiting less than 10 mins recently.

Perhaps I've just been lucky recently.

Previous P4 rants on this forum are also available...

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helenS29


Posts: 24
Joined: Mar 2012
Post: #3
24-06-2014 08:26 PM

Well that's good news actually - I've only started using it again recently to commute so maybe it's just a blip at the Lewisham end. I gave up using it in favour of the overground about a year ago after three early terminations at Ladywell in a row! This afternoon it did turn up just as half time started in the football...

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clausy


Posts: 73
Joined: Mar 2014
Post: #4
25-06-2014 05:01 AM

Seriously? Who doesn't stand up for pregnant women on the train, especially when asked and in a priority seat. What is wrong with people. As an aside, do you have one of those 'baby on board' badges. That helps: sometimes when I'm not sure, I won't offer my seat just in case!

Meanwhile, as far as the P4 goes, if I do need to use it, I'll rely on the TFL live departures page: put in the stop you want and it'll give you a pretty accurate arrival time. I only leave the house when it's a couple of minutes away. Would that work?

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katie one


Posts: 17
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #5
25-06-2014 08:02 AM

You should not judge people for not giving the seat up, he may have actually needed it more. I have been in the position where I have been sitting in a priority seat because I had chest drains in after major surgery and have been glared at by a pregnant woman. I could have explained why I was sitting in it but would not want to announce my personal business on a packed train. Anonymous on here is one thing, but my private business is exactly that. This man may have been in the same position.

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clausy


Posts: 73
Joined: Mar 2014
Post: #6
25-06-2014 08:05 AM

That's a fair point, so I'd then expect the next person to offer instead! The fact that nobody nearby even offered is pretty sad.

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katie one


Posts: 17
Joined: Nov 2007
Post: #7
25-06-2014 11:38 AM

True. I do not hesitate to get up these days if someone else needs the seat more than I do, but I think this is a generation thing. I actually witnessed a young girl practically race a pregnant lady to a seat, and then got out her mobile. Although she was embarrassed enough by other commuters to give it up again.

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helenS29


Posts: 24
Joined: Mar 2012
Post: #8
26-06-2014 09:06 PM

That's true - my friend has an arthritic condition that's not evident but sometimes needs a seat. That's why I will never ask for a seat unless I really feel I need it -asking is actually really difficult and uncomfortable for that reason. And that experience has definitely put me off, which is why I decided to find an alternative route to work. For what it's worth I don't think he needed the seat, and if he did he could definitely have reacted in a more reasonable way as I don't think it's unreasonable to ask if you are obviously pregnant (with a badge!) and struggling in the heat. If someone said politely that they needed it too I certainly wouldn't question them about why and I don't think many people would. It's an eye opener - I suppose if you are the sort of person that always offers you naturally expect that other people will - they rarely do. I find that teenagers and young people are wonderful, strangely it's the businessmen in suits that pretend they haven't seen you!

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helenS29


Posts: 24
Joined: Mar 2012
Post: #9
26-06-2014 09:09 PM

Oh and thanks Clausy -I do use that in the mornings although sometimes I find the bus seems to travel backwards! Not so useful on the way home as when I get to lewisham I have no alternative route anyway so have to wait as long as it takes.

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Mr_Numbers


Posts: 513
Joined: May 2012
Post: #10
29-06-2014 10:37 AM

This thread has been bugging me all weekend. The lady who asked the man if he might let her have his seat said that he "refused".

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced the man was a selfish dork and there was nothing wrong with him.

If it had been me, and I'd been unwell and unable to give up my seat, I'm sure I'd have said something like, "I'm terribly sorry, but I just can't. I'm sorry." No need for details - just a simple expression of a greater need and I'm sure the lady would have understood. Even if he had been unwell, I think that failing to give any kind of explanation - however vague - is offensive and selfish. Illness is no excuse for bad manners.

As for the surrounding passengers who failed to 'rise' to the occasion, I'm pretty speechless (which is probably just as well).

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