Passengers frustrated by bus that does not stop

It is the moment that can throw your commute into disarray.

You think the bus will pull in and pick you up, but instead it carries on, leaving you and other annoyed passengers behind.

According to residents, that is what has been happening with the route 18 bus in Kensal Town in north-west London - and they are getting fed up.

The bus operator RATP Dev says the number of complaints about buses not stopping on the route was "relatively small".

TfL's policy says a driver should stop at all bus stops if there is someone waiting, unless the bus is full.

According to TfL, the bus can be classified as "full" by the driver even if only the lower deck is at capacity.

Drivers are meant to tell passengers that, if possible, they should use the upstairs seats and make space for those getting on.

Paul Moss lives in Kensal and regularly uses the number 18 bus to get to work.

He says it sometimes does not stop at Harrow Road even if there are a number of passengers waiting.

Mr Moss is a BBC journalist and got so fed up that he started to film when it happened.

"Very often we have to wait for the 18 bus for quite a while in the cold," he says.

"And then when it does come it doesn't stop it just carries on and just goes sailing past and sometimes you can see that there are free seats, it's not crowded, but the bus doesn't stop."

Mr Moss says he spoke to one inspector who said it was because the bus drivers are under pressure to make up time on the route, so they skip stops.

"The ticket inspector said the schedule is too tight," he says.

"And the drivers have been told, 'if you're late , if you don't have time', and these were the inspector's words, 'then just go go go'."

Mr Moss says other buses for other routes that use the same stop - the 28 and the 228 - always stop.

Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter whose London base for parliament is in Kensal, shares Mr Moss's frustration with the number 18 service.

"It's a very busy service and I noticed that it was quite common, even though there were seats upstairs because I could see them, for the bus to sail past without stopping even though there were several people waiting at the bus stop," he says.

"If it happens once now I don't bother with the bus I seek an alterative route because there's no guarantee the next one is going to stop.

"I've never experienced this on any other bus in London and I use the bus quite a lot.

"It seems to be a particular problem on the 18."

RATP Dev in London says the number 18 route is one of its largest and busiest routes in the capital, and during peak hours buses can run at near full capacity.

"In the interest of passenger safety and to prevent overcrowding, the driver will not serve the stop unless it is to let passengers off the bus," says a spokesman.

"The 'guidance' to drivers when a bus is at full capacity, is to slow down when approaching a stop so that waiting passengers can see that the bus is full."

The operator says, having reviewed customer feedback, the number of complaints received over the past 12 months for buses not stopping was broadly in line with levels seen on other routes across the London bus network.

"Delivering a great service is important to us, so we conduct regular route performance reviews including driver and customer feedback to ensure the route is tuned to meet the needs of the local communities it serves," the spokesman adds.

Each year, 1.4bn journeys are made on London's bus network.

So far this financial year, there have been 56,500 general complaints. Of those, 18,000 have been complaints about buses not stopping.

On the number 18 route, there have been 100 complaints.

Rosie Trew, TfL's head of bus service delivery, says the transport body will look into the complaints about the number 18 route.

"There are lots of reasons why buses don't stop. Safety is a legitimate reason for not stopping, if the bus is full, that could just be the lower deck," she says.

"Other reasons why the bus might not stop is the bus might not see people, or sometimes there can be confusion at stops where there are lots of routes stopping.

"But I would encourage anyone to report if it isn't for one of those reasons and we will try and make it better."

London TravelWatch, the transport watchdog for the capital, says bus drivers "should be ready to safely pick up - and drop off - passengers at every stop".

"This is really important as we know that some passengers either don’t know about the custom of ‘flagging down’ their bus or they might not be able to for a variety of reasons.

"Blind and visually impaired people, especially, rely on their bus driver stopping at every bus stop.

"If this is not happening on some routes then we would expect TfL to step in and remind bus companies of their duty to make bus travel accessible for everyone.”

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