The East Dulwich Forum has a thread about the 176 bus (which of course passes through Sydenham too) now having its own Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Buses_route_176
I feel a bit of an imposter to be so blatantly copying another forum like this but I think there must be a few people in SE26 that might be interested.
176 Bus
The 176 is possibly the worst bus route I've ever had the misfortune to use. I'll recount my last two experiences of using it to get home from central London after the trains have stopped:
I stood at a bus stop in Waterloo for an hour on Saturday night. Two 176s turned up at their scheduled times; the only problem was that all the interior lights were turned off and they were "Not in service". When an operational 176 did finally turn up, it was too full to let anyone else on. I ended up getting a Catford bus which actually caught up to the 176 at Camberwell. I got off the Catford bus and ran over to the 176, but the driver still wouldn't let me on, saying it was too full, even though roughly ten people had just alighted. I ended up paying for a taxi to complete my journey.
A few weeks prior to that, I got on a 176 at Oxford Circus, with "Penge" clearly marked as the destination. All was fine until we got to Forest Hill, where the driver stopped and began flashing the interior lights. He threw us all off the bus, claiming that the destination had been Forest Hill when he picked us up (it wasn't). Given that there were a fair few passengers complaining, I'm sure we weren't all mistaken. Again, I had to pay for a taxi to complete the journey. I would have walked, but had my gran with me.
I appreciate that I was probably a bit spoiled for buses when I lived in Brixton; so many headed that way that you wouldn't care if the service didn't match the timetable. But when the 176 is the only link home for those of us living in Sydenham, you'd think they'd take a bit more care with the service.
I stood at a bus stop in Waterloo for an hour on Saturday night. Two 176s turned up at their scheduled times; the only problem was that all the interior lights were turned off and they were "Not in service". When an operational 176 did finally turn up, it was too full to let anyone else on. I ended up getting a Catford bus which actually caught up to the 176 at Camberwell. I got off the Catford bus and ran over to the 176, but the driver still wouldn't let me on, saying it was too full, even though roughly ten people had just alighted. I ended up paying for a taxi to complete my journey.
A few weeks prior to that, I got on a 176 at Oxford Circus, with "Penge" clearly marked as the destination. All was fine until we got to Forest Hill, where the driver stopped and began flashing the interior lights. He threw us all off the bus, claiming that the destination had been Forest Hill when he picked us up (it wasn't). Given that there were a fair few passengers complaining, I'm sure we weren't all mistaken. Again, I had to pay for a taxi to complete the journey. I would have walked, but had my gran with me.
I appreciate that I was probably a bit spoiled for buses when I lived in Brixton; so many headed that way that you wouldn't care if the service didn't match the timetable. But when the 176 is the only link home for those of us living in Sydenham, you'd think they'd take a bit more care with the service.
Yes,
Being chucked off at the Plough is an all too common experience no matter what the destination board might say. However this journey only got as far as the Walworth Road. But may be continued ... http://tinyurl.com/3w45j9
Admin
Being chucked off at the Plough is an all too common experience no matter what the destination board might say. However this journey only got as far as the Walworth Road. But may be continued ... http://tinyurl.com/3w45j9
Admin
Ive been on buses before when they've terminated before the place they were meant to, its done so they can 'catch up' with the timetable...never mind providing a service to the paying customers on board you just have to get off and find your own way.
This is done under instruction from the people in charge at the bus garages so complaining to TFL isnt really going to help...it seems to be their policy.
This is done under instruction from the people in charge at the bus garages so complaining to TFL isnt really going to help...it seems to be their policy.
176 bus
I thought that might be the case. Why not the new mayor then? I know he is in charge effectively but he can't know everything that is going on. Surely the bus drivers are lying to customers when they say it was always going to ...., and are ripping people off!
Don't even get me started on the chopping of the 63 route into two! When we moved here 5 years ago I could get a 63 bus from the top of my road to Blackfriars. It cost 70p each way. Then it got chopped into two - the 363 from Crystal Palace to Elephant & the 63 from Honor Oak (sometimes!) to Blackfriars (and beyond!)
I only discovered this when I let two buses numbered 363 sail by me when I was waiting for a bus to get to the late lamented Family Records Centre.
So now I have to use two buses each way. Just over a year after moving here a £1.40 daily journey had rocketed to £8.00. It wasn't a journey I did every day, so no point in buying a pass. Daily bus tickets aren't sold on buses and there is no coin operated machine at the bus stop selling them. No local shop from which to buy one either.
And the scrum changing buses at Elephant (on what must be one of the coldest, windiest corners of SE London) is unbelievable. Whatever happened to queuing?
I think this was just a cynical move by TFL and Ken Livingstone to make it appear that more people were using the buses. If they work it out by counting the number of bus rides this bus user's trips had doubled!
Anyway, I try not to use the 363/63 now. I drag my weary body up the hill from the 176 stop (it's half a mile to home ... all uphill, I measured it in my car!) But by comparison with the 363 the 176 is heaven!
But I started this by saying "don't get me started". So ... sorry.
I only discovered this when I let two buses numbered 363 sail by me when I was waiting for a bus to get to the late lamented Family Records Centre.
So now I have to use two buses each way. Just over a year after moving here a £1.40 daily journey had rocketed to £8.00. It wasn't a journey I did every day, so no point in buying a pass. Daily bus tickets aren't sold on buses and there is no coin operated machine at the bus stop selling them. No local shop from which to buy one either.
And the scrum changing buses at Elephant (on what must be one of the coldest, windiest corners of SE London) is unbelievable. Whatever happened to queuing?
I think this was just a cynical move by TFL and Ken Livingstone to make it appear that more people were using the buses. If they work it out by counting the number of bus rides this bus user's trips had doubled!
Anyway, I try not to use the 363/63 now. I drag my weary body up the hill from the 176 stop (it's half a mile to home ... all uphill, I measured it in my car!) But by comparison with the 363 the 176 is heaven!
But I started this by saying "don't get me started". So ... sorry.
176
The 176 terminates at Dulwich library because the bus is late and the driver has to finish, and its the quickest way back to the garage. If you are going further there is always the 197 to Penge or another 176 is not to far behind.
Re: 176
Agree with the first sentence, but the second is way, way off target. In any event, this practice is shocking, especially for evening/night time travellers who are vulnerable.solstice wrote:The 176 terminates at Dulwich library because the bus is late and the driver has to finish, and its the quickest way back to the garage. If you are going further there is always the 197 to Penge or another 176 is not to far behind.
Alib
176
On most bus routes if passengers have to be transfered, it is always at a point where there is another route going to the same destination, 185 as far as Forest Hill, or 197 to Penge or Croydon. Passengers are not left stranded for to long, we are still in London where we have buses running all night, also drivers have rules on how long they can stay on duty, and its not really fair to expect them to go over their duty every night because there`s been alot of traffic jams or passengers who hold the bus up because they want a free ride.
Unlike the deliberate breaking up of the No. 63 route, where you now have to pay for two tickets (Oyster makes no difference you still have to get bleeped twice) if a bus terminates before it reaches the destination shown on the front you can ask the bus driver to print out out a ticket that proves you've already paid for your journey. Not a lot of people know that - at least I didn't until recently.
Of course that doesn't help when you're hanging about at night on the Charing Cross Road with a full bladder and 176 after 176 after 176 are all displaying "Dulwich Library"!
Of course that doesn't help when you're hanging about at night on the Charing Cross Road with a full bladder and 176 after 176 after 176 are all displaying "Dulwich Library"!