Friday 29 January 2010

Bromley (TFL) buses 261 & 126 and prams - shame on you!

This morning for me was just the last straw so RANT ALERT! I'm a mum of a 7 month old baby and in these last 7 months I have repeatedly felt victimised by bus drivers and I know I am not alone.



If I have the pram - a bugaboo - so nice and compact, many bus driver don't stop to let you on the bus, even when there is clearly room for a pram. Some don't acknowledge you at all and others think it's ok to point a the pram, shake their heads and not even bother to open the door or speak to you like your a humanbeing!



This morning I was at a bus stop on burnt ash lane for over 40 mins, the route is served by 126 and a 261 which are timetabled for approx every 10 mins each. So in 40 mins you would expect to see 8 buses - 4 for each route.

What I actually saw was 3 (not even half of what is timetabled)


The first, a 261 simply did the point and shake - and the bus did look rather full so fair enough.


The second, a 126 also did the point and shake - even though I could clearly see there was room for a pram in the designated space.


The Third - a 261 looked very empty and didn't bother to stop or even acknowledge me.

I gave up and went home after this.
I have to say, as a mum I have found the attitude of bus drivers in the Bromley area to have appalling attitudes and a general rudeness towards women with prams and it has got to stop!
When I have ventured into central London - I find it to be the complete opposite - getting on buses, especially the bendy ones is great and drivers in central London will often even pop out the little ramps for you! - in 7 months a Bromley driver has NEVER done this for me!

Firstly - TFL - why set yourself your own bus timetables if you can't keep them? and Secondly - why is there such a poor attitude towards women with prams?!

Emma in Bromley x


4 comments:

  1. Hello Emma,

    Just discovered your blog - great reading as I live in Bromley too and have a 3 month old daughter.

    What you say about bus drivers doesn't fill me with joy. I don't drive so am reliant on buses. I've only ventured out on public transport twice - the first time my baby cried during the entire journey, so the second time I made sure she had literally just been fed before going out. Having to wait ages at the bus stop for a driver to actually let me on will only make matters worse. I'm nervous enough about using public transport. :-(

    I'll keep reading your blog.

    All the best,
    Karen

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  2. I hope my rant doesn't put you off - I have to say, my son is now 23 months and baby 2 is due in the next few weeks and I still don't drive so I'm pretty nervous as I've not found any improvements on my particular routes. However I have heard friends on other bromley routes don't have as many issues although often have to wait for another bus. I do wish the local public transport would sort itself out!

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  3. Hello, thank you for your reassurance. I have to say that several of my NCT friends use public transport and haven't had too many problems.

    Thanks also for following me on Twitter, not that I post very much on there!

    Good luck with baby #2!

    Karen

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  4. I have just caught a 126 bus from Eltham. I was really suprised with the way the driver treated his customers. He said either ' Good morning' or How are you. What a lovely man.His smile was a real picture. He had a number 44 on the front of his bus. In case the manager is reading this the bus got to Mottingham station at about 11.30am and he looked tall about late 40's with a bald head. You want to keep hold of him!

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Thank you for your comments

Emma x