'Diabolical' London bus route keeps leaving schoolkids and elderly stranded as it 'terminates randomly'
Regular passengers of a 'diabolical' South London bus service claim children are forced to walk miles to get home and people with limited mobility have to choose between causing themselves pain or being stranded in the cold. Users of the 154 have reported frequent, unpredictable curtailments, with buses terminating at random stops, stranding vulnerable passengers, including schoolchildren.
Residents of Sutton's Roundshaw Estate say they have been badly affected by this downturn in service, with many complaining it often skips the area during peak hours. The 154 links Morden Station and West Croydon Bus Station, passing through the London boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Croydon. Many people rely on the route, as it links them to two of South London's key transport hubs.
Roundshaw resident Daren Fishwick, who has been using the 154 for the past six years, fumed: "I'm on crutches with a bad knee and have been left stranded at Waddon for hours. Sometimes, I get a 157 and walk, but it's tiring and painful.
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"It's seriously affected my mental wellbeing to the point I seriously thought about throwing eggs and bricks at the buses or leaving nasty messages on their windows. It's made my commute unbearable to work and is affecting my job and performance."
Many elderly passengers use the Go Ahead-operated route, so when a bus is curtailed — meaning it's terminated before the intended end of the route — it can be difficult for them to get home. Curtailments happen when bus controllers monitor the route in real time and instruct drivers to cut short their journey. These can be due to factors like heavy traffic, time constraints, hazards, or school hours.
Buses must also maintain 'headway' — the required spacing between buses to keep the service running efficiently. But there doesn't appear to be any clear justification for the frequency of the curtailments.
Regular user Elaine Humphreys told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Last Monday from 11am, the first four all terminated at Stafford Road (18 stops before West Croydon Bus Station). I spoke to one of the drivers, and he said there were no traffic delays; they were just told to terminate. There was no explanation to them. I ended up getting the 157 and tram to East Croydon an hour and a half late. It's the same nearly every day."
Fellow user Charles Kane said: "I have got on the bus from the Newlands (near Wallington) to West Croydon on numerous occasions when it terminated at Hannibal Way, and then the next bus did the same thing.
"On one occasion, this happened, and eventually, there were three buses parked on the other side of the road towards Morden. One of the drivers got really aggressive when I asked if he could explain why."
Ex-154 driver Joanne Fraser said this type of disruption did seem to be new. She said: "As an ex-154 driver, I can categorically tell you that this has not been going on for years. Yes, we got the occasional turn at The Chase (near Waddon) or Rose Hill, but the next bus would be right behind and going the rest of the way. Having bus after bus after bus being turned and passengers waiting over an hour for the next bus is not OK and not running a service."
The impact of the 154's poor service is arguably felt most keenly on the Roundshaw Estate. It's made worse by the fact that the area's popular 455 route was withdrawn last year and replaced with the S4, which many believe is a slow and inferior service.
Resident Sue Seal said: "They [TfL] should have never got rid of 455 bus. The bus service for 154 is diabolical now. I feel sorry for people who get on to get into Croydon."
Suzie Otto agreed, saying: "It's disgusting that the 455 was removed, leaving residents with no bus service to Wallington train station and other useful locations."
Roundshaw parents who spoke to the LDRS described how they have become accustomed to seeing their children walking en masse for 'miles' when the bus drops them off before their desired location after school. Some feel that, especially during the dark winter months, this could be dangerous for young children. When the LDRS travelled along the bus route earlier this week, we found the TfL Go app was often wrong about when the bus was expected to arrive.
Carshalton and Wallington MP Bobby Dean has set up a petition calling for a 'permanent fix' to the service. Mr Dean's Lib Dem office recently revealed TfL data, which found the 154 cut short its journey more than 2,000 times over the past year.
In a statement, Mr Dean said: "This simply isn't good enough. The 154 bus is a lifeline for people living on Roundshaw. But, far too often, the bus is cut short - leaving hundreds of residents stuck miles from home.
"I wrote to Transport for London months ago and have demanded a meeting multiple times. But they keep giving excuses, telling me they are working on it. We need to show the community's anger and get action now."
Rosie Trew, TfL's Head of Bus Service Delivery, told the LDRS: "We're determined to ensure that people can rely on London's bus network and we're sorry that customers using the 154 have experienced issues recently. We're working closely with Go Ahead London, the bus operator of the route, to investigate the current issues in the area, including heavy traffic causing the service to deviate from the published timetable requiring curtailments to manage the service. The closure of Manor Road in Sutton towards the end of last year further added to the severe disruption to all traffic and bus routes in the area.
"We have been in discussions with the local community and stakeholders about this issue and continue to share updates whenever possible. In the meantime, we continue to work with Go Ahead London to improve the reliability of the service under the current schedule."
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