anyone else fed up of the number 12 bus?

[weloveforesthillroad]

I get on the number 12 every morning and afternoon up to piccadilly circus and am getting really frustrated with the amount of times we have to get off early and then people fight you for seats on the next packed on that comes along.

The bus starts by saying going to oxford circus or dulwich library but then literally every second journey i take it stops early either in trafalgar square on the way in or camberwell green or peckham on the way home!

I have been told when I complained to the bus service that this is either due to driver timings for breaks or timetable slots. As far as I can tell this journey (when completed) take approx 1 hour end to end so why do they not take this into account when working out the timetable!!??

I have also got on this bus in the evenings and been dumped in peckham arounnd the corner from morrisons even at midnight with no warning! I dont think this is very fair when i have paid to to where it says when i first get on!

I would change from this bus but its the only direct route for me to get to work!

Is it just me or is anyone else getting fed up of this??

[SeanMacGabhann]

And to think that this route used to go all the way to Notting Hill until just a couple of years ago

But this thread does dovetail nicely with the #40 bus thread elsewhere on the forum so I would advise popping the message there

(short answer from me - "yes"!)

[Brendan]

The No. 12 is the most direct way for me to get to work. It literally starts from behind my house and stops around the corner from work in Westminster. I however don?t use it because it is so full of shite! It is quicker and less stressful for me to get a bus down LL to Denmark Hill, then a train to Blackfriars and then a tube to Westminster.

My last straw with the 12 was when my mate and I were on the bus coming through Peckham and some scrote bottled my mate and then ran off into the night. But aside from that there is always either someone kicking off on the bus or the bus just stops and everyone has to get off. Oh yeah and it is also usually so full of litter one may as well get a ride home on a rubbish truck.

I hate the 12 me! (6)

[weloveforesthillroad]

Glad its not just me then! you are right Brendan it is full of shite, I had my mobile phone grabbed out of my hand by one kid as his mate held the doors open for him to get off! the bus was packed, they had to lean over a massive bloke next to me to get it and not one person on the bus looked up from their paper as I tried to grab it back!!

I dont know why I still do it to myself and get on it, I guess I keep hoping it will change (no such luck!)

[SeanMacGabhann]

Man - I hate the 12 but THAT sounds even more stressful - I will do anything to avoid a change of bus/tube/train

[Brendan]

It's not that bad. As long as you don't succumb to the urge to join the rest of the rabble and run and push in a blind panic to be the first to the platform or to be the last to squeeze onto the already overcrowded tube carriage.

I have a relatively pleasant journey. I get a seat on the bus, train and tube and get to have a coffee at DH when I wait for the train.

The journey time is about the same, sometimes even quicker. The only down side is it costs more.

[JoeChuff]

hmm the stopping early thing is annoying but i've never had any other trouble on the 12 in 2 years of commuting...

[Jessie]

I don't mind the 12 and it's a good bus if you're travelling with a pushchair

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

When I was at Uni I had to go all the way to Oxford Circus on the 12 a few times, but once it took me over an hour and a half and I missed my lecture, so decided to cycle instead which only took me 40 minutes. I still cycle if I have to go into town, because I can't stand waiting around for buses that take aaaages to get anywhere!

I use the 12 more now just to go to Peckham and back, or to collect my granddaughter from my daughter's place, but the only problems I've had is ugly, boozy men trying to chat me up a couple of times and if I have my dog with me, people giving me dirty looks because they don't like dogs on the bus, but I ignore them all anyway.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Re: chatting up

Look - I've apologised for that night ok????

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

haha - ur not ugly Sean

[SeanMacGabhann]

why thank you CWALD - but that means you remember the drunken chatup line ;-)

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Haha yeh I never said you weren't boozy!

[annaj]

I like the 12.

I use it almost every day and have never had a problem, apart from the boozy chatting up that CWALD mentioned.

Back when it was still a routemaster there was a Number 12 poem on posters on the top deck. A satisfied number 12 passenger had written it in tribute to her favourite bus. Obviously, I don't like it as much as she did...

"I like the fact they've kept them red,

they're famed the whole word through.

Efficient and it must be said,

they're clean and tidy too.

Conductors seem to like their work,

the stops en route they shout,

to help befuddled foreign folk

to find their way about.

They're not to hot.

They're not to cold.

And so this traveller feels,

the number 12 deserves the gold:

The greatest thing on wheels."

[redrouge]

I HATE that disgusting bus.

I live right beside where they terminate on LL, all through the night... BEEP BEEP BEEP, and trust me, living on LL isn't as noisy as you'd think - utter silence now... aside from those bloody buses. Reversing at all hours... Drivers pissing up against the walls. We've campagined to have the buses moved, but there's no where for them to go, if they went back by St Anthony's on Ethrow Street they'd end up running over the little ones.

*sigh* When the 12 was a routemaster, it was a magnificent bus. Sounded better too... Clickty-clank. Lovely conductors. Hopping on and off at traffic lights if you wanted... no knocking on doors and begging... Drivers didn't launch themselves down Walworth and LL trying to meet timetable deadlines or whatever. I don't remember any yobs either...

I got the 12 all last year to uni and back... Only to Camberwell College of Art, but it took 45 minutes to get back home most days! I've had my purse stolen five times on that bus... No idea how either, I'm usually quite alert.

And of course not forgetting sudden terminations at Camberwell Green, Peckham, Trafalgar Square or Westminister. Incredibly taxing when you're already late! Or the incredibly bothersome "changing of the drivers" ARGH!

I can only think of two redeeming things for the 12: Once I lost my passport, must've fallen out of my bag on to the floor of the bus... And the driver found it and took it too lost property... and if you get on at the top of Barry Road, you're always guaranteed a seat!

Goodness, quite a rant! Don't get me started on my love/hate relationship with the 176...

[SeanMacGabhann]

only 5 weeks to go before the weekly column in Time Out (using all the bus routes in London starting at #1) gets to the 12

[Nero]

The worst aspect for me is people dropping litter and people putting their feet on the seats. It's a very unpleasant situation. Standing on a bus as a norm is NOT the way forward. It's dehumanising. No wonder some people are then tempted to treat the bus in an unhuman fashion, ie. by spitting, littering (including nut shells and peach stones, I kid you not) and leaving free newspapers to be shredded underfoot. Take note, this kind of thing bleeds into the greater society. It's disturbing and unpleasant. Nero

[annaj]

Again, I think I'm going to have to defend the 12.

I'm a devoted public transport user and the bus service here is better than it has been anywhere else I've lived. The 12 comes every 5-10 minutes, 24 hours a day - that's a good service.

I only find it stops short about once a week and in my experience it always says where it's stopping on the front and very rarely changes destination en-route. Now that the road works on Walworth Road are finishing, my journey to Westminster rarely takes more than 40 minutes. Maybe it's because I mainly use it off peak, perhaps the service is better.

The only frustrating time to travel is mid-afternoon when Rye Lane is blocked with delivery trucks and all the buses come to a standstill, but that's not the fault of the number 12. As for the "bothersome" changing of drivers, it really only causes a few minutes delay and I have always assumed that is because they're due to finish shift or have a break and I would personally prefer my driver to have had regular breaks.

On the subject of safety, again perhaps I've just been lucky, but I've never had anything stolen.

I'm sorry everyone else is having such a horrible experience.

[Nero]

Does the litter aspect and having to stand and be packed in not bother you at all? I am genuinely intrigued. Perhaps I am too sensitive about that kind of thing, and others are more willing to accept it. Nero

[Ladygooner]

I hate all bendy buses. The 12 was much faster when it was the old route master - plus you could jump on in between bus stops! I have found myself in the middle of a couple of fights at the back of the bendy bus - not a pleasant experience.

[annaj]

Ok, yes, the litter does bother me (your post appeared while I was writin mine Nero or I would've mentioned it).

Standing? Not really.

I do think I'm unusually insensitive to the things that bother most people about public transport. Mr J hates the 12 and can't understand why I don't.

The only thing I really don't like on public transport is personal grooming. I've seen people plucking their eyebrows and cutting their nails - yuk!

I suppose I'm just lucky that the whole experience doesn't bother me. Sorry!:-$

[weloveforesthillroad]

annaj, I think you make a point, gettting on off peak the number 12 does usually go where is says its going but it has defo been getting worse and worse at peak times for cutting the journey short. It has happened to me three mornings this week, stopping at trafalgar square when it said it was going to oxford circus with the driver only mentioning it when we got to the stop before.

On a plus point there does seem to be a great increase in inspectors getting on recently and it is amazing how quickly the bus empties as soon as the words ''tickets and passes please'' are shouted!

[annaj]

Well, there has to be one upside to shift work :)

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Most of the people I know refer to the bendy bus as the 'free bus'.

Now it's my turn to run for cover!

[catgirl]

It would be interesting to estimate the total in missed fares per day per bendy bus and calculate whether or not that could actually pay for a conductor to collect said fares, provding employment, back up for the bus driver when necessary and possibly even an element of control over the rowdy / littering elements who seem to collect at the back.