C10 bus

I know that a lot has been written in the 78 bus thread about the C10, but I thought it deserved its very own message thread.

This is what TfL had to say about the C10 route on 5 Feb to Cllr Skelly....

"Route C10 runs every 12 minutes between Victoria and Canada Water via Pimlico, St Thomas' Hospital, Elephant, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. As you will know, the section between Elephant and Canada Water was added in 2006 in response to local requests. It uses 45-capacity buses which are accessible to wheelchairs. The size of buses which can be used is restricted by a constraint in Pimlico.
There are extra journeys in the morning peak between Canada Water and Elephant. These were introduced on 11th January 2010, replacing journeys which ran only between Bermondsey and Elephant. Hence there is now more capacity being provided through Rotherhithe.
The service has also been affected by traffic congestion due to the roadworks in Borough, which has reduced effective capacity when buses need to be curtailed short of their normal destinations. However, the rate of bus-km lost due to congestion fell considerably in the most recent period. We are keeping the new arrangements under review and we have also asked Westminster City Council to review the constraint in Pimlico."

Andrew Miles
Government Relationship Manager
Transport for London
Strategic Relationship Centre
Floor 11 - Zone B2, Palestra
197 Blackfriars Road
LONDON, SE1 8NJ

tel 020 3054 0153 / int 80153
mob 07738 140 788
e andrew.miles@tfl.gov.uk
w http://tfl.gov.uk

The buses that run to the Elephant and Castle in the mornings are empty and a waste of time- a few people do get off at the Elephant granted but far more get on in St Georges Road so the Victoria buses still get very crowded. This may help the people in Rotherhithe but people in the Abbey Street /Long Lane and the Borough are being short changed as it can be very difficult ot get on buses here.

What is need are more buses going through to Victoria and less buses suddenly having their destinations changed to Tate Britain part way through the journey

The bus size is a real issue as once on the buses getting off is a real nightmare-even if they were still the small buses but with 2 doors it would be a great help

Having said that the journey was ok today as half term and no Pimlico and Greycoat kids!!

The termination issue also applies going the other way. I have several times been on a C10 which terminated without warning at Rotherhithe roundabout. Once when I was waiting at the churchyard in Abbey Street the driver kindly said that she was only going to the Rotherhithe roundabout and that I should "wait for the one behind". Unfortunately it was 20 mins behind and also decided to terminate at Rotherhithe roundabout!

Another day another whinge about the C10, but I have to vent somewhere. The traffic was for some reason pretty bad this morning on the 1 between Grange Road and Elephant, so I was running late. However as I crossed at the pedestrian lights to the St George's Road stop I was pleased to see a C10 just pulling in.

Unfortunately, it was pulling in behind a 53 and a 453, which was itself a little back from the stop, having pulled in behind a 344 which had just gone). Only one person was getting on the C10, and present circumstances (can't really walk at any pace, hence why I'm on the bus in the first place not the tube) there was no way I was going to get to it.

I've played this game before, dash up to the bus door to find the bus has left - however the 53 and the 453 were pulling away, leaving the C10 just down the road, and me, square at the bus stop. My wild optimism that I would then be allowed to get on the bus proved unfounded.

It was not, as the C10 so often is, full - indeed there were seats. So, I signalled for the bus, but thought from the direction of travel the driver might not have seen me. I then waved my arm, complete with three foot attention-getting extension (or, you know, walking stick as it's sometimes called) very excitably as the bus approached the stop.

The bus did not, of course, stop.

I know in the grand scheme of things much worse things happen, but I can only see two possibilities here; either the bus driver has a serious eyesight problem, in which case he shouldn't be driving a bus, or he has a lack of consideration for people with physical impairments, in which case London public transport isn't really the right place for him either.

On the TFL website there is a feedback / Complaints section detail to them what has happened. The more people who complain about the shoddy services in our part of town the more likely they are to do something (well in theory anyway!).

I had a similar experience to beingjdc last night with the 188 at Waterloo. The driver of the bus seemed to think that as there were 4 or 5 other (different number) buses at the bus stop, it was too much effort for him to actually stop. I made a complaint for the first time by ringing TFL.

Once again, we were all dumped off the C10 in the rain at Rotherthithe Tunnel roundabout tonight at 5.45, rather than it going along Rotherhithe Street (OK, I know it's SE16). It really is a rubbish service with a contractor who cares nothing about running a reliable service for the benefit of those who pay for it.

Like dee dee above, I believe in complaining to TFL - at least it must be recorded somewhere but I think I'll be long gone from here before I see an improvement!

The contract for the C10 has apparently been awarded to Abellio with effect from next March. 14 new single decker buses will be used on the route.

James

do we know if these are 1 or 2 door buses? the big problem on the C10's is they get so packed it is difficult to get off them as only one door!

If they really are NEW single-deckers [like those that are recently being used on the 100] then yes. they will have centre exit doors.