Ooh Look! A Double-Decker Bus!

These buses are as synonymous with London as Big Ben and rain.  You'll be glad to know that these buses are generally used by sober individuals.  So if you want to spare yourself the ickiness of the night bus, hop on during the day.

Like the Tube, you can use either your pay-as-you-go Oyster card, your monthly/weekly farecard, or you can pay cash at the window.  However, be forewarned that it it much more expensive to pay cash.  The difference being £1.20 with an Oyster card and £2.00 without.  This seems quite small but realise that you have to pay each time you get on a bus.  So if your journey involves more than one bus, then you have to pay either £1.20 or £2 per bus that you take.  Also keep in mind that if you are paying with cash, that you should try to pay with small bills.  Most of the drivers won't have change for £10s or £20s.




If your Oyster card does not have enough money to get on the bus, that you will have to pay £2 cash to get on.  You can not recharge or top-up your Oyster card on any buses.  And if you give the driver £1.20 and flash him your Oyster card and a smile, he'll look at you like you're crazy and demand £2.  So it's best to check your balance before you get on the bus and not have to hear the dreaded two-beep klaxon emanating from the Oyster reader that indicates that you have insufficient funds.

The biggest complaint about the buses is that they are unreliable.  This is true as they have a tendency to change their routes at the last minute and terminate at an earlier stop then you anticipated.  Like when you're trying to get to Fulham Broadway from St. Paul's and the bus decides to terminate at Sloane Square.  Not cool.

Now most people think that when this happens that they'll have to pay to get on the next bus that will continue to their final destination.  But quiet as kept, in these situations,  you are entitled to a free transfer to the next bus.  To get one, just ask the driver for a bus transfer. He'll print up a little receipt of you and this will allow you free passage onto the next bus.  Sweet!

Another slightly annoying thing is that bus stops are frequently taken out of service.  The only way to tell is if you look up at the bus stop sign and notice a yellow sign taped to it that says, "Bus stop not in use".  The drivers are also suppose to tell the people on the bus if an upcoming stop has been taken out of service.  But they usually don't.   So if the driver flies past a stop.  He may not be being an ass.  He may just have piss poor communication skills.

For the most part, however, the buses are quite reliable. They run quite frequently during the week (every 4-5 minutes) and during the evening and weekends they run usually every 10 minutes.  They also can make for really cheap tours of London especially if you're in the front seats at the top as you can get a pretty good view of your surrondings.  And for me, I personally still get a bit of a thrill sitting in the top and secretly giggle to myself  "Wow I'm in London!" There's just something very British about the whole thing.

Links:
Online Bus Maps
Bus Time Tables