Bus company to cease all Transport for London routes from midnight
Image courtesy Aubrey via Creative Common 2.0.
A bus company operating a number of routes for Transport for London is to cease operations at midnight.
Sullivan’s Buses operate routes around north London and state that “pressures on TfL funding have clearly had a direct impact on our decision”.
They state TfL owed £130,000 when they met to discuss issues in June 2024, while financial penalties due to traffic increases have hit the firm.
In addition payment for operating services has lagged costs of delivery.
A failure to win recent bus contracts added to problems.
Wider bus woes
These issues speak to a wider problem of slow bus speeds and declining usage in London which predates covid.
Bus use started to drop in the mid 2010s and events in recent years sped up declines. Recovery has been slow and recent monthly travel numbers for London buses from TfL are not particularly good.
Last month a report from TfL revealed that an expected income surplus this year of £161 million across various modes of transport hasn’t been achieved with a current £2 million deficit.
The Elizabeth line is doing well as is London Overground while the DLR hampered by reduced services as new trains are tested (and running late). Bus use is lagging with meagre 2.9 per cent increases above already low levels.
Uncomfortable
This week gives one hint of why some many turn away from buses if they can; a lot are unbearably hot in summer.
Air con has become ever more common in cars and trains the past twenty years while at best on a bus you’ll get some “air chilling”.
A couple of bus trips on the 180 with air chilling was enough to stop me trying again. It did next to nothing. Miserable journeys and it never got up to a decent speed to see air blowing in.
I’ve adjusted a few journeys this week to ensure only air con trains were used which meant buses were a no-go, as was the DLR, even if more convoluted. At least the DLR’s new trains have air con.
But for buses? Slow, uncomfortable and just not worth it in many cases now.
UPDATE: Other bus companies are running certain routes however some timetables may initially be limited.
W9: Stagecoach
Arriva: 217
Uno: 298
Go Ahead: 299
In POTTERSBAR we are losing a lot of bus routes, we will be stranded soon, the 84b does not run in the evenings, the 84 is very unreliable, we have lost the 242, and now the 298, we don’t have a pass for the trains, how do we get anywhere,
20mph speed limit on most main roads so now buses are too slow and the price has gone up too
It is a shame when you here of a company affectively going out of business. I understand some routes are going to Go Head London and a couple of routes to Stagecoach London and Arriva. Some routes need to be tendered and may not operate until a new operator can be found
My thoughts are with the Drivers and staff at Sullivan Buses at this sad and difficult times. I understand other bus operators are struggling in London. We need to see major investment in London Bus Services generally. Rather than wasting more money on more Superloop bus routes. Which is one of the Mayor of London’s vanity projects to introduce the ULEZ expansion in Outer London. People need new bus routes and Improvements to existing bus routes going where people need to get too with most journeys made locally.
As a bus driver in London, I can tell you revenue inspectors need to be more prevalent as bus fare non payers cost hundreds of thousands. The amount of people that don’t pay is shameful.
Surely the fault is with the head of Transport for London, SadMan Khan. He is not there to assist the people of London and beyond!! but to ruin the day to day running of transportation, whilst doing his best to come up with ever more insane ideas to put on his CV because he knows this term time will be his last.. …… hopefully.