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London buses

Posted by (Seattle, WA) on

This article on London's most interesting bus routes has probably been posted before, but I am posting again for the benefit of many who are new to the forum and have yet to visit London.

https://londonist.com/2016/10/london-s-best-bus-routes-for-tourists

We enjoyed using the bus instead of the tube on our last trip (3 weeks in London). The 15 was particularly useful for us; we could take it as far as Tower Bridge and then walk across the bridge to our apartment on the south bank.

We also had a nice ride on the 11 down Kings Road to Worlds End and Chelsea Harbour pier. We sat upstairs in the front seats, and a friendly local provided some commentary on what we saw as we passed by.

Posted by
734 posts

Thanks Lola! I will be in London in 2 weeks (yea!) and will check these bus routes out!

Posted by
985 posts

Thank you so much for sharing this. We didn't ride any buses our first time in London but these routes look like great fun for exploring next time.

Posted by
3958 posts

Great links Lola and Nigel! Thanks so much for sharing. I can’t wait to utilize these suggestions on our next trip to London.

Posted by
1326 posts

Do all the busses now take contactless cards? I remember that some of them didn’t and I’ve switched to using the contactless card rather than an Oyster.

Posted by
344 posts

The bus is the way to go. You can see so much. The tube is usually not that much faster, (5-10 minutes) yet you see nothing. You are underground, staring at other people in your tube car. You are in London for a reason, get out there and enjoy it!

An earlier poster mentioned the official transport link https://tfl.gov.uk but I found Google Maps just as accurate and more accessible.
If you go to google maps, select an address or location in London, and a destination (to/from) and select public transport, you will see what bus or tube goes when and where. You can enter either your destination arrival time, or your departure time, and you can see a list of buses (or tube options). For example: enter Russell Square to Camden Market and it will show you exactly where you are going. We rode the bus all over, and what a luxury it was to be able to look on a cell phone and see how many more stops, what the name of the stop was before your stop, and to follow where the bus was while on the bus! Just don't spend your time looking at your phone!

Frequently was able to get on the 2nd floor, front seat---above the driver. Fantastic views!

Posted by
304 posts

Love the buses! yes, I can usually get the front seat upstairs (and if not, I take a seat behind it and move up when the person gets off). Last week I took the 36 from Paddington to Victoria and the 23 from Paddington to Aldwych; also the 153 from Barbican to Sadler's Wells, among others. It's especially nice in December for seeing the pretty Christmas lights at eye level and NOT having to deal with the busy foot traffic on the ground. Another plus is admiring how skilled the drivers are, navigating tight turns and not running over the bikers and pedestrians who are constantly darting in front of the bus. And since I have vision issues, not having to deal with the labyrinthine passages of the Tube (and the crowds who all know where they're going) makes travel much less stressful.

Thanks so much for the links, Lola and Nigel!

ETA: I'm sure this has been posted already in this forum, but here is my favorite map of "key bus routes in central London" complete with little pictures of famous sights:

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/key-bus-routes-in-central-london.pdf

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