Putney Bus Routes Receive Most Complaints in London

Over 1,000 lodged about local routes last year

Buses queueing on Putney High Street. Picture: Putney Society

July 11, 2025

New data on the number of complaints by bus route across London has shown the highest number come from services passing through the Putney area.

In the latest year over 1,000 negative reports were submitted to TfL about numbers 14, 265 and 93 with only the 65 between Ealing and Kingston receiving more complaints in the year to the middle of this June. Complaints about all three local services have risen significantly over the last three years to their highest ever level.

In addition, the 85 received 272 complaints making it the 16th most reported for poor service.

The 265, between Putney Bridge and Tolworth, has previously been described as a “ghost bus” due to regular cancellations and bypassing stops when full to capacity. TfL has acknowledged issues with the service saying that traffic caused by roadworks as well as mechanical issues have affected schedules. It has drawn up an action plan with the operator, Go Ahead, in an attempt to improve reliability.

Route 93, which runs from Putney Bridge to North Cheam, is now fully converted to zero emission vehicles but has a rush hour average speed of just 7mph below the average of 9.1mph for the network.

However, this is rapid compared to route 14 which has an average speed of 5.5mph, dropping to 5.3mph during rush hour. Passengers also complain about early terminations.

One of the reasons for the 85’s unpopularity with passengers is the persistent early terminations of the service at Putney Heath which it is believed happen to artificially improve the services reliability indicators.

The figures were obtained by a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrat Party which showed there were over 70,000 complaints lodged last year with Transport for London (TfL) .

Five years of data were requested but TfL only retains information back for three years and so the figures are for each year since 17/6/2022. TfL cautions that simple comparisons between routes may not be ‘particularly insightful, due to differences in number of passengers, frequency or journey length. A request for the data on complaints broken down by borough was denied as that information is not collated.

A spokesperson for TfL said that the buses receiving the most complaints, were also among the busiest on the network adding, "London's buses are the most used form of transport in the city and are vital in ensuring safe, reliable and accessible travel. They connect communities across the capital and help reduce congestion and emissions, with upwards of four million journeys per day.

"We're committed to ensuring every bus journey is a positive experience, and we continually address the small minority of customer complaints that we receive.

"This includes our work to bring in new routes as part of the Superloop network, reducing journey times by investing in bus priority measures and improving the customer experience by rolling out new zero-emissions buses with innovative features and cutting-edge design."

The Lib-Dems said the figures revealed the "shocking state" of London's bus routes, with the volume of complaints pointing to "persistent problems with punctuality, reliability, and customer service.

"We need to see real investment in our bus network and proper accountability for routes that consistently underperform."

About 1.8 billion bus journeys are made in London each year - making the bus network the most-used mode of transport in the capital.