My Favourite Bus Service

The 414 (Putney Bridge Station - Maida Hill, The Chippenham) is my favourite bus service basically because its the one I take most often. It is really useful when after a long day of lectures, you don't really want to trudge back through Hyde Park. And it passes by some really nice places - Harrods, Hyde Park Corner, Park Lane (the Dorchester Hotel), Marble Arch and of course, Edgware Road (it also passes through Maida Hill, but I suppose that can't be helped).

So even though I am so grateful that this service exists, I still have a few quibbles. Like, for example, why do some buses not travel the whole route, and terminate at Marble Arch, or Edgware Road (the latter I have no problem with btw). It is really irritating to have to wait for the next bus because the one that comes first does not go the whole route. What is even more annoying is sometimes, the front of the bus says Maida Hill, but inside, the voice informs you that it is, in face, terminating at Marble Arch. The one time it happened to me, the driver was decent enough to let all the passengers (who, like us, were caught unaware when the bus came to Marble Arch and the engine went off) to get onto the next Maida Hill-bound bus without having to tap our Oysters again. This doesn't happen anywhere else as far as I am aware.

And secondly, the frequency can be rather strange sometimes. The other day, four 14 buses came and went at the bus stop before the first 414 arrived (luckily not a Marble Arch-only bound one or I would have been so incensed). I don't know if its just 14s which have crazy frequencies or whether the 414 is just slow. But still, it's annoying.

However, I guess it makes up for some of that by giving me a view of Danni Minogue turning on the lights at Harrods, or getting me back when I was under-dressed for the day. So, hooray for the 414!