Arriva > Reviews > Don't wait for the bus it's quicker to walk

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Rooms	Good
Customer service	very bad
Frequency of bus / buses	Poor
Value for money	Very poor
Reliability	Very poor

Advantages:	New buses
Disadvantages:	Bad staff, timetables aren't kept to

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I will just start out by ridiculing this companies name. Arriva is Italian for "it arrives". This name is so in adequate for this company. I think you will all agree that a more adequate name would be "arriva molto tardi o niente affatto" I agree it is a bit longer but much more adequate and in Italian seeing as they like Italian so much. "Arriva molto tardi o niente affatto" is Italian for "it arrives very late or not at all". This would apply for both the buses and the trains that this company runs.

I live in West Yorkshire and here the buses were took over from the previous company about five years ago. Since then many of the buses have been replaced with new ones with better coloured designs and better layout. I know that Arriva now also control most of the other buses in the country.

Anyway the main service that I use is the 127/126 and it is supposed to run every 10 minutes from morning until 6pm. Then when it gets busy when the schools close (these buses service three secondary schools) suddenly minibuses start arriving. You will have seen nothing like it. About 50 people squashed onto a bus meant to have 40 people on it. It resembles the London tube at peak times.

Now to the bad employees. There have been many complaints lodged about the drivers not letting on young passengers with either not enough fare (where in the rules it says they should and take the name and address of the passenger - obviously too much work for these drivers) or young passengers with a note (£5, £10 are meant to be accepted but £20 aren't). I, myself have had a couple of bad experiences with Arriva bus drivers. My first one was where I am rushing to get home from a long day at work when the driver pulls over at a garage - leaves the engine running and cash in the bus and he runs over to queue and buy a packet of cigarettes which he is not allowed to smoke on the bus anyway.

My second experience is my driver speeding because he set off late then he goes through a red light and nearly runs over a mother and child.

Another problem with Arriva is that since they took over the previous company they have done nothing but raise the fares. They are now £1.30 for a single ticket from my stop into the last (about 13 stops). This used to be half that when they took over.

Generally don't catch the bus - save the money as it is cheaper to save your money and get a car on credit and to learn to drive than to catch the bus twice a day.

PS this must be bad as this is the first very poor I have had to give so far!