It’s all gone wrong on the 154, say fed-up users of the bus service

By Harrison Galliven, Local Democracy Service

Regular passengers of a ‘diabolical’ bus service claim children are forced to walk miles to get home and people with limited mobility have to choose between causing themselves pain or being stranded in the cold.

Users of the 154 have reported frequent, unpredictable curtailments, with buses terminating at random stops, stranding vulnerable passengers, including schoolchildren.

Residents of Sutton’s Roundshaw Estate say they have been badly affected by this downturn in service, with many complaining it often skips the area during peak hours.

The 154 links Morden Tube station and West Croydon bus station, passing through the boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Croydon.

Roundshaw Estate resident Daren Fishwick, who has been using the 154 for the past six years, fumed: “I’m on crutches with a bad knee and have been left stranded at Waddon for hours. Sometimes I get a 157 and walk, but it’s tiring and painful.

“I’ve seriously thought about throwing eggs at the buses or leaving nasty messages on their windows. It’s made my commute unbearable and is affecting my job and performance.”

Many elderly passengers use the Go Ahead-operated route, so when a bus is curtailed — meaning it’s terminated before the intended end of the route — it can be difficult for them to get home.

Regular user Elaine Humphreys said: “Last Monday from 11am, the first four all terminated at Stafford Road (18 stops before West Croydon Bus Station). I spoke to one of the drivers, and he said there were no traffic delays, they were just told to terminate. There was no explanation to them. It’s the same nearly every day.”

Fellow user Charles Kane said: “I have got on the bus from the Newlands (near Wallington) to West Croydon on numerous occasions when it terminated at Hannibal Way, and then the next bus did the same thing.”

Former 154 driver Joanne Fraser said: “As an ex-154 driver, I can categorically tell you that this has not been going on for years. Having bus after bus after bus being turned and passengers waiting over an hour for the next bus is not OK and not running a service.”

The impact of the 154’s poor service is arguably felt most keenly on the Roundshaw Estate. It’s made worse by the fact that the area’s popular 455 route was withdrawn last year and replaced with the S4, which many believe is a slow and inferior service.

Resident Sue Seal said: “TfL should have never got rid of 455 bus. The bus service for 154 is diabolical now. I feel sorry for people who get on to get into Croydon.”

Carshalton and Wallington MP Bobby Dean has set up a petition calling for a ‘permanent fix’ to the service. Mr Dean’s Lib Dem office recently revealed TfL data, which found the 154 cut short its journey more than 2,000 times over the past year.

Mr Dean said: “This simply isn’t good enough. The 154 bus is a lifeline for people living on Roundshaw. But, far too often, the bus is cut short – leaving hundreds of residents stuck miles from home.”

Rosie Trew, TfL’s head of bus service delivery, said: “We’re sorry that customers using the 154 have experienced issues recently.

“We’re working closely with Go Ahead London to investigate the current issues in the area, including heavy traffic causing the service to deviate from the published timetable requiring curtailments to manage the service.”

The 154 connects South Londoners with the popular Northern line terminus in Morden (Picture: LDRS/Harrison Galliven)