A passenger of the Dartford to Orpington bus route says there is a lack of people using the bus because some of the stops in Orpington do not list the service.

Back in May, Peter Adams said he was “sick to death with the appalling service” of the 477 route, and Arriva wanted to scrap the service due to low passenger numbers.

However, the 477 bus was saved after more than 860 people signed a petition to keep it.

It previously had “nightmare problems” with reliability, which Peter says have since hugely improved following changes.

READ MORE: Man ‘sick to death of 477 bus' between Dartford and Orpington

However, he claims that there are still massive differences in passenger numbers along the route.

Peter explains that some bus stops in Orpington do not list the 477, and this may be one of the reasons for fluctuating passengers.

Peter, 74, told the News Shopper: “When the bus gets to Orpington, it is running on TfL bus stops, but a lot of the bus stops there have no notification of the 477.

“On Orpington High Street, the 477 bus is not even on the bus stops because it is outside their remit and the timetables for the 477 are not on there either.

“A lot of people in Orpington know that there is a 477 but they don’t know what time it runs or what bus stops it stops at because there is nothing on the bus stops.

“Arriva have got to realise that people need to know where the buses go to and from and how regular they are before they start to use them.”

Arriva has said it is currently investigating these claims and will provide an update once enquiries have concluded.

The 477 service will be reduced in frequency from the Autumn because “Covid affected bus patronage levels negatively”, according to the company.

This is a further reduction to the service as the route has already gone through changes this year.

Since April 17, the 477 now only runs as far as Dartford, no longer serving Darent Valley Hospital and Bluewater Shopping Centre.

The service no longer runs during the late evenings, with the last bus leaving Orpington bus station at 6.20pm on a weekday.

The Sunday service was also fully scrapped.

Peter believes that if the buses aren’t frequent enough, locals will not use them anyway as the timetable will not be suitable for day-to-day use.

He says that at points on the route, the service is packed full of passengers, but it is very quiet from Swanley to Orpington.

Peter has suggested that splitting the route and its frequency would fix this issue and improve the service.

He said: “Before the 477 was appalling and had nightmare problems but now it doesn’t go to Bluewater and only goes as far as Dartford station it is quite a good service.

“But in my opinion, they could still push it up to every half an hour because there is enough scope passenger wise to use it.

“There is lots of tension from Dartford, especially on a Wednesday.

“The amount of people going from Swanley to Orpington is very, very small.

“If they went back to running it every half an hour from Dartford station to Swanley station that would be a reasonable service.

“So maybe every half an hour to Swanley and every other one to Orpington.”

“If they want to become a presence in the area then they have got to get a grip and pull their finger out and start running the buses when people want them.

“If you haven’t got the frequency there, people will not use the bus and find some other transport.

“If the bus is reliable, they will use the bus and if it is not, they won’t.”

Swanley’s lack of transport options has been a particular topic of conversation between locals online and MP for the area, Laura Trott.

She said in a statement on Facebook that Swanley is desperate for better transport connections and that she is “pressing for more assistance to improve local bus routes”.

The statement reads: “After the rumours circulating on the #477 bus route, I am delighted to confirm that following our campaign, Arriva has chosen NOT to cancel the existing #Orpington to #Dartford service.

“This is excellent news for the people of #Hextable and #Crockenhill in particular, who at one stage feared they would have no bus route whatsoever.

“I continue to press for more assistance to improve local bus routes (including school bus routes) both in and around #Swanley, as well as other parts of my constituency.

“Earlier this year, it was announced by the Government that it had allocated around £11m over a period of three years towards funding Kent bus services from October this year (as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan).”

Arriva has been contacted for further comment. 

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