Steve wrote:

Hmmm. Well, I live on the opposite side of London, and often use buses
to get to restaurants, the pub and to switch stations when one or other
line has problems.

I've never noticed them to be particularly dirty - certainly no more so
than an average minicab - and the services seem to run to time, pretty
much.

As I have a 1-5 travel card, I've already paid to use them, so the car
stays on the drive Monday to Friday, mostly. Unless I'm feeling like a
lazy git, or am moving a load (like the shopping).

In central London, congestion charging has made buses a realistic option
against a cab when I go (as I do most weeks) from Holborn Circus to
Trafalgar Sq. About five minutes slower, but £7 cheaper.

I don't think you've really used buses lately...

I wouldn't go anywhere near as far as the poster you were replying to,
but I do feel buses need a lot of work outside central London. There
seems to be this perceived wisdom gathering gravitas, as such things do,
that buses are so much better recently. I don't think this is true for
areas outside the centre, and particularly areas that are dependent on
road travel. I have noticed more buses, which are welcome, but outside
central London they are still dogged by the same infrastructure we had
before, with congestion rendering them quite infuriating to use, and
there still not being enough on certain routes.

Dan