Milton Keynes bus service very poor

METRO BUSES IN MILTON KEYNES WERE ABSLOLUTLY APAULING. I could not believe it, today, 01/08/10, I got the bus from the city MK at 18:07 on the 8a. I was the only one on the bus. After about 10 mins we got near to shenley lodge and the stupid bus driver stoped in the middle of the lane, put the emergancy lights on and started haveing a consversation on the phone! I could not beleive it. A long time late I accidentally pressed the stop sign and the bus driver was shouting at me. I was absolutly appauled and I want to make a formal complaint!

Hmmm ... I'm going into the centre today. Taking the kids on the bus. Buses leave on a Saturday, every 20 minutes, 3 minutes walk from my front door. The bus trip will take 15 minutes. As fast as by car. Seems pretty good to me.

I also use the buses from Olney and can honestly say that Arriva provides the worst public transport service that I have ever used. I have used buses all over the country but never experienced such unreliability - buses usually late, often not arriving at all, breaking down with no replacements available etc. One issue is drivers cutting up the bypass instead of picking up in Sherington village. When two of us wrote to customer services to say that a bus had not arrived, we were told that the service had been running and that our complaint could not be taken further. In other words, nothing was going to be done. Arriva runs the MK service for profit, most of the service is not subsidised by the Council. The Council therefore has no way to sanction Arriva for poor service. Now that Arriva has been sold to a German company, I wonder if anything will change? Or will it be new owners, same management attitude? MK Council really should take responsibility for this and give the local community a reliable way to travel around that does not involve cars.

I have been living in Olney for the past 5 months and rely on the buses as I do not drive. While the buses from Olney are usually on time going in to Milton Keynes. At least once a week I am finding some of the buses from Milton Keynes to Olney just dont bother to turn up. Tonight I went for the 16.40 bus from MK to Olney, guess what, it never turned up, I was waiting from 6.30pm to 7.30pm in temps of 1 degrees. This is not an acceptable service. I asked the driver if he knew why the previous bus did not come, he was very polite and said he did not know. My daughter got the VT99 bus from MK bus station at 5.55pm to Luton Airport and was in Dublin at 9.28,pm, I arrived in Olney at 8.15pm. This is a third world service, its a disgrace to Arriva the bus company. And to top it all, on Sundays the last bus to Olney from MK is at 17.40! We cant even go to a film, or visit friends. Come on Arriva...cop on. This is UK not the backwaters of some outback in Timbucktoo!

I went to live in milton keynes a very long time ago,lol, I only stayed for a week.It was so dead.
It was like a ghost town, but known as toy town when they first started to build it up(1983).
It was only occupied by the youths from M.K's and surounding area's that want to cause trouble and set fire to the mall.
I have a couple of friends that have taken jobs there in the past and given them up because of the area.

It's not like it's any better anywhere else in the country.

Hi Cyclebus. I wrote this gripe a while ago and no longer work in Milton Keynes. Interesting to see that things haven't really changed much. I must say that I don't miss MK at all.

My solution would be to build a railway line connecting Bicester to Milton Keynes, etc. This would allow for frequent, quick travel between towns in the Milton Keynes area!

Interesting responses to a good gripe. Most people who have lived in any other town than MK will tend to say that the MK bus service stinks. When I visited, I arrived by train, and I couldn't believe what was going on. Basically, it seems that the decision has been made that the people who matter all drive cars, so the bus service is an after-thought. And it ain't even cheap! When I talked to people, it was clear that many people were forced to buy a car whether they liked it or not, cycled everywhere, or made plans to leave MK.

Personally I prefer cycling, but the MK cycle lanes, though safe, are very slow, because they meander and loop all over the shop. Cyclists actually have destinations in mind, it's not always Sunday afternoon!

It's not always comfortable or feasible for everyone to cycle, and the bus service in MK really is unbelievably bad. I doubt if 'the majority' of residents think it is fine. The regional transport department should be given a season to sort it out, or the whole lot fired. How the hell are Arriva holding onto their contract? If the bus service is sometimes under-used, there's a very good reason - you have to forget about the bus when you're going out after dark. Just in this gripe, look how many MK people have said they are looking forward to buying a motor. End result: Even fewer passengers on the bus outside peak hours...

I got on a mk metro bus sev 4 on the 23rd of april and I showed the driver my week ticket which expires on the 23rd of April which means the end of the day and he let me on then called me again and said that I need to buy a new 1 and I explained to him it runs out on the end of the day and he sed no and he snatched it out of my hand and made me get off. at 8am and had to wait 30 min for a bus and only ad till 9am to get into college. this really got me annoyed and frustrated , if only I could drive

I use the number 4/4A service and my journey to work is 3.5 miles, it is quicker and less stressful to walk it! They either drive past even though you have your arm out very significantly and if they are so blind as to not see then they should not be driving. or they turn up early and do not wait for their alloted time at the stop or there are no buses at all for 30/40 minutes then one turns up that is so full that they do not stop anyway. Also, the drivers treat bus users like we are scum on the bottom of their foot. AND if this was not enough, when you phone 08444004411 which is the very loosley named 'customer service' line, you hear adverts for international calling services and do not get through to anyone. To try and appease the disgusted and disgruntled customers, MK Metro are holding a 'have your say' Bus service surgery on Thursday 26th March 2009 near macdonalds in the center. They have ensured that us people that travel out of the city cannot attend as it is between 10am and 15.00. MK Metro are not a service, they are a source of stress.

I am a requent bus user in Bletchley, on two occasions recently, I have had reason to ask a question of a bus driver, both times, they have made signs at me that they do not speak English (Polish) I asked an English driver in the bus next to us who was standing outside why my driver hadn't answered my question and he said "don't ask him anything, he doesn't speak English. I have e-mailed the bus company and they have assured me that all their drivers are trained to NVQ2 in Customer Service, amazing, how did they manage to acheive this qualification with no English language skills, does anyone have an answer to this? I contacted the local paper and they said they have had quite a number of these complaints.