With the gradual resumption of normal travel arrangements, you might expect bus companies to welcome back their passengers with open arms. However, this has not always been the case, and Arriva in particular have been dilatory in providing the necessary information about their services.
It seems increasingly apparent that printed timetables are seen as unnecessary, as most travellers are assumed to be within access to smartphones. However, even for those who do, Arriva’s website can be most irritating to interrogate, seeming as it does, to revert continually from local services to those for the north of England. Although the many past glitches have been ironed out, the fact that one must trawl through pages of adverts to find the next bus from one’s stop can be most wearisome. What is more reprehensible is the delay in posting current timetables on bus stops. While this now appears to have been done in the centre of Tonbridge, those posted at stops outside the town centre are at the time of writing still dated 2019, and are hopelessly out of date, the 218/9 services in particular having changed radically.
Arriva need to get their act together if they wish to reclaim their customers.