Harrow is known throughout London as one of the capital’s leading boroughs for public transport links, wherever you go locally – you’re never far from a train station.
Harrow’s public transport is praised for not only being reliable, but also for having a large number of stations, bus stops and infrastructure.
However, there’s always room for improvement. We wanted to find out what Harrow residents thought about public transport in the borough – we asked 36,000 people in our Facebook group, below are some of the answers we received.
Sidders Anwar posted: “I can only comment on my experience with the 186, H18 and 19. It would be nice if both of the H’s were more frequent and not disappear from the schedule when shown as expected? (nice tidy spacious buses though)
“I must be a grumpy old man now as I can’t fathom why on Earth when the bell has been pressed, it needs to be pressed another 5-10 times. If people are on their headphones, there’s a visual indication that the bus is stopping.
“Why is it now the norm for people to; have a full blown vocal conversation for the whole of their journey with someone on FaceTime
“Why on Earth, do people not use headphones? The whole bus doesn’t need to listen to one’s music/social media. Why, when there are seats available, do people need to clog up the exit doors? Rant over.”
Jason P said: “I see a lot of moaning about it but to be honest, Harrow is one of the best places to get around by bus or train, when you consider we are so close to central London, and can get there from Wealdstone station in less than 20 minutes (at least to Euston), then I feel we perhaps don’t give it enough credit. We should be proud to have so many links in Harrow and not to mention a huge bus station.”
Hassan Mohammad said: “It’s very bad and needs a lot of improvement. 7pm to 10am and 3pm to 6pm, bus lanes need to be imposed from North Harrow Station to Rayners Lane to make H9 and H10 routes go faster. Same time parking restrictions need to be enforced on public transport routes between 7am and 10am and from 3pm to 6pm. Basically Harrow school children can not depend on public transport to arrive at their schools on time. The same issues are applicable to people commuting to work.”
Gwen Crick commented: “Mostly ok except when you get a 258 to Watford and they decide to terminate it at Bushey station with no prior notice ..happened to me a couple of times now.”
Carly McWilliams said: “I do not understand why Alexandra avenue is not served with a regular bus service. Its a very long main road that has a large health centre in the middle. The only bus route that goes down (half of it) is the 398 which only runs once every half hour and is often non existent.”
Antoinette Daly replied: “There’s plenty of local residents that would benefit hugely if there was a regular bus service through Alexandra Ave.”
Shazia Aslam said: “I think it’s pretty good. We have great tube lines and overground. Buses ok.”
Paula Devine posted: “All other bus routes have a good service but I think 258 could be more regular.”
Samantha O Hagan said: “I don’t use public transport as I drive, however I jumped on a 186 the other day and it was fine. It arrived on time, I paid with my debit card easily enough and the driver was friendly. I don’t use it enough to be able to rate it.”
Sharon Price added: “I remember years ago, maybe back in the early 90s, you’d need to wait ages for a bus. We would go to Kenton from Wealdstone to a little joke shop and the bus would just take forever. Things seem to have improved a lot since then, I wouldn’t say they’re perfect but compared to other places our services are ok.”
