‘Single-decker buses are simply too small’

• I DO not find the No 274 single-decker bus service “lovely, relaxing, intimate”, (Keep the 274 as a single decker bus, August 16).

Even though I do not travel on 274 as often as I might do on 214 or 46, single-decker buses are simply too small.

It would be all right if you travel during off-peak only, but what I witnessed on the rare occasion of my being on 274 last month was quite the opposite; at around 5pm on July 19 I got on 274 near Camden High Street to go to work in St John’s Wood.

The bus was packed as it was rush hour, and an elderly lady who was standing in the aisle confronted a woman who was sitting on priority seats with a boy, by saying that she had weak knees due to an operation she had had and that a six-year-old boy should not be sitting on a priority seat.

The woman hit back “He is not six. Don’t judge!” A lady behind them quickly gave away her seat to the elderly one.

However they continued shouting at each other for a considerable time until a young bloke tried to calm them down. Even so, the woman with a boy exclaimed to the guy “She’s attacking me!”.

We could not believe what was happening. If I had been the woman on the priority seat I would have surrendered it immediately without being asked. I wondered what kind of examples she was showing to the boy.

Anyway, if there had been more seats, that ugly scene could have been avoided.

I used to catch the No 31 from Abbey Road to Camden Town when it was single-decker service. The small bus was often full and passed us like a thunder.

Even now, in spite of being double-decker, it becomes full at Camden High Street at times and does not stop at Camden Market and Chalk Farm.

Actually, new double-decker buses are quieter than single-decker ones as they run on both electricity and hybrid-diesel.

The route 274 serves London Zoo, and it apparently needs more capacity, if not frequency.

ATSUKO McCARTHY
Ossulston Street, NW1