Arriva Bus Reviews

I’ve tried getting in touch with Arriva Bus support a few times now, it’s felt like I’m just being ignored. I never got a proper reply, so I was left waiting around with no idea what was happening. From my point of view, it’s really frustrating when you need help and it seems like no one is bothered to answer. Not good enough, in my opinion.

The bus itself was fine, nothing special but it got the job done. I’d kind of already heard this route wasn’t the friendliest, and the driver pretty much confirmed that for me. No hello or anything, and when I asked a simple question he snapped like I was bothering him. It wasn’t the worst trip ever, but the whole vibe just felt unfriendly.

I’ve been using Arriva for my kid’s school route, it’s been stressful. The buses are late way too often, and the updates, when they do come, usually feel too late to be much help. Most of the drivers have been fine, to be fair, but the whole management and communication side of things just feels messy, and a bit frustrating.

I sent in a complaint weeks ago it just felt like it went nowhere. I kept getting passed around and never got a real answer, no apology, and nothing actually got sorted. It left a really bad taste, to be honest. Just not the way you expect to be treated as a customer...

For short trips, the prices are usually fine and still cheaper than driving most days. But lately, a few routes feel like they’ve gotten a bit too expensive for what they are. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible, but it’s frustrating enough that I’m considering raising it with customer service if the fares keep creeping up.

The buses are mostly on time, which is good, but during peak hours it gets really packed, like everyone is just squeezed in there too much. I kind of wish they would put more buses on at those times because it makes the ride not so great. The drivers seem to handle it okay though, so that part is fine...

I could found my bus times without too much hassle. The timetable was simple enough to read, so I didn’t really get stuck or anything...

I managed to leave my bag on an Arriva bus last week, i was sure that was the last I’d see of it. I filled out the lost property form on their website more out of hope than confidence, so getting a reply the next day was a nice surprise and definitely took some of the stress off.
Sorting out the actual pickup took a couple of days, and getting through to the depot by phone wasn’t the easiest, which is why I wouldn’t say the process was perfect. But the staff were friendly when I arrived, and everything was still in my bag, so in my view it all worked out well enough in the end. Four stars from me, mainly because it could’ve been a bit quicker.

I’m still waiting on my refund, it’s getting frustrating. The compensation they mentioned seems to have been completely ignored, and the refund never actually showed up. Not exactly the smoothest experience, to put it mildly.

The live bus times on arrivabus.co.uk haven’t been very reliable for me. It’ll say the bus is 6 minutes away, then suddenly it’s 20, or it just disappears completely like it was never coming haha. It makes planning anything really awkward, and I’ve spent way too much time just standing around waiting. You’d think real-time info would be the simple part, but it feels random.

Took the bus the other day and it was better than I expected. The seats were comfy enough for the whole trip, and the bus looked clean overall. I did notice a little dust by the window, especially when the sun hit it, but nothing that really bothered me. I had my coffee with me and just stared out the window most of the way, so it made for a relaxed ride.

I had a really uncomfortable trip with Arriva. There were a few passengers shouting, swearing, and moving around while the bus was still going, come on now, it was not a situation anyone should just have to sit through.

The driver seemed more bothered about sticking to the timetable than what was happening on the bus. I know drivers can’t control every single person, but it really felt like nobody was paying attention to the safety side of things.
I ended up getting off earlier than planned because I just didn’t feel secure staying on. I’d definitely think twice before using them late at night or if I was travelling on my own.

I really wanted this to work out, but wow, the cancellations are way too frequent. Most days it feels like I’m either waiting forever or finding out something got canceled last minute. It’s just frustrating when you’re trying to plan your day and keep getting thrown off.

There were a few noisy lads on board and it was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, but the driver handled it calmly and got things sorted. I felt much safer after that. Fair play to them — if you’re ever in a similar situation, it’s worth letting the driver know rather than just sitting there worried.

I went through their consultation a while back, I think it was around March or maybe April, and it felt pointless. They asked people about the service changes, but it doesn’t seem like they actually listened to anyone. My bus is worse now than it was before, and the information they gave out was really poor.

I’ve used Arriva a few times recently, and to be fair, the buses have been in decent shape. The seats were clean enough, there weren’t any odd rattling noises, and the heating actually worked, which made the ride a lot more comfortable.

One of the buses did feel a bit older, and the doors were a little slow, but nothing that really caused a problem. Overall, they seem to be keeping on top of maintenance well. Not perfect, but better than I expected

I mostly use the Arriva app for buying tickets, and to be fair, it works fine most of the time. Payments usually go through without any drama, though every now and then it just sits there loading for ages, which is always when you’re in a rush, obviously. Having the tickets in the app is really handy, but I did have one time where it didn’t refresh properly and I was standing there getting on the bus feeling a bit panicky. Not the end of the world, and the driver was fine, but still. It’s not a terrible app, it just feels a bit clunky sometimes. If it was quicker and more reliable when you actually need it, it’d be much better

The disruption info on the Arriva website really didn’t help me at all. My bus just disappeared from the board, but the website still made it look like it was running, so I had no idea what was actually going on.

I checked the app, Twitter, and the service updates page, and they were either saying different things or not giving any clear information. I ended up standing around in the cold for nearly 50 minutes, expecting clearer instructions about whether to wait, find another route, or just give up.
I completely understand that delays and cancellations happen, but people need to be told properly and quickly. At the moment, it feels like the updates come way too late to be useful...

The bus showed up late again, then just sat there like we were all part of some secret waiting experiment. It’s happening way too often now, to the point where I genuinely don’t trust it for work or appointments anymore. And of course there are no clear updates, which makes it feel like they know exactly what’s going on but just don’t want to say. Really poor service.

It’s fine if you’re just getting around town, but trying to go between smaller places gets frustrating. The connections don’t really match up a lot of the time, so I’ve ended up waiting forever or taking two buses for what should be a quick trip... wish they covered more areas too