Enthusiast Advice & Route Recommendations

As a fellow transport aficionado, I can understand that you might feel your trips out aren't as effective as they could be, perhaps you're disappointed that your end-to-end rides haven't been as fun as you initially thought, or maybe you're starting to feel stressed on your trips out. This page should hopefully ease your troubles with brief nice bullet points guiding you in the right direction and ultimately making your enthusiasm even more enjoyable!

• In sunny weather, always ride routes Northbound, or Westbound in the morning and Eastbound in the afternoon. This is because you'll be facing away from the sun, therefore you can enjoy your trip even more. The blue sky does often make the external surroundings seem more satisfying to view, although this can only be appreciated if you haven't got an annoying obstacle such as the sun, not only obstructing your view but causing you to bake in the heat. During cloudy weather the direction doesn't really matter.
• For taking pictures, during sunny weather try to capture the bus when it's heading Southbound, or Eastbound in the morning and Westbound in the afternoon. This will brighten up your image, but also avoids having the sun making parts of the bus unclear or adding unnecessarily light. During cloudy weather the direction doesn't really matter.
• If you're determined (like me) to obtain the front seats on your travels, then study the termini of the route carefully. If one end is at a thriving bus station where lots of people board, then your chances of grabbing those important seats are slashed. However, if the other terminus is simply in the middle of housing, or somewhere that isn't too popular in terms of boarding passengers, then you're much more likely to be successful. An example is route 473 in East London. If you try to get on at Stratford you'll be met with 50 other commuters trying to get home. However, the North Woolwich Ferry terminus isn't particularly well used and the bus only starts to fill up later, so this is where you'll board to gain the front seats.
  
• Before riding a route, research it on other websites. If you're a member of The Bus Forum  then the "My Bus Journey Today" thread is a good place to start; but the London Buses One At A Time blog is also effective. Alternatively, you can ask someone local to the route if there are any unique characteristics, that might only be applicable in one direction. For example, if I didn't read a review of the 401 that included praising the breathtaking view of the River Thames, I wouldn't have known to ride the service towards Thamesmead, and it certainly made the journey much more interesting.
• Always study the timetable of a route before travelling. For many enthusiasts, spending a long period of time on a bus isn't favourable, although there is an easy way of avoiding especially long bus trips. Often, the e2e journey time is significantly shorter in the early morning/late evening hours, or even during the middle of a weekday, than in rush hour or a weekend afternoon. Generally, shorter journey's are more enjoyable as you can focus on the route more clearly, and if the route is timetabled tightly then the trip will probably be fast-paced, which almost always makes the experience more lively.
• If you're on a long trip out, then taking breaks is essential if you want to enjoy routes towards the end of the day. Catching bus after bus constantly for 12 hours is going to make you bored and won't be able to experience a route at its greatest. I would recommend having at least two 15-20 minute walks within the day, ideally one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Even though this doesn't sound easy to fit in, just think about if you're planning to take a bus for 5 stops, walking it is an easy substitution to make. Also, have a proper lunch break, sit down or walk around for 20-30 minutes and make sure your trips are balanced and not relentless.
• Whilst it may seem like a good idea at first, don't spend the whole day travelling around in circles in the same part of London. Eventually, you will become sick of viewing the same sights over and over again and won't be able to enjoy bus routes as much - I once spent 12 hours roaming around the same part of East London, and towards the end I was really beginning to hate Barking Town Centre, and I wasn't able to experience the 368 properly. Explore different areas in a day, it's much better to return to one part of London three times in 6 months than once in a year.
• Plan your day loosely. I know lots of you condemn TFL's journey planner and their pessimistic timings, but using them to plan trips out can work out very well. Also, if a connection between two different buses/trains is less than 8 minutes, let it go. There's probably going to be some sort of delay on your trip, but if you timetable your day effectively then you really shouldn't lose out and won't feel disheartened that you haven't completed everything you wanted to achieve. Additionally, if you encounter no problems then you might even be able to complete more than you originally expected, which is always a bonus!
• If you miss a connection, it's not the end of the world. It's more likely than not that something brilliant will occur later in the day, and that might never have happened if you didn't miss that train or bus earlier. Or, if you just have a really bad day, you'll look over it in the future and simply laugh, we've all gone through it before!
• If you're chasing a specific bus and want a photo, my advice is to actually ride the bus once you intercept it. Stay downstairs and look out for the position of every bus stop before you reach it, and once you think you'll be able to take a decent shot, alight and take it. If you're one of those elite photographers with flashy cameras then continue your current methods of evaluating the entire route and taking an offside, but for amateurs like me the 'meet and ride' system normally works well.
• Perhaps you're a keen bus enthusiast but don't know of any routes that seem appealing to you. I can almost certainly sort that out for you, just drop a comment below telling me what you think a bus route is important to have, such as whether you prefer looking at urban high streets or at the countryisde/nature. If you're limited by area then please write that too! I will respond within 48 hours.

Hopefully you're feeling much more confident as an enthusiast, and even if you were before, maybe you've learned some new tips that'll make a difference when you next go out. Hopefully I can be of useful assistance, and maybe you'll even find your favourite route in London here!

Thanks for reading and stay safe!