Arriva Bus (UK) Reviews 

If I was able to give it negative stars I would have done that!
The worst, not reliable, zero commitment to timetable, they just run on vibes!!!

Im not very happy my daughter tried to get on the bus 527 she has been getting on everyday she has a bus pass. But ONE day of the years where she has forgot it they can’t let her her on . Pure rudeness

I recently been told to go back to office 3 days per week after working from home for 4yrs. I thought it would be simple getting to Maidstone from Chatham but it would’ve been easier to catch a train back to London. I leave my house in time so I can catch the 101 and leave enough time so even if it’s late the next scheduled one would still take me to work on time and even the 3rd schedule one would take me there with 5mins for me to log on and prepare myself for the day. BUT everyday since I’ve started last week I’ve been late, one day I had to take an Uber and paid almost £25. This is absolutely ridiculous never thought I’d say I miss TFL

Very poor service, to many buses delays and after they are coming all in seam time , very disappointing

My child attends Heckmondwike Grammar School, and the Arriva bus service has been totally unreliable since they started school, with frequent delays and cancellations. There are usually around 30–40 other students waiting for the same bus from Heckmondwike to Leeds, and they often end up having to wait for a second or even third bus before they can get home.
I honestly find it unacceptable how unreliable the service has become. I am particularly concerned about the coming winter months, when it will be darker and much colder, and the children may be left waiting for extended periods after school.
It is extremely frustrating and worrying as a parent, and I really hope something can be done to improve the reliability of this service.

Why do you repeatedly cancel the bus service to Market Bosworth in Leicestershire? The 14:55 service now only travels as far as Dartford, leaving me with an 82-minute wait. The level of service is highly unsatisfactory.

The SB8 for Symonds Green in Stevenage is shocking. Its always been unreliable when we had 2 buses an hour. Now from September they have changed it to 1 every 40 minutes and their still skipping buses, leaving people to now wait even longer.
Our route has always been the route they take a bus off to put on routes that already have buses every 20 minutes, so god for bid they have to wait 40 minutes because a bus was skipped. Then they have the nerve to increase the day ticket.
Arriva had always been unreliable for our area.

Its asking me to be honest, helpful and constructive... I'll be honest but there is nothing helpful or constructive about this pathetic excuse of a public transport company.
As someone who has no other option but to try to rely on this hunderscheise of a company due to limited services, I have had nothing but disappointment and heartache from having to pay a substantial amount of my wage to (hopefully) get to work, only to have services constantly being cancelled or just not showing up resulting in being late or getting home far later than I should.
This company does not show any projection on getting better in the future nor do I know why they are still operating in the first place. Constant bad reviews seem to go nowhere so not too sure why I'm writing this, guess it's just venting. You would have thought by now another company would have taken them over or Arriva actually secured more funding to improve but nope.
Most of the drivers are great, it's just a shame the company constantly puts them in the firing line, not to mention the upper management apparently don't have a clue on how to actually run a company efficiently.
If you are a potential customer I would suggest get a bike or a pair of roller skates, you will likely get to where you need to go without waiting for over an hour in the vain hope that a bus actually shows up.
If you are looking for employment, I would suggest go into HGTV driving... Far more lucrative, better pay and much better hours as well as a work-life balance.

I live in Symonds Green, Stevenage, Hertfordshire and the Arriva SB 8 bus service has gone from a half hourly service during the day on Monday to Saturday to every 45 minutes. This commenced on the 1st September 2026. There are no timetables on any of the bus stops, nil at the bus interchange. Unless you have a smartphone, you can't find the bus times. It's affecting the residents very badly. The Arriva app is totally useless. The buses are running late most of the time and occasionally cancelled.

I am extremely disappointed with the service provided.

The journey from Luton DART Parkway to Luton Airport is only four stops and takes approximately 5 minutes, yet I was charged £2.90. I find this fare disproportionately expensive for such a short journey and would like an explanation of how this charge is justified.

More seriously, I accidentally left my credit card and cash on the bus. I promptly contacted your lost property service by email, but I have never received a reply or any acknowledgement whatsoever. This is completely unacceptable.

Losing valuable personal belongings is already stressful, but receiving no response from the company makes the situation considerably worse. A basic acknowledgement and proper investigation should be the minimum level of customer service expected.

I expect this matter to be investigated urgently and would appreciate a prompt response regarding my lost property.

Details
Here are the journey details from my ticket:

Bus Route: X3

Vehicle Number: 3216

Driver Number: 180010

Machine Number: 6980511

Trip ID: 1915/1059

Ticket Number: 786214

Ticket Type: AD SGL

Boarding Location: Airport Bus Station, Luton Airport

I got off at around the 5th stop after Luton DART Parkway Station

Date of Travel: Wednesday, 13 May 2026

My son’s first time catching the bus for his first day at college, it arrived 15 minutes late! Also had to wait en route for driver swap, unbelievable! Terrible first impressions.

Late or don't turn up at all, no explanation, nothing and I pay for this monthly. I wish there was a choice to pay late or skip one payment when I feel like it.

This evening my 16-year-old brother travelled from Newcastle towards Cramlington and asked, politely, for a student discount. The driver was rude and dismissive "so what discount?" and refused him. Then he applied a discount for the white passenger before him and the white passenger after him. Same discount, same request, same queue. The only one turned away was my brother, who is Indian.

If he wasn't eligible, fine. But that's not what happened. Others got it, he didn't. So I'll ask Arriva directly, what was different about him, if not his eligibility? Because from where we're standing, the only difference was the colour of his skin, and I want an answer to that.

He's a shy teenager. He didn't argue, didn't record it, just accepted it and went quiet about it until I asked. That's exactly why I'm not staying quiet. A kid should not be singled out and humiliated for asking a fair question and Arriva needs to look hard at this driver's conduct and how passengers are treated regardless of race.

Some drivers are very rude and don't accept stagecoach driver passes even though they're supposed to, 1 driver double checked with the manager and the manager apparently said they don't even though I've already spoken to their head office in Luton who confirmed they do as we have an agreement to accept theirs. The manager and drivers at Luton clearly need to be told this information as it would save a lot of hassle. Regardless from now on I'm rejecting every arriva pass wether it be driver or family pass and see how they like it especially when some of their family members rely on stagecoach services to get to work.

I am a healthcare worker at a hospital. I rely on arriva buses as part of my commute.
Often the bus home has not shown up and I have been stranded for an additional hour at the end of my shift, while hoping that the final, follow-up bus doesn't also go missing. The drivers have told me that sometimes they just take a short cut to their endpoint, deciding to skip all the little stops, so that they might have a smoother drive and get paid to do nothing. I have complained about this to arriva and for a while things did Improve. But now it's gotten worse again and the drivers just laugh at me as if it's a massive joke that some guy wants to get a bus to and from work, and expects that bus to actually show up.
Recently the bus to work has been showing similar unreliability. It just doesn't arrive, leaving myself and other healthcare workers stranded at the bus station.
I'm sure it doesn't need pointing out that hindering healthcare workers commute to work will impact the staffing levels of hospitals and can lead to accidents. It's actually very dangerous. I should also point out that more vulnerable members of the public are having to wait an extra hour for buses if one bus driver just doesn't want to do their job. We've had a heat wave recently and that means an additional hour stood around in the heat. I can manage it. Other vulnerable members of society cannot.

No bus turn up

Always the number 7 bus , it refuses to come to torside bus stop and goes round the round about and misses pennymoore road !! 55 minutes waiting at 4.45pm on a Monday!! Sick to death of useless drivers

THIS BUS COMPANY ISCTHE WORST IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE UNITED KINGDOM. ALWAYS LATE AND UNABLE TO RESPECT THEIR OWN TIMING. JUST. BOOK.AN.UBER!!!!!!

Thanks to one of your drivers (Gavin )on the number 9 bus in southend.i was reunited with my phone .he went out of his way by giving us a time to meet him to pick up the phone .this was so helpful and more than you expect.

Never known a company to be so utterly worthless half their buses are a no show and the other half are late it's a piss take.
Waiting for the 48 for it to be a 46x that arrives instead and doesn't switch. Despite the 48 supposed to arrive first. Piss take. Horrible company, that's ran by morons

Was on the x76 to darlington from barnard castle at 11 32 and he was making for not having any pound coins and got mad at me when i didn't pick up up my 9 pound coins quickly and when he was pulling out he nearly hit another car