Every bus in London is accessible and has space for one wheelchair. The buses are built to make it easy for people to get on and off, if they are in a wheelchair. The service is amazing, until someone starts to close the bus stops, because they are an idiot.
I now visit London on a tregular basis whilst my health continues to deteriorate, and I can no longer use the Underground for most trips due to being too stressful.
The good news is that most of my trips are during the day and outside rush hour- what’s rush hour? The bad news is that I enter London via Fenchurch street most days, and there are no easy options for accessible travel onwards into London, especially as TFL like to close random bus stops as they see fit.
Fenchurch street station on the c2c line from Southend (now a city – God less you David Amess), is a very good service, almost excellent. All c2c trains require a ramp to access for disabled travel in a wheelchair, but the service appears to happen. I use it because it is less boring than sitting on a district line train for hours. The train and stations also have toilets, one of my needs. Wow, what is there not to like.
There are two main ways to exit Fenchurch street, via the stairs, or the front entrance. I did count the stairs the other day, either 52 or more likely 62. Both are bad. This is the exit which leads directly towards Tower Hill station.
To exit Fenchurch street via the front exit, it is a flat platform to the elevators / stairs or lift to street level. Sometimes the elevators are working, mostly not. But the lift always appears to be in working order. To get to Tower Hill station, you then need to exit the station and turn right and right again along Fenchurch street. Then down Lloyds avenue towards Tower Hill. By the time you have done all of this, it maybe as quick to walk along Fenchurch street to Aldgate and get a bus. It depends where you are going.
From Aldgate (bus stop), there are three excellent services I have been trying, the 15, 25 and 100. The latter travels via Liverpool street, along the London Wall to the Museum of London.
The 25 travels along Leadenhall street where most stops are closed, via Bank, St Pauls, to City Thames LInk.
The 15 bus travels from Blackwall, via Aldgate, Tower Hill, Ludgate circus, St Pauls, Strand, Charing Cross, which is close to Trafalgar square.
All buses have their slow moments, at different times of the day. Your choice of travel.
Today, I visited Fenchurch street as usual, took the long walk to Tower Hill station where there are lifts to access platforms, and then completed the travel by district line to Westnmister station. Westminster has lots of very nice lifts to exit the station from both the district and jubilee lines, but the bus stops outside the station have the same usual problems, many are closed. I have to say that whoever it is in TFL who manages bus stops, they clearly do not ever travel in a wheelchair, or have limited accessibility, because the level of service is absolutely appalling.
Now I have found a safe and accessible route to Charing Cross and Trafalgar square, and along with trying to visit the many London Theatres, I have discovered a number of bus routes from here which are incredibly useful (when the bus stops are working).
There is the 24 which leads towards Pimlico from Trafalgar square, and is via Westminster, St James park, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral. Victoria station. In the opposite direction after Trafalgar square, it heads up towards Hampstead Heath via Leiceter square, I think.