But in the outer edge of south east London, two bus routes run so infrequently, if you miss your bus you have to wait two-and-a-half hours for the next one to come along.
The R5 and R10 from Orpington bus station are technically two separate routes, although they effectively do the same journey but in different directions.
The first bus of the day travels to Knockholt in Kent and back, calling first in Halstead and then in Cudham.
Once it arrives back in Orpington, the bus travels the same route but in reverse, calling first in Cudham and then in Halstead.
This leaves passengers with a two-and-a-half hour wait between buses in each direction, although depending on where you wanted to go, it could be possible to get to your destination sooner by taking the bus back the other way.
The long wait time means the R5 and R10 are officially London’s least frequent buses, with only 13 services, six or seven on each route, running every day.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for such an infrequent bus route, it never runs on a Sunday.
Another quirk of the bus is that along certain stretches of its route, there are technically no stops, only a ‘Hail and Ride service’.
This means that passengers can request that the bus stops anywhere along a particular section of the route, reducing the distance they have to walk back home.
Owing to the infrequency of the R5 and R10, some of its stops rank among the least used by passengers anywhere in London.
For example, throughout the whole of last year, only one passenger boarded the R10 using their Oyster card or contactless card in Blueberry Lane, Knockholt.
In the opposite direction, 13 passengers boarded the R5 from the same location in 2024 – meaning just 14 journeys were made from Blueberry Lane over a 12 month period.
Although the R5 and R10 are the most infrequent regular TfL bus services, some night buses, school buses or mobility buses run even fewer services a day.
