Patrickov on X26

London applies a flat fare - £1.50 - for all its buses and trams. That price means about $16 in Hong Kong, an amount which is usually reserved to the longest running routes.

However, this price is actually much more agreeable if I am getting away from Heathrow Airport, as Heathrow Express, TfL Rail (who took over from Heathrow Connect yesterday) and the Tube all charge more than that (indeed the Heathrow Express charges over £20, triple of a similar distance HK Airport Express trip, and the trains for the HEx are worse both in terms of train conditions and speed). Most importantly, I am going to nowhere other than Croydon, which means the longest London Buses route is my no-brainer. And surprisingly, I found the £1.50 gets me more than the £20 trip I made in my previous visit.

I got my Oyster topped up and arrived at the bus station. Too bad the timetable appears nowhere other than on the signpost of stop 19 itself. I actually checked my phone to know an X26 was just 5 minutes from pulling up.

The route received double deckers since around this time last year, so effectively I am celebrating the first anniversary of its buses' tenures (1 month late). As expected, a 2-axled Volvo B9TL pulled up, humming a noise familiar back in Hong Kong (although not in Riviera Gardens), and off we go. Most went to the upper deck, but me with a luggage couldn't afford taking my eyes off the luggage rack. Only another Asian woman and a fair teenage girl (to be fair, most British girls are fair at that age) had the same situation, as well as a lady who had to use the Priority Seats, which most, but not all, able-bodied avoid. London bus passengers have more sense than Hong Kong ones, as they do occupy these seats if really no one is around.

A sunny May Sunday afternoon proved to be the best time riding X26. The temperature is high enough for a Hongkonger like me, but not as high as Hong Kong, such that the no A/C bus I was on sufficed. Breezes came in whenever the bus is moving, and since this is Outer London pollution was not actually an issue here. Passenger traffic and vehicle traffic were also agreeable. I only had to share my seat for a third of my trip, and the bus almost always waited at the stops - I suspect weekday trips would be plagued by congestions that there would be no time to spare.

The X26 is effectively a town-hopper, jumping between various Zone 5 or 6 towns. As it's Sunday, shopping or leisure trips seemed to make up the majority of patronage, and the first numerically significant swarm of passengers did not show up until Kingston. Most still went upstairs, and I believed that the biggest benefit of the double-decker was that it could provide about the same capacity as the previously run single deckers, but with a shorter body. There were places where the bus had to negotiate between parked and opposite flowing traffic, and a shorter body certainly helped.

I was astonished by the number of small hills and parks we had to negotiate. All these gave the trip a relaxed feeling, and I genuinely enjoyed my hour-and-a-half ride - it really didn't feel this long. I had an urge to jump off at every stop, if not for my luggage and the fact that the bus runs every half-hour (meaning I couldn't afford waiting for the next bus several times). There were a few places that particularly attracted my interest:

• The first is Kingsmeadow, home for AFC Wimbledon, until they go back to Plough Lane that is. Still, Chelsea, the next owner, already put their signs at the gates.
• The second was a few Korean signs I found near New Malden. Apparently there's a Korean society in that town.
• Last but not least, a Chinese restaurant in Cheam had its English name as "Beijing Garden", but its Chinese inscription actually said Mong Kok (旺角), the Hong Kong district where I currently work, and at least 100 times more crowded than the street it's on.

Croydon Flyover was the only place where the bus actually ran like an express, and it marked the start of anything unpleasant. The developers might want to make the place feel modern, but turned out the buildings were strange and uninteresting. More importantly, Sundays render most of them unoccupied, and those dwelling in the street look like they would prey on anyone having the slightest look of wealth. I now understand why a particular Croydon resident had advised against my visit, but I like the way I find it out.

The bus eventually stopped outside Delta Point. It's a featureless bus stand that seemed not fitting to the grand trip the bus had been through, but after all, that's just some place where the driver would check his vehicle and prepare his next trip.