Doesn't the 59 go from Waterloo to King's x?
not any more. it's a bit crap, as it's a journey you can't do by direct tube either.
To be fair, the TFL journey planner behaves like it's pissed these days. It gives crazy routes and ridiculous timings half the time.
the trouble is that for a lot of journeys in london, there are too many options, if you ask for a journey at (say) 1100, and the most logical journey involved a bus that went at 1059, it will come up with all sorts of options that will get you there anything up to a minute quicker than waiting for the next bus on your route.
it's usually worth checking a few earlier / later journeys if you get offered something weird, and you can get better results if you select 'least walking' or 'fewest changes'
A couple of weeks ago I put in Plaistow tube Station to Richmond tube Station and it came up with the most ridiculous route, when it's a direct route on the District line so I have no idea what is wrong with it.
was it a strike day? or one with major engineering work somewhere? with strike days, there's often an emergency timetable the day before and / or after (so that the trains all get home before the strike starts) and it's just possible there was a balls up getting the data for one of those days in to the system in time. and the richmond end of the distraught line is on network rail tracks, so will be affected by a NR signallers' strike even if underground staff aren't on strike.
The next time I'm in London, I'll be using busses rather than the tube. I've effectively got a lung and a bit, and the long hot walks on the tube are arduous.
with the aforementioned TFL journey planner, you can select what modes of transport you do / don't want so you can select bus only (or bus + DLR + tram if you're going somewhere that would work.)
Google and Citymapper (as have both been mentioned) get their data from TFL's data, so may be a little bit behind if there are changes. They do use different software for the journey planning bit, so may come up with different results.
There is a TFL Go App which I've never really had anything to do with.
TFL's public bus information is a bit crap - they stopped doing printed maps some time ago, and as
toblerone3 says, the only map published is independent of TFL, mainly for the enthusiast market. Be aware that it's produced a couple of times a year, not for every single change, so may not be quite up to date.
Again independent of TFL (but pretty accurate) is
London Bus Routes which lists all London bus routes in numeric order, and has the current timetable, as well as info (which can be more up to date than TFL's) on diversions etc.)
During times of day / on routes where buses are every 12 minutes or more frequent, the controllers will run the service to maintain 'an even headway' rather than run buses at exactly the times shown.
A few things which may or may not be stating the obvious -
London buses are now cash-free and have been for a few years. They take contactless cards as well as Oyster Card, and (so long as you make sure you use the same contactless card all day) there is a daily fare cap for bus + tram. There are no travelcard zones on buses, I really can't remember what the deal is on Croydon tram. A 'day' is 0430 to 0429 not midnight to midnight, and not a 24 hour period of your choosing.
On most of the new bus for london / new routemaster / boris bus, you were at one time allowed to get on at any door - this has largely been done away with, they now expect you to get on at the front, as too many people were avoiding payment.
If you have a concessionary travel pass issued by a Scottish (or Welsh or N Irish) local authority, it's not valid in England (with possible exceptions on a few routes that cross the border) and vice versa - this is one thing where a 'national' scheme means the 4 countries not the UK.
TFL tickets / fares are not valid on the sightseeing tour buses, or the (old) routemaster route that's recently been introduced between waterloo and piccadilly, that's also independent of TFL.
There are also ongoing strikes with Abelio buses in London, as well as rail strike days when the shit will hit the fan generally. More
here.
All the above subject to the disclaimer that I'm no longer involved in running buses in London.
Have fun.
