Central London Bus Review

Introduction

This response relates to the routes in the Central London Bus Review of significance for those living within the area covered by the Battersea Society; that is the former borough of Battersea. Because of its historic development Battersea has always depended on convenient, quick and reliable bus services across the river to Chelsea, Kensington, Victoria and Westminster. Any change to services has to ensure that buses continue to serve and meet this demand.

Routes of Main Concern

The proposals of main concern are routes east and north of Clapham Junction and in the Waterloo, Victoria, Chelsea and Kensington areas. i.e. the proposals don’t appear to affect routes beyond this central area onwards to Wandsworth, Putney, or Peckham to any great extent. However, many of the latter are important to Battersea residents because they interchange with the affected services e.g. with the 24, 38, 49, C3 and others.  Care will be needed to ensure there is no knock on effect of the proposed changes for services outside the central area.

The routes affecting Battersea residents are:

11, 14, 24, 74 and C3 - all being dropped;

3, 19, 27, 49, 77, 88, 211, 414, 507 and C10, which all take on different routes but cover sections of the current routes of the services being dropped

44, 137, 170, 319, 344, 345, 436 and 452 unaffected in terms of route but possibly by capacity/frequency

Passenger Capacity

We are concerned that the reduction in numbered services and rationalisation of routes could reduce passenger capacity on the newly organised routes. Within the Battersea area buses are very heavily used for much of the day. Recent large scale residential development running from Vauxhall right through to Wandsworth Town has been predicated on high capacity in local public transport to enable new residents to readily access services and  work in the City and West End.

The Battersea Society has consistently argued, from day-to-day experience, that the current bus services are overloaded and, at peak times, fail to meet local demand.  In particular we have noted the lack of more than one route west from Vauxhall through Battersea to York Road.

Review proposals give no indication of target passenger capacity, frequency of buses on particular routes or known physical constraints (e.g. low/narrow rail arches) which require use of single rather than double decker buses. In the case of the 507 this single decker service is proposed for a much extended route currently covered by double decker buses.  It is imperative that passenger capacity should be enlarged rather than reduced, especially to meet sustainability targets. These proposals give no such assurance.  A further concern is the lack of wheelchair and buggy space in single decker buses.

Lack of Clarity

As presented we found that intricate analysis was required to distinguish between the physical route covered and numbered services in future. Geographic listing of proposals meant it was not easy to follow what was being proposed – e.g. abolition of 24 route comes under Euston Road although it is a significant link service for those travelling from just south of the river and interchanging at Victoria for routes through central to north west London.

As listed above, while for Battersea bus users some services are unaffected and other  numbered services are being dropped  we noted and welcomed the commitment that  their routes would be absorbed into other services so users will not be left without a bus on these routes. (i.e. changes to routes of the 3, 19, 27, 49, 77, 88, 211, 214, 414, 507 and C10 services).  However this was something the headline publicity did not make sufficiently clear and has caused some anxiety where part of a route has been dropped locally. 

A clearer, simpler, presentation should be provided comparing new routes alongside old routes together with service numbers.

Interchange and Information

Some of the new interchange points involve small walks between stops or crossing junctions to reach another bus stop. These must be kept to a minimum. All interchange stops should be as close as possible, avoid crossing heavily trafficked roads (e.g.as with some of the route changes around the southern end of Lambeth Bridge).

Shelters at interchange stops must have real time bus arrival information, be positioned with seating facing away from the road and have sufficient space for pedestrians to pass the shelter with buggies and wheeled luggage without disturbing those waiting.

Car parking on bus routes

 We recommend that TfL drastically reduce, or indeed legislate against, all parking on bus routes particularly on former red routes.  These impinge on cycle lanes and impede bus traffic and, in the majority of cases, we can see little or no justification.  Two examples in Battersea Park Road are near the Battersea Medical Centre stop where the unused medical centre building has off-street car parking and further west immediately outside off-street parking for Tesco and the adjoining parade of shops.

 Conclusion

After perusing the consultation documents we conclude that while the proposals would not result in any routes losing a service they would probably require more changes between buses for what are now direct journeys. They will also require relearning where a particular numbered service will take you.  

Very clear and extensive publicity of changes to numbered service and their routes will be necessary before, and for the first few months after, any change. Otherwise there will be some very muddled and angry customers at certain stops. An example is the new service 507 taking on elements of the former 211 and 11 routes. The lack of clarity in the consultation material does not give us confidence in this aspect of the changes and TfL should consider making  Central London bus route maps on paper and on line available

While overall the changes appear sensible, the new routes will have to be learnt by users, many of whom have the current routes and their numbers ‘hard-wired’ into their bus travel consciousness in Central London.  None more so than those living south of the river in Battersea.