| Consultation – Share your views on TfL proposals to change 33 bus routes in London
TfL are reviewing bus services that serve the central London area and have made proposals to restructure and change the frequency of 33 routes and to introduce an additional service. This is said to be the biggest shake-up in more than 16 years of London’s bus network.
The new proposals would see the 48, 271 night service and RV1 routes axed. Elsewhere, they are planning to shorten 13 routes, and decrease frequency of a further eight routes. Some routes would see frequencies increased. One new route between Fulham Broadway and Oxford Circus will be introduced under the proposals.
Concerns
TfL’s own impact assessments on these changes show that they would disadvantage disabled people who might need to swop from one bus to another to get accross London. Where there is only one wheelchair space on each bus and prams often are allowed to use this space this could mean far longer journies for disabled people and having to wait at an interchange in cold or wet weather.
In particular Rv1 which they plan to axe completely is the only direct accessible route between London Bridge and Covent Garden.
59 and others not going to Kings Cross requires a change as the tube from Euston to Kings Cross is not accessible and vice versa of course.
205 not stopping at Marylebone which is one of the main rail stations and the only rail station to Oxford, Aylesbury. Banbury, Leamington, Warwick and Solihull.
In a city where only a third of the Underground is accessible, Disabled and older people rely heavily on bus services. Buses are the only mode of transport in London that is fully accessible (despite some regular issues). The plans, which are subject to a public consultation, would hugely affect Disabled and Older People served by the routes, especially the routes that are axed. Reducing the frequency would have a disproportionately negative impact on Disabled people, especially wheelchair and mobility scooter users who already have to fight for their right to access the wheelchair priority space – It is the only space that can host a wheelchair user, one at a time. |
