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393 bus protesters out-gunned by TfL
• BEVERLEY Hall, head of Surface Transport Communications (Bus 393 drives ahead, June 7) does no more than cobble together a sequence of self-serving paragraphs in her defence of Transport for London’s (TfL) decision to extend the 393 bus route. She, and TfL in general, refuse to recognise the rights of those along the proposed route who do not want the bus and push aside our reasoned arguments.
By not engaging in a fully transparent consultation process, TfL retains the ability to manipulate the results and use them to put a supposedly democratic gloss on what was, in effect, a unilateral decision.
Somewhere between councillors in Islington thinking it would be a good idea for certain of their constituents and Morrisons supermarket at Chalk Farm clocking the benefits to them of offering a terminus point (and possibly more, though of course we’ll never know because TfL won’t come clean on the extent of Morrisons involvement), we in Leighton Road, Castle Road and Prince of Wales Road have been shafted.
TfL have stuck to their very powerful and entirely undemocratic guns on this matter, despite 500 people signing petitions against the proposed route, many more making individual protests, Camden Council stating it was inappropriate, our local Camden councillors of all political persuasions proposing an alternative route where the bus would have been welcomed, our London Assembly member presenting our petition to the Mayor and our MP trying to get to the bottom of exactly why TfL thought the route was sacrosanct. TfL said, in effect, ‘We know best’.
So we in Leighton Road – where we have struggled over the years to get traffic-calming in our busy but narrow residential street, with its equally narrow pavements – are now to be faced with 170 buses a day which we don’t want. From the deplorable way in which we have been treated by TfL we suspect there will be many more residents in other areas of London who are feeling the same way as us about a bus route that has been forced on them.
TfL know they only have to justify any decision on a bus route internally and that this internal process remains undisclosed to the public. In these circumstances they can ride roughshod over local opposition.
And they do.
SUE PRICKETT
Chairman, Leighton Road Neighbourhood Association
Leighton Road, NW5
• THE letter from TfL regarding the proposed extended route of the 393 bus route is a travesty. The extension was awarded to the private bus company Arriva before there was even public knowledge of the proposal.
The required consultation has been a total sham, with no attempt to answer questions or seriously consider other superior routes. The main aim of the extension has become apparent, which is to bring people from around North Road, Islington, within reach of an Underground station and shopping facilities.
It does this well without using Leighton Road, and it is not clear why there is particular priority to bring people to the Morrisons supermarket in Chalk Farm.
Camden residents and councillors who responded were overwhelmingly against the proposed route. There seems to be little benefit to Camden and Kentish Town, which are already very well served by tubes, buses and supermarkets. Simply to put a bus route along a road that does not already have one is not reason enough. The route proposed is of particular inconvenience to those living near the proposed route including Castle Road and Leighton Road, which is narrow with traffic calming measures, lorry restrictions and long tailbacks at the traffic light. Kentish Town Road already has several buses, has heavy, mostly single-lane traffic and is notorious for jams.
If the extension has to come through Camden, other acceptable routes are possible which are not disruptive and would be welcomed by their residents, including via Agar Grove. The current decision is undemocratic and needs to be overturned.
PROF JOY TOWNSEND
Leighton Road, NW5
• BEVERLEY Hall, Head of Surface Transport, TfL, cannot be serious! Her justification for forcing the 393 extension down Leighton and Castle Roads is as pathetic as have been all TfL’s protestations of ‘consulting’ the residents of these roads.
Her claim to have ‘investigated’ our concerns is as unbelievable as was the business case sent to us when we requested some hard facts about their proposal. No explanation given of the ‘passenger benefit’ per year or of the gross cost of £434,000 to the taxpayer for this venture. Did this cost take into account the process of removing islands, residents’ parking and the inevitable damage that will be done to cars and people by buses squeezing into such a narrow road (9 feet) between curb and island?
As none of us is against the extension of this route, down, say Agar Grove – where local people actually want it – we are still waiting for some sensible explanation, under the Freedom of Information Act, for TfL’s choice.
Are their reasons really about getting shoppers from one centre to the other, without regard for the quality of life of those of us in between?
Her claim that they have done extensive route tests defies common sense, as a test done in the evening or on a Sunday would reveal the impossibility of safely negotiating the islands. Or is the same person who failed to see the danger of the bendy buses involved?
TfL is apparently entitled to flout democratic processes but, to waste taxpayers’ money doing this, is an outrage.
JENNY WRIGHT
Leighton Road, NW5
• BEVERLEY Hall (Bus drives ahead, June 7) clearly has not thought this one through.
I am a cyclist living in Leighton Road and therefore know that, because the road is so narrow, it is going to be impossible for the 393 bus travelling down Leighton Road to avoid entering the cycle lane when approaching the speed cushions.
The cyclist that thinks he is safe in the cycle lane will be putting his life at risk.
This is assuming that TfL are not intending to have both the speed cushions and the cycle lane removed.
The residents of Leighton Road fought long and hard to have speed cushions placed on the road, which have reduced the speed of vehicles and lessened their impact on our daily lives.
How about taking our gardens away for a pull-in, as there clearly is nowhere for the bus to stop without completely blocking the traffic?
Whoever dreamt this one up clearly doesn’t live in the real world.
JON HALL
Leighton Road, NW5
• BEVERLEY Hall claims that TfL have taken into account concerns of residents about their intention to put the 393 bus extension on Leighton Road (Bus 393 drives ahead, June 7).
At a public meeting in March the overwhelming majority of the residents and councillors present made it very clear that they considered Leighton Road unsuitable for a bus route or bus stops because of the narrowness of the road and pavements.
In support of the extension of the bus to Chalk Farm, an alternative route was suggested along Agar Grove where the residents, including those on the Maiden Lane Estate, had said they would welcome the bus service. London Buses then produced their own internal document claiming no other route was acceptable to them.
We question whether it is it tolerable that an un-elected corporation can set its own objectives and assume council officers are bound to comply, provided TfL have “consulted”.
Frank Dobson, MP, is asking TfL why they have chosen to ignore the views of over 500 residents, Camden Councillors and Brian Coleman, our representative on the Greater London Assembly.
Anyone who wishes to see this undemocratic decision overturned should make their views known to David Brown, Managing Director, Transport for London, Windsor House, 42–50 Victoria Street, London SW1H OTL.
JOHN WOODCOCK
Leighton Road, NW5
• DOES TfL understand the meaning of the word consultation?
The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘the act of consulting, do deliberation, conference’.
Residents of Leighton Road, and Castle Road who have no buses using their roads (except some illegal No 24s which will soon cause a major traffic accident/fatality), have spent time, energy, and money thinking that TfL were consulting them with proposals to use their streets.
It has all been a complete travesty. We were not being consulted as we attended meetings, drew up alternate routes, signed petitions. TfL were just pretending to listen.
In spite of opposition from almost every member of the community and all the Camden local parties and Camden Council, TfL (is this another erroneous title?) has decided not to change a thing.
All this route to Morrisons will do is further clog our already clogged streets!
BRENDA GARDNER
Castle Road Residents’
Association
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