Some bad
news for London Buses; the number of people riding them has fallen according to
the latest figures from Department for Transport.
From Route-One
The number of journeys by bus in London fell by 3.6% in 12 months ending 30 June,
according to the latest official figures from the Department for Transport
(DfT), compared with a 1.8% decrease
in the rest of England.
Worse, it shows that bus use in London fell
by 3% during April-June 2016,
compared with April-June 2015. During the same period bus use in the rest of England fell by 0.6%.
The falls in London are attributed to increasing congestion, making buses
unattractive. Full details are here
With the one-hour
hopper fare in force, I predict we will see an increase in bus passenger
numbers because of the 1-hour free
transfer to another bus or tram.
There’s more
bad news too; the London Assembly issued a press release back on the 8th
September regarding the issue with TfL’s finances.
From London
Assembly press release
Problems
down the line for TfL finances
·
Mayor’s
fares freeze will cost TfL £640 million
over four years
·
Bus hopper
ticket will cost £30 million per year
·
TfL
already facing £2.8 billion cut in
Government funding to 2020-21
·
An
investigation into the increasing financial pressures on Transport for London
(TfL) has raised concerns over TfL’s ability to plug the gaps in its finances,
and the impact this could have on services for passengers.
The London Assembly Budget and Performance
Committee released its report “Transport for London’s financial
challenge”[1] today.
It identifies that the reduction of its
revenue grant from Government, the Mayor’s
fares freeze and bus hopper ticket
commitments are putting TfL under enormous pressure, and the organisation
now faces a cocktail of financial risks for which it does not appear adequately
prepared.
Of particular concern to the Committee are
the risks to TfL’s capital investment programme. The previous Mayor’s budget for 2016-17 set out a list of TfL projects that were
under threat, including the Sutton
tram extension and building of new stations at Old Oak Common.[2]
This report highlights that capital
investment projects such as these might have to be scaled back, deferred or
cancelled altogether if TfL cannot generate more income or find other ways to
save money.
Gareth Bacon AM, Chairman of the Budget and
Performance Committee, said:
“Major capital investment in the transport
network is needed to keep London moving as its population continues to grow.
But the funding to support this
investment is now at risk. Government funding will be cut to zero faster
than TfL had previously expected.[3] And the Mayor’s fares freeze will put
another dent in TfL’s finances.
“Will TfL be able to deliver the Mayor’s
transport priorities? What we heard in this investigation hasn’t exactly filled
us with confidence.”
Below is
some bus news from LOTS:
1) A reminder of Abellio’s Twickenham Garage
open day at Fulwell this Saturday 17th from 11am, LOTS Sales Stand (with new SUP36HH) on site .
Buses 33, 281, 481 stop outside,
267, 290, R70 about 5 mins walk
away (on the LU side). A special bus service
will be run from the Garage to Twickenham Stadium (detail available on the day)
.
2) Now that the SEe electric BYD/ADL buses are entering service on the 507/521 (a second batch has started to arrive),
the MEC class Citaros will begin to
stand down. Route 108 at NX will get 18 MECs upseated from 21 to 29 seats. (by the way, MEC 21 and 42 have been in use thereon for several months already). Another
six are due at River Road for singledeck school services and a further six are
due to take over from the present artics on the Luton Airport – Parkway
shuttle service. In practice an MEC
(currently MEC 43) has been used at Luton for some months as the ‘spare’ bus,
replacing LDPs 196 and 199.
3) Go-Ahead’s latest MHVs (Volvo B5LH/MCV
EvoSeti) buses are now being delivered in quantity. The first are numerically the last and are
the Camberwell batch (MHV 56-85).
Several are already licensed for service and should be out on routes 42 and 185
imminently. Peckham’s batch (MHV 21-55)
for route 63 should follow on later, as should EH 61-73 (E40H/E400MMC) ordered for Peckham route 363. The new
LTs for route 21 should start to arrive soon although it is likely that
they may have to await internal
equipment similar to what is still delaying entry into service of Arriva’s
batch for route 253.
4) Seven new Volvo B5LH/ Wright
Gemini-3 11.4m buses are on order (in batches of 5 coming
soon and 2 rather later) for Kingston University services KU1-5 but until they
arrive five VH-class B5LHs (VH 45162-166) are on loan from London United. The livery for the new buses will be grey
with green and blue vinyls. At least
one (45162) of the temporary buses has had a grey front added on its otherwise
standard red. A limited timetable has
begun already but the full KU service is due to begin from the 19th.
5) Southdown PSV’s three new Scania/E400
buses (500/1/2) were the first 66-plate buses to go into service in our area on
1st September and seem to have settled mainly on routes 357 and 409.
Ensignbus has now registered its four BCI triaxle double-deck-(401-404)
so they should start to appear on rail
replacements shortly.
6) Next weekend (Sat 24th) will see First
Berkshire’s complete restructuring of its services based on Slough. It features a complete renumbering of routes,
several reduced frequencies and withdrawal from some sections of road. In
particular, what are now the Heathrow services 75/76/77/78 are split at Slough but interchange between
the new routes either side of Slough has been made rather more difficult with
no common terminal points. On Sunday
25th Arriva at Guildford will revise all its timetables again with route
28 reverting to its original route and
taken over by Buses ExCetera.
You can follow
me on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
Image attribution
By Aubrey Morandarte from Guildford or Coventry, England - London Central LT439 on Route 12, Camberwell Green, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40981672