Update 23 November 2022: Buses victory – but Greg's campaign goes on!
Yesterday Mayor Khan u-turned on hammering London’s buses and cancelled almost all of his proposed cuts. This is a huge campaign victory!
As many of you will know, in June this year Mayor Khan and Transport for London (TfL) revealed shocking proposals to abolish or cut back nearly 80 bus routes across London and they ran a consultation in the summer titled the Central London Bus Review.
Yesterday, on 23 November, Sadiq Khan and TfL finally released their consultation report, almost 4 months after the consultation closed. There is welcome reprieve for the bus routes: 14, 74, C3 and N74. Although, the number 14 bus service had already been cut down to a reduced service earlier this year – which Greg also petitioned Mayor Khan and TfL on.
This is a real moment for power to the people! The consultation report highlighted the huge, combined petition from Greg, Nickie Aiken, Felicity Buchan and local GLA Member Tony Devenish which had reached over 10,000 signatures! Their strongly supported petition clearly made a massive difference.
In total, the consultation received a staggering 21,528 responses and the bus route which attracted the most public comments was the number 14 – which is already London’s slowest route under Khan – it received a total of 2,732 comments. The voices of the local community have been heard, so Greg would like thank the public for your support!
But Greg's campaign to save the number 11, 211 and N11 buses goes on!
Unfortunately, these will no longer go East-West through the centre, but instead routed south of the River.
This will see an end of the iconic number 11 bus route to Liverpool Street – this has great tradition and is one of London’s most important routes. It also offers a vital route for commuters from the constituency into Central London and it has been a key part of the fabric of Chelsea and Fulham for more than 100 years.
The 211 and the N11 also serve strategic locations and local services in Greg's constituency such as Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital. We want to see the routes unchanged.
Join Greg in the fight to save the 11, 211 and N11 bus routes by signing his new petition to keep these beloved buses on the same routes and the existing frequencies.
You can sign Greg's petition here.
Greg will never stop fighting to save our local bus services!
- Update ends -
In June 2022, Mayor Khan and Transport for London (TfL) revealed proposals to abolish or cut back nearly 80 bus routes across London.
These radical plans include proposals to axe entirely local bus routes: 11, N11, 14, 31, 74, N74 and C3 as well as change or reduce the numbers: 19, 27, 49, 211, 328, 414 and 430 that serve Chelsea and Fulham.
Greg immediately launched a petition to give residents the opportunity to join him in opposing these disastrous proposals, and on Friday 28 October he submitted his petition to Mayor Khan & TfL. With 5933 signatures, the petition received huge support – an undoubtedly clear indication of the strength of local opposition!
At the petition presentation Greg was also joined by Nickie Aiken, Felicity Buchan and local GLA Member Tony Devenish AM. Their combined petitions reached over 10,000 signatures against Mayor khan’s proposed bus cuts in West Central London.
Over the past few months hundreds of constituents and local organisations have contacted Greg about these outrageous proposals and in his extensive response to TfL’s consultation the Central London Bus Review, he urged Mayor Khan to reconsider. The consultation closed on 7 August 2022, despite Greg writing a letter to Mayor Khan which urgently requested an extension to allow more local people the opportunity to respond. TfL is aiming to publish its report on the consultation later this year.
Greg knows that buses have served our local area well for years and are regularly used by residents of all ages to travel to work, school, medical appointments, shops, visit family and friends, and much more. Abolishing or changing these essential routes, will have a detrimental impact.
Access to buses is a necessity in London, given that car ownership is low, they are environmentally friendly and provide a safe and accessible travel option. Implementing these proposals would be a disaster for anyone who uses the buses, but the plans would disproportionally affect disabled people, elderly residents and people with young children. This is also a result of the lack of step-free access at local tube stations such as Sloane Square, Putney Bridge and Parsons Green.
The plans come as a result of Sadiq Khan’s financial incompetence through decisions such as freezing TfL fares for 4 years (without accounting for the impact on the budget), introducing an overly generous Hopper Fare, freezing the daily bus cap at £4.50 a day for more than 5 years and ramping up the bus subsidy, which was around £600 million under Ken Livingstone, reduced to £450 million under (Mayor) Boris Johnson and was up to £722 million by March 2019 under Mayor Khan, well before the pandemic.
The threat to our buses needs to end. Only earlier this year Greg petitioned Mayor Khan and TfL about their decision to cut the service of the 14 and 170 buses, and now they want to abolish, reduce, or change almost 80 different bus routes that serve the people of London – it is shocking!
Greg will never give up in fighting for frequent, reliable and known bus services for Chelsea and Fulham.
Greg would like to thank everyone who took the time to make a submission to TfL’s consultation and to all those who signed his petition opposing the bus cuts across Chelsea and Fulham. It is incredibly important to show TfL the strength of local opposition to their proposals and your submission to the consultation and signature to Greg’s petition will have helped.
Greg’s petition has been hugely supported by local people and this will make it even harder for Mayor Khan to go through with these outrageous proposals.
We now await Mayor Khan’s response to the review and the consultation. Greg and his colleagues very much hope that he sees sense. The Government has provided yet again additional money to the Mayor and to TfL. We now need them to make the right choice and save our local bus services!
Greg will continue to follow any developments very closely.