Call for more Croydon buses as Mayor criticised for cuts
LIB DEM MAYORAL CANDIDATE TAKES SWIPE AT SADIQ KHAN AT LAUNCH OF TRANSPORT PLEDGES IN CRYSTAL PALACE
A LONDON mayoral candidate has vowed that he would not make any cuts to London buses as campaigners aim to restore a higher frequency of Croydon buses.
According to Your Local Guardian, TfL reduced the frequency of the 450 bus between West Croydon and Bell Green Sainsbury’s from once every eight minutes to a service every 10 minutes Monday to Saturday in September.
The Liberal Democrats say it is a ‘vital link’ for communities, and more 80 per cent of residents surveyed along the route said they use the it regularly. Many people, the party adds, thought that services are ‘already often crowded’, and well over 90 per cent of respondents ‘did not want to see the frequency reduced’.
It comes as the Lib Dem candidate for London’s mayoralty, Rob Blackie has promised that he would ‘end bus cuts’ if he were elected on May 2. Mr Blackie also outlined measures to ‘restore reliability and frequency’ to the capital’s commuters, while allowing new lines and services to be added.
At the launch of his transport strategy last Tuesday morning (April 9), the Lib Dem pick criticised the ‘deterioration of London’s transport network under Sadiq Khan’, claiming that bus services have been cut by 22 million miles, millions of pounds in fares have been lost due to the Elizabeth Line ‘opening late’, and up to £1 billion has been lost from public transport due to Mr Khan’s ‘ phoney fares freeze gimmicks’.
Mr Blackie said: “London should have the greatest transport system in the world, but for too many it has become unreliable. After eight years with Sadiq Khan in charge, bus services have been cut, Tubes are breaking down more, and there’s no hope for the extensions to the network that he promised.
“As Liberal Democrat Mayor, I will get London moving again. I will bring an end to bus cuts, and focus on investment in new tube, train and tram lines Outer London.
“I will earn a long-term funding settlement with the government by prioritising financial stability at Transport for London and ditching costly election gimmicks. That will mean more investment in maintenance for reliability and accessibility too.”
A spokesperson for Mr Khan told MyLondon that the election is a ‘close two-horse race’ between the mayor and his Tory rival, Susan Hall. They added: “The mayor has done everything in his powers to protect bus services across the capital, despite punitive funding conditions from the Tory government.
“The Superloop is now transforming travel in outer London, adding over four million extra bus kilometres to the network alone. It will continue to offer more options for buses users all across outer London.
“Tory cuts and the requirements of the recent short-term funding deal meant that some bus routes were cut in recent years. Despite this, Sadiq stepped in and provided an additional £25 million every year to save the majority of bus routes that were proposed to be cut in central and inner London in 2022. The Mayor added over one million annual kilometres to the network in 2023 alone.”
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson previously told MyLondon: “The Government has provided more than £6.6 billion of support to TfL since 2020 - including the most recent injection of £250 million in capital funding in December 2023. As transport is devolved, it is for the Mayor of London to deliver services in the capital and explain how his decisions are funded.”
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