TfL has created a bus fiasco in Wanstead and South Woodford with its incompetent changes to the W12, W13 and W14 routes, say Save Our Local Bus Services campaigners. Member Donna Mizzi explains
Many elderly and disabled people are put at great risk when they cannot access public transport from near their home. That’s one major reason the Save Our Local Bus Services campaign is demanding urgent and major improvements – before winter hits.
TfL keeps repeating that it will keep services “under review” over the next year. However, since bus changes were imposed in early September, many residents have trouble reaching the local hospital, GPs, supermarkets and stations. Others find themselves stranded while trying to travel back home. Children are having trouble getting to school and commuters are reluctantly having to rely more on their cars again. Distraught and perplexed bus users have become an increasingly common sight.
In some areas, including the huge Nightingale Estate stretching from Wanstead to South Woodford, the hail-and-ride bus was reduced from half-hourly to hourly…without any timetable. Common traffic hold-ups on this route stop it being reliable, while Neighbourhood Watch members are concerned about people of all ages walking down the estate’s long streets in the dark.
The ultra-confusing changes to the W12, W13, W14 and 549 routes have severely hit those with mobility and health issues. The ‘lifeline’ W14 now terminates a quarter of a mile short of Whipps Cross Hospital. Incredibly, the W14 has also been designed to miss the most popular stops, including those near step-free Wanstead Tube station, Wanstead and South Woodford amenities, and Walthamstow.
Even, TfL’s own customer service advisers haven’t been able to understand the muddled bus routes – a number of residents reported after they sought travel advice. TfL kept trying to blame the lack of timetables and mix-ups on the recent cyber attack. But a customer services adviser admitted he couldn’t see the imminent changes on the TfL system, a day before the attack. (Campaigners have a copy of his email.) Meanwhile, buses variously don’t arrive, fail to stop or have wrong destinations on the front.
Local residents are entitled to be angry; their travel needs have been ignored. Last year’s so-called consultation was a farce, accompanied by misleading statements and impossible-to-follow maps. Finally, in October, following growing complaints, Wanstead councillors hastily organised a small public meeting. TfL provided two officers who were not “decision-makers” and lacked sufficient local area knowledge. One W12 user reported that his regular journeys from Wanstead to Whipps Cross were taking about 40 minutes longer because they had been re-routed through highly congested Leytonstone. TfL also ignored warnings to avoid that problem.
The Save Our Local Buses Campaign invites residents to submit their local bus experiences. Visit swvg.co.uk/mybus, where you can also access the petition.
