Alerted to major bus problems by local campaigners, Calvin Bailey MP is taking South Woodford’s issues to Westminster. Residents affected by W14, W13 and W12 changes should now contact him, says Donna Mizzi
TfL must stop waiting for data and start caring about how its changed bus services are leaving passengers stranded and distraught. That’s the message from local residents, in response to a statement from Calvin Bailey MP.
At a meeting with Mr Bailey to discuss a number of acute problems created by TfL route changes, senior officials failed to address the main issues affecting South Woodford residents, and only agreed to consider reinstating Wanstead’s Woodbine Place stop for W14 bus users “subject to data”. As a result, the MP has decided to formally present a petition to Parliament.
TfL claimed that following the cyber attack on 1 September, reliable timetables and bus information would at last be issued for South Woodford from mid-November. But, as local bus users are aware, information at E18 bus stops continues to be lacking or frequently wrong. And the hourly W14 runs late in both directions or doesn’t arrive at all!
Nightingale Estate residents are starting to demand that “completely out-of-touch” TfL leaders spend time with them to see how lives and health are impacted by the “carelessly planned bus scheme.” They say transport chiefs should witness how schoolchildren wait at bus stops from 7.30am as buses ride past because they are already full; how people with mobility issues can’t reach GPs and vital amenities; how elderly and disabled people and mums with small children can’t wait in the freezing cold for an unreliable once-an-hour bus, or walk along dark and icy side roads for up to a mile to reach their homes. Many commuters are finding it difficult to reach work or get home, and some elderly people are saying they cannot go out any more.
Save Our Local Bus Services organiser Liz Martins says: “Environmentally concerned residents are being forced to go back to using cars, which flies directly in the face of the TfL chairman and Mayor Sadiq Khan’s policy to lower emissions.” Regarding “data”, the campaign urges TfL chiefs to take the advice of South Woodford resident Prof Norman Fenton, a Turing Fellow and data science expert. He said: “Sometimes, all that is needed is common sense.”
Following his meeting with TfL, Calvin Bailey said: “I am concerned about these issues and disappointed TfL has not taken meaningful steps to address them. That is why I will be formally presenting a petition to Parliament… It is important I hear from constituents. Please contact my office to register your reports. The more voices, the stronger the case will be when I go back to TfL.”
To contact Calvin Bailey MP, email calvin.bailey.mp@parliament.uk, call 020 7219 7417 or post letters to Calvin Bailey MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.
To read the MP’s statement in full, visit swvg.co.uk/mpbus