Talk:343 bus/@comment-132.185.144.120-20101223110726

This si the letter I got from TFL, there was also a note to say the consultation had been extended but i cant find this or any reference to it on line.

LETTER FROM TFL Our Ref: MH/T335/Stage3/1010 22 October 2010 Dear Stakeholder Routes 47, N47, 343 and N343 We wrote to you in January 2010 regarding bus services that we would be reviewing over a 6 month period. We have carefully considered all responses received and are now seeking comments on a further service enhancement on route 343 and an alternative stand location for route N343. New contracts for routes 47 and N47 have been re-awarded to Selkent and will start in January 2011. Contracts for routes 343 and N343 were retained by Abellio and will start in February 2011.

Route 343 (London Bridge - New Cross) Currently the frequency is every 6-7 minutes during the day on Mondays – Saturdays. There are two additional journeys towards City Hall in the weekday morning peak and an additional journey from Brockley to Peckham during weekday afternoons. The morning journeys were introduced in June this year. We are now proposing to increase the frequency of the service on Mondays to Fridays, between about 07:00 and 19:00, to every 6 minutes. There will also be an additional morning peak journey from New Cross to Catford. The afternoon journey from Brockley to Peckham will continue to run. We are not making any other changes to the structure or vehicles on this route. At the previous stage of consultation a number of suggestions were received, these are reviewed in the section at the end of this letter.

Route N343 (Trafalgar Square - New Cross) We are currently reviewing an option for this night bus service to stand in a different location to the day service. This would be at the bus stop on New Cross Road just west of the bus garage. This is possible at night as during the day there is frequent use by other buses which requires use of available kerb space. This proposed location would result in the N343 not picking up passengers in Jerningham Road at the start of its current route. The first stop would be on New Cross Road instead. The route would still serve Jerningham Road on arrival at New Cross and the last alighting point would not change. We will contact you again once our investigations are complete with details of any proposals that result. We are not proposing any changes to the frequency of this service. We had requests to review the vehicle type on the night service to see if another type of bus could be used. However, due to the scheduling of the service and the vehicle allocations to each route, swapping buses from other routes could not be done.

Other Options Reviewed We are aware of developments in this area and hence have evaluated some other options. • We looked at diverting route 171 along Southampton Way, Commercial Way or St George’s Way. This would have provided a higher frequency service in the area and also alternative options to the 343. About 1,490 passengers per weekday would need to interchange to make their current journey to or from the southern end of Walworth Road. Approximately 3,970 passengers would have reduced frequency of service, from a bus every 3 minutes to a bus every 5 minutes. • We also evaluated diverting route 12 along the same roads as outlined above. About 4,830 current passengers per weekday would need to change between buses to make their current journey. About 3,870 passengers would see a frequency decrease from buses every 3 minutes to buses every 7 to 8 minutes. • We investigated diverting route 42 along Southampton Way instead of Camberwell Road. This would mean around 1,460 passengers having to change journey patterns. • We also considered diverting route 148 along Southampton Way. This would cost around £230,000 per year. Around 1,700 passengers a day would have their journeys extended by about 9 minutes. This would therefore not be worthwhile. • We looked at providing extra short journeys at peak times between Peckham Rye and Elephant and Castle running every 30 minutes in addition to the main service on route 343. This would cost around £250,000 per year and would lead to uneven intervals between buses, in the section with the extra services, and differential loadings. This can cause bunching, as less busy buses catch up with the fuller through buses, and the service becomes more difficult to control. Reliability would also be affected. • Another option we reviewed was the splitting of the route at Peckham Rye to operate in two sections. However approximately 3,200 passengers per weekday would have broken journeys. Please let us know if you would like any further information about any aspect of this consultation, including more feedback about observations you made at the previous stage of consultation. This letter is part of the process which fulfils the requirement for TfL to consult under Section 183 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Comments and suggestions regarding these proposals should be received by Friday 26 November 2010.

Consultation and Engagement Centre Surface Transport Communications Transport for London 11th Floor, Zone G2, Palestra 197 Blackfriars Road London SE1 8NJ STEngagement@tfl.gov.uk