Transport Update

Some good news ... The new platforms 8 and 9 will open at London Bridge station on August 30th, which will allow us to travel to Waterloo East and Charing Cross again without having to use the Tube.

Part of the new underground concourse will open beneath Southern Rail’s platforms. Passengers will be able to alight from their trains and then use the new escalators, stairs or lifts — which are currently boarded up on each platform — to reach the new concourse, which connects with the new platforms for Charing Cross.

However, work will then start on rebuilding the Cannon Street platforms. This means there will be no interchange at London Bridge with Southeastern rail services to Cannon Street from late August until 2018. As with the Charing Cross services, National Rail tickets will be valid on London Underground to complete your journey.

Once the work is completed, London Bridge should have all of its services restored (we will be keeping an eye out for the return of the 08:32 from Forest Hill), as well as a much-increased and improved Thameslink rail service, giving us more rail connections than before.

On the Buses

Route 185 has been re-awarded to Go-Ahead London  with new battery-hybrid buses. This new contract will begin in October, so we should start to see new quieter, less-polluting buses appearing on this route.

The peak-hour vehicle requirement on this busy route is going up from 24 to 25, which would suggest a slight increase in peak-hour buses, possibly to one every 7 minutes towards Victoria in the morning and towards Lewisham in the evening.

The 363, which runs along Wood Vale and Sydenham Hill, is also going hybrid from October this year.  

Dartmouth Road Concept Presentation

Below is the presentation provided in the Forest Hill Ward Assembly and SEE3 Town Team Meeting for some of the concepts for Dartmouth Road. There are still many further months of consultation to agree the detail of the scheme. The Forest Hill Society has some concerns about the current designs, but we welcome the opportunity to see a transformation of this road.

Proposals for road narrowing, to allow for more space for pedestrians and parking:

Proposed areas of the road for existing and increased parking, and drop-off at the pool:

Proposed additional bus stops for the centre of Dartmouth Road (outside the pool and The Hill):

Improvements to Rail Replacement Bus Services

Over the Christmas period there will be massive disruption to train services through Forest Hill.

London Bridge station will not be serviced by Southern trains from 20th December until 4th January.
Overground will be operating an increased service with at least 4 extra trains per hour operating to/from Crystal Palace, rather than New Cross. Southern tickets will be valid on suitable Overground routes.

No services will operate through Forest Hill between Thursday 25th and Sunday 28th December.

On 27th and 28th December there will be a replacement bus service operated by Southern to London Bridge. As a result of lobbying by Forest Hill Society this replacement bus service will be increased from 4 buses per hour to 10 buses per hour (6 buses to/from London Bridge and an additional 4 to/from New Cross Gate). LOROL are providing an additional bus service between New Cross Gate / New Cross and Canada Water for passengers for the Jubilee Line.

However, passengers from Forest Hill/Honor Oak Park should consider if other routes would be better for them. There are frequent bus services to Waterloo on the 176 and 172, to Blackfriars on the 63, and the Catford Bridge, Catford and Crofton Park train services should be running a normal service.

More advice from TfL regarding the December works can be found at:

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/london-bridge-rail-station/december-2014-travel

Beyond this, from 12th January 2015, there will be no SouthEastern services calling at London Bridge (they will run 'fast' to/from Waterloo East). Interchange at London Bridge to the Jubilee line will be possible for journeys to Waterloo, Southwark, and Charing Cross. We are awaiting confirmation regarding changing at Canada Water on Southern tickets for access to these stations (at present this would not appear to be a permitted route, but will they really stop us?)

Buses - Have your say

The London Assembly has launched an in-depth investigation into bus services in London as passenger numbers rise and investment into bus services has flat-lined. Local London Assembly Member Len Duvall wants residents in Lewisham to share their experiences of bus travel in London to improve and strengthen the service offered by Transport for London.

Mr Duvall said “Residents can share their good and bad experiences by filling in a short survey on bus services in London and attending the public meeting on 6 June at 10am in City Hall. We need bus users help to ensure the London Assembly puts forward strong recommendations to the Mayor on how we can make bus services in London suit the needs of the people that use them.

“TfL’s business plan does not provide for expansion of the bus network, and unless plans are secured to deal with extra passengers, London buses run the risk of entering a period of decline.”

Changes to the 63 Bus Route?

The 63 could be extended along Forest Hill Road and Honor Oak Park to Brockley Rise, to allow residents on the Southwark side to use London Overground services from HOP (part of an election commitment by the Labour Party in the Mayoral elections).

This may cause additional traffic issues, with added delays by using Honor Oak Park which suffers from traffic jams during the rush hour, along with potential infrastructure issues at Brockley Rise which already has the 172 and P12 buses parked on the local roads. Honor Oak Park is currently served by single decker buses, although double decker Route 363 serves Wood Vale, which is less busy in comparison.

Residents in Forest Hill Road already have a regular service to Peckham Rye station which will be connected to the East London line in December when the final phase of the extension opens between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction, also a regular service on Route P12 which can be boarded in Brenchley Gardens or at the very end of Forest Hill Road for Honor Oak Park.

Countdown 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0

TfL has quietly introduced an online Countdown bus information service for mobile phones and PC/Mac users. After testing has completed, this should enable you to find out approximate bus times by either typing in a bus route, postcode, bus stop name, bus stop code or if you have a smartphone, GPS will find your local stops for you. You can find the site on your mobile at http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk or on your computer at http://accessible.countdown.tfl.gov.uk/

Getting Around

The Overground has become a regular part of many people’s everyday commute from SE23. The air conditioning now seems to work and the service is reliable – but the trains are already packed to capacity in the morning rush hour. We’ve asked Transport for London for load numbers and will be interested to hear how they propose to provide more capacity.

For the moment, we are happy that there appears to be adequate capacity to and from London Bridge on Southern but we will be continuing to monitor the situation.

The success of the Overground has increased the parking problems around both Forest Hill and Honor Oak Park and we will be working with Lewisham Council and residents to see what, if anything, can be done about this.

Lewisham Council accept that the changes made in Sydenham Rise haven’t pleased everybody. There has been displacement of car parking to other less suitable locations, and the coaches that were parking there have moved to a more residential area. In the long term, the solution is to provide a proper footpath on the park side of the road which would prevent visitors to the Museum and the Park having to struggle on an uneven and overgrown surface and the bus build out could be removed. More parking could then be provided without causing an obstruction to the road or compromising pedestrian safety. It is not clear that this option was properly investigated before the changes were made to Sydenham Rise and funding constraints mean that such major changes are not likely to happen soon. However, the Council are investigating whether the yellow lines above the bus build out could be reduced to provide about three more parking spaces and will be pressing TfL to review the pedestrian crossing at the junction with London Road. No major changes are likely in Sydenham Rise in the near future.

TfL has rejected our suggestion that traffic flow on the A205 might be improved by restricting right turns into and out of Devonshire Road. We will, however, be looking at the problems caused by traffic queuing to turn right to get to Perry Vale. A better right turn lane might help here.
Sometimes a relatively simple change makes a big improvement to local transport. A suggestion by a local resident has resulted in the northbound 356 bus stopping at Forest Hill Station. Previously it didn’t stop between Perry Vale and Wetherspoon’s.

If you have any suggestions that you would like the Forest Hill Society to pursue on your behalf, please email andrew@foresthillsociety.com

Public Transport Liaison meeting

Cllr Paschoud (Perry Vale), Cllr Nisbet (Sydenham) and representatives from the Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society attended a meeting last night with bus and train managers, as well as Lewisham Council officers and London TravelWatch.

Trains
Forest Hill station ticket barriers will be in operation from 7th July. At this time the Perry Vale exit will remain closed during the day until 3pm. At 3pm-8pm ticket inspectors will be present on the Perry Vale exit and after 8pm the gate, along with the ticket barriers will be left open when the station is unmanned (Open gates after 8pm is a concession that Forest Hill Society were able to get previously in communications with Southern Railways).

Sydenham Station is expected to have the barriers and gates in operation from today. At Sydenham they have a buzzer on the back entrance to enable step-free access to the platform but this is not planned for Forest Hill.

Points raised by stakeholders that require action by Southern:

• Will consider a Sydenham style buzzer for Perry Vale gate in daytime hours, but not likely. This would give the same accessibility to Forest Hill as currently available. I have spoken to older rail users who commute southbound or Victoria bound off-peak on a daily basis and will likely drive to Sydenham rather than walk across four staircases to get to southbound platform at Forest Hill
• Continue to look at the barriers at platform 1 for Sydenham

Other points raised by stakeholders that may require further follow up:

• Risk assessment for Forest Hill was only done on the new ticket barriers on platform 1, no risk assessment was done on the manned exit from Perry Vale and congestion on the platform.
  
• We recommend a policy of self-certification for mobility restricted access to Sydenham platform 1, i.e. if a customer says they need the gate opened the staff should not question this. Customers should not be forced to state their medical condition into an intercom system. Staff are not medically qualified to make such judgments.
  
• We need to keep pursuing the long-term Perry Vale car park access to the station. Basic access could be achieved in a few minutes with the demolition of a single wooden fence or removal of a padlock [by qualified professionals of course]. Proper access would take a little longer to achieve.
• Len Duvall (our London Assembly Member) has written to Mayor Johnson as well contacting the transport authorities directly regarding this issue.
• London TravelWatch has written to the rail authorities expressing concern about the plans at both Forest Hill and Sydenham stations but have yet to receive a reply.

Buses

Prompted by demand on se23.com and East Dulwich Forum for the extension of the 63 route to Honor Oak / Brockley Rise, I raised this issue with the bus companies. The 63 route is currently under review and there will be a consultation shortly. This is an excellent opportunity to extend the service and I shall be writing to TfL buses to fully argue the case.

When the public consultation happens members of the public will have the opportunity to express their opinion on this possible route extension which I feel would be of great benefit to local residents wishing to travel between Peckham, Honor Oak Park, and beyond.