Val Shawcross, Chair London Assembly Transport Committee
Minutes:
Val Shawcross, Member of the Greater London Assembly, presented the findings of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee.
Among the findings were:
· London’s population is set to rise to 9.4 million by 2022
· Between 2000 and 2012 there was 64 per cent growth in the number of
bus journeys taken
· Last year 2.3 billion bus journeys were taken in London
· There are about 6.5 million journeys on over 700 routes every day
· Three quarters of survey respondents said their regular bus was busy or
overcrowded
· There The South East part of London contained many of the busiest / overcrowded routes
· The bus service had not grown for about 4 years whilst the demand for bus services continued to grow steadily.
The chair thanked Val for her presentation and her help with the 343 bus route campaign.
In response to questions, Val made the following points:
· The bus providers were rewarded for good service and penalised for bad. Sometimes routes were shortened so that buses could stay closer to a timetable
· It was important to keep buses moving by giving them more priority lanes
· Overcrowded buses had swept away many of the improvements made by
services concerning access for wheelchairs and child buggies
· The smart phone monitoring service meant passengers could locate bus services to find out how long they would have to wait
· The countdown service required an electricity supply to the bus stop and was usually located at the busier bus stops
· Discounted early bird tickets were one idea for levelling out passenger numbers and reducing crowding during peak hours
· About 2,000 passengers were injured each year on London buses. Driver training was very important to limit injuries both of passengers and road users.
A resident enquired about poor lighting at some local zebra crossings. The chair asked for more specifics at the end of the meeting and said he would follow that up with the relevant cabinet member.