Funding London’s priorities

Improving bus use and reliability in London

I recently saw part of a really interesting London assembly debate on improving bus reliability in London. TfL seems to have virtually no way of engaging with Londoners about how they use the bus network so I wanted to share my views on this platform.
 

The best way of doing this is to use an example of a trip I used to do on the bus regularly but have now completely stopped due to the slowness and increasing difficulty of doing so. TfL have, through successive changes, made it so hard to use the bus on this major route to the extent I have given up. Most of the themes below are very common throughout my experience across London. My usage of buses in London is a fraction of what it used to be. When TfL amend junctions there is an attitude every time of ‘this will only impact journey times by a minute or two’ without considering the cumulative effect every time this is done.

I used to use the 271 from Archway to Moorgate via Holloway Road.

• About 10 years ago TfL removed the old gyratory at Archway. The new square there has its benefits but from a bus perspective it’s horrible to use. The bus stops are now spread out all over the place so it’s hard to find the right stop or make any real use of the overlapping routes for the same stretch of road. There are so many traffic lights now getting around the gyratory is slow and frustrating. TfL never asked for public feedback after completing the works which could have ironed these issues out.
• The countdown screens at the bus stops either dont work or provide completely the wrong information, if they are still there.
• Often hoards of children get on the bus for two stops up a hill as it’s free for them. It’s a very walkable distance This quickly fills up the bus meaning passengers at the next stop (Whittington Hospital) cannot get on.
• There used to be ‘spider maps’ at bus stops meaning planning a journey was actually quite easy. If I could hop on the first bus and get off nearish/walk the

Just saw that TfL prices are soon to go up again (even though it is frozen for the rest of the country) and I respect that Sadiq has tried to get them frozen or reduced and there has been a push towards the bus network but there has to be another way. It literally benefits everyone when prices go down, for every day Londoners, commuters, tourists also you wouldn't have to hire so many fare evaders staff at the gates.

I'd like the balance of priority on our roadspace moved away from private motor vehicles, and towards pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.  I'd like to see:

• Wider pavements
• More cycle lanes
• More expensive parking for SUVs
• Convert car parking spaces to bike parking spaces, or wider pavements - every year there should be 3% fewer street parking spaces
• Pedestrianise the whole of Soho - with allowances for the obvious (emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles etc)
• More 20mph speed limits - and for them to be enforced
• Every year the congestion charge should increase by RPI + 3% to discourage motor vehicles

I'd also like to see more and better playgrounds for London's children to be active.

I don't know how many times we have to go through this - rent controls do not work to reduce rents and neither do youth clubs prevent crime. 

If you build more housing, regardless of how 'affordable' you seem it, the price of housing will come down. And if you build bigger homes as well, people will move out of their starter homes freeing them up for first time buyers. Not everything needs to be an 'affordable' home and frankly by putting these targets on developers, you're actually ensuring that fewer homes get built because smaller developers just give up.

Boosting the economy, together with cost of living support and affordable housing for all looking to purchase/rent is my priority. A lot of crime, nowadays, is to do with a lack for financial aid, and being unable to afford the basics. In turn, this could make transport more affordable for folks. 

There are several fare dodgers I see everyday at Gants hill station. It’s a shame that every year the fares go up and people like me who pay the fare has to bear the cost of these fare dodgers. 

You can drastically improve quality of housing and public transport while tackling climate change and reducing peoples bill. You can provide communities with cleaner, greener public spaces. I read somewhere that to fight urban heat domes during heatwaves neighbourhoods should have at least 30% canopy cover.

Just tax the billionaires. What's wrong with a hefty one-off tax or a small monthly tax to help us tackle these issues? It's their country too.

Everything needs to be tackled in tandem. Crime is definitely an issue especially petty theft and phone snatching. I even had a pram stolen. You need to tell the police to invest more time and take crimes like that seriously. I was told that my pram being stolen wasn't a priority four days after my husband had his phone snatched outside his office building in the city. Crime is all over London.

It makes us feel ignored by the police. He has told the police where his phone is (through tracking) - at a phone shop. and nothing has been done about it.

The mayor is doing some good things, like free school meals. 

Now let's make London cleaner and safer. As a start, let's make public transport more affordable. My proposal: remove tube zones because charging higher prices to people that live further out is really unfair. I live in Zone 4 and every day I go to my office in Zone 1 I spend nearly £10 and that's just taking the tube. Also, create a hop on system between tube and bus.
 

Transport staying affordable is my number one concern. If the tubes increase price, bus needs to be more frequent and not increase price ; 1.75 is alreayd expensive 

Crime needs to be taken seriously in London, but statistically it is investment into youth groups and communities that best helps prevent that, not more police on the streets. Furthermore, investment into culture and community could give criminals,  and young people, more places to work and spend time rather than turning to crime, which does not happen when social mobility is possible and one’s social life is fulfilling. Another way to combat this crime is by keeping costs down as much as possible, so nobody has to turn to crime to pay their bills and rent/mortgage. Furthermore, rather than introducing ai and slashing jobs, the creation of more jobs and teaching of real critical thinking and individual skills will allow more money to flow back into London’s economy. 

maybe ... should be like MR TRUMP J a beautiful bill - for all inclusive and en frame to underwrite for them budget

Need more step free access it’s awful people should be able to get around without having to rely on people’s kindness. Also just bcs u drop a curb doesn’t mean it’s accessible most are too steep go round London for a day in a wheelchair and see how  get on. Also make more spaces for people to go in the evening that aren’t just drinking like late community cafes etc. Stop allowing the gay culture in soho to die out. Promote small businesses there is no reason a big chain should be able to open up next to or very close to a similar small business such as Joe and the juice opening up next to smoothie factory in the Brunswick small businesses can’t compete 

Something needs to be done about thief’s it’s awful. Specially phone theft the met do not care there is nothing in place that is stopping it they feel entitled to take from people. It is making London a very unpleasant place. I got mine taken out of my zipped up pocket outside the soho fire station they don’t want to help so walked to police station where they said immediately oh phone theft scam the qr code… I didn’t have a phone so how would I do that. Something needs to be done as a preventative measure the punishment for theft needs to be harsher. And when people report that their phone is in a specific building police should be able to enter and go get it because I guarantee there won’t just be one there. So u know how frustrating it is to know my phone is sat in a building where I can see it but you guys won’t do anything 

Extend drink licensing times. Increasing growth in the industry which is struggling with menu closing, causing young people to have a lack of places to socialise.

London out of all global major cities closes up far too early! It should be transformed into a true late night to 24 hour city! 

The priority has to be increasing law & order and reducing crime. The only way this can be done is by increasing funding to get more police officer on the streets and increasing their stop & search powers. It has become embarrassing as a Londoner to see the reputation my city now has internationally due to the rampant crime e.g. phone snatching and knife crime. Which the Mayor has yet not done anyway near enough about. Please sort that. And the litter.