In the past eight months, passengers travelling between Kingston, Richmond, Brentford and Ealing on the 65 route have made 107 complaints about the service - the highest number of any bus in the capital.
And the bad news does not end there. The 65 also made it to fourth spot in the top ten of buses that fail to stick to their timetable.
A Kingston man has been given a suspended prison sentence after admitting being part of a graffiti gang which caused £270,000 damage to Tube and train carriages.
Stephen Bryne, 20, of Cardinal Avenue, Kingston, along with five other men, pleaded guilty at Isleworth Court on Friday to more than 125 criminal damage offences between February 2006 and November 2007.
Click on the above link to read the KATAlog for Winter 2009.
Work will begin in February to pave over the taxi turnaround and move the pedestrian crossing to the front of the station. The taxi rank will be moved to in front of Joy, near Drummonds Place, with a northbound rank on the opposite side of the road. Buses will now pull up on the right hand side of commuters as they walk outside the station.
Commuters will be able to use Oyster Pay as you go on overground rail services in the capital from January 2, creating, for the first time, a fully integrated transport payment system for London.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said the “Oysterisation” of transport services - including Clipper river services on the Thames - heralded a “landmark day for London” - as he made the announcement with Lord Andrew Adonis, the Transport Secretary, at Balham station on Monday.
An announcement confirming the pay-as-you-go cards will be accepted for journeys on all National Rail stations across London is expected shortly. And a Transport for London (TfL) press officer said that SWT was likely to be included.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has persuaded the Government to give serious consideration to finding alternatives to the withdrawal of the South London Line service. At a meeting with the Transport Minister, Sadiq Khan, the Minister agreed the Government will look at the recommendations to come out of a TfL study of options to mitigate the impact of the Thameslink programme on the south London Line.
Transport for London (TfL) is consulting councils, politicians and interest groups about the future of the K5 bus service before its current contract ends in 2011.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will this week meet with the Transport Minister, Sadiq Khan, on behalf of Londoners living in the south of the capital in a bid to resolve their concerns over the future of rail services in their area.
Over the next seven years more than £6bn will be spent on improvements in rail services in south London, including the upgrade and extension of the East London Line to complete an orbital London Overground service in the capital. Thameslink services will increase to 24 trains an hour, connecting areas north and south of London with destinations through the capital. And trains on routes serving London Bridge and Victoria will also be lengthened to ten carriages, vastly increasing the number of passengers able to travel to and from destinations across south London.
However, some residents in south London have expressed concern about the impact of the improvements to Thameslink services that are being delivered by Network Rail. Due to platform works to accommodate the increased Thameslink services at London Bridge station, in 2012 it is proposed to withdraw the South London Line service between Victoria and London Bridge.
Kingston’s annual Christmas and New Year park-and-ride scheme will get under way on Saturday, November 7. The service will run between Chessington World of Adventures in Leatherhead Road and Kingston town centre until Saturday, January 16.
Mr Johnson has released his transport strategy, which sets out his plans for travel in London over the next 20 years. Have a look at the plans and then send Newsquest your questions who will put them to Mr Johnson’s transport adviser, Kulveer Ranger, and printing a Q&A in their November 6 edition.
Send your questions to Gerry Holt, Second Floor, Allied House, 29-39 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3SZ, email gholt@london.newsquest.co.uk or call 020 8744 4271.
The London Assembly today overwhelmingly agreed a motion calling on the Mayor to explore a proposal to introduce a ‘one hour bus ticket’ to be available on ‘Pay As You Go’ Oyster Card.
The proposal, which would enable passengers to use more than one bus during a 60-minute period without paying more than £1.00, would be more affordable and convenient for Londoners using public transport.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson acted to ensure that vital improvements to London’s transport system continue to be delivered and front line services protected in the face of huge financial pressures on Transport for London (TfL) caused by factors including the collapse of Metronet, a recession-linked fall in Tube ridership, and the fares policy of the former administration.
Announcing his plans for Tube and bus fares, the Mayor said he had protected free and concessionary fares for London’s elderly, young people and those on low incomes. 40% of bus passengers will continue to travel free or at a substantial concessionary rate and the Freedom Pass will continue to be valid for travel 24hrs a day on all TfL services. The Mayor also made clear that his approach to fares and investment would bring stability to TfL’s financial position, in sharp contrast to the damaging volatility and uncertainty brought about by the previous administration’s approach.
The fares package for 2010 means that, overall, bus fares will rise by 12.7 per cent and Tube fares by 3.9 per cent. This is comparable to fare increases introduced in 2005 and 2006, when bus and Tube fares increased by 12.7 per cent and 4 per cent, and then by 12.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively.
Cabbies fighting a proposal to move a taxi rank away from a train station have launched a petition with their passengers. Bill Clarke said his customers were “absolutely gobsmacked” when he told them Richmond Council wanted to turn the front of Richmond station, in Kew Road, into a pedestrians-only area.
A newsagent who has served Kingston station for years will be evicted next week, as work has begun on a revamp which traders hope will give the town an arrival point it can be proud of.
South West Trains (SWT) said the station will have a larger entrance, less queues, more space and four new shops. But as part of the revamp, a family newsagent which has been at the station for the best part of two decades will be evicted on October 16 after spending nearly a year on two weeks’ notice.
Bus routes in Elmbridge could be scrapped, after Surrey County Council (SCC) announced it was looking to stem the £11m it subsidises on journeys every year.
SCC said it would launch a review into bus services across the county and would look to improve the “most needed” routes and create more evening and Sunday services.
However, the overhaul would also mean the council, which wants to save nearly £4m in the next four years, would reduce or stop routes not being used enough or costing the council too much money.
Work began this week on installing gates at New Malden station, after campaigners fighting the closure of the south entrance accepted a compromise from South West Trains (SWT).
A survey of commuters and residents by MP Edward Davey found that 84 per cent of people were happy for the gates to only open at peak times.
Commuters will be able to cycle from train stations to their office as part of a new South West Trains scheme.
The Brompton Bike Campaign is the UK’s first green cycle hire initiative by a train company and will encourage passengers using South West Trains to combine their journey with cycling using a Brompton fold-up bicycle.
South West Trains season ticket holders will be able to hire a Brompton bike for up to a year for less than £2 a week, enabling them to make their journey to and from the station on bike.
A campaign to keep children off train tracks has begun in Worcester Park after the station was identified as a rail crime hotspot. The No Messin’ initiative will now attempt to reduce the 18 cases of trespassing and vandalism reported at the station last year.
Kingston Council is claiming it could be left with a £1m hole in its budget for bus and train fares for elderly and disabled people, if the Government tries to redistribute money.
The Government is considering reducing the grant to London for concessionary fares by as much as £50m a year, in order to move money to other areas in the country, it has said.
The following is a letter to the local press and others requesting to keep open the High St entrance/exit of New Malden Station, and ask that everyone similalrly writes as well.
Dear Editor,
Plea to keep open ‘Pearly’ gates
KATA is dumbfounded by South West Trains’ decision to block off the the High Street/Twin Towers entrance to New Malden station which will cause untold inconvenience to users. SWT claim that they can’t install the new Oyster Ticket gates on this south-side because of a lack of space and instead are putting all of them by the ticket office on the Coombe Road/north-side, so that access to down trains (Kingston etc) will only be via the tunnel under the tracks.
The reality is that they could put some on the south-side but would need to be manned by SWT staff which they don’t want to pay for, despite the £millions made in profits each year by it and parent company Stagecoach.
In addition, all three bus stops are on the south-side and will make a nonsence of a public transport interchange. The stop/stand of the K1 (to Malden Manor etc) is on the forecourt of the south-side and users are going to have to trek around the station, in rain etc. Equally, the pair of 213 stops are now by the twin-towers.
Note that the train operators are not paying for these Oyster gates but rather us Londoners are through the Mayor of London and TfL at a cost of £20million, at the last count. Accordingly, we at KATA have written to Mayor Johnson, who is also Chair of TfL, to stop this retrograde move by SWT and to keep the entrance/exit open.
If not then those alighting from trains from Waterloo etc will have to trek all under the station and out via the barriers into Coombe Road, then back under the bridge towards High Street.
Finally, to keep the entrance open, we urge everyone to write/email to the following:
Mayor of London, City Hall, SE1 2AA
Ed Davey MP, 21 Berrylands Road, KT5 8QX
Customer ServiceS, SWT, Overline House, Blechynden Terrace, Southampton, SO15 1GW
Tony Adams
Chair - Kingston Area Travellers' Association
People power has derailed South West Trains’ plan to shut the south entrance at New Malden station, following an enormous public outcry over the proposed closure.
Train operator Southern has just produced its best ever punctuality figures for a four-week period. From May 31 to June 27 95.2 per cent of all Southern’s trains arrived at their final destinations on time. This is the best punctuality figure for a four-week period since the beginning of Southern’s current franchise.
The news comes just days after Southern announced record breaking figures for a single day’s service provision of 97.3 pr cent achieved on June 8.
A teenage yob who attacked a bus driver at traffic lights because he was not allowed to get off before his stop has been jailed.
Hounslow teenager Hady Jalloh, of Norman Crescent, admitted punching and kicking the driver in the face on the 111 bus in Hounslow. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison at Blackfriars Crown Court.
Young people in south London that lose their free travel privilege due to bad behaviour will soon be able to earn it back by getting their hands dirty and volunteering for environmental conservation work.
The Mayor has announced that from September "Earn your travel back" will mean young people in south London who have their Oyster Zip cards taken away can earn them back through volunteering to help London Wildlife Trust, v (the National Young Volunteers Service) or BTCV (formerly the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers).
A new investigation will set out to capture the passenger experience on the Tube network, looking in detail at the impact of overcrowded trains and weekend closures on Londoners’ journeys.
The London Assembly Transport Committee investigation – which kicks off with a public meeting - will look at how well Transport for London (TfL) is managing both overcrowding and the upgrade programme on the Underground.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced that Visitor Oyster will be sold onboard all easyJet flights to London Luton, Gatwick and Stansted.
The deal, between Transport for London and easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, is the first of its kind and will enable air passengers to purchase Oyster cards whilst in the air. Visitor Oyster cards enable passengers to quickly and easily access the Tube, London Buses, the DLR and other TfL services the moment they arrive in the Capital. The deal with easyJet marks the biggest expansion of the Visitor Oyster network to-date and will open up Visitor Oyster to the thousands of passengers who travel on easyJet flights to London each day.
Londoners who travel in and out of the capital on national rail will not benefit from Transport for London’s (TfL) lower fares once Oyster Pay As You Go is introduced at the beginning of next year.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson announced that crime on buses in the capital is at its lowest level for five years, down by 18 per cent since he took office. Robberies and bus vandalism has been cut by more than a third.
The Mayor unveiled the figures in Brixton, where he launched the last of 32 policing teams dedicated to patrolling transport hubs across London. The teams are jointly funded by Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS); and are part of the Mayor’s commitment to increase visibility of policing across the whole of the city. The nine-strong team will patrol on and around the bus network in the Brixton Road area.
Annual crime statistics from British Transport Police show crimes on the railways fell during 2008-09. The London South Area of the force has seen the number of violent offences fall by 8 per cent, with 208 fewer recorded offences. Robberies and theft of passengers’ property are both on the decline, with a 12 per cent reduction, and criminal damage is down 18 per cent.
The actions of a manager for South West Trains (SWT) have been labelled as “appalling”, after he gave out false information that could land customers in court.
The Elmbridge Guardian reported in March this year that SWT stakeholder manager Phil Dominey had given customers the green light to board trains without tickets if they had honourable intentions - but it appears customers could be issued with a £20 fine or even prosecuted if they follow his advice.
Yet more delays have been announced on a programme to roll out pay-as-you-go Oyster cards at mainline stations across Merton borough. The cards will be unusable on South West Trains and Southern services until 2010, prompting a furious attack from transport watchdog London TravelWatch.
London’s boroughs are to get greater freedom to decide how they use funding for transport projects provided by TfL, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced. After a year of joint-working, TfL and the borough councils have agreed a simplification of the funding system and a formula that applies across the capital.
Kingston and Surbiton’s MP has been rebuffed by Boris Johnson in his bid to bring in one-hour bus passes for travellers.
The Liberal Democrats launched a petition for unlimited bus travel within an hour for the price of a single journey. But a spokesman for the Mayor of London said the idea is not practical or worthwhile.
London Assembly Transport Committee Chair Val Shawcross welcomed Transport for London’s announcement that iBus has now been fitted on all 8,000 London buses, saying, “A Transport Committee report on crime and disorder on London’s buses encouraged the use of iBus to improve both the perception and the reality of passenger safety, so this announcement is very welcome."
A gang of 20 youths hurled bricks at trains and on to railway lines around Wimbledon station in the worst of a concerning number of crimes committed on Merton’s railways last year.
Network Rail revealed details of the incident in December as an example of the problems blighting the UK’s rail network and costing £264m a year. There were eight incidents of people recklessly trespassing on railway lines near Wimbledon station and 10 on the tracks around Raynes Park Station in 2008.
Unemployed Londoners in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or the new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) can now benefit from half-price bus and tram travel, thanks to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Transport for London (TfL).
Transport for London (TfL) and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames have joined forces to launch Smarter Travel Richmond, a three year, £4.2million initiative to help people change the way they travel in the borough.
The scheme aims to encourage greater use of sustainable travel options, such as walking, cycling or using public transport, as well as reducing traffic congestion and improving the local environment.
Cross party political support and pressure from the community is the way to get the Tramlink extension to Crystal Palace back on track, a public meeting was told.Around 40 people attended the meeting organised by Labour's prospective Parliamentary candidate Gerry Ryan at Stanley Halls, in South Norwood, to launch the "Reinstate Tramlink" campaign.
Today’s London commuters rely on trains that run slower than before the Second World War, according to an expert at one of the capital’s leading universities.
Studies of the busiest train services in and out of London have shown that rail passengers have an increased waiting time for services that take longer.
The head of South West Trains (SWT) is due to “amicably” leave the company at the end of the month. The news regarding Ian Dobbs came after an earlier announcement that 660 jobs were to be axed in a bid to reduce costs.
Ticket office hours at South West Trains (SWT) stations in London and Surrey will be cut by 219 hours a week, new figures show. At least 20 stations will be affected by the cuts and some will be left completely unattended at night and on weekends.
A rush-hour trespasser on the tracks at Kingston station has been given a conditional discharge. The 17-year-old from Battersea was spotted crossing from platform two to platform three with a friend at 6.15pm on February 4, Kingston Magistrates’ Court heard.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the offence. But because he had appeared in another court the day before and been sentenced to a six-month supervision order with a youth offending team for an assault and theft, he was given a conditional discharge.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, have today reached agreement on funding for phase two of the East London Line, which will complete the London Overground network and create an orbital railway around the capital.
This means phase two of the East London Line will be constructed before the 2012 Games at a cost of £75 million. The scheme will link Surrey Quays on the East London line extension to Clapham Junction, providing direct links to the City and Docklands.
Elderly and disabled passengers are set to benefit from a multi-million pound investment to make it easier for them to use railway stations.
Worcester Park, Walton, Mitcham, Earlsfield, Sutton, Wandsworth Road and Herne Hill are all earmarked for a slice of £37m will help improve access to 523 stations across England and Wales, paying for ramps, disabled toilets, lifts and extra parking spaces.
Staff West Trains revealed it is to axe 180 jobs including some ticket office and station staff, as well as ticket inspectors.
A pack of school boys threw snow and ice at a moving bus and then assaulted the driver with kicks and punches in full view of shocked parents. The students threw the snowballs at the Go-Ahead 154 bus on Stanley Park Road, Carshalton at 3.30pm on Wednesday near Total garage as it travelled towards Sutton.
Sean Kinsella, 22, of Limpsfield Rd, Sanderstead pleaded guilty to seven charges of criminal damage between May 2007 and March 2008 for vandalism at Streatham Hill depot, Coombe Way Tram Depot, Norwood Junction, East Croydon and South Croydon railway stations, Fairfield Road rail bridge and Selhurst rail depot.
The graffiti vandal received an eight-month suspended sentence at Southwark Crown Court. He was also handed a 12-month supervision order, a six-month curfew and five-year ASBO prohibiting him from possessing graffiti paraphernalia and from entering parts of the railway.
Councils opposing a third runway at Heathrow are set to unveil plans showing how the airport could instead be used as a rail hub for up to 40 trains an hour. A Heathrow rail hub could link 150 stations within a 25-mile radius of the airport to mainline services, including a high-speed line from London to Scotland.
The heads of the five largest train companies – Stagecoach, National Express, Go-Ahead, Arriva and FirstGroup – urged the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, to consider shortening trains, rewriting the financial terms of franchise agreements and putting up state funding for an extra 1,000 staff across the rail network.
Train users were given a boost when it was announced four station ticket offices earmarked for closure on Sundays would now remain open on the Sabbath. Last week Lord Andrew Adonis, transport minister, told South West Trains (SWT) it could not proceed in full with a plan to reduce ticket office opening hours at 114 stations across the network.
The rail operator has responded to Lord Adonis’ announcement - and the rejection of proposals to reduce hours at offices during times when on average 12 or more tickets are issued hourly - with a new list of opening times and Barnes, Hampton, Hampton Court and Strawberry Hill station ticket offices will continue to open on Sundays.
Plans to slash weekday ticket office opening hours at Hampton and Strawberry Hill stations has also been scrapped as have plans to close the office at Fulwell station on Saturdays and cut opening hours at St Margarets on Sundays.
Hundreds of unemployed Kingston residents will get half-price bus and tram travel from April. The concession, which will benefit many of the 1,421 residents in Kingston currently receiving Job Seeker's Allowance, is designed to help people back to work by making it easier to travel to interviews, and access libraries, job centres, and other amenities.
The scheme was announced today as part of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s Economic Recovery Action Plan.
A new night bus will serve passengers in Kingston from June, it has been announced. The N65, which currently runs from Ealing Broadway to Brook Street in Kingston, will be extended to serve Chessington and Hook from midnight under the new plans.
Transport chiefs have defended a "ghost bus" which runs once a week from Ealing Broadway to Wandsworth Road - but does not stop for any passengers. Every Tuesday - at 9.45am precisely - the 50-seat executive coach draws up at a bus stop F outside Ealing Broadway station in west London. No one ever get on and it departs, empty, on a 70-minute trip to Wandsworth where it waits for two hours before returning, again carrying no passengers.
This mysterious phenomenon occurs when a section of railway track becomes unuseable and a replacement bus service has to be implemented to cater for passenger needs. Rather than follow the lengthy and expensive public consultation procedure to shut down a railway line or station, which is a legal requirement, the Government instead keeps a bus service running that costs a fraction of the price.
The Mayor of London today officially opened a £180 million extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to Woolwich Arsenal, which delivers another vital north-south link across the capital. The extension has opened seven weeks ahead of schedule linking King George V station on the north of the river with a brand new station at Woolwich Arsenal in the south.
South West Trains (SWT) passengers will be the last to be able to pay for their rail travel using their Oyster cards.Oyster agreements with most train companies are near completion but negotiations with SWT are not as advanced.
The Mayor of London today delivered on another key manifesto pledge when he announced an additional 50 British Transport Police officers to patrol trains and stations in outer London.
Transport for London (TfL) will be investing more than £6m during the next two years to fund the extra officers on non-TfL services as part of the Mayor’s commitment to clamp down on low-level crime and disorder at outer London rail stations.
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