Kingston Area Travellers' Association

 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).