TRANSPORT FORUM - LONDON TRANSPORT AND THE BUSES

Friday 9th March 2001 , Transport Forum meeting, 6.30 pm, St Mark's Church Hall

70 people were present, divided into four work groups.

London Transport is launching a campaign to deal more quickly and effectively with complaints about local bus services. The details of a faster and more effective service to deal with thousands of unanswered bus complaints came after a meeting last Friday (9 March) of the Wimbledon Civic Forum transport group revealed widespread public concern at the refusal of bus companies to deal with dissatisfied customers.

Questioners at a work-shop evening on Merton's bus network complained that one local bus no company longer provided information on how to complain. Others said that the existing criteria for judging services rested entirely on time-keeping and were far too limited.

Facilitator and panellist Cynthia Hay, of the Capital Transport
Campaign, supported the protesters, saying that the ordinary publicpersistently found that they were denied any adequate response to complaintsand urged more people to raise the issues with the London Transport UsersCommittee.

John Cartledge, deputy director of the LTUC and another of the evening's facilitators agreed. "Next to dry cleaning, complaints about transport exceed all others in the country" he said. But the newly founded Greater London Authorities now had scrutinising responsibilities which would inevitably be focussed on bus network problems.

Dick Halle, Head of Strategy for LT Buses, said he was fully
aware of the problem and urged people to "put pen to paper". "We hear these issues being raised, both here and in other areas, and we are acting" he said. "In my group we are discussing complaints and people being dissatisfied with the answers - or not getting any answers at all.

"I am responsible from this month for overseeing this process and I am changing the way it operates. Things will not change overnight - but six months from now things will be different and I am ready to come back and face the Forum again," he said.

Mr Cartledge, who said that the LTUC was launching its own day-long seminar into London bus services, said "I am cursing the WCF for not holding this meeting two weeks ago because this would have done my job for me, so many good ideas have been generated here tonight. It is very heartening to see how much awareness and understanding there is in these groups."

But he said a traditional problem was that the bus was "not sexy". Teenagers preferred a driving licence to the vote "because it is legal to do what you can do in the back seat of the car but not on the bus." This was part of a wider culture which we had to change, he said.

The four work groups produced a list of proposals to the companies for improving bus services. Outstandingly, there was a call for a return to conductors, with a heavy majority believing that this would increase security and safety on the bus because the driver would no longer be distracted from the traffic by wrestling with fares. Older people would feel secure, while pollution and congestion levels would be lowered and services speeded up because buses would not be standing still so long at stops.

There were other calls for one-day through ticketing to avoid paying twice if the journey is broken by a change of bus, for tighter parking controls to avoid bus-lanes being blocked and for smaller buses operating on dedicated routes, particularly out of rush hours.

Providing adequate services for schoolchildren was an essential step to end car-dependency, the groups found. And there were calls for road humps to be banned on all bus routes because they cased discomfort and could be detrimental to safety on board.

Transport Forum: 09 March 2001

Bus Workshop: The bus and us.

Attendees: 64 people: St. Mark’s Church Hall:

6:30pm – 8:00pm

Introductions by John Ellison - Chair:

Dick Halle: Head of Strategy – London buses, 8 years GLA prior to joining London Transport 12 years ago, a member of TfL. Facilitating group no. 1

Cynthia Hay: Leading member of Capital Transport Campaign, American, well qualified academically, US and in the UK, Joined 6 years ago – can’t drive uses a bike - and must be very fit. Facilitating group 2

John Cartledge: Deputy Director London Transport Users Committee: Joined the LRPC (London Regional Passenger Council) worked there for 26 years on a whole range of transport issues. Been involved with all enquiries since Kings Cross disaster. Facilitating group 3

John Ellison will Facilitate group 4: in the absence of either of our two remaining facilitators: Harvi Mudhar, Merton Council Traffic Officer and Tony Clarke Mitcham Belle buses.

Opening Statements by Panellists:

John C: Our primary purpose at LTUC is to investigate the problems and other issues encountered by the 8 million transport users every day. Issue dominating bus complaints was reliability - everything else was of second order. Spare capacity on the buses. Success – the jewel in the crown – would come when local paper has a transport supplement not a car advertising section, when the competition prize is a bus pass not a car and when at the gala nights at the opera, celebrities arive by bus .

Cynthia H: Capital Transport a small membership organisation to represent users and workers on concerns on transport. Going since 1983. Would like to see buses changing from workhorses to racehorses. But as economy does well the use of buses has decreased relative to other forms of transport. In inner London 1/3 of all households doesn’t have a car. Much done – more accessible buses with low floors – but still a very long way to go. Would like to see politicians using buses, Gordon Brown using the Underground.

Dick H: Strategy Director for London Buses: responsible for organising and servicing London buses: Big changes since last May and the mayor’s Transport Strategy paper. Things improving but there has to be a step change in the quality of buses over coming 10 year period. We have the largest bus network in the EU 15,000 buses, 7,000 bus stops, 4.5 Million passengers a day 35% of buses journeys s in England but only 15% of the population. Changing and simplifying fares under way – flat fare since January.

2.Announcement in a week or two in a book of tickets like a carnet. (Reprise) Short of staff – but services to be more frequent. Coming improvements would include flat-rate fares, increase in night services, more low floor, wheelchair accessible buses. Huge Bus priority program of £60MM would create 27 new routes plus 30 more over the next 2 years.

The principal points emerging from the four working groups were as follows:

Group 1 - Design: Is our local bus system properly planned?
Change local routes to accommodate public needs.
More smaller buses but larger entrances/exits for ease of access: frequency should be greater.
Roadwork’s – there should be flexibility to allow routes to cope.
Inspectors in place to assure turning of buses short when there are problems on the road – linked to countdown on bus stops.
Expense of using buses when linking between a series of routes.
Anxieties over long stand times around central Wimbledon.
Concern over design low floor buses which reduce number of lower deck seats available.

Group 2 - Priorities: Can we ever successfully prioritise the bus.

Illegal parking – everywhere, on the road, in bus lanes and at bus stops: Role of traffic wardens in enforcing existing traffic laws.
Call for prosecutions based on CCTV or individual taking photographs
Bus driver pay and shift conditions poor. Same qualification allows driving of HGV’s for better money.
Inadequate timetables, which should be adapted for long term roadwork’s.
Significant difference in company attitudes. Some are much better than others.
Irritation at failure of companies to respond to complaints. Present monitoring of services only concentrates on timeliness. Complaints go unanswered – one company has removed info on complaints procedure.
Reliability of countdown questioned.
Why not different size buses at different times of day?

Group 3 - Car-Bus: Key issues in persuading people away from the car.

Total journey time has to be indicated (but Countdown indicators appreciated.
Increase in the number of buses
Park and ride has resulted in an increase in bus journeys (Oxford).
Reinforce measures to keep bus lanes clear.
Persuade children/parents to use buses. Problem of school run remains!
Cheap fares applauded but reluctance of congestion charges for motorists remains. Deterring cars from town centres drives them to out-of -town shopping centres
Make bus riding more glamorous: change behaviour patterns: Small buses more versatile for local needs.

Group 4 - Convenience: What do we want when we board the bus?

Strong debate on the ticketing system. Substantial majority call for return of the conductors because:
Advance buying of tickets adds to cheating (see Tramlink) and need of inspectors.
Delays ensue when drivers hand out tickets: pollution increases when buses stand at stops. So does congestion.
Conductors promote feeling of safety, reduce standing passengers and increase safety. Increase in number of passengers would pay for them.
Worry about going through roads with humps and chicanes –incompatible with bus comfort.
Unacceptability of paying two fares when there is a change of route

Lessons drawn by Facilitators:

Cynthia Hay: Comments on complaints and reluctance of companies to tackle them. Suggests more people write to LUTC or contact Capital Transport Campaign.
Dick Halle Determined to remove complaints problem, heard from other areas too. Something which LT Buses will change. Is personally responsible from this month for overseeing this process. No overnight – but relatively quick – changes forecast in coming six months when he will be happy to report back to Forum

John Cartwright London Assembly has scrutinising duties and will be looking at bus network problems Very heartening on how much awareness and understanding there is in the work groups. Demonstrate by your own actions. If the bus is the way to go because it is more efficient, less polluting, carries 60 people and more democratic because everyone can use it, it is important to use them. But the bus is not sexy – teenagers prefer a driving licence to a vote because what you can do in the back seat is legal in cars but not in the bus – a joke, but underlines the importance of perception. Importance of and co-ordinating all the strategies in London and its boroughs.