343: Destination, rubbish
Dear Andrew
343 Bus
I was grateful for your time in meeting me recently to discuss the performance and problems of the 343 bus route.As you will remember from our meeting with a local resident representative, there are particular complaints about the service around Southampton Way because it is the sole service which runs close to their home. Being unable to easily access other routes they are particularly affected by overcrowding on the service.
As a consequence of the intensity of complaints about overcrowding I undertook to carry out a house to house survey in the streets around Southampton Way – although I appreciate that the bus serves a much longer route. I have also now spoken with the ward Councilors who are ALL also very anxious to see some improvement on this service.
The survey
I wrote to nearly 500 homes in the area immediately around Southampton way. 96 residents responded to the 343 bus survey which was sent as a direct mail to 484 houses on Southampton Way and the roads leading off Southampton Way. This is a 20% response rate.
96 % of responders want more buses serving the 343 bus route. (2% said no, 2% were unsure).
On a daily basis 36.8% said they were unable to get on a 343 bus because of overcrowding. 31.6% found this sometimes to be the case and 27.4% said this happened two or three times a week. Only 4.2% said that they had never found the bus to be overcrowded.
When on the bus, most people found that on a daily basis they would have to stand - 38.5%.
Most people identified the morning and evening rush hours as the busiest times.
Passengers made many heartfelt comments on the survey forms to support their accounts. Most focus on the overcrowding but you can see from those selected below that other stress points emerge – children’s behaviour, driver training and the general management of the route.
I have reported some of these below and would be grateful if you could consider these wider, quality of journey issues when carrying out your passenger loading study later in the year. It is quite probable that the pressures of passenger numbers and demand are adding to the difficulties faced by the drivers to the extent that they are behaving in a way indicative of the stress which they face.
Passenger Quotes
Mostly they come in twos and even three, four and five together. I get on at Wells Way and often have to wait for 2 or 3 buses as they are already full! Often I count 30 people standing!They are already getting full when they reach Southampton Way. It is not unusual for the buses to not even stop as they are so overcrowded.Another complaint I have is that the bus drivers frequently change their final destination during the journey with no warning, and so often end up having to change buses at elephant and castle to get to London Bridge.
I have often waited for 20 minutes and between 8am and 9am, which is why I've given up with the service. If the bus came every 3 - 5 mins I would be much more inclined to use public transport more often and would feel safer.
There are occasions when you wait at least 20/15 minutes and then two turn up together. This will happen two or three times a week.
I live on Rainbow Street. The 343 is, as you point out, our only bus service. It's frustrating to have to change at Elephant & Castle to get to somewhere as close as Waterloo, plus Aldwych, Holborn and Tottenham Court Road, areas to which I travel frequently , as there's no direct bus to any of these places. Camberwell Green is served by several, and Elephant & Castle by more still: 1, 68, 168, 171, 188. […] Finally, and perhaps most pressingly, from Cottage Green there is no bus to any of the supermarkets around the area. I walk to Tesco or Ada on Old Kent Road, or walk to Camberwell Green to get a bus to Sainsbury's at Denmark Hill. Obviously a taxi back is the only option. I think the solution to this is not to increase the frequency of the 343, but to instead provide a bus route that serves these places I've mentioned. It shouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility to run a bus from here to Waterloo and to at least one supermarket in the area. One possibility would be rerouting the 171 to follow the 343 between Elephant and Peckham, which would provide the direct links to Waterloo, Aldwych and Holborn, and a direct service to New Cross . Another would be to run a bus from Old Kent Road (Tesco) along St George's Way and Wells Way, Southampton Way, Peckham Road, Camberwell ChurchStreet, Camberwell Green and (ideally) on to Denmark hill (Sainsbury's).
I am convinced that the number of school children that use the route to get to school is really causing problems. Whenever I get on the bus the top deck is 50-75% majority filled with kids.
The attitude of the drivers in general is quite appalling. There are a few nice helpful ones but most of them are rude, uninterested in your perfectly reasonable question, drive badly (fast, stopping suddenly) and have been known to miss stops (perhaps they are relief drivers and don't know the route, they are overworked and are tired, they are listening to music or are on their mobile phone). […] I don't know if the drivers get a
really bad deal but they seem to hate their job!! It is a disgrace and a good job that most of the 343 route is not by tourists.
Three of the 343 can arrive together or you can wait in the most extreme case for one hour. No timetable in my opinion is followed.
I have noticed that the drivers of the 343 are often quite abrupt drivers. Lots of speeding, dangerous breaking. I witnessed people falling over and hurting themselves. A gentler approach would be nice.
Due to redevelopment in that area maybe another bus route from Commercial Way via Southampton Way and Wells Way would be much more effective and give us a choice/ other option to use the number of people in north Peckham has increased but number of buses or frequency has not.
Ha! I often wait half an hour for a bus I can get on - the most frequently they tend to come in the morning is every 15 mins - but you can't get on it. Also whenever leaving Elephant and Castle as is always a lot of people waiting for the 343 and there is a mad rush for the bus, which often results in pushing.
I have now opted to travel with my car.
I think the bus service in London is very good, there seems to be plenty of buses and how they maneuvered the narrow streets and speed along quickly is remarkable.·It doesn't go where many people want to go! […] there is no bus link to anywhere west of London Bridge. We need a bus that links directly to the West End.
The 343 service is an absolute disgrace. For people reliant entirely on one bus service the 343 is just not good enough. The people of Peckham are always angry and most of that anger I lay squarely at the door of the 343 service. Peckham has undergone massive redevelopment with new housing being erected seemingly every week. There has obviously been a huge increase in the number of residents in the area yet the 343 continues to operate the same frequency of bus service.
Why change drivers at Newington Causeway as opposed to London Bridge where they start/ terminate.
Even before I leave the house I start worrying about whether or not the bus will arrive and get me to Elephant & Castle early enough to catch other buses to get me into work on time.
I believe very strongly that this route need additional buses adding into the schedules, particularly at peak hours. It is a popular and useful route but it has a particular value to the Southampton way area. I would be grateful if you could let me know how you plan to respond to these concerns and what are the findings of your own passenger numbers study.
Yours sincerely
Valerie Shawcross AM
Labour Assembly Member for Lambeth & Southwark
posted by TommyD @ 4:02 pm
15 comments
15 Comments:
I attended that initial meeting with Val and Andrew. The survey being undertaken, as far as I'm aware, is not an on-board survey where passengers are asked their views but rather a survey of the route - e.g. how frequently do the buses come, how many people are waiting at the bus stops, how full are the buses etc etc. Apologies if I didn't make this clear when I came back from the meeting.
I hope they do whatever survey they do after school holidays. This is the only time of the year I love the 343 but it does confuse the reality.
J
Ooops sorry C. My misunderstanding. It's the lovely sun you see....
THE WORST moment for me was when the bus arrived full one morning around 7.15. The driver did not open the doors but signalled to a m8 if his at the stop. He then moved the bus about 10 yardsd on, opened the doors and let his M8 on. The regulars at the bus stop were agog.
I now walk to Denmark Hill rather than wait for the 343
Interesting survey. We learn that
- rush hours are the busiest times of day
- you can wait twenty minutes for a bus, then two turn up together
- buses tend to go where THEY want to go and not where YOU want to go
- school children use buses to get to and from school
- bus drivers can be quite rude at times
- if you don't get up early enough you might not get to work on time.
Something must be done!
Er that sort of underplays it. Sure all London buses have similar issues. But you have to admit the 343 is pretty lame. Add to it another 800 people are expected at my one stop on the route in the next year (No Peckham). And, I don't have any other bus options unless I choose to walk home quite late through poorly lit places where I know some neighbours have been attacked. I work in the City which is what, 2 miles or so away? It shouldn't take 1 hour door to door to travel 2 miles on public transport.
Why another 800 at one stop? What does 'No Peckham' mean?
North Peckham. We have two huge developments going up just on Peckham Grove at Southampton Way most of who will all use that one stop. Total units about 650. Many are two and three bedroom. So the number of new people will probably total about 1,000+.
Oh. Perhaps it's time to push for that bus route running down Chandler Way and Kelly Avenue (the one at the right-turn lane that goes nowhere on Peckham Road) originally intended to serve the North Peckham and Gloucester Grove areas - although I'm not sure where it was meant to go from St Georges Way. There's a big area there that could do with a bus to somewhere and that might take the pressure off the 343.
Even so, there'll always be someone without a bus stop at the end of the road and if dimly lit streets aren't safe to walk at night it's more of a lighting and policing issue than one of bus routes. Otherwise we're into Dial-a-Ride.
Apart from that, I'd have thought an hour from door to door isn't too bad at rush hour - depending on where the doors are (when I worked at Moorgate - well over three miles away - and Kennington was still parkable I'd drive to the tube and happily allow an hour for the journey). Buses will never run strictly to timetable in a congested city and although it's a bit slower than walking the dog to work at least you're mostly in the dry. Or if you don't mind a spot of rain now and again there's always the bicycle.
But if those 800 are all going to the Elephant they'll need another few hundred feet of 343s on the road, causing even more congestion. Then nobody will get to work on time.
I sent and email to TFL the other day about late buses/ double buses etc and so far I had an acknowledgement and that's it.
I like the idea of pushing for another route. Also I wondered about some kind of local short shuttle that would connect say Camberwell, Oval and Elephant so that there would less obstacles/jams on the route and the buses might be able to keep to time better.
Last week in the evening the driver of the bus I was on simply refused to stop at a stop in the Ayelsbury estate. Maybe they just can't take it anymore by the time it gets to 8 or 9 pm.
Meanwhile I am still going to Denmark Hill
EK
I wrote the comments about Cottage Green and diverting the 171.
If the 171 ran along the same route between Peckham Road/Southampton Way and Elephant & Castle as the 343, it wouldn't affect anyone in Walworth or Camberwell Green. They already have a range of buses, including to Peckham and Holborn.
I still believe the obvious thing to do is run a new route through Southampton Way and Wells Way, to the west end, from a supermarket. And to improve frequency.
It would be great to make Travel London change drivers at the route terminii instead of at Newington Causeway too.
Meanwhile I get to wait at a bus stop with no bus shelter for four 343s to deign to turn up line astern, three to run straight past the stop and the full one to stop. Again.
At Elephant & Castle this bus is plain dangerous - it's like a stampede to get on to it, after three 40s, four 12s, three 148s and the rest have trundled past nearly empty.
Glad to see this blog up, incidentally, and Valerie's survey. I was beginning to think nobody at City Hall or TfL gave a damn.
Bakerloo Line extension, anyone? Why the hell does it terminate at Elephant anyway?
All good thoughts. Some points:
- A second bus route should go down Southampton Way and up to New Church Road - then either up the Walworth or across to John Ruskin and back down heading toward Victoria way. Sending it up Wells Way and through Aylesbury creates more of the same issues we have now - the estate is so high density that the buses become overloaded and slow (too many stops). You could send it up Wells Way and have it turn left on Albany and over to Walworth/John Ruskin, though.
- It is a great temptation but great fallacy for all good Camberwellians (and those in Peckham) to buy into the Bakerloo Line being extended South during our working lives. It likely will happen - and is on the radar - but the very earliest you might see it open for business is say 2026. You are right to campaign to get it in the next 10 year plan (2016-2026) but do it for the next generation (or two). We missed out getting in the plans to 2016 and so we wait to see what the 20 to 30 year plan will hold. I know this is terribly hard to hear and accept. Trust me, I empathise.
- The more likely (though not assured) alternatives include the Tram for this area and possibly re-opening the Train stations in Camberwell generally.
- Any alternatives are a while off so making the buses work better (especially given a greater influx of people expected) is the short term answer.
Any new bus would need to replicate the 343 between Elephant and Peckham Road, including Aylesbury Estate, to take the pressure off that part of the 343. People living there face exactly the same problems as we do here.
And it's hardly fair for us to campaign for a new bus route so long as it doesn't get overloaded with Aylesbury people. Their useage of it would make it viable for TfL to introduce it, and make the 343 more reliable.
Meanwhile, last I heard from Valerie, she was lobbying TfL about the 343. Have you heard anything else moving forward on this, other than they're surveying the route? Is there likely to be any improvements at all at any time this year?
A shame this blog seems less used now. We're well in to 2008 (August) and still nothing has changed, other than Val being re-elected and being chair of the transport committee at City Hall.
What chance anything happening before we turn up daisies?
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