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We have been campaigning on five fronts to improve bus travel:
As the pictures below show, there has been a welcome improvement.
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Transport for London have replaced stops on routes operated for them. Surrey have also embarked on a programme of bus stop renewal.
Following a campaign by Epsom & Ewell LA21, the Borough Council signed an agreement with Adshel for a series of new shelters across the borough, which have now been installed.
Unfortunately not all shelters have been positioned intelligently, as the photos below show.
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Why put a litter bin at the point where the bus stops and the bus
shelter at the point where cars park? When the bus comes, the post of
the stop prevents passengers from reaching the actual stopping point by
the litter bin.
This shelter is in Chessington Road, near Plough Road. (Adshel ref. no 4602 0003) |
From time to time, shelters disappear when vehicles crash into them. When this happens, you can do your bit by reporting it to Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk
The Transport Group conducted its ninth annual bus reliability survey in late October / early November 2008. On three separate mornings they noted the times of buses scheduled to pass the Spread Eagle junction in Epsom between 08:00 and 09:00. They then compared the actual times with the scheduled ones.
Surrey County Council's punctuality criterion is now the number of buses running within five minutes of the scheduled time. On this basis, there was a small decline from 2007 but a vast improvement from 1999, as the following figures show:
| Year | <= 5 mins delay |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 68% |
| 2007 | 69% |
| 2006 | 54% |
| 2005 | 62% |
| 2004 | 69% |
| 2003 | 50% |
| 2001 | 50% |
| 2000 | 46% |
| 1999 | 44% |
The most punctual routes in the 2008 survey were 470, 668 and 868, where all services ran within five minutes of their scheduled time. At least two thirds of buses ran to schedule on routes 406, 460 (s/b), E15/E16, 418, 467, 479 (w/b) and 518. The worst routes were 166, where none of the services ran on time, with delays of up to 26 minutes, and route 408, where only 40% of services ran within five minutes of schedule. We were pleased to note an additional service on route 293, though it failed to run one morning and only 60% of buses on this route ran to time.
| We believe that bus operators cannot reasonably be expected to run
services on time with present levels of traffic congestion.
Bus priority measures are urgently required in the borough. As well as dedicated bus lanes, other measures are feasible. For example, traffic signals can be programmed to change to green when a bus approaches. As well as pressing the authorities for bus priority measures, we are urging bus operators to do the same. |
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At present, very few routes stop near railway stations; bus
schedules are not synchronized with train times; rail tickets, including
Travelcards, are not accepted on Surrey's buses, other than those operated
for Transport for London. In these
circumstances, it is hardly surprising that bus operators are reluctant to
make a diversion past Epsom station: they find that very few passengers
transfer between train and bus.
Transport for London have made some progress by accepting their Travelcards, Oyster Cards and Freedom Cards on bus routes that run into Surrey. But it is still not possible to use any of these cards on bus services not sponsored by TfL. The inclusion of rail services to Stoneleigh and Ewell East and West in the London fare zones has enabled passengers to use London Travelcards and Freedom Cards at these stations. But these can still not be used at Epsom, nor can Oyster pre-pay cards be used at stations in the borough. London Mayor Boris Johnson intends to make these cards accepted by train operators in Greater London from the end of 2009, but it is not yet clear whether this will apply to stations in Epsom & Ewell. |