The Norbury Avenue and Thornton Heath Residents’ Association has started a petition to Transport for London, asking for more buses to serve the 109 route, which runs between Croydon, Streatham and Brixton.
Hold very tight please: Passengers often have to wait 25 minutes for a 109
With so many additional blocks of flats springing up in the area, increasing demand on the bus service in the rush hour has been noticeable for some time. Recent disruption to rail services for commuters has seen many more passengers trying to take the bus.
The residents’ association’s petition states: “We want Transport for London to look at our proposal for a new bus route running through Norbury High Street and Thornton Heath to support the 109 and spread the number of people across two bus routes rather than just one, and bring an end to overcrowding on the 109 and other bus routes within the local area.
“Without investment in a new bus route this problem will get worse. Most times during rush hour people are waiting over 25 minutes to get on to a bus.”
To add your name to the petition, click here.
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I couldn’t agree more. The 109 between Croydon and Brixton is often heaving. Although I think what’s really needed is a north-south extension of the London Tramlink to serve that major corridor A23 Croydon-Streatham-Brixton. If local people have a modern, regular, reliable Tramlink alternative they’ll use their cars less, as has happened on Tramlink’s East-West routes through Croydon to Wimbledon and Beckenham/New Addington/Elmers End. A new north-south tram route is long overdue and was planned by Ken Livingstone, but ditched by Boris when he came to power.
The proposals for a Tramlink extension were for a line linking East Croydon to Crystal Palace. After scrapping them, Boris four times at elections promised he’d build it. Of course, he never did.
The “hot” tram extension on offer this year has been through to Sutton, probably because “Silent Steve” O’Connell figured he needed a few extra votes there to hold on to his sinecure at City Hall. There’s no evidence that TfL has the spare money to fund even such a modest capital scheme, once the Mayor’s fare freeze has been implemented.
A tram line up through Thornton Heath and Norbury to Streatham and beyond has not been discussed seriously for more than 15 years, when the new network was in its first flush of enthusiasm.
Given the much-mentioned new Mayor of London’s background – it’s a little-known fact that his father used to be a bus driver – additional buses are a cheaper, more immediately deliverable solution to the steadily increased demand.