One of Croydon’s many holes in the borough’s roads might yet be playing an unintended part in improving bus services in the area.
Better route: the Metrobus 400 is about to get a new timetable
Recent road closures on Coulsdon Common to unclog the soakaways have forced the highways department at Surrey County Council to make “special arrangements” for big business, because Tesco’s HGVs can’t make the right turn from Guards Avenue to supply their Caterham supermarket.
And a local transport users’ committee is hopeful that this could seta precedent for the otherwise reluctant county council to fund permanent road changes to allow for an improved route 400 bus service.
The East Surrey Transport Committee represents public transport users in Croydon, East Surrey and parts of Sutton, and it has been lobbying for improvements to bus services in Caterham.
The committee has requested
- A later bus from East Surrey Hospital in Redhill to Caterham on weekdays and an improved Sunday service.
- The 400 route to be extended to “Caterham Village”, the site of the old Guards barracks. It is this that requires a change to the road layout at the junction of Coulsdon Road and Guards Avenue.
- Better coordination with 400 and 409 and 411 routes, especially on Saturdays between Caterham Station and Caterham Hill now that all the services are operated by MetroBus (since their takeover of Southdown Buses).
Charlie King, the committee chair, said, “I am pleased to say that from May 11, with some additional funding from Surrey County Council, the new 400 timetable will have a later service from East Surrey Hospital to Caterham and improved Sunday timetable.
“It provides for later buses from Gatwick Airport and East Surrey Hospital to Caterham, better coordinating with visiting times along with later buses from Caterham Station to Caterham Hill and an improved frequency on Sundays.”
On right track: Metrobus has listened to bus users to rearrange its timetable from May 11
King says that Metrobus is willing to extend its 400 route to Caterham Village, to provide more bus links with the 409 (which runs from East Grinstead to Whyteleafe, Godstone, Warlingham and Selsdon) and Metrobus’s 411 (which serves Reigate and Redhill, East Surrey College, Whyteleafe and Selsdon).
“However, the larger more modern buses used for the 400 are unable to negotiate the road junction of Coulsdon Road and Guards Avenue Caterham Hill. This requires Surrey Highways to fund alter the layout of the junction.”
And what’s good for Tesco’s HGVs must surely be good for public transport, eh, Surrey County Council?
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
