Croydon’s part-time Mayor calls for ULEZ income to be used for improvements to public transport
Going nowhere: there’s been disruption on Croydon’s tram network for 10 out of 20 weeks in 2024
New Addington continues to be hit by Transport for London’s tram rolling stock crisis.
There has now been no service on all or part of the tram network for 10 weeks out of 20 in 2024, and New Addington and the Elmers End branch line have been affected by most of those planned “essential” engineering works or emergency withdrawals of service.
Inside Croydon reported last week that just eight trams from the fleet of 34 were still able to operate because of what TfL said was wheel damage caused by debris on the tracks. That was prior to the transport authority issuing a late notification that the entire network was to shutdown at 7pm each evening from last Thursday through to Sunday “to enable repair works to happen as quickly as possible”.
Then, there was the prospect held out that something closer to a full service would return this morning. But it has not.
- Trams are only operating from Wimbledon to East Croydon and on to Beckenham Junction. There are no trams serving the branch from Sandilands through Lloyd Park, Gravel Hill and New Addington, nor to Elmers End.
- Trams are only running once every 10 minutes – roughly half the normal service frequency.
- And the network will close down altogether at 8pm tonight.
A statement on the TfL transport service website states that the lack of service is “due to a shortage of trams”.
TfL has issued no service update to provide any indication when a normal service might resume.
Inside Croydon readers have related anecdotally how the replacement, or “enhanced” bus services on routes 54, 64, 130, 289 and 466 “to help customers wanting to travel”, have often failed to provide proper cover for the missing New Addington trams, as the tram crisis appears to continue indefinitely.
Inside Croydon has also reported how industry sources are increasingly suspicious of the excuses given for the trams being taken out of service because of “damage to wheels caused by debris on the line”. There were similar service withdrawals in 2023. But then, only half as many trams were affected by the damaged wheels.
The tram fleet has 22 of the original Bombardier stock which have been trundling along the 17-mile network since it opened in 2000, plus 12 Variobahn trams which were purchased between 2012 and 2015.
TfL has started a tendering process to find replacements for the Bombardier trams, but because of covid and the transport agency’s financial crisis, it is at least a year or two behind schedule in conducting this multi-million-pound purchase.
TfL’s advice is for anyone wanting to travel in the area to check before they travel, consider alternative routes and to allow more time to complete their journeys.
Croydon’s Mayor, Jason Perry, after spending the past year providing a platform for vandals who have carried out hundreds of thousands of pounds of criminal damage to TfL property and for Susan Hall supporters to racially abuse the London Mayor, finally spoke out about the trams late on Friday.
Part-time: after two years in office, Mayor Jason Perry has woken up to problems on the trams
The trams were unmentioned in piss-poor Perry’s manifesto when seeking election in 2022.
For his entire two-year term, part-time Perry had previously been silent publicly about this key piece of Croydon’s transport infrastructure. But on Friday, perhaps to try to demonstrate that he is doing something for his £82,000 wages, Perry issued a statement to say that he had written a letter to London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Car-loving Perry has never been spotted using a Croydon tram during his time in office. On Friday, after nine weeks of tram problems, Perry said that the tram network disruption “has caused significant disruption to Croydon residents”.
“This is fundamentally the result of lack of investment in tram rolling stock over many years,” Perry observed.
Perry claimed he had “raised this on multiple occasions in the past”, although this is the first time he’s ever mentioned it publicly.
“I am calling on Mayor Khan to provide a clear timeline for the restoration of full and reliable tram services across the network,” said Mayor Perry, who has never managed to provide a clear timeline for the restoration of bus shelters which were removed from the streets of the borough three years ago.
Perry wants money raised from the ULEZ expansion, which he opposed, to be used for capital investment in the tram network – which was always sort of the idea when the Tory transport minster, Grant Shapps, ordered Mayor Khan to expand the ultra low emission zone.
“I have also asked for an urgent meeting to discuss a long-term solution for the tram network and what TfL’s plans are for funding in the future.” Something which, for someone who was elected in 2022, you’d have hoped Perry might have got round to doing already…
From May 2024: Two-thirds of tram fleet out of service due to wheel damage
From June 2023: 20% of Croydon’s tram fleet suffered damage to their wheels
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