From February, Transport for London will be withdrawing the 118 route, which runs from Brixton to Morden via Streatham, Streatham Park and Mitcham.
All change: the 118 route has been service south London since 1936
The decision has been made following a public consultation in which, even TfL admits, there was overwhelming public opposition to the proposals.
TfL’s proposals were for the 45 route to be extended to cover parts of the 118 service. Among the objections to the changes were that this longer route could prove less reliable. TfL did not include service frequencies in its consultation.
“The proposals aimed to simplify the bus network between Streatham, Brixton and Camberwell,” TfL’s consultation report, published yesterday, states.
“They were also designed to create new bus journey opportunities, without the need to change bus, for customers travelling to and from Kings College Hospital and Maudsley Hospital sites in Camberwell from Morden and Streatham.”
And TfL pretty much admits that it would be ignoring the passenger feedback that it received during the consultation: “Following careful consideration of the feedback received, and a further review of what was proposed we have decided to proceed with the route changes as set out in the consultation.”
Plan in action: the 45 route, will no longer run north of Camberwell Green, and the 118 won’t run any more at all
They say: “While there was some general support for the proposed routes changes, the overall theme was not supportive.
“Some held the view south London was already deprived of local transport facilities and the removal of a bus route may have a negative impact with less access to bus services.
“There was concern related to the proposed removal of route 59 from Telford Avenue and the removal of route 45 between Camberwell Green and Elephant and Castle.
“There was also concern the proposals may lead to reliability issues and capacity to board buses due to increased journey and waiting times, and overcrowding. This was noted as a particular concern along the Streatham Hill – Brixton Hill – Brixton town centre bus corridor.”
The route changes are:
- Route 45 to operate between Denmark Hill/Camberwell Green
and Morden, instead of between Clapham Park/Atkins Road and Elephant and Castle - Route 118 would no longer operate
- Route 59 in Streatham – to operate between Smithfield, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Clapham Park/Atkins Road, instead of between Smithfield, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Streatham Hill/Telford Avenue. This change would replace the 45 between Clapham Park and Brixton Hill
TfL has yet to state when the route changes will be implemented, beyond that it will happen in February 2025.
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At which point do the public wake up and realise that TFL and other Government Bodies do not care about our views.
The consultation process is a tick box exercise designed to show the public/electorate that apparently our views matter.
In the end, they will still do what they want to do.
What of the 24/7 bus lanes introduced as a temporary measure in 2020 during Covid for 12 months. They’re still 24/7 – four years on!
Segregated Bicycle lanes, 20mph zones, bus stops in the middle of roads causing traffic chaos, causing emergency service vehicles to be stuck, unable to get to where they’re needed. Cars and MOTORCYCLES unable to overtake buses, the grid locks.
The government does not care.
But yet people still vote for the same people.
The majority of the electorate are spineless.
Oh dear, have I got it all wrong?
Consult and ignore, I thought that was the way democracy works.
Exactly. There’s “consultation with”, which is what supposed to happen, then there’s “consultation to.” Public bodies always do the latter.
It’s now so blatent its tantamount to an admission these ‘consultations’ are merely a smokescreen for tyranny. Why don’t they at least have the decency to save us their virtue signalling and our time & money. Admit it’s a done deal under a dictatorship so we can get on and take another step towards outright civil unrest.
Loved the 118 in the 60’s and 70’s. My bus to school every day and to ice skating in Streatham
I don’t feel partiucularly happy about this change, this route and others round and about SAtreatham have been written about in my books “I was that Boy” and “Travelogue London and the South East”, The route in question, the 118 had been part of the South London scene for about 89 years; lots of us would have gone to school on it. I travelled on it everyday from Streatham Common, Greyhound to Streatham Vale, when I went to school in Granton Primary School. They changed the dynamic of the route many years ago when they stopped it running from Clapham Common and made it run through to Brixton before turning it at Stockwell Road. Now someone at TfL has had the bright idea of running it as a 45 route through to Camberwell; I suppose that would be of an advantage to those outpatients using Kings College Jospital. In a similar way they attenuated the 49 service which used to run from Streatham Common through to Wandworth Common and Clapham Junction, eventually terminated at Shepherds Bush. These routes define suburbia and people come to rely on them and they become a cherished part of the local scene but apparently that does not matter to TfL planners who don’t cherish local history as we ordinary mortals do. Their only concern is to maintain their overpaid jobs in ivory towers and gleaming offices far away from the ordinary Londoners who use the services.