EQRA has long campaigned for better local bus services.  The 343 will take you to Elephant and London Bridge but you have no other choice from Southampton Way or Wells Way.  If you want to get into the City or West End, you have to change (and pay again if you don’t have a bus pass or Travelcard).  This area needs a better choice of local transport services!

If you haven’t already signed the petition, click here

Julia Edwards, a landscape architect from Southwark’s public realm division will be there to talk about the possibilities.

TUESDAY 6 DEC 7pm – 8pm

Over the last 2 years EQRA has raised this problem on a number of occasions with TfL.  Disappointingly, TfL have responded that they are satisfied that capacity is adequate.

We have now compiled a video which might help to challenge TfL’s view.

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you find you are being left behind by the 63, or have any other problems with our local bus services, please complain to TfL – and keep complaining every time it happens as this will help maintain the pressure to sort the problem out.  TfL’s contact details are:

phone: 0845 300 7000 (Monday to Friday, 8am to  8pm)

web: www.tfl.gov.uk/contact

Incredibly, Boris Johnson has now decided to overturn this plan.

Not willing to give up the fight, we’ve joined forces with the Wells Way Triangle Residents’ Association to campaign even more actively for improved local transport, and issued the following press release to voice our outrage.

We believe that the extra voices may give us more traction with TfL who now seem to be seriously considering diverting the 42 bus along Wells Way and Southampton Way. This would give us a link to the City and beyond and also a useful bus route into Camberwell.

Read the press release here

There’s also a petition online we’re encouraging everyone to sign : http://tinyurl.com/bus343

The tram scheme, which had been due to serve North Peckham, had been cancelled by Boris Johnson in 2008 due to lack of funds to build it.  However, financial contributions have since been provided from the private sector and work to build the tram line has been going on undetected all around us.

The tram link – or Barclays Cross London Super Transit, to give it its correct title – opened to the public this morning, to the delight of North Peckham’s residents.  Alf Poirol, a resident of Lynbrook Grove, was on the first tram this morning.  He e-mailed us to tell us how surprised he was.  EQRA, which has long been campaigning for improved transport links in our area, has welcomed the appearance of the shiny blue tram.

However, residents are warned that they may need to be quick to be able to sample this excellent new service.  Funding runs out at midday today, at which point the tram service will cease 

Click to view the Transport slideshow to WWTRA, (pps, 2.38 MB)

The meeting was also addressed by London Assembly member Valerie Shawcross, who outlined the background to the Cross River Tram scheme.  Ms Shawcross stressed the importance of continuing to press for the tram scheme as a long-term solution to our area’s transport needs.

We found the meeting was very positive, confirming that EQRA’s views are very much in line with those of our neighbours.  We would like to thank WWTRA for inviting us to speak at their meeting.

TfL have also assured EQRA that they consider capacity on routes 63 and 363 to be adequate, despite all the evidence we have submitted to show that it isn’t.

We will not be beaten on this, and will continue to press the case for adequate transport links in this area.  Can you help us to help you?

If you think better transport in this area would help you, now would be a good time to contact TfL and tell them.  You can either go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/contact and click on “make a suggestion” or you can send an e-mail to customerservices.buses@tfl.gov.uk  It will help if you tell them:

• which street you live in
• where you travel to regularly, and the reason (e.g. “to Oxford Circus where I work”)  You can name more than one place or reason if you wish!
• how long the journey can take (e.g. “the journey often takes at least three-quarters of an hour”)

If you have to change buses, or from bus to tube, tell them.  If you think this adds inconvenience to your journey too, don’t forget to tell them that too. 

If you find that buses leave you behind because they are full – it doesn’t matter whether it is the 63, 343 or 363, tell them which route.  Tell them how long you often have to wait before you can get on a bus.

If you find you often have a long wait before a bus turns up, tell them which route it is, and how long you find yourself waiting.

If you don’t use the 63, 343 or 363, either because they are overcrowded, or because you can’t rely on them or because they don’t take you where you want to go, do you walk to a more distant stop (e.g. to Old Kent Road, Peckham Road or Camberwell Road) before you get a bus?  Would you prefer it if there were more convenient services at one of the more local stops?  If so, tell them!

Don’t be disheartened if the only response you get is a standard reply which doesn’t answer in detail what you tell them.  What matters is to keep the pressure up.  EQRA thinks North Peckham deserves better than what TfL and the Mayor are currently providing!

After several complaints and near-misses from residents driving round this blind bend, the Council are this week considering making it impossible to park on the corner.

A knock-on effect of cars being parked along this stretch has been that other vehicles finding themselves driving towards oncoming traffic have been forced up onto the pavement causing major damage to a water main valve / manhold cover and surrounding paving.

The issue will be discussed at at the Peckham Community Council meeting this Wednesday (2nd March) at Camelot Primary School. More Details here

Broken paving slabs caused by heavy vehicles mounting the pavement to avoid parked cars

The work should include improvements to the pavements, along with some alterations to speed humps and a “speed table” at the junction with Commercial Way.

TfL’s proposal is to increase the peak hour service from a bus every 6-7 minutes to a bus every 6 minutes, with one more extra journey in the morning peak.  That’s it – no other changes to frequency at any other time.

We have again stressed the lack of direct links from North Peckham to Central London; the need to pay two fares to get into town and the poor provision of public transport in this area.  We have nevertheless acknowledged that the 343 does provide a useful direct link for local residents who work in the London Bridge area.  We are taking the line that, rather than putting yet more buses on the 343, TfL should be putting a second bus route on along Southampton Way to offer a wider choice of destinations (including a link into town).

Many thanks to everyone who responded to our recent questionnaire – your feedback has helped to shape our submission.

Our full submission (a 1MB PDF file) can be downloaded here