K&C Lib Dems launch petition to stop TFL bus cuts

K&C Lib Dem TfL has launched a six-week consultation on the withdrawal and alteration of a large number of bus services. For Kensington & Chelsea, we are looking at the withdrawal of bus routes 414, 14, 72, 74, N74 and C3 and alterations to bus routes 328, 19, 430, 49, N27 and 27. 

We are caught in a trap while Central Government and Sadiq Khan in City Hall continue to battle it out. Local residents and businesses will be the losers.

Bus reductions are the result of the Government’s refusal to support TfL with long-term and sustainable funding. As part of the government bail-outs of TfL during the pandemic, TfL is required to make £400m in savings - an impossible task.

The withdrawal of bus routes will have a significant impact on local residents in just as master-planning begins for the Earl’s Court Site, the largest development in Zone 1, as well as at 100 West Cromwell Road, we cannot risk reduced bus services whilst welcoming thousands of new residents into our community.

Additionally, a reduction in bus services will hit the vulnerable in our communities harder. It means more people will struggle to get to hospitals that are best reached by bus, such as Chelsea and Westminster, Brompton and Marsden hospitals. And it means people on lower incomes, already struggling because of the cost of living crisis, will need more time to travel as they are very dependent on bus services.

Furthermore, with both TfL and the Government promoting more active travel, we need more, not fewer, travel options to encourage people to leave their cars at home. Fewer buses means reduced access to transport for those who are retired, and increased fares for commuters.

These cuts to bus services will put additional pressure on our tube stations, and more cars on our roads.  Together with the Borough’s failure to provide a safe cycling network, this will only worsen our already unacceptably poor air quality.

We would be keen to hear what Felicity Buchan MP and this Council are doing to campaign and support the funding of these vital links.