Aviation Specials – June 2018

80 The London Bus

Country introduced two routes

linking Chertsey and the airport

and Alder Valley extended its

Reading-Windsor service there.

A major boost occurred from

the late 1990s when the airport

started to fund local bus routes

as part of a drive to increase

the proportion of people —

passengers and employees —

using public transport.

This brought a comprehensive

network serving the Heathrow-

Slough-Maidenhead corridor in

addition to better links with High

Wycombe, Staines and Windsor.

This funding helped provide

new vehicles, many initially in a

silver-based livery with Heathrow

branding.

Subsidies from the airport and

local authorities have since been

scaled back, reducing service

levels. The commercial challenge

of competing with TfL services

means that none extends any

farther into London, and from

June 2018 Carousel Buses

curtails its High Wycombe-

Heathrow service to terminate at

Uxbridge.

Case by case

Local authorities stopped

funding TfL routes in their areas

by 2016. At the time, the Mayor

of London said that although

TfL is aware of the importance

of cross-boundary services,

their future would have to be

reviewed.

In 2017, TfL proposed

curtailing route 465 (Kingston-

Dorking) at Leatherhead.

Following intense pressure from

local residents, Surrey County

Council agreed to provide

£200,000 per year to support it.

It has since agreed to provide a

further £130,000 to ensure that

routes 166 (Croydon-Epsom) and

216 (Kingston-Staines) retain

their routes within the county.

Although cross-border buses

benefit residents on the London

side of the boundary as much

as those on the other side,

it is clear that TfL will look

closely at the levels of service

it provides. Nearly 20% of

London’s workforce lives outside

the Greater London area and

commuting is predicted to grow

sharply as London’s economy

outstrips its housing supply.

However, while car ownership

in London is relatively low and

has fallen, the surrounding

counties are among the most

affluent areas of the UK and

car ownership is high and

growing. In 1971, 29% of Surrey

households had no access to a

car, but by 2011 this had dropped

to 13%, compared with 26%

across England and 19% for the

south-east. The average number

of cars per household in the

county was 1.5.

Although bus use in London

has declined recently, it still

stands at over 250 journeys

per head per year. Across

England as a whole the figure

is 80 and in the surrounding

counties it ranges from 21 in

Buckinghamshire to 36 in Kent.

The Mayor of London’s

transport strategy sets out a

vision to ensure that 80% of all

trips in London are made on foot,

by bicycle or public transport

by 2041. It recognises that for

London to be less car dependent,

and to ensure that the wider city

region remains economically

successful, fully inclusive public

transport must not only be

provided within London, but

between London and the wider

south-east.

What is not clear is whether

better cross-border bus services

form part of a plan that spells out

the need for better rail services

and roads. Without concerted

action by local government

on both sides of the boundary,

it is difficult to see how their

decline can be arrested, let alone

reversed. ● ML

Beyond London

ABOVE: The
section of red bus
route 465 beyond
Leatherhead to
Dorking has been
kept going with
support from
Surrey County
Council. This 2015
view in Surbiton
is of an Optare
Versa operated
by Quality Line,
now part of
RATP London.
PAUL GODDING