There are a lot of interconnected things here and a small change to make it better for the residents whose driveways were parked over has grown from a school street to a road closure with a lot of unforeseen circumstances. It would be a shame to see the bus go but people aren’t going to use something if it gets stuck in traffic.
The COVID restrictions on the swimming pool significantly reduced the traffic below the road closure making it easier for residents to park and providing a buffer for the increased traffic from the road closure. A lot of the the traffic and parking has now returned. I think we need to wait for the Swimming Pool parking and congestion to come back to normal before any monitoring takes place otherwise it will underestimate the impact or adjust any findings accordingly if that wait looks too long.
Many people have no alternative but to use this bus. I’m thinking especially of the less able of all ages, not only the elderly and those with heavy shopping, but also those with hidden disabilities.
When the speed humps were installed a few years ago, followed by the difficult 20mph on a steep upward hill climb, it wasn’t just the noticeable increase in noise and air pollution that resulted, it impacted on the bus journey time and I was told that if the bus journey time increased further the service could be cut.
As you rightly say Paul, things are interconnected. One person’s easier access to their driveway could be another person’s multitude of problems.
Yes, I understand, it may have been an error on our part I just don’t know.
I just knew that soon as there were a few days of westbound tailbacks due to traffic being momentarily stuck behind a P4 or P12 stopping… we’d be bombarded with complaints that the scheme was to blame. And while in the long-term, it might be good as you say to close off that section - the rationale we were given, and the lack of investment into place-making that was offered - meant it would simply be a closed-off road offering nothing back to pedestrians for the foreseeable future.
If in the years to come… TFL is properly funded again and Lewisham can begin their LIP-funded Healthy Neighbourhoods programme, then it might be something for Forest Hill or Crofton Park councillors to consider.
It might be an ideal area for intervention in a future Forest Hill or ‘Catford West’ Healthy Neighbourhood. If in ‘Catford West’, it might be worth creating a proper Quietway cycle crossing from Grierson Road over Honor Oak Park, to tie in with any closure there. One can dream anyway…
I wonder what will happen when Mais House gets redeveloped because people living there cannot actually get to Forest Hill or Sydenham as that stretch of road is served only by the 363 which goes from Crystal Palace to Peckham without going via FH.
FH and Sydenham are the closest centres for people at Mais House, and also the closest stations unless you count Sydenham Hill station BUT only via the route going through the wood! Not safe at night.
356 is only every 30 mins and so not really possible to time with anything.
I often think it’d be good if TFL either:
122 - send via Sydenham Rise and Upper Kirkdale. It currently goes along Dartmouth Road but you could still pick up the 122 from FH station or Kirkdale roundabout. The distance between FH station and the roundabout is only 0.6 miles and so people currently picking it up on DM road would at most need to walk 0.3 miles extra or take the 197.
363 - reroute the 363 along Sydenham Rise not Sydenham Hill, thereby just about linking the 363 service to Forest Hill (0.4 miles from FH station to the bottom of Sydenham Rise). People living on Sydenham Hill can still access the 363 bus from the south circ, Sydenham Ridge, or Sydenham Rise, with just a couple minutes extra walk. People who currently rely on the 356 can pick it up from Sydenham Ridge or Sydenham Rise.