Consultation on Proposed Changes to Bus Routes 7 and 10

Consultation on proposed changes to bus routes 7 and 10

Consultation report March 2016

Consultation on proposed changes to bus routes 7 and 10

Consultation Report March 2016

Contents

1 Introduction ...... 1 2 The consultation ...... 1 3 Responses from members of the public ...... 3 4 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders ...... 8 Appendix A - Copy of the consultation materials ...... 10 Appendix B – All issues raised for Questions 5 & 6 (relating to the Tottenham Court Road and Holborn area bus route proposals) ...... 15 Appendix C – All issues raised for Question 12, relating to the quality of the proposal ...... 18 Appendix D – List of stakeholders consulted ...... 19

1 Introduction We recently consulted stakeholders and the public about a proposal to introduce changes to bus services in the Tottenham Court Road and Holborn area. The consultation ran for six weeks from 3 November to 15 December 2015.

The areas around Tottenham Court Road and Holborn are currently experiencing disruption because of our work to upgrade Tottenham Court Road Station and construct a new Crossrail station. As a result, temporary changes were introduced in October 2014 to routes 7 and 98. In addition, over the course of the last five years, there has been a change in the travel habits of people using routes in central London. We are therefore proposing to make permanent changes to routes 7, 10 (with route 98 returning to its normal routeing).

The proposal would mean that routes 7 and N7 would terminate at Oxford Circus and route 10 would be rerouted away from Tottenham Court Road/Gower Street and Euston Square Station to run via Great Russell Street, Montague Road, Russell Square, Woburn Place, Tavistock Square, Upper Woburn Place and Euston Square to Euston Bus Station and then follow its current route.

We did not consult on route 98 as it would revert to terminating at Holborn, Red Lion Square. Since October 2014 buses have been temporarily diverted to terminate at Russell Square to ensure connections remained to and from Oxford Street, whilst the 7 was curtailed at Oxford Circus.

Depending on the outcome of this consultation, we would like to progress with this proposal in March 2016.

This report explains the background to the proposal, the consultation and summarises the responses received.

2 The consultation This consultation was designed to enable us to understand local opinion about the proposed changes to routes 7 and 10 in the Tottenham Court Road and Holborn areas.

The potential outcomes of the consultation are:  We decide the consultation raises no issues that should prevent us from proceeding with the scheme as proposed  We modify the scheme in response to issues raised in consultation  We abandon the scheme as a result of issues raised in the consultation.

2.1 Consultation objectives The objectives of the consultation were:  To give stakeholders and the public easily-understandable information about the proposals and allow them to respond  To understand the level of support or opposition for the change  To understand any issues that might affect the proposal which we are not aware of

 To understand concerns and objections  To allow respondents to make suggestions.

2.2 Who we consulted We consulted customers who use routes 7, 10 and 98 and other stakeholders including the affected Councils, traffic police, London TravelWatch, Members of Parliament, Assembly Members and local interest groups. A list of the stakeholders we consulted is shown in Appendix D and a summary of their responses is given in Section 4.

2.3 Consultation material and distribution The consultation was published online where a dedicated webpage included the details and background for the proposal as well as an online questionnaire.

We raised awareness of the consultation by sending an email to approximately 54,000 registered Oyster Card holders who use routes 7, 10 and 98. We also sent an email to key stakeholders. Copies of the consultation material are shown in Appendix A.

People were invited to respond to the consultation using a variety of methods. They could respond by emailing us at [email protected] or by accessing the online consultation and survey via a website link: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/7-10- 98

We asked 12 questions (9 general and 3 specific). Four of the general questions asked respondents for their name, email, address, postcode and, if they were responding on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation.

Of the remaining eight questions, five were closed questions (questions1, 2, 3, 4 & 11) and three open questions (questions, 5, 6 & 12).

The following five closed questions (1, 2, 3, 4 &11) asked respondents about the scheme: - Question 1: Do you currently use route 7? - Question 2: Do you currently use route 10? - Question 3: Are you in favour of our proposals for route 7? - Question 4: Are you in favour of our proposals for route 10? - Question 11: How did you hear about this consultation?

The following three open questions specifically invited respondents to provide more information about their views: - Question 5: If you have answered no to questions 3 or 4 please tell us why: - Question 6: Do you have any other comments about the proposals? - Question 12: Please tell us what you think about the quality of this consultation

3 Responses from members of the public

We received 341 written responses from members of the public. There were 325 responses via our website and 16 were received by email.

Response type 350

300

250

200

150

100

0 Online Email Number of replies 325 16 % 95% 5%

Question 1: Do you currently use route 7?

Do you currently use route 7? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes No Not answered Number of replies 160 159 22 % 47 47 6

Question 2: Do you currently use route 10?

Do you currently use route 10? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes No Not answered Number of replies 189 129 23 % 55 38 7

Question 3: Are you in favour of our proposals for route 7?

Are you in favour of our proposals for route 7? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 No Not Yes Partially Not sure No opinion answered Number of replies 64 20 12 113 111 21 % 19 6 4 33 33 6

Question 4: Are you in favour of our proposals for route 10?

Are you in favour of the route 10 proposals? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 No Not Yes Partially Not sure No opinion Answered Number of replies 132 20 22 61 88 18 % 39 6 6 18 26 5

Questions 5 and 6 invited respondents to leave comments about their responses to question 3 and 4 above. The full comments are attached in Appendix B.

Question 11: How did you hear about the consultation?

How did you hear about this consultation?

350

300

250

200

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0 Received an Other Not Saw it on the Read about email from Social media (please Answered TfL website in the press TfL specify) % 75% 10% 7% 4% 4% 1% Number of replies 255 35 23 13 12 3

Comments on the proposal

Comments in response to questions three, four and six generated 88 issues or themes. The top ten are shown in table below. A full list of issues and themes can be found in Appendix B.

Top ten issues and themes raised:

Top 10 concerns – Routes 7 & 10

Route 7 Concerned about extra bus changes/extra cost 39 Current reroute inconvenient/huge disruption/original route preferable 35 Concerned about losing tourist trade/visitors to the British Museum 24 Inconvenient for a lot of people who use it 16 Longer walking distance since the reroute 14 It is the only route that runs down the length of Oxford Street from Paddington 13 Route 10 Route will be longer/inconvenient 34 Will be inconvenient for the local University & College students 12 Will be more congested 9 Concern over loss of direct link from Euston Square Station to Tottenham Court Road Station 6

The most frequently mentioned comments relating to the proposed change to route 7 were concern over extra bus changes leading to extra cost (39 comments) and how inconvenient the new route is and will continue to be. Thirty-five people said that they preferred the original route.

For route 10, 34 comments complained about the potential journey increase and longer walking distance due to the reroute. Twelve cited inconvenience to the local university and college students.

4 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders We received four key stakeholder responses. These are summarised below:

London Assembly – Deputy Chair Transport Committee (DCTC) The DCTC notes that Russell Square is important to the local area and it is suggested it would be good to have a through-route northwards (depending on frequency). It is felt that both routes 7 and 98 have not been very frequent recently and should be improved. It is also suggested that traffic in Russell Square and Bedford Way is congested by a pedestrian crossing which could be improved by: route 98 not parking there; the introduction of a pelican crossing at Bedford Way; and increased phasing of traffic lights.

Ealing Passenger Transport Users' Group (EPTUG) EPTUG ask if the development of our proposals included research with ex users of affected routes - especially commuters affected by regular 20 or 30 minute delays who have found alternative routes - to bring them back to original routeings after surface and Crossrail works have been completed. Current proposals preclude passengers returning because routes 7 and 10 will not revert to their former routeing. Routes 7 and 98 have already had their routes shortened at their eastern end, and all three routes have been subject to Crossrail work at both Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road over that period.

Whilst EPTUG accept that our proposal shortens route 7 and N7 to Oxford Circus, they suggest this may make extension at the Western end of the route possible. It is suggested that route 7 might serve Acton Main Line Station when Crossrail services commence in 2019. A possible routeing would be from East Acton via the A40 Western Avenue, Leamington Park and Horn Lane to the station and then continuing via Horn Lane to Acton High Street.

EPTUG express concern that buses on route 10 towards Hammersmith will turn left from Euston Road directly into Upper Woburn Place and not call at the bus station requiring customers to walk an excessive distance from Stop M in Upper Woburn Place. Routes 59 and 91 already run from Upper Woburn Place to Kings Cross and our proposals will add one more route to that number whilst reducing the number of routes from Tottenham Court Road to Kings Cross to two (73 and 390).

Covent Garden Community Association (CGCA) CGCA believe that there is a need for more than one bus route between Russell Square and Oxford Street as having only one option now makes it harder to make the journey. As, under the proposals route 10 would go to Russell Square from Oxford Street, CGCA are in favour of this proposal. However, as they would like route 7 to also do so, they are not in favour of our route 7 proposals.

London Borough of Camden (LBC) LBC report that the views of local residents and officers are mixed, although the majority support our proposals in principal.

The borough supports the termination of Route 7 at Oxford Circus (to limit the number of buses using Oxford Street) and has no objection to the proposed realignment of route 10 away from Tottenham Court Road which help meet its strategic objectives for the area as part of the West End Project. However, the borough would like to see the proposed changes for routes 10, 98 and 176 take place simultaneously to avoid a significant increase in bus flows on the western end of Great Russell Street.

Whilst LBC report resident concern about the proposed alignment of Russell Square for route 10, which they feel will exacerbate congestion it is acknowledged that, as route 10 will replace route 98, this will not actually increase current levels of use. Another resident concern is that a direct connection from this part of Camden to Paddington – currently provided by bus - will not be available until a direct train service arrives in 2018 (a loss of service for two years).

LBC have aspirations for this part of the borough including looking at opportunities for significant improvements to the Bloomsbury and Holborn area and will continue to work closely with TfL buses to assess the impact of any future ideas.

The following local authorities were consulted but did not respond

 London Borough of Brent  London Borough of Ealing  London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham  London Borough of Harrow  London Borough of Hillingdon  London Borough of Islington  Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea  London Borough of Sutton  London Borough of Waltham Forest  City of Westminster

Appendix A - Copy of the consultation materials

Overview - Website text

Update - 6 November We have updated this page to clarify that the section about route 98 is for information only. Update ends ______The London bus network is kept under regular review. As part of this, we develop proposals for changes to services.

What are we proposing?

 Route 7 would permanently terminate at Oxford Circus which will help improve reliability by shortening the route. (Route N7 would also follow the day route and terminate at Oxford Circus). Buses would continue to run between East Acton and Oxford Circus every 8 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and every 12 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays

Since October 2014 buses have temporarily been terminating at Oxford Circus because of disruption in and around Tottenham Court Road Station

 Route 10 would be rerouted away from Tottenham Court Road/Gower Street and Euston Square Station to run via Great Russell Street, Montague Road, Russell Square, Woburn Place, Tavistock Square, Upper Woburn Place and Euston Square to Euston Bus Station and then would follow its current route. This would maintain links between Russell Square and Oxford Street, and give new links from the Tavistock Square area to the West End. Route 73 will maintain links between the Tottenham Court Road / Gower Street areas and King’s Cross, Oxford Street and Hyde Park Corner, supplemented by route 390 between King’s Cross and Marble Arch

Route 10 will continue to run 24-hours a day between Hammersmith and Kings Cross every 8 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and every 12 minutes in the evenings and on Sundays

For information

 Route 98* would revert to terminating at Holborn, Red Lion Square. Since October 2014 buses have been temporarily diverted to terminate at Russell Square to ensure connections remained to and from Oxford Street whist the 7 was curtailed at Oxford Circus. Our proposals for route 10 will retain this link, with route 98 once again providing links to Holborn. (Route N98 would also follow the day route and terminate at Holborn, Red Lion Square)

Buses will continue to run every 6-7 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday, about every 10 minutes on Sunday and every 12 minutes in the evenings.

*Please note that route 98 is reverting to its original routeing following the temporary arrangements in conjunction with routes 7 and 10. We are therefore not consulting on this change but have provided it as information only. If you do have any general comments about route 98 we have provided a free text field in our online survey.

Routeing The map below shows our proposed changes to route 10. Route 7 currently terminates at Oxford Circus (and has done since October 2014) and route 98 will revert to terminating at Holborn, Red Lion Square.

Have your say

We would like to know what you think about our proposals for routes 7 and 10. Your comments and suggestions will help inform our final decision.

Please give us your views by completing the online survey below by Tuesday 15 December 2015. Alternatively, you can:

 Email us at [email protected],  or write to us at FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS

Depending on the feedback from this consultation, we hope to make these changes in February 2016. This consultation is part of the process which fulfils the requirement for TfL to consult under Section6 183 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999.

Email to Stakeholders

Dear Stakeholder,

The London bus network is kept under regular review. As part of this, we develop proposals for changes to services. Over the course of the last five years, there has been a change in the travel habits of people using bus routes in central London. We are therefore proposing to make permanent changes to routes 7, 10 and 98 and would like to know what you think. Details of our proposal can be found online here: consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/7-10- 98

Please let us know your views by Tuesday 15 December 2015.

Yours faithfully,

Laura Li Consultation Team Transport for London

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Home Plan journey Status update Bus information

Dear Internal TfL recipient,

We would like your views on proposed changes to buses in the Tottenham Court Road and Holborn areas which would affect bus routes 7, 10, 98, N7 and N98.

These changes would allow us to maintain reliability and respond to changing travel patterns in central London.

For full details and to share your views, please click here

This consultation will run until Tuesday 15 December 2015.

Yours sincerely

Peter Bradley Head of Consultation

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Appendix B – All issues raised for Questions 5 & 6 (relating to the Tottenham Court Road and Holborn area bus route proposals)

Questions 5 &6

Route 7 Negative comments Negative comment/Oppose: 7: Concerned about extra bus changes/extra 39 cost Current reroute inconvenient/huge disruption/original route preferable 35 Customers will be forced to use the tube which is more expensive 2 Do not shorten the route if you won't reduce the fare 1 Inconvenient for a lot of people who use it 16 It is the only route that runs down the length of Oxford Street from Paddington 13 No direct route from Paddington to Oxford St/Holborn 5 Original route better for getting to work 8 A lot of customers lost due to reroute 1 Lost links to the west end 5 Inconvenient especially with Tottenham Ct Rd St being closed 3 Longer walking distance since the reroute 14 Losing visitors/tourist trade as will cut out the British Museum 24 No improvement in frequency or reliability since the reroute 2 Route will become much too short by making it terminate at Oxford Circus 4 Opposing reroute 3 Safety concern over having to walk longer distance at night 1 Positive comments 7: Supportive of proposal to reroute 4 7: Offers good link between Edgware/Paddington/Russel Sq 3 Suggestions Suggestions: 7 & 10: Both routes should terminate at TCR Station 1 7: Extend it in the westerly direction to Ealing Broadway/Acton High Street 4 7: Revert back to the old route/after Crossrail completion 5 7: Should go back to Russell Square 1 7: Should terminate at Marble Arch 1 7: Terminate route at Paddington Station, or Paddington Basin 1 N7: Too congested/increase frequency 2

Route 10 Negative comments Proposed route less convenient for people with mobility issues 4 Route will be longer/inconvenient/prefer current route 34 Concern over loss of direct link from Euston Sq St.to Tottenham Ct Rd St 6 Will be inconvenient for the local University & College students 12 Concerned about longer wait at bus stop for other buses 2 Inconvenient for users with mobility issues 2 Loss of vital link from TCR to Kings Cross (an accessible tube station) 4 Safety concern - women & young people 1 Traffic levels more problematic on Oxford Street than on TCR 4 Will be more congested 9 Will result in less capacity on TCR /will be slower due to indirect route 3 Terminates regularly before destination with no prior warning Positive comments Great idea 16 Journey will be quicker/shorter 7 This route will create stronger links 4 Negative current route 4 Beneficial as it will remove the need to cross the very busy Euston Road 3 Positive current route 10 is heavily used- popular route 5 Suggestions 10: Should remain as it is 4 10: Should serve Euston bus station 4 10: Terminate route at Warren Street (outside University College Hospital 1

Route 98 Negative comments Prefer the current route 13 Positive comment Prefer the new route. 5 Suggestions Route 98 should be extended to Liverpool St Station 2 Route 98 should start at Red Lion Square & run along New Oxford Street 2 Route 98 should terminate at Aldwych 1 Route 98 should terminate at Marble Arch. 1 Introduce a tramway along Ox.St to Kingsway Tram/Hyde Park St 1

General comments/suggestions (Not route specific) Proposed changes will reduce congestion esp around TCR Station 1 Need to tackle environmental pollution 3 Comments about other bus routes not on the scheme 5 Provide a direct bus from Chiswick High Road to Central London would be great 1 Provide a replacement bus from NW London to Russell Sq 1 Provide a replacements bus between Oxford Street to Warren Street 1 Safety concern from having to change buses 2

Appendix C – All issues raised for Question 12, relating to the quality of the proposal

Question 12 - Quality of the consultation More information required Insufficient information given for the proposed changes 12 Start date should be highlighted 1 Will 10 serve Euston Bus Station in both directions or just eastbound? 1 Negative comments Biased and ill-conceived/misleading questionnaire 2 Change seems inevitable so consultation is pointless 8 Comments should have been sought on changes to 98 4 Concerned that this is just a process and comments won't be considered 16 Poor content and quality of map 7 No route 7 map which TfL is consulting on 2 Not enough time given to allow consultees to respond 1 Poor - no details of night bus routes 1 Poor communication with local residents 2 Positive comments Consultation hub is easy to use 4 Easy/clear information 55 Email and Internet information helpful 6 Fair/good/fine/ok 36 Good quality maps 26 Happy to be consulted 13 Open decision-making process 2 Very good 28 Suggestions A mail drop to the residents along the route would be better 2 Legibility would benefit from being set in New Johnston instead 1 Map of current routing & proposed changes would give better understanding 3

Appendix D – List of stakeholders consulted

London TravelWatch

Elected Members Andrew Dismore AM GLA Caroline Pidgeon AM GLA Tom Copley AM GLA Darren Johnson AM GLA Fiona Twycross AM GLA Gareth Bacon AM GLA Jennette Arnold AM GLA Jenny Jones AM GLA Joanne McCartney AM GLA Valerie Shawcross AM GLA Kit Malthouse AM GLA Nicky Gavron AM GLA Onkar Sahota AM GLA Andrew Boff AM GLA Murad Qureshi AM GLA Stephen Knight AM GLA Richard Tracey AM GLA Victoria Borwick AM GLA Andrew Slaughter MP Hammersmith Barry Gardiner MP Brent North Dawn Butler MP Brent Central Dr Tania Mathias MP Twickenham Dr Rupa Huq MP Ealing Central and Acton Emily Thornberry MP Islington South and Finsbury Gareth Thomas MP Harrow West Greg Hands MP Chelsea and Fulham Kingston upon Thames and James Berry MP Surbiton Jeremy Corbyn MP Islington North Karen Buck MP Westminster North Keir Starmer MP Holborn and St Pancras Mark Field MP Cities of London and Westminster Seema Malhotra MP Feltham and Heston Siobhain McDonagh MP Mitcham and Morden Stephen Hammond MP Wimbledon Stephen Pound MP Ealing North Tulip Siddiq MP Hampstead and Kilburn Virendra Kumar Sharma MP Ealing, Southall Zac Goldsmith MP Richmond Park Elected Members London Borough of Camden Cllr Abdul Hai King’s Cross Ward Cllr Adam Harrison Bloomsbury Ward Cllr Awale Olad Holborn and Covent Garden Ward

Cllr Heather Johnson Regent’s Park Ward Cllr Jonathan Simpson King’s Cross Ward Cllr Julian Fulbrook Holborn & Covent Garden Ward Cllr Nadia Shah Regent’s Park Ward Cllr Nasim Ali Regent’s Park Ward Cllr Rishi Madlani Bloomsbury Ward Cllr Sabrina Francis Bloomsbury Ward Cllr Sarah Hayward King’s Cross Ward Cllr Sue Vincent Holborn and Covent Garden Ward Elected Members City of Westminster Cllr Adnan Mohammed Bryanston and Dorset Square Ward Cllr Glenys Roberts West End Ward Cllr Iain Bott Marylebone High Street Ward Cllr Ian Rowley Marylebone High Street Ward Cllr Julia Alexander Bryanston and Dorset Square Ward Cllr Jonathan Glanz West End Ward Cllr Karen Scarborough Marylebone High Street Ward Cllr Paul Church West End Ward Cllr Richard Beddoe Bryanston and Dorset Square Ward

Local authorities London Borough of Brent London Borough of Camden London Borough of Ealing London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough of Harrow London Borough of Hillingdon London Borough of Islington Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough of Sutton London Borough of Waltham Forest City of Westminster

Police, Fire and health authorities NHS CCG Camden Camden Safer Transport Team Campaign for Better Transport CCG Central London (Westminster) CCG Hammersmith and Fulham CCG Islington CCG NHS Central London Ealing Safer Transport Team Islington Safer Transport Team Metropolitan Police Service Kensington & Chelsea Safer Transport Team London Ambulance Service London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority Port of London Authority

Hammersmith and Fulham Safer Transport Team Westminster Safer Transport Team

Transport groups AA Motoring Trust Association of British Drivers Association of Car Fleet Operators Automobile Association (AA) British Motorcyclists Federation Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee Ealing Passenger Transport Users’ Group Green Flag Group Licenced Taxi Drivers Association Living Streets Motorcycle Action Group Motorcycle Industry Association Paddington Residents Active Concern On Transport (PRACT)

Local interest groups Bayswater Residents Association Belgravia Residents Association Belsize Park Residents' Association Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association London Cycling Campaign Neighbourcare St John's Wood & Maida Vale Residents Society of Mayfair and St James's St Helen's Residents' Association St John's Wood Society St Marylebone Society The Marylebone Association West Twyford Residents’ Association Westminster Society

Other stakeholders Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) Age Concern London Age UK Alzheimer's Society Asian Peoples Disabilities Alliance Baker Street Quarter Partnership Ltd British Museum BT Canal & River Trust London Disability Alliance

Disability Rights UK Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee EDF Energy GLA Strategy Access Panel Members Greater London Forum for the Elderly Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People (JCMBPS) Joint Mobility Unit Leonard Cheshire Disability London Councils MIND National Grid RNIB Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) Royal Mail Royal Parks SCOPE Sense Sixty Plus Stroke Association Student Central Sutton Centre for Voluntary Sector Thames Water