Consultation on Possible Changes to Bus Route 436 And
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- Consultation on possible changes to bus route 436 and 452 Consultation Report July 2016 Consultation on possible changes to bus route 436 & 452 Consultation Report Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 2 The consultation ............................................................................................................. 2 3 Responses from members of the public ......................................................................... 4 4 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders ............................................ 12 Appendices Appendix A – Copy of the CRM email ................................................................................. 14 Appendix B – List of stakeholders consulted....................................................................... 15 1 Introduction We recently consulted stakeholders and the public about proposed changes to routes 436 and 452. The consultation took place between 11 November 2015 and 10 January 2016. Due to continuing and projected growth in the Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea (VNEB) area, we consulted on the possibility of providing enhanced bus services to the areas between Wandsworth and Battersea and Vauxhall Cross. Our proposals included changes to route 436 and route 452 to meet demands for increased services in these areas. This would allow for us to meet the needs of bus users in Southwest London, and provide new direct links to Battersea prior to the opening of Northern Line extension in 2018/19. Route 436 current currently operates between Lewisham Centre and Paddington station, with buses arriving every 6 minutes during the morning and afternoon peak times, and about every 12 minutes during the evenings and Sundays. We proposed the following changes to this route: Route 436 would be extended to operate from Vauxhall to Battersea Park station via Nine Elms Lane serving existing stops. It would no longer operate between Vauxhall and Paddington. At Vauxhall bus station towards Battersea Park station route 436 would then serve Parry Street, Nine Elms Lane, Battersea Park Road, and Prince of Wales Drive. Towards Lewisham the route would serve Queen’s Circus, Queenstown Road, Battersea Park Road, Nine Elms Lane and Wandsworth Road, before joining the normal line of route at Vauxhall bus station. To match capacity to demand between Vauxhall and Lewisham during peak hours, we proposed to reduce the frequency of route 436 during Monday to Friday peak times from every 6 minutes to every 7 to 8 minutes In order to support changes to route 436, the frequency of route 36 would be increased to operate every 4 minutes during the peak times, every 5 minutes during Monday to Saturday off-peak times and every 10 minutes on Sundays. Route 452 currently operates between Kensal Rise and Wandsworth Road station, with services every 8 minutes during the peak times, and every 12 minutes during the evenings and Sundays. We proposed to reroute the 452 to be extended from Wandsworth Road station to terminate at Vauxhall bus station. This would increase the capacity along Wandsworth Road and create new links. Buses towards Vauxhall would be routed from Wandsworth Road station to serve Wandsworth Road up to Vauxhall bus station. Towards Kensal Rise, buses would serve Vauxhall bus station, Parry Street, Wandsworth Road before 1 joining normal line of route at Wandsworth Road station. We did not propose to change the frequency of the service. This report explains the background to the proposal, the consultation and summarises the responses. It will contribute to the decision on whether to go ahead with this proposed change or not. 2 The consultation The consultation was designed to enable us to understand local opinion about the proposed changes to these routes. The potential outcomes of the consultation are: We decide the consultation raises no issues that should prevent us from proceeding with the scheme as originally planned 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 of which we were not previously aware To understand concerns and objections To allow respondents to make suggestions. 2.2 Who we consulted The consultation intended to seek the views of people who use the bus routes involved and those who might potentially use the service. We also consulted 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 B and a summary of their responses is given in Section 4. 2.3 Consultation material, distribution and publicity The consultation was published online. The dedicated webpage explained the background to the proposal. We invited people to respond by answering a number of questions and leaving comments. We raised awareness of the consultation by sending an email to approximately 13,000 registered Oyster Card holders who have used route 436, 36 and 452, and to key stakeholders. Copies of the consultation materials are shown in Appendix A. 2 People were invited to respond to the consultation using a variety of methods. They could respond via our freepost address (FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS), by emailing [email protected] or by accessing the online consultation where they could let us know their views. There were nine closed questions (questions 1-5, 7-10), and two open questions (questions 6 and 11) about the proposal. The following questions specifically asked respondents about the scheme: - Question 1: Do you currently use the route 436? - Question 2: How often do you use route 436? - Question 3: Do you support the proposals for route 436 - Question 4: Would you use route 436 if it was extended to Battersea Park station via Nine Elms Lane? - Question 5: Would you be inconvenienced by route 436 not running between Paddington and Vauxhall? - Question 6: Do you have any comments about proposed changes to the 436? - Question 7: Do you currently use route 452? - Question 8: How often to you use route 452? - Question 9: Do you support the proposals for route 452? - Question 10: Would you use route 452 if it was extended to Vauxhall bus station? - Question 11: Do you have any comments about proposed changes to route 452? 3 3 Responses from members of the public We received 326 written responses from members of the public and stakeholders. Response type 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Online Email Post Number of Responses 313 8 5 % of responses 96% 2% 2% In the consultation we asked seventeen questions in total (six general and eleven specific). Of the general questions we asked respondents for their name, email address, post code, and if they were responding on behalf of an organisation. We also asked respondents how they had heard about the consultation. How did you hear about this consultation? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Received Received Read Saw it on Other Social Not an email a letter about in the TfL (please media Answered from TfL from TfL the press website specify) Number of Responses 154 3 5 57 43 22 42 % of responses 47% 1% 2% 17% 13% 7% 13% 4 Do you currently use route 436? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes No Not Answered Number of responses 188 127 11 % of responses 58% 39% 3% How often do you use route 436? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2-3 times a Once a 1-2 times a Not Daily Rarely week week month Answered Number of responses 51 46 20 50 22 137 % of responses 16% 14% 6% 15% 7% 42% 5 Do you support our proposals for the 436? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Not Partiall Not No Yes No Answer y sure opinion ed Number of responses 122 40 20 27 99 18 % of responses 37% 12% 6% 8% 30% 6% Would you use the 436 extension? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes No Not sure Not Answered % of responses 35% 36% 22% 7% Number of responses 113 118 73 22 6 Would you be inconvenienced by the 436 proposals? 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Yes No Not sure Not Answered Number of responses 129 138 38 21 % of responses 40% 42% 12% 6% Question 6: Do you have any comments about proposed changes to route 436? We asked people to elaborate on their previous answer by asking “Do you have any comments?” Individual responses for question 6 have been coded to one or many codes as appropriate. The code frames include several overall themes and, within these, specific comments. There were 11 key themes raised from question 6, of which 2 could be further expanded upon. Table 6.1 indicates these issues. A total of 45 per cent (147) respondents expanded on their comments in this section. The most frequent mentioned comment was “Essential Transport link will be lost” (57), which related to the loss of links between Lewisham and Central London, to terminate at Paddington. The 436 is the only bus to follow this route in its entirety. There were 48 comments in which the respondents suggested alternative routes. These are listed in decreasing order in the table below. Number of Main issues with 436 proposals comments Essential Transport link will be lost 57 Capacity between Vauxhall and Paddington will be insufficient 38 The addition of frequency changes to route 36 will be insufficient to meet demand 38 7 Overcrowding/service and safety concerns 25 436 frequency should increase to fill capacity gap 7 Double fares will result 7 Local economy along route 436 could be affected 3 There were 44 respondents that suggested alternative proposals for capacity increases other than rerouting the 436.