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Consultation on possible changes to bus route 153

Consultation Report March 2016

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Consultation on possible bus changes to route 153 Consultation Report

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Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3

2 The consultation ............................................................................................................. 4

3 Responses from members of the public ......................................................................... 5

4 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders .............................................. 7

Appendix A – Copy of the consultation material.................................................................. 10

Appendix B – List of stakeholders consulted ...................................................................... 15

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1 Introduction

Route 153 operates between Moorgate and Finsbury Park via Islington. It was rerouted in 2010 from Silk Street to Chiswell Street because of works taking place in Silk Street and Milton Street and currently terminates at Finsbury Square due to the closure of Eldon Street and Liverpool Street Bus Station (for Crossrail works). It is expected to return to Liverpool Street Station once the Eldon Street Crossrail works are complete in March 2016. We have looked carefully at reinstating route 153 via Silk Street, following completion of works, but safety reviews show that changes made to pavements mean that it is no longer safe for route 153 to serve Silk Street and Ropemaker Street. We therefore propose making the current route permanent. The map below shows the route previously taken by route 153 and the current route we propose should be made permanent:

The route would no longer serve Silk Street, which it has not done since 2010, but continue to use the stops it currently serves in Beech Street and Chiswell Street. After Chiswell Street the route would continue to Finsbury Square (towards Moorgate) and Aldersgate (towards Finsbury Park) allowing connection with stops served by other frequent services. There would be no change to the frequency of route 153 buses which runs every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes, every 15 minutes on Sundays and 20 minutes all evenings. There would also be no change to the 60 capacity single deck buses that are used on the route.

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Subject to consultation, the current proposals (set out in Appendix A) would take effect as soon as possible after approval.

2 The consultation

The consultation which ran between 23 June and 4 August was designed to enable us to understand local opinion about its proposal to make the current route 153 takes via Chiswell Street permanent; and consider the comments and suggestions made before reaching a final decision.

The potential outcomes of all consultations 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 and respond to concerns and objections

To allow respondents to make suggestions.

2.2 Who we consulted The public consultation intended to seek the views of people who live near to the proposed route, current users of the service and other potential users. 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 E and a summary of their responses is given in Section 4.

2.3 Consultation material, distribution and publicity Consultation activity consisted of:

A web page at consultations.tfl.gov.uk

A letter sent to 944 residential and business addresses (see Appendix A)

A map showing previous and current (proposed) routeing (including bus stops no longer served) (Appendix B)

Bus stop notices advertising the consultation (see Appendix C)

An email to stakeholders (Appendix D)

A CRM database email 2.4 Meetings and site visits

No public meetings or site visits took place during the consultation.

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3 Responses from members of the public We received 57 responses all of which were submitted online. The tables and graphs below summarise the responses to the questions asked. We asked respondents how they heard about the consultation.

We asked respondents if they currently use route 153

Receivedan emailfrom TfL

Receiveda letter

from TfL

Saw anadvert onthe TfLwebsite

Readabout it inthe press

Throughsocialmedia

Other(pleasespecify)

NotAnswered

Number of responses 34 1 11 2 2 5 2

% 60% 2% 19% 4% 4% 9% 4%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

How did you hear about this consultation?

Yes No Not Answered

Number of responses 44 13 0

% 77% 23% 0%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Do you currently use route 153?

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We asked respondents whether they support our proposals for route 153.

We also asked respondents for their post code. 52 (90%) of respondents provided their post code. As can be seen in the table below the majority live in N1-N11 (24) and EC1-EC3 (17):

Post code Frequency

CM2 1

CR3 1

E1 1

EC1 8

EC2 8

EC3 1

HA8 1

KT12 1

N1 11

N4 2

N5 1

N7 8

N8 1

N11 1

NW3 1

RM3 1

RM7 1

SW8 1

Yes No Partially Not sure No opinionNot

Answered

Number of responses 38 8 6 3 2 0

% 67% 14% 11% 5% 4% 0%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Are you in favour of our proposals for route 153?

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W1G 1

WC1 1

52

44 respondents left comments on the proposals categorized as follows:

Generally positive comments submitted supporting proposals

Comment that impact of proposal is small 6

Supports proposal (general comment) 4

Supports proposal due to time saving 2

General praise for route 153 1

Suggestion or request for additional bus stop for route 153 on existing or proposed routing 1

Suggestion or request for change to infrastructure in Chiswell Street to support proposal 1

Suggestion or request for change to infrastructure in Silk Street as a result of proposal 1

Supports proposal conditionally (reference to Beech Street underpass) 1

Supports proposal due to being in line with local strategy 1

Supports proposal due to convenience 1

Supports proposal due to current good operation 1

Supports proposal due to less disturbance in Silk Street etc. 1

Supports proposal due to safety 1

Supports proposal due to serving Finsbury Square 1

Supports proposal due to simplicity 1

Supports proposal due to width of Silk Street etc. 1

Generally negative comments opposing proposals

Does not support proposal due to reduced convenience or accessibility or demand existing for original routing 5

Does not support proposal due to time taken or reliability (may include traffic and or congestion) 4

Suggestion or request for alternative route for route 153 in this area (may include partial use of original route) 2

Concern about use of Beech Street by route 153 1

Does not support proposal (general comment) 1

Does not support proposal as feels buses used are adequate for original route 1

Does not support proposal due to poorer wayfinding 1

Does not support routing via Finsbury Square 1

Suggestion or request for original route to be used until March 2016 1

Suggestion or request for works to take place to enable original routing 1

Generally neutral comments

General neutral comment or does not object to proposal 6

Wider comments

Suggestion or request for route 153 to resume serving Liverpool Street Station when planned or support for this resumption 6

Concern about reliability of route 153 3

Suggestion or request for different bus type on route 153 to reduce congestion and or improve environment 3

Suggestion or request for route 153 to resume serving Liverpool Street Station 3

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earlier than planned or concern about this delay

Concern about suitability of Chiswell Street for route 153 2

Question about route 153 resuming serving Liverpool Street Station 2

Request for unserved bus stop posts and or shelters to be removed 2

Suggestion or request for different bus type on another route or buses in general 2

Suggestion or request for route 153 to continue to serve Finsbury Square 2

Concern about clarity of map 1

Concern about reliability of Countdown for route 153 1

Negative comment about change to unrelated route 1

Question about another way of serving Silk Street 1

Question about other bus route in the area 1

Request for extra journeys on route 153 to resolve capacity problem 1

Not Answered 14

Expresses lack of entitlement to comment 3

Suggestion or request for change to driver change location on route 153 to reduce delays 1

Suggestion or request for security or safety feature on buses in general 1

Suggestion or request for security or safety feature on buses on route 153 1

States how, when or why uses (or does not use) route 153 4

Suggestion or request for unrelated route 1

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4 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders

Two organisations responded to the consultation. Barbican Centre We totally support this change as in the line with the Area Strategy proposed for the Barbican and Golden Lane, and consider that Silk Street could be further prioritised for pedestrians. Subsequent investigations of the Beech Street underpass may change priorities again, for the time being we support the proposed change. A. Holt & Sons Ltd The only issue, which is eminently solvable, is the poor flow of traffic in both directions along Chiswell Street. This has been a problem for at least 5 years but has been exacerbated by the extra bus service since the temporary diversion was put in place. The problem is caused by the zebra crossing on Chiswell Street near the junction with the south end of Bunhill Row. The working population to the north of Chiswell street has expanded significantly in the last few years and, especially at rush hour, pedestrians cross in a steady flow using the zebra crossing, bringing traffic to a standstill and increasing pollution in the area. It’s a real problem. Please remove the zebra crossing and replace it with a pelican crossing. This will cause the pedestrians to wait until a decent sized group has formed before crossing hence improving traffic flow and reducing pollution and tempers. This should have happened years ago but perhaps the fact that the zebra crossing spans two boroughs adds to the complication.

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Appendix A – Copy of the consultation material

A1 Letter to residents

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A2 Route 153 map

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A3 Bus stop notice (promoting the consultation)

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A4 Email to stakeholders

Dear Stakeholder

Route 153, which operates between Moorgate and Finsbury Park, has been serving Chiswell Street instead of Silk Street and Ropemaker Street since 2010 due to construction work. We are proposing to make this route permanent as it is no longer safe for buses to serve Silk Street and Ropemaker Street.

To find out more and to tell us what you think of our proposals please visit our website.

All responses must reach us by Tuesday 4 August 2015.

Yours sincerely

Keith Elliott Consultation Team Transport for London

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Appendix B – List of stakeholders consulted

London TravelWatch

Elected Members

Mark Field MP Cities of London and Westminster

Rt Hon Sir Nicholas Astee Lord Mayor of London

Michael Cassidy Ward Member (Coleman Street)

Peter Estlin Alderman (Coleman Street)

Sophie Fernandes Ward Member (Coleman Street)

Stuart Fraser Ward Member (Coleman Street)

Andrew McMurtrie Ward Member (Coleman Street)

John Barker Ward Member (Cripplegate)

David Bradshaw Ward Member (Cripplegate)

David Graves Alderman (Cripplegate)

Vivienne Littlechild Ward Member (Cripplegate)

Gareth Moore Ward Member (Cripplegate)

Chris Punter Ward Member (Cripplegate)

Stephen Quilter Ward Member (Cripplegate)

Angela Starling Ward Member (Cripplegate)

John Tomlinson Ward Member (Cripplegate)

John Biggs AM London Assembly Member

Richard Tracey AM London Assembly Member

Valerie Shawcross AM London Assembly Member

Local Authorities

City of London

Police & Health Authorities

Metropolitan Police service

City of London Police

London Ambulance Service

CCG City and Hackney

Transport Groups

AA

Association of British Drivers

Association of Car Fleet Operators

British Motorcyclists Federation

Freight Transport Association

Green Flag Group

Motorcycle Action Group

Motorcycle Industry Association

Road Haulage Association

Local Interest Groups

Disability Action UK

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

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Other Stakeholders

Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID)

Age Concern London

Age UK

Asian Peoples Disabilities Alliance

BT

Campaign for Better Transport

Confederation of British Industry (CBI)

CTC, The national cycling charity

Disability Alliance

Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee

EDF Energy

Greater London Forum for the Elderly

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People (JCMBPS)

Joint Mobility Unit

Living Streets

London Cycling Campaign

London Older People's Strategy Group

MIND

National Children's Bureau

National Grid

RADAR London Access Forum

RNIB

Royal Mail

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

Sense

Sixty Plus

Stroke Association

Sustrans

Thames Water

The British Dyslexia Association

Barbican Centre

Barbican Association

London Councils