TFL’S plan for a new “Greenwich Waterfront Transit” sounds like it should be rather good. A tram, perhaps? A river service of some kind? Surely a guided busway, at least?
Actually, I’m afraid, it’s complete rubbish. Despite the name, intended to make it seem like something special, it is simply a normal bus service – using normal diesel buses – from North Greenwich Tube station, via Woolwich, to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood. It won’t even give us any more trips – it will simply replace the existing 472 route, at precisely the same frequency.
There’s no doubt that Woolwich and Thamesmead need new transport links. But the only new things this will bring are a short stretch – around half a mile – of bus-only road in Thamesmead and a little diversion away from the existing 472 route to serve the Royal Arsenal development at Woolwich. For the rest of its route, it will run on the same roads as the existing bus routes do now.
In fact, the only thing remotely special about the “Greenwich Waterfront Transit” is the price – an eye-watering £20 million for just over five miles, plus operating costs of around £1 million a year, making it probably the most expensive bus route in the history of the world.
Even one of the claimed benefits of the route, the Royal Arsenal diversion, is being fiercely resisted by some residents. The development’s main thoroughfare, Number One Street, currently an attractive, pedestrianised boulevard leading down from the Arsenal’s main gateway, past the Firepower museum and other heritage buildings, to the river and pier, will be ripped up and turned into part of the bus route.
Jamie Milton, one Royal Arsenal resident, has organised a campaign and a petition against the move: it and another petition currently have around 500 residents’ signatures, a very substantial proportion of the development. “Number One Street is the only full-time pedestrianised area in Woolwich and is home to two listed buildings, the Royal Brass Foundry and the first-ever Royal Military Academy,” he says. “We are understandably up in arms about this.”
TfL says the route along Number One Street was chosen after an “extensive public consultation,” three words to send a shiver down any spine. In fact, says Milton, the consultation, in 2005, attracted just 27 responses from the entire Royal Arsenal development (perhaps not surprising, since it was still being built at the time). Of those 27, just 11 supported the bus route going down Number One Street!
Even our local Labour MP, Nick Raynsford, not known for his opposition to costly vanity schemes (he’s a fervent supporter of the Greenwich Park Olympics) can’t see the point of this one.
“I supported the original transit scheme as it offered the prospect of a convenient and rapid transport system from Thamesmead and Woolwich to North Greenwich,” he says. “However, as the scheme has been progressively watered down to what is now little more than a glorified 472 bus, its benefits have been seriously eroded. Bearing in mind the opposition of many residents in the Royal Arsenal to the current route through the Arsenal, I no longer consider it justifying the substantial costs involved.”
It had been hoped that the GWT would be a candidate for Boris Johnson’s bonfire of the vanity projects, his new transport strategy. Well, some other worthless Greenwich-area extravagances, such as the new £500 million Thames Gateway bridge, were laid to rest when the strategy was published last week. Later, unfunded phases of the GWT have also been canned.
But although there could still be scope for some route changes and cost cutting – no planning application has yet been submitted, and by now it should have been – it is looking like the first phase, the North Greenwich- Thamesmead – Abbey Wood route I describe, will go ahead.
And that’s a shame, because the money that’s being spent on annoying residents in the Arsenal could have paid for five or six new bus routes in places where they actually would be new, and where they actually are wanted.
If Andrew Gilligan bothered to check the TfL website he would see that the new bus road is 1.7km (over a mile) which I think is pretty impressive for a built up area of London. I live in Thamesmead and it takes ages for buses to get round Pettman Crescent and up Plumstead Road in the morning rush hour, and this will speed everything up. Regarding the Royal Arsenal, typical that the residents in their posh flats dont want us proles going into their development. I think the Royal Arsenal should be open and accessible to everyone.
Crispin,
thanks for your comment. In fact, the 1.7km of bus-only road you refer to already exists (on the Peninsula, south of the Dome) and has been used by the existing bus services, including the 472, for the last eight years. It cannot therefore be claimed as “new” or as a benefit of this scheme. The TfL website does, however, show a new stretch of bus-only road on Western Way, Thamesmead, amounting, as I said, to around half a mile.
Andrew
Crispin,
The Royal Arsenal is open and accessible to everyone. People wander through it all the time, particularly the pedestrian areas and the parks are frequently used by people who don’t live there.
What we don’t want is buses thundering through what is a valuable community resource in a crowded city: namely a beautiful pedestrian area with heritage buildings next to it.
Jamie
The Arsenal has been more accesible since they pulled the wall down along Plumstead road, but there is a real problem with people who live there thinking they should be cut off from the rest of SE18. For example a lot of residents think the Thames Clipper service is exclusively for them.
Whether the transit is a good idea, I dunno, the 472 is over loaded at the moment, and sorry Andrew, it could do with bendi buses to ease the pressure, seats would be lovely, getting on a bus full stop would be even better, and if it happens to bend in the middle then so be it. Otherwise, it’s off to the DLR in January for a quick ride to Canning Town to get on the Jubilee
If an alternative to the current 472 is really wanted there are alternatives available that TFL can not be bothered to look at or cost. There is for example land in front of the industrial buildings on the site and roads leading up to them already in existence.
No residential area should have an unwanted bus route forced on to them and have to endure the noise and pollution they bring into their homes.
Boris Johnson has asked for an extra £15M to be found to fund the london overland extension – this overpriced, unwanted bus route would be an excellent opportunity for him.
(and as for Thames Clipper – it is open to anyone who wants to pay to use it)
Sacha,
‘A lot of residents (of the Arsenal) think the Thames Clipper service is exclusively for them.’
How do you work this out? The clipper is used by people all along the Thames , it is a commercial service and takes people’s money. That a lot of people from the Arsenal use it is simply because they live next to the river. I have met a number of people on the clipper who take it from Woolwich who don’t live in the Arsenal but use it because it is a pleasant service.
Incidentally, on what basis do you say that we want to be cut off from the rest of SE18? We have to shop, we have to use the roads and the public amenities and everything else that rests within the area. We have just as much a vested interest in SE18 being pleasant, and that is one of the arguments we are making against driving a bus route through a beautiful pedestrianised area.
No 1 Street is used by the Museum and the Council and was used by the Greenwich Half Marathon and the Tour De France. It is a beautiful, open and above all community asset.