Route 63

[cheryla]

I am about to get on this bus from Farringdon back to Peckham, it takes 45mins, even in the heavy snow over winter when the trains were off and traffic was a nightmare it never took longer than an hour, its easy and stress free!

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

I agree with Cheryla

The 63 is a great bus to get to that part of town. I get it from Peckham Rye Common to Waterloo (including a short walk) and I am door to door in 40mins (30mins on the bus).

I often get it to KX as well - that takes about 45mins door to door.

Do it - you will always get a nice seat

[HelBel65]

Well I did it today and it was fine - around 50 minutes to Mount Pleasant

Thanks for the input everyone!

[Sue]

So did you get the 63?!

[HelBel65]

I did Sue - all the way to Islington!

[Sue]

Excellent!

I just looked up the route, and now have a memory of having tried it once when I was working in a different part of Islington, and it was a nightmare because all the bus stops were moved because of road works or something, plus the walk home from the Rye seemed like hours, so I never tried it again!

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

The time will come down after the roadworks have finished. The strange loop around Peckham Bus station adds a fair few minutes

[gebbjane]

Am I the only one who thinks it is a lot quicker getting round Peckham at the moment with all the roadworks, especially going into town? However I only travel out of rush hour, so maybe it is different in peak times.

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

The diversion that avoids Rye Lane makes it a lot quicker but the diversion that bypasses Peckham Library adds a bit of time because of the traffic lights.

With many stops been closed at the moment it leads me to think that we don't need all the bus stops anyway. For instance - there is a bus stop at the end of Barry Barry Road. Then another at the Gardens. Then another at Crystal Palace Road. Why not get rid of the Gardens stop and keep the traffic flowing.

Same goes for a couple that run down the road from Peckham Library (can't remember the name!)

[Medley]

Lost Yorkshire Man Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> With many stops been closed at the moment it leads

> me to think that we don't need all the bus stops

> anyway. For instance - there is a bus stop at the

> end of Barry Barry Road. Then another at the

> Gardens. Then another at Crystal Palace Road. Why

> not get rid of the Gardens stop and keep the

> traffic flowing.

>

> Same goes for a couple that run down the road from

> Peckham Library (can't remember the name!)

Totally agree with this, have often puzzled about those beyond P Lib ones.

[ladywotlunches]

I wish the 63 would make that last bit up the hill and round the corner to HOP that they always talk about. There were rumours that it would be too difficult for a double decker to make the turn, but then on Friday I saw a learner bus (Double deck) come round the corner. If L-drivers can do it, then surely the fully-qualified ones should have no problem??

[anna_r]

I wish it would go over the hill too. Took the overland yesterday for the first time from HOP which was brilliant. It would make such a difference to have the station more accessible by bus.

[Medley]

Think the reasons given against the Lib Dem campaign were that it would cost loads of money and there isn't space for a turnaround/stopover space etc down by HOP.

As someone who lives next to the last stop of the line and uses HOP a lot, I would love for it to be extended! Would also mean more elderly visitors could use HOP rather than having to endure the 63 all the way from E and C or further north. And much as I think the 63 is a good route, I do think endure is the right word.

[moz]

I think one of the reasons for the 63 extension being a dead duck is it is too frequent and would require large ammounts of layover space at Brockley Rise to facilitate it. There is an alternative in bringing the 172 route up and over from Brockley Rise to Honor Oak down Forest Hill Road and then maybe Barry Road, Underhill Road and Lordship Lane to terminate at Goose Green. The 172 is only half as frequent as the 63 and an extension would provide new links from Dulwich to Crofton Park, Brockley Cross, New Cross (not via the rest of the world a l? P13) and Old Kent Road.

Oh and you can get a double decker down that stretch of Underhill Road - I've done it a good few times in the dead of night. So if you live down there and thought you saw one, I can confirm you weren't dreaming!

Moz

[Renata Hamvas]

Dear all,

a couple of people have highlighted the campaign to extend the 63 bus to Brockley Rise, just past Honor Oak Park station. Both the Lib Dems and the then Labour Candidates (now the Peckham Rye Ward Councillors, myself, Victoria Mills and Gavin Edwards) were campaigning on this matter. Since being elected, we have continued to campaign on this. Cabinet Member Barrie Hargrove, Council Leader Peter John and GLA representative Valerie Shawcross and ourselves have been lobbying TFL and the Mayor to extend the route by a mere 4 bus stops to Honor Oak Rise. TFL have costed it at 600k per annum? Which seems a huge amount for the distance! They have cited that passengers can use the P12. The problem is that yes, if you are travelling from Peckham or Nunhead you can use the P12, however from ED you have to walk up the hill to the P12 bus stop which is not ideal for the elderly or those with buggies. Also, I don't believe any assessment has been carried out on the passenger numbers during peak time on the Honor Oak part of the P12 route. There doesn't appear to have been any extra P12s to cope with extra passenger numbers (also boys from Harris Boys use this bus). Do any ED residents do the 363/63 + P12 combination to Honor Oak Station. If so, how do you find this combination? As the ELL is now open to Highbury and Islington, I think more and more local residents will use this route, especially if the are heading to north London for work/pleasure. It's such a logical move to extend the 63 and I'm sure that many local residents would use it. We haven't given up yet!

Renata

[ontheedge]

Bit of a nimby here but would hate the 63 to extend as live on the crest of the hill and noise wise it would be a nightmare asa the p12 & p4 make enough noise passing by and stopping outside. Is not the 197 from Barry road to Forest Hill an alternative to using Honor Oak

[Medley]

Interesting post Cllr Hamvas, I enjoyed reading it.

As someone who lives at the current end of the 63 route and uses HOP quite often, I have never and will never use the P12 to reach HOP.

Reasons:

you have to climb the hill with bags/buggies etc. anyway to get it;

you then have to wait for it - almost certainly no time saving and it could take quite considerably longer than walking;

as a PAYG user, you then have to pay for it!

However I would use the extended 63 with bags or in the rain because it goes from very close to me to a train station with direct trains to London Bridge, East Croydon and so Gatwick or Brighton, the Jubilee line at Canada Water, Hammersmith and C and District at Whitechapel, other NR and and Overground and Vict line at Highbury and Islington etc.

Renata Hamvas Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Dear all,

> a couple of people have highlighted the campaign

> to extend the 63 bus to Brockley Rise, just past

> Honor Oak Park station. Both the Lib Dems and the

> then Labour Candidates (now the Peckham Rye Ward

> Councillors, myself, Victoria Mills and Gavin

> Edwards) were campaigning on this matter. Since

> being elected, we have continued to campaign on

> this. Cabinet Member Barrie Hargrove, Council

> Leader Peter John and GLA representative Valerie

> Shawcross and ourselves have been lobbying TFL and

> the Mayor to extend the route by a mere 4 bus

> stops to Honor Oak Rise. TFL have costed it at

> 600k per annum? Which seems a huge amount for the

> distance! They have cited that passengers can use

> the P12. The problem is that yes, if you are

> travelling from Peckham or Nunhead you can use the

> P12, however from ED you have to walk up the hill

> to the P12 bus stop which is not ideal for the

> elderly or those with buggies. Also, I don't

> believe any assessment has been carried out on the

> passenger numbers during peak time on the Honor

> Oak part of the P12 route. There doesn't appear to

> have been any extra P12s to cope with extra

> passenger numbers (also boys from Harris Boys use

> this bus). Do any ED residents do the 363/63 + P12

> combination to Honor Oak Station. If so, how do

> you find this combination? As the ELL is now open

> to Highbury and Islington, I think more and more

> local residents will use this route, especially if

> the are heading to north London for work/pleasure.

> It's such a logical move to extend the 63 and I'm

> sure that many local residents would use it. We

> haven't given up yet!

> Renata

[elloriac]

Wow. Clearly the bods from TFL have never tried to get the P12 anywhere. Whenever I've tried to use it, I've waiting around for long enough that I could have practically walked to my destination in the time. There is no way, even in driving snow, ice & rain, that I would get off 63/363 to try and transfer to P12 to go to Honor Oak.

We live close to the end of 63 route, so we just end up walking to Honor Oak, even up & over One Tree Hill when we're feeling fit & want to avoid the exhaust fumes!

[henryb]

> TFL have costed it at 600k per annum?

How did they work out it is going to cost that much?!! Did they provide a breakdown?

What if they just loop at Brockley Rise and come back? They can use the existing layover. That won't cost anything.

I would probably use it everyday - at the moment the P12 isn't frequent enough and so I make the 20 min walk. Elderly, disabled and those with small children can struggle with that - its a big hill and waiting for a two busses for a short journey is frustratingly slow.

[trizza]

The P12 isn't a serious alternative as it's simply too infrequent.

It seems a bit stupid that the bus just does a massive U-Turn near to the top of Forest Hill Road.

Surely the sensible option would be to loop Brockley Rise as per henryb's suggestion.

Re the cost, I appreciate there are budgetary constraints but I always thought that the point of public transport was to provide a public service - when did we start having to make a profit out of changing/extending routes? It's not as if London Transport is self financing... or is it?

[Sue]

London Transport doesn't exist any more, does it, since Tory privatisation? TfL isn't quite the same, I don't think.

Like the trains, I thought the buses were now run by a number of private companies?

When this first happened, all the buses were different colours depending on the company, until someone realised this wasn't great for tourists expecting to see the iconic red London bus ......

[Medley]

Hardly Tory privatisation Sue = the part privatisation of the Tube under Labour which has just now been finally canned. TfL is much more public sector than comparable transport bodies (except there aren't any comparable bodies) in the UK and all the better for it.

The trains are run by private companies, yes, but the amount of subsidy going in to the system is far higher than it ever was when it was all public sector. Madness, but there you go.

What colour buses etc are doesn't make much difference - although I think it's a good thing - they're all run by different bus companies under contracts to TfL.

Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> London Transport doesn't exist any more, does it,

> since Tory privatisation? TfL isn't quite the

> same, I don't think.

>

> Like the trains, I thought the buses were now run

> by a number of private companies?

>

> When this first happened, all the buses were

> different colours depending on the company, until

> someone realised this wasn't great for tourists

> expecting to see the iconic red London bus ......

[Bic Basher]

It might be a "mere" four stops, but especially during the morning and evening peaks, the buses would get stuck in the traffic jam along Honor Oak Park to Brockley Rise.

The 172 option suggested above may be a more viable option, but also terminating at the Forest Hill Tavern with the 63 as there is no space at Goose Green for a bus stand.

(There used to be one on the side street next to the EDT for short running 37s and the 176 when it used to terminate at GG many years ago)

[Gibbo]

madness that the 63 hasn't been extended- spend a fortune putting in the tube extension and then don't put a bus on to get residents there!

[zeban]

I know I loved to use Honor Oak park station but I can't bloody get there! And Forest Hill is just that bit too far to be worth it- feels like you're going back on yourself too much.