What happened to the possible extension of the 63 bus?

[Evie]

I live on Marmora Road and like many others would really appreciate the extension of the route of the No 63 bus to actually go to Honor Oak, so I can get to the train station more easily and take advantage of the new train line, after all it does have Honor Oak on the front of the bus! I know this has been raised before and I signed a petition for this to go ahead, so what happened, does anyone Know?

[Higster]

I believe they came up with a stupid figure that it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to extend the route so scrapped it.

Where this amazing figure came from is a total mystery to me as it only involves sticking some numbers onto the already existing bus stops, and printing new timetables. The road layout at the top of Honor Oak Park allows for buses to easily turn Right, Right, then Left and back along Honor Oak Park to the bus stand outside the cemetary.

[Gavin Edwards]

Hi Evie and Higster,

Yep, we've been campaigning on this for some time. Over the last year there have been verious developments, but the short version is that TfL (which is run by the Mayor of London) is using out of date statistics to claim that an extension would be under used. They say the financial case for the extension does not stack up. With the help of our local GLA member (Val Shawcross) we've been pushing them on this, but to no avail.

We are now seeking to secure a commitment to an extension to Honor Oak Park Station in Ken Livingstone's manifesto for the Mayoral elections next year. I am very confident that this can happen. As soon as we get confirmation I will let you know here.

There are some other past updates on our blog www.peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com (just search for "63 bus")

Hope that helps.

Gavin

Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye

http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

[Drxyster]

Evie Wrote:

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

> I live on Marmora Road and like many others would

> really appreciate the extension of the route of

> the No 63 bus to actually go to Honor Oak, so I

> can get to the train station more easily and take

> advantage of the new train line, after all it does

> have Honor Oak on the front of the bus! I know

> this has been raised before and I signed a

> petition for this to go ahead, so what happened,

> does anyone Know?

The 63 bus does go to "HONOR OAK",unfortunately it does not go to "HONOR OAK PARK".

[dbboy]

The 63 does go to Honor Oak, it is where Honor Oak station was situated in Wood Vale. As stated above it doesn't go to Honor Oak Park.

[henryb]

Regarding the 63 I would vote for Ken if it was on his manifesto.

[ladywotlunches]

Wasn't there also a thread where someone saw a 'special service' 171 (or 172?) that they are trialling to extend the route from the other side of HOP?

Would still provide the same purpose as extending the 63 over the hill. Any more news on that?

[the-e-dealer]

Thanks Henry shall we campaign to move the Station? .

I think a few Commuter services extended to HOP might be a start and would cost LRT less than the ?1Billion they seem to think it will cost them otherwise. What happened to integrated transport?

[dbboy]

yep, integrated transport is the P12 which connects from Brenchley Gardens to Honor Oak Park station, so a short walk from either Forest Hill Tavern or junction of Forest Hill Road and Wood Vale.

[the-e-dealer]

Not A Short walk from Kings on the Rye.

[Medley]

1. Honor Oak Park station is in...Honor Oak Park.

2. The 63 says it terminates in Honor Oak because it terminates in...Honor Oak.

3. Very interesting about the out of date figs. Not surprising.

4. The whole point of integrated transport is that it is just that - integrated. Not nearly integrated, as with the P12/63 interface.

5. Not sure I could stomach voting for Ken. But I'd be tempted.

[Renata Hamvas]

Ken has verbally said if elected he will support the 63 extension (he has been asked specifically about this route, but I haven't seen it in his manifesto yet), Boris however says, take the P12 as he and TFL both aren't interested to spend money on extending this route- I have no idea how they have managed to come up with the figure of 600k a year for 4 bus stops:-S! We haven't given up yet.

Renata

[dbboy]

e-dealer - it's the P12 from peckham rye / nunhead lane which is the nearest stop to Kings on the Rye.

[Siduhe]

The TFL survey people were out in force at the starting point of the 63 bus (FHT side) one morning last week. From the look of it, they were surveying use of the 363/63 bus by schoolchildren - no surveys handed out, but were headcounting and noting which schools.

[cosmonaut]

There was a guy doing a survey on my 63 bus home from work yesterday, asking people about the type of transit pass used, place of purchase/top up, and their journey endpoint.

An extension of the 63 route would be welcome, but given how many 63s terminate at Peckham Rye instead of bothering to do the entire existing route, I can't see it happening anytime soon :(

[sandnot]

I mistakenly jumped on the wrong train at LB and thought I could get the 63 from Honour oak station - how wrong was I -- I was too tight to go on to forest Hill.

Big Mistake - I ended up walking home as where the bus stop was for the start of 63 was half way to east dulwich.

And another gripe with the 63, as i have to go faringdon on a regular weekly basis - wait 20 mins and 3 buses turn up! its getting worse!!!

[chantelle]

i think it's outrageous that there is no direct service between Honor Oak Park and Peckham, and how easily it could be put in place by extending the route. Having moved recently to Honor Oak, I can either take the P12 or 171 to get to Rye Lane in about half an hour. If I am in Peckham Rye Park, I must either return to the Rye Lane end of the common to take a long bus ride or trek up the hill to the P12 stop, heavily pregnant and pushing a toddler in a buggy. How much quicker it would be if the 63 simply continued its route. Unfortunately my solution has been to get my drivers licence and drive these short distances - surely not what TfL wants.

[Evie]

ok yes i obviously mean the station, the last bus stop is actually in East Dulwich and not Honor Oak, I live on Marmora Road which is the last street in East Dulwich and the bus stop is before that. The walk to the station is 15 mins if walking quickly, it would not be too bad if it was not up a steep hill, the p12 bus is so infrequent, I have waited ages for it, so always end up walking.

[Gavin Edwards]

Really pleased to give a positive update on this. Val Shawcross, our GLA member and Ken Livingstone's Deputy Mayoral Candidate, has announced that if Ken is elected as Mayor in May 2012, she will use her position as Chair of Transport for London to extend the 63 bus route to Honor Oak Park Station.

The text of Val's letter and further information on this is here.

Gavin Edwards

Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward

Peckham Rye Labour Blog

https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

[DulwichFox]

At the moment the 63 bus terminates at the cemetary where there is a Bus Stand

where the drivers rest up for 10 mins or so..

If extented to Honor Oak Park Station there would need to be a Bus Stand there....

... or the bus returning from the Station would need to stop at the current Bus Stand

with passengers already on board...

Fox.

[Gavin Edwards]

Hi Fox,

I suspect it would go through to Brockley Rise, where there is a bus stand.

Gavin Edwards

Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward

Peckham Rye Labour Blog

https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

[jimmyraj]

It would be fantastic if this did happen. Getting to Honor Oak Park from the Peckham Rye side of East Dulwich is frustratingly slow given how relatively close it is.

[dbboy]

Where is the consultation with local people to find out what they want?

As said before any extension will cause significant delays in both directions from Forest Hil Road, along Honor Oak Park to Honor Oak Park Station. Clearly Labour councillors have no understanding that the roads will not cope with the additional buses on these stretches of road. If we get more winters as we have had in the last two yeasr the 63 will just not run at all. The Stand at Forest Hill Road already gets busy in the morning. Any opportunity of getting a seat will be gone resulting in either passengers not being able to board the bus (if as many people as you beleive will travel that section from Honor Oak Park Station to Forest Hill Road, where's the data) or will have to stand.

It seems to me Labour Concillors are interferring purely for politcal gain. Oh how I hope the people of London see sense and you lot don't get elected. Furthermore how can the Deputy Candidate be Chair of Transport for London??????

[Gavin Edwards]

Hi,

I've knocked on lots of doors in the area and spoke to lots of people and it is very clear to me that this would be a popular change. When we put out a leaflet about this 18 months ago, we received hundreds of responses.

Boris Johnson has made clear to us that he opposes the extension, so of course people on the 63 route could vote for him is they want to retain the status quo.

I suppose it is easy to question the motives of any person arguing for a change. The only thing I can say in response is that Labour Councillors have been listening, and now we're responding to what people have said. Even if you're cynical about politics, that can only be a good thing.

Gavin Edwards

Peckham Rye Labour Blog

https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

[ellieaness]

I for one would love this - I sometimes use HOP to get to East London/Islington etc or back from London Bridge and not only is the hill a killer (the lazy reason) but after dark the area near One Tree Hill is actually quite deserted and frightening for a woman walking back by herself. It would be better all round if the 63 went up the hill or to the Station - there's no direct route at all at the moment from Honor Oak Park to near the Herne Tavern.