Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Londonwide Assembly Member, has responded to Transport for London’s Central London Bus Service Review, with a very clear message that the RV1 bus route should be saved.
Responding to the consultation, Caroline highlighted that TfL’s own figures show passenger usage has actually increased on the bus route between April and August of this year (August's are the most recent figures that TfL were able to produce).
Highlighting the importance of retaining the RV1 bus service, Caroline said:
“It is bad enough that back in February, TfL cut in half the RV1 bus route without any prior consultation. However to now propose scrapping it completely is totally unacceptable.
“The RV1 provides a special link between the north and south of the River Thames. It plays an invaluable role in connecting a number of residential communities, cultural insititutions, commercial hubs, two of London’s terminus stations and two major hospitals. With new developments expected there are good reasons why demand will continue to increase.
“The RV1 bus route might have seen higher passenger numbers back in 2016, but what is encouraging is that passenger numbers have actually bounced back so much in recent months.
“And if TfL devoted similar resources that it devotes to marketing the Emirates cable car to the RV1 bus route, numbers of tourists, visitors and Londoners using the bus route would increase even further.
“Why are people travelling through Waterloo station bombarded with messages about the cable car but receive no information about a valuable bus service, which allows cheap travel to some of the best theatres and sites in London?”