• TWENTY or more years ago I lobbied London Buses to place a bus stop near the very wide pavement by Percy Street, as there was no bus stop between that for the tube station at Tottenham Court Road and Goodge Street station.

A bus stop appeared and, now, it’s been removed because of the new two-way Tottenham Court Road. Yet the March 2019 Camden Magazine states: “… The West End Project is improving bus journeys, making catching your bus easier.

“All buses will leave from Tottenham Court Road, so you’ll be able to get on and off your bus from the same street…”

What a load of drivel from Camden Council!

Catching a bus from Tottenham Court Road to Camden Town is now less easy, the opposite of their claim, given that there are two bus stops not three, and it’s very unusual, surely, for there to be no intermediate bus stops at all between tube stations.

The council article goes on to state “Buses will no longer serve the length of Gower Street/ Bloomsbury Street.”

No reason is given and the lack of any buses in Gower Street means that one of the country’s main tourist attractions, the British Museum, is now even further away from bus routes serving central London and, indeed, from our borough.

Given that older people are among the main users of buses, it is perverse that all routes have been removed from Gower Street, a main thoroughfare.

Is Transport for London, buses in particular, safe in Sadiq Khan’s hands? On this evidence, the answer’s clearly no. Next May Sadiq Khan should take a one-way journey on the 155 bus from City Hall to Tooting!

LESTER MAY
Reachview Close, NW1