Popping to the local shops at lunchtime, I was surprised to see a stream of buses that normally run along Essex Road – 341, 56, 476 and even the bendies 38 and 73 – heading down Canonbury Road.
Apparently there has been an accident on Essex Road near Islington Green, involving a bike and one of the dreaded bendy buses.
I will post more information when I have it.
I’m concerned that London Mayor Boris Johnson is already back-tracking on his election pledge to replace the hated bendy buses. Quizzed by my fellow Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon, Boris has admitted that bringing in a new generation of routemasters is now an aspiration not a commitment.
It’s barely a month since the election, but Boris is already back-tracking. Bendy buses are dangerous, crime-ridden and take up too much space on our crowded streets. Islington residents hate them. Boris must keep his word: bendy buses have got to go. We were promised more staff on buses, but bendy-buses are still driver only. My purse was stolen on a 73 last year, and I’m not the only Islington resident to be robbed on a bendy bus; they really are crime scenes on wheels.
The Mayor shouldn’t waste time and money designing a new bus, but swiftly replace bendy buses with modern double-deckers instead. And he should immediately reintroduce conductors to tackle fare-dodging and crime. Last year a shocking 7.2 million individual fares were dodged – one for every Londoner.
Back in March, Ken gave in and conceded there would be no more bendy buses. But now we’ve got to start over with Boris. So I’ve relaunched the No More Bendy Buses petition to demand that Mayor Boris keeps his promise to get rid of bendy buses.
The petition says Mayor Boris and TfL must:
– Keep the promise to get rid of bendy buses
– Bring back conductors on bendy buses to cut crime, fare-dodging and make buses safer
– Stop wasting time designing a new bus – use modern double-deckers instead.
You can sign the petition and add your views here.
It’s nearly two years since I called for Ken Livingstone to abandon plans for any more bendy buses. Why? Because bendy buses are dangerous, crime-ridden, and take up far too much space on Islington’s streets. Since then our campaign website has had lots of support from people all over London. So I’m delighted that Ken has now backed down and conceded that there will be no new bendy bus routes.
Now we need him to start replacing the existing bendy buses with modern double-deckers. And in the meantime, let’s have conductors back on the bendy buses to make them safer and tackle the fare dodgers. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks time, Ken will be glad of a conductor’s job himself…
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