More regular bus services to Ashford Surrey & surrounding areas (Spelthorne)

Petition Closed

This petition had 41 supporters

The Issue

Bus services to Ashford Surrey & surrounding areas are poor compared to other areas with similar proximity to Heathrow.  

This petition is to have a review of the current bus & transport services, in line with the increase in population which has occurred over the last 4 years through the rise in property prices. This has extended the commuter belt and has seen a dramatic rise in people moving to this area, yet our transport links still have stayed the same.

Unfortunately even though there are regular commuters and users of the transport networks, the network is still in the past and not fit for purpose.

Currently there is only one bus service, the 555 which runs to Heathrow Central 2 times an hour stopping at 10pm. Even this reduces to 1 an hour on Sunday.

This means the last plane you can be on has to come in by 9pm, collect your baggage and then run for the bus so you don't miss it.  If you have to be on a later plane then forget it.  Even the black cabs have refused to take locals home, because it is not worth their while.  So how do you get home ?  especially when you have luggage and young children.

Parvez MozawalaPetition Starter
Media enquiries

The Decision Makers

Alan Pilbeam
Abellio
Responded
“Thank you for your email regarding "More regular bus services to Ashford Surrey & Surrounding areas (Spelthorne)". The responsibility for bus services in Surrey as a whole fall under the auspices of Surrey County Council (SCC), bus operators and Transport for London (TfL). In general for London and the surrounding London boroughs, TfL have responsibility for planning and control of the bus network. The network of routes is tendered to commercial bus operators who then operate the services on behalf of TfL. Outside of London, the Local Transport Authority (in this case SCC) has responsibility for a Local Transport Strategy and Plan; including a bus strategy. The bus strategy will need to take into account the commercial bus network which operates in the local area. The Local Transport Authority may then choose to plug gaps in the commercial network and operate services that aren't commercially viable. This will be through tenders to facilitate social inclusivity. This will also be dependent on funding. All Local Transport Authorities have been and continue to be, under severe pressure to reduce their spending levels. Abellio Surrey operate a few routes on a commercial basis for the majority of the week (446, 461 and 515). But these still all receive varying degrees of additional support from SCC in respect of early/late/evening/weekend trips. We also operate route 441 on a commercial basis with support from BAA. The rest of our network (39, 81, 400, 436, 438, 451, 459, 458, 513, 514, 555, 557, 564, 566, 567, 570-4, 637, 663, 690 and 814) are all contracted/tendered services operated on behalf of SCC. We have made a significant investment in our Surrey Operations this year with new ticket machines and technology to allow us to provide real time information to our customers via our website and also in the near future a mobile app. This investment will also enable us to provide next stop information to our customers and introduce a smartcard. We carried out a root and branch review of our network at the end of last year, in order to re-plan the network and provide robust timetables. The introduction of this wasn't helped by the flooding we had at the beginning of the year, but we are pleased with the subsequent improvement to the performance of our network. Maintaining this performance will be greatly helped by the information we can now extract from the real time information system technology that we have invested in. SCC will be re-tendering their entire contracted network in 2015. As outlined above, we are aware that they are facing severe funding pressure and we will be working with them, as we have in the past, to help provide the best overall solution. We are currently reviewing our entire network (both commercial and tendered) to examine what would be the most sustainable solution for the future. We will be sharing this with SCC once completed. I will forward your email to both SCC and TfL for their information. ”
Sir Peter Hendy CBE
Transport For London
Responded
“Dear petitioners Thank you for your emails about the petition calling for more regular bus services to Ashford Surrey and other surrounding areas. As Alan Pilbeam mentioned in his response, strategy for bus services outside of London is the responsibility of the local transport authority. For services in Ashford Surrey and neighbouring areas, this would be Surrey County Council. They would therefore need to consider the concerns raised in the petition. Transport for London (TfL) aims to provide a comprehensive bus network that offers fast, reliable and convenient links across London, including links to key destinations in surrounding counties such as Ashford and Staines. Surrey County Council contributes significantly to these routes. However, it would not be within TfL’s remit to provide services operating wholly outside the London boundary. Yours sincerely, Sir Peter Hendy CBE Commissioner Transport for London”
Patrick McLoughlin
Secretary of State for Transport
Jeff Hoogesteger
Abellio
Martin Low
Dept of Transport

Petition Updates

Share this petition

Petition created on 24 September 2014