WALTHAM ABBEY'S NEW "CONNECTION" TO CHINGFORD...

Dear supporters,

You may have heard that from tomorrow, Monday 27th July, a new bus route will serve the abandoned stops on the A112 Sewardstone Road towards Chingford for the first time since 2021.

Central Connect's new commercial route 'A3' will run between Quaker Lane in Waltham Abbey Town Centre and the Lee Valley Campsite on Sewardstone Road. But we owe it to every one of you who has signed this petition to be honest about what this service actually is.

Here is the entire timetable for this new 'A3' bus:

Waltham Abbey to Lee Valley Campsite: 08:50, 09:50, 10:50, 11:50, 12:50, 13:50, 14:50
Lee Valley Campsite to Waltham Abbey: 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00

That is it. Just seven buses in each direction. Once an hour, at off-peak times. Weekdays only. No weekends. The first bus leaves too late to get to work or school. The last bus leaves too early to get you home or for anything else. There is no Oyster integration, no Hopper fare, and no direct link to Chingford.

Those wishing to reach Chingford Station will need to change onto TfL route 215, and then change again at Yardley Lane for TfL route 379. Three buses. Two changes. Only possible after 9am and before 3pm on weekdays.

Now consider what the 'A3' will share the Lee Valley Campsite stop with: TfL route 215, running every 20 to 30 minutes, 7 days a week, from before 6am until nearly 1am, with full Oyster integration. Two buses. One stop. The contrast could not be more stark.

And then consider what Waltham Abbey's bus network once looked like. London bus route 242 historically ran between Chingford Station and Waltham Abbey every 10 to 30 minutes, 7 days a week, from early mornings until past midnight. Even on a Sunday night, the last bus from Chingford Station to Waltham Abbey departed as late as 00:10. This is hardly ancient history. And the new 'A3' - just seven journeys a day, gone by 3pm, requiring two changes to reach the station the 242 served directly, is what has replaced it.

This is not a bus service built around the lives of the people it is supposed to serve. It is not a solution. It is the latest illustration of what happens when a suburban town of 23,000, on the edge of one of the world's most connected cities, is left dependent on commercial operators with no contract, no performance standard, no obligations, and no accountability to the community they serve.

The point is made even more sharply by what else happens tomorrow. The same day the 'A3' launches, Arriva cuts the final evening journeys on its commercial route '66' between Loughton and Waltham Abbey, moving the last bus home from Loughton tube station from 22:03 to just 19:46. This is the reality of the kind of service Waltham Abbey has been left with.

We are also deeply concerned about what the A3's inevitable low patronage may be used to argue in the future. A service that almost nobody can take to or from work, no student can rely on for school or college, nobody can use in the evening, nobody can use at weekends, and that doesn't even reach Chingford - requiring two further changes to get to Chingford Station - is not a service local people can rely on. It will not generate the ridership a proper service would, and it was never designed to. We have seen this pattern before, and we will resist any attempt to use low usage of an inadequate service as evidence that proper services would not be used.

TfL bus routes are not run for profit. They are planned, tendered, monitored, and held to account by a public body whose purpose is to serve passengers. They run to defined frequencies. They cannot be withdrawn when they become commercially inconvenient for a private operator. That is the standard Waltham Abbey once had, and that is the standard our campaign is fighting to restore. No commercial operator, however well-intentioned, can deliver what TfL-contracted routes provide.

The solution remains unchanged. Essex County Council must open formal discussions with Transport for London to extend routes 215 and 379 to at least Waltham Abbey Town Centre.

TfL routes 215 and 379 already run to the very edge of Waltham Abbey - to the Lee Valley Campsite and Yardley Lane Estate respectively - every 20 to 30 minutes, seven days a week, from before 6am until nearly 1am. They are frequent, reliable, fully Oyster-integrated, and contractually secured. Route 379 was itself created specifically to partially compensate for the loss of route 242 between Waltham Abbey and Chingford Station - it has been stopping just short of the town ever since. Extending both routes to Waltham Abbey would immediately restore the comprehensive, Oyster-integrated, all-day, all-week service it deserves, with direct connections to Chingford Station, Chingford Mount, and Walthamstow Central. No commercial operator can replicate what those two routes can provide. No amount of tinkering with local commercial services will ever come close. The answer is already sitting at the edge of our town. Essex County Council simply needs to work with TfL.

Essex County Council holds more than £68 million in funding for bus service improvements. TfL has confirmed it is ready and willing to work with them. The London Assembly voted unanimously. Two MPs and local councillors from across parties have pushed this. Our new county councillor has engaged. Every piece is on the table.

If the new route, the 66 cuts, or the wider state of Waltham Abbey's public transport affects you, please share this update and the petition as widely as possible.

Waltham Abbey deserves far better. We will keep pushing until we get what we deserve.

The Bring Back Red Buses campaign team