Save Southwark Bus Routes – Stop the Tory Cuts

The 12, 45, 78 and 521 are vital bus routes for Southwark. They deliver:

·       Accessibility for vulnerable residents

·       Climate change benefits, which are key to reaching net zero

·       Access to jobs across London

·       Much needed new affordable homes

Tell Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, to provide necessary funding for TfL so that it can continue to run key bus services Londoners depend on.

The 12, 45, 78 and 521 provide essential routes for Southwark residents without access to the tube or overground. It is vital that the most vulnerable passengers and those on the lowest incomes can get to work, school or access key services across the borough and beyond. An efficient public transport system is also vital to cleaning up the borough’s air, ensuring that residents have a viable alternative to car use.

It is disgraceful that the Government has cut TfL’s funding by £600m and has demanded that TfL makes service cuts and increase prices for the funding to survive the Covid pandemic. These cuts to services have been forced on TfL and will only serve to level London down, ensuring that those without a car will struggle to get around the capital. Hard pressed families will have to make more difficult and costly journeys.

This petition is demanding a new, sustainable, long-term settlement for TfL which will ensure that these service cuts are not required.

It will have a devastating impact on areas such as Camberwell, Peckham and Dulwich on the number 12 route. The loss of the 45 route will impact on areas of Walworth with the lowest levels of car ownership in Southwark. On the 78 route it will impact and isolate areas of Nunhead, South Bermondsey and .along the Old Kent Road. For the most vulnerable living and visiting London Bridge and St George’s that rely on the 521 route, the cuts will be badly felt.

Therefore, this petition demands that the Government provides the necessary and fair funding to Transport for London, so that it can maintain these routes for Londoners.

Let Grant Shapps know that London needs a fair settlement and Southwark must keep its buses. Save the 12, 45, 78 and 521.