We, the undersigned, are calling on the Mayor of London and Transport for London to take urgent action to improve the 213 bus service from Sutton to Kingston, during school travel times.

The current service is failing the schoolchildren and families who rely on it every day.

Children are regularly waiting over an hour to get on a bus. During these waits, two or even three buses can pass without stopping because they are already too full. At other times, buses are taken out of service or turned around because they are running late, leaving children stranded and uncertain about how they will get to school.

This is not simply an inconvenience. It is having a serious impact on children's wellbeing, education and family life.

Parents are being forced to rush out and drive their children to school, creating additional traffic and disrupting their own working hours. Families are losing precious sleep because children have to leave home much earlier just to have a reasonable chance of getting on a bus.

Children are going to bed earlier, leaving less time for homework, hobbies, relaxation and time with their families. For families already managing busy schedules, this additional pressure is unsustainable.

Most importantly, our children are suffering.

Year 7 children are becoming distressed and some have been reduced to tears by the stress of trying to get to school. Older children have become resigned to the daily uncertainty. Children are  receiving detentions for arriving late when the reason for their lateness is an unreliable bus service that is completely outside their control.

Even after waiting for an hour, children cannot be confident that the bus will take them to their destination. Buses regularly change their destination part-way through a journey, forcing children off early. They may then have to walk long distances in heavy rain or wait another 30 minutes for the next bus.

At other times, two or three buses arrive together after a lengthy gap. This is not a reliable or evenly distributed service.

Children are increasingly having to arrive at school half an hour early, simply because they cannot rely on the 213. They are then left waiting outside before the school day begins. As the darker and colder months approach, this situation is even more concerning.

We want our children to grow up feeling confident, safe and independent using London's public transport network. Instead, the current experience is putting children off public transport altogether.

 

We ask the Mayor or London and TfL to take urgent action to:

Increase the frequency and capacity of the 213 service from Sutton to Kingston during school travel times.

Improve the reliability and spacing of services so that children are not left waiting for an hour only to see multiple 213s arrive together. A regular occurrence 

Review the way late-running services are managed so that buses are not routinely curtailed or turned around, leaving schoolchildren stranded.  

Work with schools, parents and local communities to understand the scale and impact of the problem.

Monitor the 213 service specifically during school commuting periods and take action where the service is failing to meet demand.

Our children should not have to lose sleep, miss lessons, receive detentions, or depend on their parents, who have to delay starting work, simply because they cannot rely on their bus.

The 213 is an essential service for the children and families who depend on it. We are asking the Mayor of London and TfL to listen, investigate and act.

Our children deserve a bus service that gets them to school safely, reliably and on time.

Please sign this petition and call on TfL to improve the 213 bus service now.