New data obtained by Siân Berry AM from Transport for London (TfL) demonstrates that many outer London boroughs have seen bus service cuts, despite having been promised improvements by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Since 2014-2015, 29.6 million km of bus services were removed from inner London, supposedly to redirect capacity to outer London boroughs. In reality, several outer London boroughs have suffered cuts, including:
- Brent – 1,000,000 km fewer bus services
- Hounslow – 900,000 km fewer bus services
- Richmond upon Thames – 700,000 km fewer bus services
- Ealing – 600,000 km fewer bus services
- Hillingdon – 500,000 km fewer bus services
- Kingston upon Thames – 400,000 km fewer bus services
- Enfield – 300,000 km fewer bus services
- Merton – 100,000 km fewer bus services
- Bexley – 100,000 km fewer bus services
Fewer than one million new bus kilometres have been added to the whole of outer London, a gap that fails to help the nearly one third of bus riders whose households earn less than £20,000 per year.
The data provided by TfL can be downloaded or viewed below.
Green Party London Assembly Member Siân Berry said:
“Outer Londoners heard the Mayor promise bus improvements. But when they find out they have actually endured a reduction in bus services, they will be so disappointed in him.
“Today’s breakdown illustrates how headline figures obscure the scale of the cuts in many outer London boroughs.
“London’s Mayor must invest more into new bus services focused on areas that need it most, so that every Londoner has the support they need to navigate our city.”
Siân Berry AM has been an outspoken advocate for bus passengers throughout her tenure at the London Assembly. As Chair of the Transport Committee, Siân has condemned previous TfL bus service cuts for their lopsided impact on the poorest Londoners, and pushed against the Mayor over planned service cuts.
Additionally, Siân has used her position in the London Assembly to previously obtain critical data on reduced bus services, data that TfL initially kept private from Londoners.
Notes to editors
This data was provided to the public following Green Party London Assembly Member Siân Berry’s inquiry to the Mayor during the July 2023 Mayor’s Question Time. AM Berry requested the data be delivered in the total kilometres serviced, rather than the number of routes added, to more clearly illustrate the Mayor’s shortcoming in delivering on the one million new kilometres of bus services he promised to create in outer London.