You're not imagining it — London buses are getting slower
Plus: angry dog walkers in the East End, an update on Heaven, and a chat with a London phone thief
Morning — there’s no getting around it: London buses have peaked. That’s been clear for some time now, as TfL’s own ridership data has shown that the number of bus trips taken in the capital has been in steady decline since 2014. But, perhaps more suprisingly, the fate of the London bus is reflected in a more basic fact: they’re just not as fast as they once were. The London bus slowdown explained is after your Sunday round-up below.
Plus: angry dog walkers in the East End, an update on Heaven, and a chat with a London phone thief.
What we’ve spied
🐶 Yet more headaches for the beleaguered Tower Hamlets council, which this week has faced both a high court case over traffic schemes and a protest from angry dog walkers. As detailed in our Monday issue, the east London council and its mayor, Lutfur Rahman, already have plenty to be getting on with, after government inspectors raised "serious concerns" about the "toxic" culture at its town hall. But with the dust kicked up by the inspection barely settled, Tower Hamlets had to send off its lawyers to the high court for a two-day hearing on Wednesday to defend its attempted removal of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTN) in the borough. The case has been brought by Save Our Safer Streets, a group of local residents who raised nearly £80,000 in crowdfunding to challenge Rahman's move last year to end three LTNs around the Bethnal Green area. The residents argue the traffic-blocking schemes were popular and were cleaning up the air — but, crucially for their case, they also argue Rahman and the council failed to follow proper guidance and procedure when they consulted on removing the LTNs. Lawyers for the council argue instead that the campaigners are interfering with democracy, because Rahman had pledged to end the schemes in his 2022 election manifesto, and that he's also given reason enough for his decision to remove them — their "divisive" effect on the local community and their displacement of traffic onto main roads. A high court judge will be making a ruling shortly. Also in Tower Hamlets: campaigners from the East London Dog Community held a protest outside the council's town hall on Wednesday over plans to crackdown on 'dog-related antisocial behaviour' in the borough. The council is proposing a Public Spaces Protection Order that includes requiring dogs be kept on leads in all public spaces and outright bans on dogs from some spaces.
🦶 Soho residents have been celebrating the news their neighbourhood won't be included in the Oxford Street pedestrianisation plans. As reported by OnLondon, a senior aide to Sadiq Khan told a London Assembly budget meeting this week that the mayor will not be seeking to include Soho in the area he's taking control of to push through the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street. "Good news that the anti-democratic attempt to take powers over Soho from the local authority, pushed by some businesses, is a non-starter," was the reaction of one resident, Andrew Murray. There'd been some speculation the mayor's Oxford Street plans, and the special zone Khan is creating to take over planning matters from Westminster council, could be a way to revive the alfresco arrangements Soho saw during the pandemic, which the council opposes. More on all that in our recent feature. Meanwhile, Khan has started advertising the first four of about 15 jobs he's hiring for his 'Oxford Street office'. They include a “head of Oxford Street transformation programme” on a salary of £96,461 and a “senior communications and stakeholder engagement manager” on £79,159. One last bit on Soho: a new report has found the neighbourhood has lost 70% of its public toilets in the past 15 years.
🌃 An update on the nightclub Heaven, which is at risk of losing its licence permanently after a bouncer was charged with raping a woman in the vicinity of the venue. Heaven, near Embankment, has had its license suspended temporarily, following a police request to Westminster council in the aftermath of the November 1 incident. The club's owner, Jeremy Joseph, tried to appeal but lost, and more details have now emerged from that licensing meeting. During it councillors were told by the Met that the venue is "the highest crime generator" in Westminster, and that the force had received 16 reports of sexual assault in connection with the venue in the last six months, as well as a total of 109 crime reports. Joseph said the Met's characterisation of his club was "unfair", because Heaven is the biggest venue by capacity in the area, and that the Met was also using the club’s efforts to increase reporting of incidents against it. He also claims Heaven won't survive the current 28-day license suspension because its landlord is trying to hike rent by £320,000. A full licensing hearing is due to take place in December. In wider nightlife news: London hospitality seems to be having a small bounce back, with stats showing the number of licensed venues has increased by 1.8% since September 2023 in central London and 0.4% in Greater London.
🧹 We are loathe to give the marketing team for the new Wicked film the coverage that they want, but the 'GreenWitch' takeover of Greenwich has been quite extreme. Since November 12, plaques advertising the musical film have been dotted all over the borough, with tie-ins including GreenWitch Market, GreenWitch High Road and the University of GreenWitch. We highly recommend you read this piece from the Greenwich Wire, which puts the brand takeover in the context of Greenwich council's dire financial situation. Essentially, the council's done this deal not long after approving a £33.7m package of cuts earlier this year. While it's not revealed how much cash it's getting from the Wicked tie-in, the council says it'll help fund this year's edition of the Charlton Park winter festival.
🚨 Two Met Police officers are being investigated following the death of a pregnant woman and her baby in a collision with an unmarked police car. The Independent Office for Police Conduct announced its investigation on Wednesday and, after it compiles evidence, it'll decide whether to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for possible criminal charges and whether the officers should face disciplinary proceedings. The 38-year-old woman, who was in full-term of a pregnancy, died after the vehicle she was driving was involved in a collision with an unmarked police vehicle on the A20 near Eltham in south London on October 17. Elsewhere for London's finest: two serving Met officers have been charged with sexually assaulting a woman at the Hippodrome Casino in the West End during an off-duty visit, while another officer has been charged with assault after he tasered a man who then fell off a garage in east London. Lastly: the Police Federation has warned that the Met is set to lose 2,000 officers as the force deals with a £450m budget cut.
🚇 The rollout of the new names and colours for the Overground started on Wednesday. The £6.3m rebrand was announced last August as an attempt to give specific routes on the vast Overground network a distinct identity, to make navigation easier. The new lines are Lioness (Watford Junction to Euston, yellow), Mildmay (Richmond/Clapham Junction to Stratford, blue), Windrush (Highbury & Islington to New Cross/Clapham Junction/Crystal Palace/West Croydon, red), Weaver (Liverpool Street to Enfield Town/Cheshunt/Chingford, maroon), Suffragette (Gospel Oak to Riverside, green) and Liberty (Romford to Upminster, grey). Map below. TfL has said it'll take nine days for all stations to be updated with new signage, and most are expected to have it in place by this Monday. Other transport news: the Tokyo Metro Company has won the contract to operate the Elizabeth line, while an investigation has found there are no physical constraints to extending the Northern line to Clapham Junction.
🔍 And finally, we leave you with:
A chat with a London phone thief (TikTok)
That Harry Kane statue finally going on display (Yellow Advertiser)
The worst pubs in London (The Fence)
Inside the London landmark where they're trying to save the Earth (BBC)
Sadiq Khan inviting Donald Trump to next year's Pride in London (Standard)
POV London in 2006 (TikTok)
Disappointment with the Coal Drops Yard Christmas tree (TikTok)
The return of Brixton's M&S (Brixton Buzz)
Randomly bumping into a hamster racing event on the Tube (TikTok)
An obituary of James Hart, a former commissioner of City of London Police (Times £)
A map of crime in London compared to the national average (Reddit)
Real housewife Lisa Rinna 'spotted' in south London (TikTok)
A correction: in our last issue, we reported a 46-storey tower was approved in Canary Wharf. This was incorrect — councillors delayed potential approval pending a site visit.
The London bus slowdown
TfL and City Hall had better get cracking, after the capital's transport watchdog criticised the current state of London buses.
In the words of one bus user who spoke with London TravelWatch (LTW): “They're ok until they're not.”
A lack of reliability and poor communication were among the issues highlighted by LTW in its recent report 'The next stop: Making London buses better', which is based on passenger surveys and analysis of TfL performance data.
But particularly notable: London buses have become slower (see graphic at the top of this email).
LTW found that in every part of the city is clocking slower bus speeds than a decade ago. It's puzzling because the number of cars on the road in London has fallen 5% in the same period.
Greenwich is where bus speeds have fallen the most — from 11.5mph in 2014 to 10.5mph in 2024.
Merton has seen the biggest slowdown in outer London, from 10.3mph to 9.4mph.
Even the most central parts of the capital, where you might think things couldn't possibly get slower, are down. Buses in the City now travel at 6.6mph, instead of 6.7mph in 2014.
Overall, bus speeds are down 6% on average in London, LTW found.
The dips may seem small, but they add up. TfL's latest operational performance report shows that the average bus journey time in London has increased from 31.8 minutes to 34.4 minutes in the past three years.
As to why — some, like those who spoke to the Times for their write-up, blame the rise of low-traffic neighbourhoods.
Critics say the schemes, which bar traffic from residential areas, are adding to congestion on main roads, in turn delaying buses.
But from the Spy's look at the data, the slowdown in London's buses was well underway before low-traffic neighbourhoods boomed across London during the pandemic.
Another potential reason: not enough segregated bus lanes.
While TfL says it's adding 25km of new bus lanes by 2025, there have been cases where bus lanes have been removed to make way for new cycling routes.
In its report, LTW calls on TfL to set out how many more bus lanes are due to be introduced beyond this 25km figure, as well as to stop the removal of bus lanes when implementing new road schemes.
In the bus's defence — it's still the most liked form of London transport services.
68% of survey respondents told LTW they were satisfied with buses, versus 67% for the Underground and Overground and 61% for the DLR.
But if things don't improve, a big solution might be on the way. During his re-election campaign earlier this year, Sadiq Khan pledged to explore bringing more London buses into public ownership.
675 routes on the capital's bus network are operated by 16 privately-run bus firms. When their contracts expire, Khan has said he'll review whether they should be nationalised on a case-by-case basis.
"This will help guarantee consistency and value for money for all London's bus passengers in the long term," the mayor said.
Also: just this week, TfL announced that its futuristic-looking fleet of zero-emission buses have started entering operation — initially on the 358 route between Crystal Palace and Orpington. Perhaps they’ll change things.
Reacting to LTW's report, Lorna Murphy, TfL's director of buses, said: “London's bus network plays a vital role in enabling people to travel sustainably and affordably and we're working hard to make it even better. This includes investment in new bus lanes, our pioneering Lane Rental scheme using fees from utility companies to minimise the impact of roadworks on Londoners and other measures to give buses priority on the roads.
“We are also developing more zero-emission buses with innovative features to improve customer experience and continuing work to make the network safer through our comprehensive bus safety programme. We welcome this report from London TravelWatch and are carefully examining its findings.”
Soho shot itself in the foot by allowing charlatans to influence local policy and the recent by-election. I feel bad for the culture and businesses that want to survive. Perhaps pool together to hire some heavies to throw the Soho Society out?