A recent meeting for Transport for London to reinstate the 164 bus service through Belmont was based on three local issues.
1. The population of Belmont has increased mark-edly in the years the service has been withdrawn and for one route to serve the area from Downs Road to Sutton station via the Brighton Road is plainly inadequate.
2. The vast amount of money being spent to reconstruct the bus stand at Downs Road to accommodate three buses is pointless given the current level of service. I have never seen more than two buses at any one time on the stand.
3. Given the recent 900 per cent increase in parking charges at the Royal Marsden with the inconvenience for local residents, the parking problems and the financial implications for patients and visitors an additional bus service to this area from Sutton station may encourage people to use public transport instead of their cars.
Anything that can be done to alleviate traffic congestion in this area and give Belmont residents a decent public transport service seems to me well worth fighting for.
DAVID PICKLES, Conservative councillor Belmont ward
July 17, 2002 16:00
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