A 20mph Zone for the Thorpes?

On the 17 November, Lewisham’s Mayor & Cabinet confirmed a £70,000 road scheme for the Thorpes to be implemented in 2012-13. The idea would be to consult residents on a 20mph zone for the Thorpes and at the same time look at methods of dealing with the east-west “rat-run” that includes Bishopsthorpe Road. If approved the 20mph zone would be implemented and the speed of traffic monitored to gauge the success of the scheme.
The Thorpes Resident’s Association committee warmly welcome this initiative as they have long campaigned for schemes to reduce rat-running through the neighbourhood as well as methods of reducing the speed of traffic through the estate. Over the last 10 years residents have complained about the speed and trajectory of vehicles entering the neighbourhood – in particular drivers who, often without signalling, turn off Mayow Road into the Thorpes, cutting the corner at speed. Hopefully, a well designed road scheme can ensure that the neighbourhood is a great deal safer and more comfortable to live in.
The new road improvement scheme for Sydenham Road will involve a number of changes to the local road layout which will affect the Thorpes. For example, the junction of Queensthorpe Road and Sydenham Road will be closed to road vehicles and there will be two lanes running from Mayow Road into Sydenham Road rather than a single carriageway. The committee believe that we have to see how the new traffic flow adjusts to these changes before we design a scheme for the Thorpes.
A 20mph zone for the Thorpes is an exciting and welcome proposal. Please come along to the AGM and share your views on this vital issue.

East London Line Extension to Open Late February

The East London Line extension from Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington looks likely to open on February 28 – almost three months ahead of schedule.
The 2.1km extension to the northern end of the ELL will allow passengers to access the Victoria Line and North London Line at Highbury & Islington. Destinations such as King’s Cross/St Pancras can then be easily reached without having to travel through London Bridge or use the overcrowded Northern Line. And when the extension opens, even a Sunday afternoon walk on Hampstead Heath could be a real possibility for Sydenham dwellers!
The East London Line has enjoyed a huge surge in users since it opened. Passenger counts taken in October 2010 show that the number of journeys undertaken per weekday on the route had risen to 70,000, compared with 40,000 in the first full month of operation.
December’s new rail timetables also brought good news for local people with two additional evening rush trains from London Bridge and extra late night trains on both the East London Line and from London Bridge. The timetable to and from London Bridge is slowly returning to the one we enjoyed before the East London Line opened – apart, of course, from our direct services to and from Charing Cross.

Oystercard PAYG comes to Sydenham

The introduction of Oyster PAYG at local stations is great news. But it's not all gone according to plan. The Thorpes Blog asked TfL about some of the problems local travellers have encountered in dealing with the new card systems – and here are their answers:


1. Oyster PAYG was introduced without the necessary machinery to issue and update cards at stations. Why has this happened?
TfL does not manage the majority of National Rail stations in London and therefore the retailing of Oyster is a matter for the individual Train Operating Companies (TOCs). In the case of the Forest Hill and Sydenham stations (which were taken over by London Overground Rail Operations Ltd [LOROL] in September last year), passengers can add credit and purchase day and monthly Travelcards (the latter only if the card is registered) from the Ticket Vending Machines. It will also be available over the next couple of months from the ticket offices, however the ticket office machines have had to be upgraded to retail Oyster and there has been a delay in securing the necessary upgrade.

2. Oyster PAYG depends on customers 'touching in' and 'touching out' at the beginning and end of journeys. But insufficient card readers have been installed at stations to allow efficient 'out of hours' processing of tickets in this way. Take our two local stations as examples: at Forest Hill and Sydenham stations, once the main ticket office has closed in the evening there are no readers on the 'night gate' close to the main station entrance. Are passengers arriving at these stations in the late evening seriously expected to go to the opposite platform to 'touch out'? Why was no thought given to the matter of extra readers when Oyster introduction was planned?
Overall the introduction of Oyster pay as you go has gone very well but with such a major expansion there have been a few local teething problems. TfL has rectified the problem at Forest Hill and Sydenham station where gatelines (with Oyster validators) had been shutting down at 21:00 each evening as station staff closed the ticket hall and handed over to security staff for the remainder of evening service. The booking hall will now be kept open until the end of service each night enabling passengers to touch out on the yellow Oyster readers and complete their journeys. Local customers at these stations who have been affected and overcharged should contact the TfL Oyster customer service help desk on 0845 330 9876  to have their claims looked into. To be charged the correct Oyster fare for their journey passengers must remember to touch in and out on the yellow Oyster readers at the start and end of each journey.


3. Oystercard PAYG has been introduced with no basic information for passengers at stations. Why is this, have you got plans to roll out some information?
Each station was provided with over 2500 leaflets and 3 posters. The posters announced the arrival of Oyster on National Rail and the leaflets provide full information on how to use Oyster pay as you go. Due to the snow there was a delay in getting these posters to the stations, so they arrived on the night of 7th Jan 2010 and were put up either that night or the following day. An additional poster about the Oyster capability of the Ticket Vending Machines which also announced the arrival of Oyster on National Rail was put up on the night of 31st Dec 2009.

Sydenham Road Improvement Scheme

A £4.7m scheme to improve Sydenham Road will be underway by August. Lewisham’s Mayor and Cabinet committee gave the go-ahead to the scheme on Wednesday evening (20 January), so now it’s down to the tendering and construction phases, starting with improvements to Station Approach. And the good news is that the eastern end of the high street – from Mayow Road to Kent House Road - is also included in the revamp. The scheme will work as follows:


Cobb’s Corner to Mayow Road

• £3.6m scheme to improve the core section of the high street. 
• This includes £310,000 to improve Sydenham Station Approach. 
• At the recent public exhibition 957 people completed comment cards. In response to the question – Do you support the proposals overall? – 89% answered yes; 6% No; 5% don’t know and 1% gave no answer.

Mayow Road to Kent House Road
A £1.1m scheme to improve the 'lower' section of the high street.

Timetable:

• 20 January 2010 – Both schemes to be approved by Lewisham Mayor and Cabinet.
• March 2010 – List of tenderers agreed
• May 2010 – Tenders issued
• July 2010 – Tender evaluation results reported to Mayor and Cabinet
• August 2010 – Work commences
• November 2010 to Mid January 2011 – Minimal disruption works (side streets Station Approach etc)
• August 2011 – Works completed Cobb’s Corner to Mayow Road
• August 2011 to August 2012 – Works completed Mayow Road to Kent House Road

ELL to open on 23rd May!

It now seems virtually certain that the West Croydon/Crystal Palace leg of the line will launch on the 23rd May with the New Cross to Dalston section opening from the 4th April.
On the 18th January, the construction team on the ELL handed the line over to TfL. Now it’s down to TfL to complete the work of training staff, testing trains and making sure signalling systems work.
Travel times northwards to Canada water from Sydenham are as follows:
 
00:00:00 Canada Water
00:02:00 Surrey Quays
00:05:00 New Cross Gate
00:08:00 Brockley
00:11:00 Honor Oak Park
00:14:00 Forest Hill
00:16:30 Sydenham

Here is an update on what’s happening on our local
railway system:


• TfL has taken over local stations with a commitment to staff stations from 'first to last train'.

• At the end of 2010 no more direct trains to Charing Cross. 
• Oyster PAYG introduced 2nd January 2010. 
• May 23 2010 – major change to services: 
  – ELL commences (8tph from Dalston to Crystal P/
     West Croydon).
  – Off-peak and evening services to and from
     London Bridge reduced to 4 per hour
  – Loop line to Victoria starts early.
  – 6 tph to West Croydon
  – 6 tph service to East Croydon with interchange at
     Norwood Junction.
• By end 2010, all platforms along line extended to carry 10/12 carriage trains.

Sydenham Road Improvements

A recent visitor to this area remarked to me recently, 'You know, Sydenham’s quite nice, when you get away from the high street.'
Now we have a chance to renew our high street and make criticism like this a thing of the past. The recent exhibition at 59 Sydenham Road is for a revamped town centre with £3m to be spent on renewing Sydenham Road and a further £330,000 on Sydenham Station Approach.

The consultation period will come to an end in January when Lewisham’s Mayor & Cabinet decide whether to push ahead with the scheme. If the go-ahead is confirmed, then we should expect work to commence in the summer of 2010.
If the project is confirmed, then we could have a high street that we (and our visitors) are proud of. Let’s hope so.

Local Rail Services – It’s Good News & Bad News!

For years, this part of south London has struggled to ensure that its rail services are on par with the rest of the capital. At long last we are within grasp of achieving this goal – but there’s bad news as well as good.

Here’s the good news:

• Transport for London (TfL) is already running the stations between New Cross Gate and West Croydon. This means that all local stations, including Sydenham, are now staffed throughout the day “from first to last train” meaning a far safer and more secure environment for passengers. 
• TfL plan a complete refurbishment of Sydenham station including new indicator boards, increased CCTV and new tannoy system. 
• Lewisham council are currently consulting on a £320,000 renovation of Sydenham Station Approach which will greatly improve access to the station. 
• On January 2 2010, Oystercard PAYG will be introduced on all London suburban train lines. 
• Before the end of 2010, all platforms along the line will be lengthened so that 10 carriage (rather than 8 carriage) trains to and from London Bridge can be accommodated. 
• In May 2010, the long-anticipated East London Line will start, giving us 8 trains per hour in each direction between Dalston Junction in the north and West Croydon and Crystal Palace in the south. 
• In 2015, our line will become part of the Thameslink service, so that four trains per hour which currently terminate at London Bridge will instead continue through north London giving direct trains from Sydenham to key destinations such as Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Pancras International (for the Eurostar). 

And here’s the Bad News

• In mid December, direct services to and from Charing Cross will be axed – all trains will start and terminate at London Bridge. 
• From May 2010, off-peak and evening services to and from London Bridge will be cut by one third – from 6 trains per hour to 4 trains per hour. 

These cuts rob us of the excellent rail services this area deserves. Sign the petition against the cuts at: http://nototraincuts.notlong.com