Dulwich Bus Campaign

[Glemham]

A campaign started by a small group of Dulwich residents for better connectivity between West Dulwich, Dulwich Village and Herne Hill.
For all the details see the website:   dulwichbuscampaign.co.uk   This also includes a petition to sign showing TfL the level of support for the proposal.

Please forward and share the website.

[Sue]

Please could you make the website a link?

[Glemham]

Hope this works

https://dulwichbuscampaign.co.uk

[Moovart]

It worked for me.

Sounds like a good idea and a very sensible proposal.  I hope it gets approval 🤞

 

[Sue]

Thank you. I've signed.

Good luck. It does seem very sensible. 

I had no idea the buses involved even existed!

[CPR Dave]

Are they finding it hard to get around in their two tonne metal boxes now then?

[Earl Aelfheah]

Sounds like a sensible proposal

[CPR Dave]

Really? They've had millions of pounds spent on them already installing cycling facilities. 

If it's too hard for them to use their cars now, let them ride their bikes from West Dulwich to Dulwich Village. 

It's what they wanted (and campaigned) for, after all. 

If they physically can't cycle then it's very easy for them to use the hopper fare that the tax payers all subsidise to take two buses for the price of one and make that journey.

Why everyone else should be inconvenienced and asked to subsidise people living in one of the wealthiest and leafiest areas of London because the transport changes they demanded are now proving undesirable, is beyond me. 

[Moovart]

Who would be inconvenienced by such an adjustment to the route?

[CPR Dave]

Cyclists and shoppers in Dulwich Village, having to put up with another bus trundling through, people who use the bus for its existing route, people who use the South Circular, the bus company who has to pay for extra buses drivers and extra fuel, the drivers themselves who would have to drive a longer route, and the drivers of buses on the other routes who would have to pick up extra passengers, putting pressure on their ability to stick to arduous bus timetabling requirements.

[Earl Aelfheah]

On 12/11/2025 at 20:09, CPR Dave said:

Really? They've had millions of pounds spent on them already installing cycling facilities. 

If it's too hard for them to use their cars now, let them ride their bikes from West Dulwich to Dulwich Village. 

Who is 'they'? The people of West Dulwich? 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

It seems like a very sensible proposal. It would connect 6 busy schools (which collectively attract literally thousands of journeys every day) with the rail/bus hub at Tulse Hill. There wouldn't be any additional infrastructure required.

Meanwhile, loving CPR Dave's reinvention as a defender of cyclists and Dulwich Villagers oppressed by over-frequent buses. Maybe he forgot which account he was posting to...

[Glemham]

Not sure our recent  Bus Campaign can claim credit for a decision that has probably been months in the making, but it’s very welcome news. We hope to be involved in any consultation process.

https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/three-london-boroughs-win-tfl-funding-to-transform-local-bus-networks

[Sue]

Just had this email:

 

We're delighted to share that with your help, our petition has reached 1,000+ signatures! We have more updates:

 

What we have done so far: 

• We launched and promoted the campaign website.
• We've gained support from local institutions such as the Dulwich Picture Gallery and Friends of Dulwich Park.
• We spoke to the press and Southwark News published two articles inspired by our campaign. Read them here and here.
• We met with Marina Ahmad, the London Assembly Member for Southwark, as well as the Village Ward councillors. They confirmed their support for the campaign and Marina told us she would contact TfL to ask them to consider our proposal for the 201 and explain why the P4's performance has been so poor. She will seek to get support from the Deputy Mayor for Transport, Seb Dance.

 

What we plan to do next:

• We have a meeting scheduled with Marina Ahmad on Jan 8 where we plan to ask her for updates.
• We asked for a meeting with someone senior at TfL so we can discuss why they seem reluctant to address our requests.

 

How you can help:

• Ask your household members to sign the petition: the more names we have, the better we can show to TfL that this is important.
• Email Marina Ahmad as well as local councillors Richard Leeming and Margy Newens to let them know why this campaign is important to you.
• Reach out if you would like to help us. We are a small group of volunteers and all are welcome to give us a hand.
• Please share with your school Whatsapp parent groups if you are part of one.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dulwich Bus Campaign

[IMC]

 

Not everyone is delighted.  This campaign was launched without any consultation  with people in Croxted Road, or those wanting to travel there eg to the two schools and two nurseries.    An initial assertion that the 201 would be “no loss to the residents of Croxted Road” was entirely untrue and unfounded — consequently many people will have signed the petition not realising that their support was  based on misleading information.    If you fall into that category please consider asking the campaigners  to remove your signature from the petition. 

Residents of Croxted are vehement in their objections to this proposed re-route and their representatives made contact with the petitioners.  That particular assertion was subsequently  removed but other inaccuracies remain, including suggestions that the no 201 “duplicates” the no 3, whereas they are quite distinct routes.   The 201 is very much valued in its current form.

 

Fair enough to campaign for a better bus service -  but why at the expense of a neighbouring community?   

 

 

[Sue]

Just had this:

Dear Supporter,

Thank you for supporting our campaign so far. We are happy to report that we have 1459 people that have signed our petition but we would like to try and get to 2000 signatures as TfL are taking an interest in our campaign.

Please raise this bus issue with your local councillors, canvassers and prospective councillors when they knock on your door over the next two months in the run-up to the 7 May local elections. They need to understand the wide support for better bus services across Dulwich to support the shops, businesses, art venues, sports clubs, schools and local residents who cannot walk or cycle, and to get access to a step free train station at Herne Hill. 

We started our campaign with a proposal to re-route the 201, an idea that was put forward several years ago, but never came to fruition. Then we heard that residents in Croxted and Turney Roads feel strongly that they would like to retain the 201. We met with their representatives, and as our goal is to improve bus services and not to diminish them, we are now also proposing to Tfl an entirely new bus route.

This single decker bus would start at Herne Hill and travel down Half Moon Lane, turn right at North Dulwich Railway Station proceed through the Village along College Road, turn right along the South Circular and, after West Dulwich station turn LEFT and continue down the South Croxted Road following the no.3 route via Gipsy Hill to Crystal Palace bus station. From there it would either continue to Anerley and Elmers End OR go along Church Road and turn left at the junction to terminate at Norwood Junction station.

There are benefits to this new route as it would connect Dulwich Village to Herne Hill Station (which has lifts) and also to Crystal Palace via West Dulwich Station. There are many school children travelling to and from Dulwich every school day so linking rail stations would be very useful. There would be no utility works as all the bus stops are in place already and the new bus would provide back up service to the 3 bus which is delayed frequently.

We are glad to tell you that we have a meeting this week with TfL's Head of Bus Performance and TfL's Director of Public Transport Service Planning plus representatives from Southwark Council, Helen Hayes MP's office and the London Assembly. They are coming to Dulwich to meet us. This is quite a big development and suggests that TfL are taking our campaign seriously. We will use this meeting to press for an improved P4 service, and for our new proposed route, as well as challenging TfL to come up with their own ideas. Please wish us luck! 

Thank you for all your support and we will be in touch again after our meeting with TfL.

Dulwich Bus Campaign

[march46]

I wonder how the Dulwich Bus Campaign think the existing P4 bus service could be improved? Has there been any assessment of the reasons for delay?

 

[Sue]

Just got this email:

Dear Supporter,

Report of our meeting with TfL

The Dulwich Bus Campaign group met with representatives of TfL on 25 February. TFL sent a strong delegation, led by Geoff Hobbs, Director of Public Transport Service Planning, supported by the Head of Bus Performance Management. Other TfL officials, Southwark Council’s Head of Highways and Sustainable Transport Policy, and members of Marina Ahmad’s (London Assembly representative) and Helen Hayes’s (MP) offices were also present.

The meeting was to explore solutions to the lack of connectivity between Dulwich Village and the neighbouring areas and railway stations, and the general demand, supported by our petition with 1460 signatures, for an improvement in local bus services. The TfL team explained their established practice in providing bus services in London, with the objective of meeting demand and managing timings, against the many problems that occur on London’s roads and that disrupt the best laid plans. They also noted that bus usage had dropped by 23% overall in the last twelve years. Against this background, they said they had looked at our ideas but could see no case for change:

The P4, which we had argued was unreliable, was only slightly underperforming. The problems with this service arose from road works in south east London and the mechanical reliability of the buses in service. Passenger numbers on this service had declined and there was no case for increasing frequency. There was also a decline in passengers on the no 3 bus.

A new route: This would cost between £2.5 and £3.5 million. That money would have to come at the expense of other services, so other customers would suffer. TfL could not see the demand to justify this.

Extending or re-routing an existing route: There was discussion extending a route such as the 315. TfL said they would think about this.

The meeting was amicable and TfL impressed with their professionalism. It is disappointing that we could make no progress with our main ideas. Given the support locally for an improvement to bus services, we intend to continue to pursue the options, which now probably best turn on extending an existing route. We will also press TfL for a timescale for addressing the mechanical issues with the P4 fleet. We did ask TfL to look at the bus stops or the proposed Superloop on the South Circular to align more closely with the P4 on College Road, so improving connectivity.

We have a meeting with our MP Helen Hayes next week and we will discuss with her the best way forward. We also have strong support from our London Assembly representative, Marina Ahmad and we will consult her as well.

Thank you for your support. We have not given up!

The Dulwich Bus Campaign

College Road London, Greater London SE21 7