• TRANSPORT for London, ever a law unto itself, is definitely travelling in the wrong direction over buses, (Save the C2 bus!, August 16).

We have just had reduced service on the vital C11 cross link serving both Royal Free and Whittington hospitals, plus the 268 and 31. Now the extremely useful, efficient, and usually more pleasant C2 bus route is to be taken away.

Sadly TfL are notorious for ignoring and manipulating public “consultations”. Will councillors, MPs and the Mayor of London do more to support bus travel and passengers?

TfL’s mantra that “every journey matters” to them is false when much-needed bus routes are being undermined or lost.

The network is being continually weakened. And then there is the go-slow policy where buses with passengers sit at stops or deliberately crawl along to fit some mythical schedule and punish bus companies for being over two minutes early or late. In a megalopolis!

And some buses are filthy because less cleaning is also a “saving”. All this only further discourages bus travel, creating a downward spiral of decline and congestion.

For TfL to pretend that buses cause congestion and thus need to be cut is absurd. For “the greatest city on Earth”, as the mayor likes to call it, this is a lose-lose strategy for public transport, which is fundamental to social, economic and human health.

Why not have some vision and imagination instead of a penny-wise, pound-foolish, approach with phoney consultations to justify poorer bus services?

Why not keep or enhance bus routes and find ways to promote bus travel at the heart of London’s wellbeing and make using buses more convenient and pleasant rather than slower, more difficult and grotty?

When the GLC’s Fares Fair was brought in on the buses it cut traffic congestion by 11 per cent almost overnight. We need a modern vision for buses not a graveyard. The mayor is the boss of TfL. Electors will hold him to account.

It’s about time he stepped in and stopped the rot on the bus network. And it’s long overdue that government genuinely works with the mayor to properly fund a first class bus system for all in London.

Finally, put people in charge who love buses and listen to bus passengers and staff – and change the direction of travel.

SHARON LYTTON
Cromwell Avenue, N6