As locals will know, bus route 202 is the Crystal Palace - Blackheath Royal Standard service that passes through Lee Green along St Mildreds Road and Burnt Ash Hill/Road.

The contract to operate the route has recently come up for tender, and TFL have awarded it to Metrobus - it’s currently operated by Selkent.   New single deck buses have been ordered, but as they mightn’t be available for the start of the contract in November, Metrobus propose using some double-decker buses at first.

So far, so good.   But TFL haven’t made the changes we were after.   They’ve considered raising the frequency, but decided it “can’t be justified at the present time”.   And really disappointing is their comment that they’ve “considered requests for this service to be extended from Blackheath Royal Standard to either the Queen Elizabeth Hospital or North Greenwich. No changes are proposed at this stage.”

This is really disappointing - one of the most frequent requests we get from residents is for a bus direct from Lee Green to Greenwich (or even better, to North Greenwich tube station via Greenwich itself).    I’ve taken this up in the past with TFL and have been told that they take my point, but don’t have any plans at present.   It’s disappointing that at tender stage, when they’ve had a great chance to make changes, they’ve chosen not to.

I’m going to speak to my Lib Dem colleagues at the London Assembly and see what they advise.