Boris: new Bermondsey to Borough bus link "difficult to justify"

Lambeth and Southwark London Assembly member Val Shawcross (Labour) tabled a question to the Mayor after receiving a number of enquiries from constituents.

The lack of a direct bus from Grange Road to London Bridge has also been discussed at length on the SE1 forum.

In his response Boris Johnson said: "The Southwark Park Road area is served by high frequency routes 1, 381 and P12, providing links to Elephant & Castle, Waterloo, Tottenham Court Road and Peckham.

"Considering the high levels of service in the Southwark Park Road area, providing further links to Borough and London Bridge would be difficult to justify.

"Journeys by bus from the Southwark Park Road area to Borough and London Bridge can be made by taking route 1 and interchanging to route 21 at the Bricklayers Arms roundabout."

"However, I will ask TfL to look at any specific suggestions."

Val Shawcross said: "This is part of the ongoing problem of the Mayor's unwillingness to invest in new and additional bus services.

"It's been incredibly difficult to get extra buses put on the most overcrowded routes: it's taken seven years of campaigning to get an extra bus service for Southampton Way!

"So trying to lobby for new connections for bus services has become almost impossible.

"I think there's a strong case, and would be a lot of demand, for a direct link between Southwark Park Road and London Bridge, not least because it would improve access to Guy's Hospital for older members of our community."