Is Walthamstow “village” about to lose its bus?

Tuesday 11th July 2023

OK, let’s clear one thing up from the start. Walthamstow is NOT a village and no amount of village-washing and slick branding is going to change that. It’s a busy suburb of north east London in the London Borough of Waltham Forest served by the Victoria Line, two Overground lines and a plethora of bus routes.

But, 600 metres from the hubbub of Walthamstow Central bus station and its adjacent Underground and Overground platforms you’ll find a tranquil of calmness that’s seen one of the area’s sub district retail streets transformed into what’s become known as a “Mini Holland” exemplar of taming motoring rat runs. It was a Low Traffic Neighbourhood even before LTNs became a thing.

The main road through the “village” – Orford Road – has its key one-way section by the retail outlets restricted between 10:00 and 22:00 to pedestrians, cyclists and buses in an eastbound direction on the half hourly TfL route W12 between Walthamstow and Wanstead.

Having heard so much about this scheme I paid a visit the other day to see for myself just how desirous the area is to wander around and soak up the village vibe, despite being in a densely populated part of London. I was there for nearly an hour and during that time the only two vehicles to pass along the restricted section of Orford Road was one bus on the W12 and a Dial-A-Ride bus.

Otherwise it was totally traffic free.

But why, you might ask, am I blogging about this today? Because the days of that one scheduled bus passing along Orford Road every half an hour (and nothing else) may soon be at an end.

In response to requests from the London Borough of Waltham Forest which wants the W12 rerouted away from Orford Road so it can be completely traffic free, TfL have launched a consultation to ask passengers, stakeholders, residents and other interested parties what they think of the idea.

TfL are proposing to re-route the service to run north of “The Village” along Church Hill (across the top of the map above) which is already used by seven-buses-per-hour route 212 along with a number of other changes to W lettered routes in the area with the idea of improving links to Whipps Cross Hospital and simplifying the network from four routes to three.

The infrequent route 549 from Loughton will be replaced by a rerouted W14 away from Woodford Bridge which in turn will be served by a rerouted W12 (from Wanstead) while at the other end of the routes the W14 will no longer run to Leyton but the W13 will (instead of Leytonstone) and turn round at Whipps Cross Hospital instead. Simplification at its best (irony alert).

In other news it’s proposed to double the frequency of route W12 from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes (it used to be every 20 minutes) so I guess that would annoy Waltham Forest Mini Holland advocates even more if there was a bus passing along Orford Road four times an hour instead of two.

But what will local people think?

Admittedly it was late on a Monday morning, but on my wander around all I could see was people enjoying a coffee or a late breakfast, brunch or early lunch at one of the many eating establishments on that stretch of road.

In fact, lattes and lasagnes seemed to be the main preoccupation of everyone rather than the odd bus passing through.

It’s a very pleasant section of road and was once the centre of local government for the area with the rather imposing former Walthamstow Town Hall situated on the north side of Orford Road …

… among the eateries, delicatessens and high class retailers. There’s even designer bike racking.

If the proposals go ahead, it’ll be about a 500 metre walk for residents wanting to catch a bus in Church Hill or 600 metres to Walthamstow Central itself. Fine for those who are fit and enjoy “active travel” but what of those who aren’t or don’t?

TfL’s Equality Impact Assessment on the proposals acknowledges “we have identified that older and disabled people are more likely to be impacted by the withdrawal of the W12 from Walthamstow Village, as Freedom Pass Holders account for 44% of users in this area. It is recognised that some journeys would require a 500-metre walk to access the bus network.”

There’s also the point about making sure buses get as close to possible to serve their target market. If you compare a 1960s and 1970s London Transport Central Area bus map with one today (yes, I know that’s a hypothetical statement as thanks to TfL’s incompetence there’s no official bus map available of today’s network, but if there was…) the main difference you’d see is the extent to which bus routes have infilled what used to be large gaps in the Capital’s residential areas where residents faced long walks to their nearest bus stop – even Church Hill wasn’t served in the 1960s and 1970s.

The W12, introduced in 1988, is a classic of the infilling genre and it does strike me to be a retrograde step to withdraw the route from an area it serves well. Indeed it might prove a hit with residents of Woodford Bridge (its new terminus if the proposals go ahead) wanting to savour the culinary delights and atmosphere of The Village, if they could travel there direct by bus.

If frequent double deck buses can use the very busy and pedestrianised Queen Street outside the Westgate shopping centre in Oxford I’m sure four mini sized buses an hour will work in sleepy Orford Road.

There really is a principle at stake here. Buses are just a part of “active travel” as walking and cycling.

And what of TfL’s Dial-A-Ride buses aimed at those with disabilities? Will they be banned too?

The consultation closes at the end of this month (Sunday 30th July) and details of the consultation are available here.

Roger French

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