Mayor breaks promise and cuts Sutton bus routes

Following the news that the 213 bus service will be slashed by nearly 20%, Sutton Lib Dems have slammed the Mayor of London for breaking his promise to expand our borough’s bus routes.

The popular 213 route, which connects Sutton to Kingston via Cheam and Worcester Park, is used by 15,000 local people every day. Despite this, the Mayor is cutting 26 buses a day from the route.

Cllr Barry Lewis, Lib Dem Chair of Sutton Council’s Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee said:

“Sadiq Khan’s New Year's resolution was to add one million kilometres to outer London’s bus services – it’s only the third week of January and he’s already broken his promise to Sutton.

“By cutting the 213, the Mayor is showing yet again that he just does not care about the people of our borough. We want to encourage people to use buses and that means they must be regular, frequent and reliable. We can only achieve that if the Mayor invests in our transport links. He should be improving our bus services, not cutting them.”

Sutton resident Jess who uses the 213 bus added:

“I don’t drive and really rely on the 213 bus service. Even now, because of traffic, there can be a 20 minute wait between buses. This will make things worse and I expect we will soon be seeing half hour gaps. With all the money the Tory Government and Labour Mayor are planning to make with ULEZ, they should all be ashamed that they are cutting our buses”.

Sutton Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign calling on the Mayor to reverse his decision and keep the 213 route at six buses an hour. The petition can be signed at www.suttonlibdems.org.uk/213.