Local opposition over ruled and the bus route now terminates in Hammersmith

Transport for London (TfL) have gone ahead with truncating the 27 bus route which is no longer serving Chiswick. Instead, it terminates at Hammersmith.

This is despite 72% of the 604 public responses to the proposal saying they were against the plan and only 9% supporting it.

GLA member Tony Arbour had tabled questions to the Mayor asking how he could justify the move in the face of such high opposition. The bus now terminates at Glenthorne Road, which is close to Hammersmith & City Line tube station.

TfL said during the consultation that they believed a maximum number of 16 buses per hour were needed on Chiswick High Road by Turnham Green and the removal of the 27 would take the number of buses per hour down from 22 which they describe as ‘more than enough to serve the demand along this corridor.

TfL said: "We have reviewed all of the consultation responses and intend to proceed with the scheme as proposed in early 2019 with one alteration: instead of terminating at Hammersmith Grove, route 27 would terminate at a bus stand on Glenthorne Road currently used by rail replacement buses. The last and first stops would be at this location instead of at Hammersmith Grove. This is because the Hammersmith Grove stand has been removed as part of a local urban realm scheme."

They denied the suggestion that they are reducing bus provision on Chiswick High Road in advance of the Low Emission Bus Zone which would require them to use more expensive buses on this road.

The extension of the route to the Chiswick Business Park office development was only introduced four years ago after a lengthy campaign including a sum of over £537,000 to London United to pay for an extra vehicle for the route. The idea was to serve the thousands of workers who commute to the Park and relieve pressure on the tube station at Gunnersbury. Hounslow Council, which part funded the extension opposed TfL’s plan as did the CEO of Chiswick Park.

Route 27 ran between Chiswick Business Park and Chalk Farm, every 7 to 8 minutes Monday to Saturday daily and every 12 minutes during Sundays shopping hours and late evenings.

TfL’s response to issues raised have been published online.

March 26, 2019