miklcct
On Moderation
It's because the rail service is circuitous. A faster journey can theoretically be done by changing at Sutton for a service via Mitcham, but unfortunately the failure of our privatised rail network means that companies aren't willing to invest in such improvements, and the DfT bows over political pressure too easily (e.g. in the case of the proposal trying to terminate the Sutton loop at Blackfriars in exchange for a reliable 4 tph around the loop - and now the service is basically unusable at the first sign of disruption).London is a global player when it comes to public transport connectivity, but the issue with cities of its size is that away from the mainline corridors, everywhere takes so long to get to. For example Epsom Downs is only 10 miles from Clapham Junction as the crow flies, but it takes longer to get there than it does from Basingstoke, at least 30 miles further away. Moreover, Sutton to Stratford (London) is a quarter of the distance of Waterloo to Southampton but the journey takes just as long due to the stopping nature of cross-London rail services.
Therefore, TfL wishes to take over the suburban railways in South London to make them achieve the full potential.
What you have mentioned is the exact reason I have been put off living in South London where my social circle is, and I am missing out them. There isn't simply a way to travel between, e.g. Croydon and Streatham, in a reasonable time on a high-frequency service.
As for buses, they can be so slow that it becomes quicker to run the route from end to end. Using another real world example, me and my sister (both currently training for a half marathon) ran the Wandle Trail between Carshalton and Wandsworth today. We did pretty well with a time of 1hr 45 mins, but the bus route back (270 to Mitcham, 280 to Rosehill, 154 to Carshalton) was impacted by road closures in Tooting, with the entire return leg taking a whopping 2 hours! I understand there’s not a lot you can do to alleviate this sort of disruption when you haven’t got room to build additional infrastructure, but it does highlight how it can take an age just to get between boroughs in a bustling metropolis.
I really don't understand why the roads are so narrow in London, compared to cities in continental Europe. Buses and trams normally achieve average speeds of around 20 km/h or above, or even 30 km/h in the outer regions. Apart from their pedestrianised town centre, roads are generally wide and straight, with tram tracks on a seperate right of way in the centre.
Hong Kong invested in an extensive motorway network during the 1980s and 1990s which linked the outer suburbs, including a circular highway as well, and upgraded the majority of trunk roads to be intersection free by building flyovers and underpasses (back in the British colonial era), and it continues tunneling under the urban areas today. The number of traffic lights on numbered roads in Hong Kong can be counted with 2 hands. Of course building new roads attract cars, but it also attract buses as well which can slow down the growth of rail overcrowding. In Hong Kong, if you want to go between suburbs which are not directly connected by rail, it is always faster to take bus(es). Bus travel between suburbs can usually achieve an average of 40 km/h or even more. However, in London, it is usually faster to take a train into central London and back out, causing overcrowding in Zone 1 as a result. On the first day SL1 began operation, I tried to travel from Meridian Water back to Willesden Green by using two buses, SL1 to North Finchley and 460 to Willesden Green, but the buses were so slow that they couldn't even reach 15 km/h on average, that it would be faster if I took the trains on a route which crosses the Thames 4 times!
If all the London ring roads were built, there would be more express buses going round and round London right now, connecting to various rail mainlines. There is effectively only less than half a ring in London which meets the criteria of segregated, traffic light free high thoroughput trunk road, which is the North Circular, and the M25 is too far out for a journey inside London, so we are effectively paying the price of the NIMBYism back then.
In North London, I think that TfL should run a lot more express buses non-stop along the North Circular, and along the major dual carriageway A roads. For example, I think that an X112 would be a good idea, which duplicates the 112 but only calls at Ealing Broadway, Hanger Lane, Stonebridge Park (Harrow Road), Neasden, Brent Cross until Henlys Corner, then continue along the circular and calls at Finchley High Road, Bounds Green Road, and go onto the A10 to Enfield such that it can connect seamlessly with SL1 for a continuation on the circular.We have Superloop now for the outermost transport links which don’t have a parallel rail route, and this is an excellent step forward for transport in London, but should TfL be considering running more express style bus routes, building new tram lines and relief lines on Tube/Overground routes to make journeys faster between a wider range of London boroughs?