London TravelWatch has written to Southeastern objecting strongly to its proposals to alter services in Greenwich, Deptford, Woolwich, Charlton and Kidbrooke during the Olympics.
Southeastern are proposing to alter services at these stations for the duration of the Olympic Games.
London TravelWatch has objected on the following grounds:
‘Maze Hill is the nearest station to Greenwich Park, has 800,000 per year and will have no services into London between 1200 and 2145 and no services out of London between 0613 and 1213.
‘As Cutty Sark Dockland Light Railway (DLR) station will be exit only during the Olympic Games, East Greenwich residents will have to use bus services to North Greenwich underground, which will be disrupted by traffic in central Greenwich and spectator entrances to Greenwich Park.
‘We do not believe that reducing the service at Maze Hill can be justified, and believe that if pre-event journey advice were followed, crowd control will not be an issue at the station.
‘Westcombe Park and Deptford, with 800,000 per year will only have two trains per hour. This is a poor level of service for these stations.
‘We recognise New Cross or Deptford Bridge DLR are both near Deptford, but the DLR will see a huge increase in passengers accessing Greenwich during the Games, so Deptford passengers may have difficulty accessing DLR services.
‘We do not believe that alleged confusion between Woolwich Dockyard and Woolwich Arsenal stations is a good enough reason to withdraw services from this station during the Games.
‘We do not believe that the inability to provide enough capacity on buses to and from North Greenwich is a good enough reason to withdraw services from Charlton.
‘The reduction of service of Kidbrooke will not be understood by passengers as it does not serve any Olympic venue.’
Jo deBank, London TravelWatch said:
“Travellers will find these proposals extremely confusing and they could create as many problems as they seek to overcome. We do not believe that these proposals are fair on passengers in these areas – those attending the Olympics or those going about their normal business – and we urge Southeastern to reconsider.
“We will be asking for site visits at affected stations with Southeastern and the Olympic Delivery Authority.”
