4:04pm Wednesday 10th January 2007
By Gemma Wheatley
The mayor of London has promised more buses for Croydon after claiming there are not enough trams to meet public demand.
Tramtrack - the operator of the tram system in Croydon - was told to improve its services by Ken Livingstone at a city hall press conference yesteray.
Mr Livingstone criticised the company and said it was failing to provide an adequate number of services. But Tramtrack later hit back and said it did not accept the mayor's claims.
Mr Livingstone has asked Transport for London (TfL) to provide extra bus services on some of the busiest routes in Croydon because he is concerned a shortage is leading to overcrowding on trams.
The move comes after changes to the tram timetable which meant a reduction in the number of services for passengers on the New Addington branch of the network.
According to the mayor, despite a big increase in demand on Sundays, Croydon Tramtrack has shown no willingness to improve capacity through an increase in services.
The main route to benefit from extra buses will be the 130 route to and from New Addington. The new services are due to start running in May.
Mr Livingstone said: "The Croydon Tramlink has been a great benefit to the people of Croydon, Wimbledon and the areas of south London it serves, carrying around 24million passengers a year. But this has been despite of, rather than because of, its operator, Tramtrack Croydon Ltd."
Roger Harding, general manager of Tramtrack, said Mr Livingstone's comments were "a complete surprise" and he had been ill-informed by TfL.
He added: "We do not accept the issues that he is raising and they are not at all consistent with the discussions that we have had with TfL. We had already made proposals to increase Sunday services with TfL but they had to decide the level of service from which we are still awaiting a response.
"In October 2004 the mayor agreed to fund an additional tram for New Addington but we never received the funding so there is a whole host of issues and we just do not accept the claims."
Andrew Pelling, MP for Croydon Central and a member of the London Assembly, backed Mr Livingstone.
He said: "It is a very welcome move by the mayor. This is really good news when the operators are removing services from New Addington. I am fed up with my constituents telling me that they are being forced to jump back in their cars because the services are just not there."
Mr Livingstone added: "Longer term, I have asked TfL to consider all possible options to ensure that passengers get the Croydon Tramlink service they deserve in future.
"It is essential that we see London's only tram network serve passengers properly."
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