Like cycling but don’t like traffic? Then why not take advantage of one of the south-east’s best cycle paths? It’s right on your doorstep and almost all the route is off-road along well-signposted tarmac and concrete paths.
The Waterlink Way allows you to cycle north from SE26 to Greenwich along the banks of the Pool and Ravensbourne rivers all the way to Greenwich. Head south, in the other direction and the route takes you through Kelsey Park to South Norwood Country Park and beyond – all the way to Eastbourne if your legs can carry you that far!
Access the park from the end of the spine road to the left-hand side of the Savacentre at Bell Green or further north at the end of Selworthy Road.
The Waterlink Way is part of National Cycle Network Route 21. From Greenwich you can access Route 4 (the Thames Path) or push your bike through the Greenwich foot tunnel to join more car-free cycle routes on the Isle of Dogs.
The long-awaited Sydenham Road Improvement Scheme, first proposed by the Sydenham Society in 2001, has been delayed yet again. At the Sydenham Assembly, a report from council officer Andy Frazer was presented. The report states that no work would start on Sydenham Road until 2012 and that work on Sydenham Approach would not now start until August/September 2011.
Work on the scheme had already been postponed for a year at the end of 2009 due to water and gas repairs on Sydenham Road.
An annual season ticket including tube travel now costs almost £3oo more per year if you travel from Penge East rather than Sydenham station.
This is in large part a result of over-the-top fare rises by Southeastern who run the line from Orpington to Victoria via Penge East and Sydenham Hill. Whilst Southern (and LOROL) who run the Sydenham line have announced more modest fare rises, Southeastern have hiked the cost of an annual season ticket by 12.5%
The fact that Penge East is in Zone 4 and Sydenham in Zone 3, simply does not explain the considerable differences in fares.
In reaction to the rises, Rochester and Strood Conservative MP, Mark Reckless and Labour MP for Erith and Thamesmead, Teresa Pearce, have both called for Southeastern to be stripped of the franchise.
Below is a list of annual season ticket prices from Sydenham and Penge East:
Sydenham to London Bridge/Charing Cross (train only)
Days/Months
Price
7 Days
£21.00
1 Month
£80.70
3 Months
£242.00
6 Months
£483.90
12 Months
£840.00
Sydenham to London Bridge/Charing Cross including tube
The new East London line puts us into contact with great places in London you’d rarely have visited a few months ago before the line opened. So if you’re looking for something to do on a spare Sunday morning, why not visit Columbia Road Flower market – close to Hoxton station on the East London line?
Open from 8am-2pm every Sunday, the market has over 50 flower stalls selling plants and flowers at unbelieveable bargain prices (leave it until near closing time and you’ll get even better prices!). And Columbia Road and the adjoining streets are packed with interesting boutiques, art galleries, vintage clothes shops and the like.
Hackney City Farm with the wonderful CafeFrizzante is just along the road.
In a report to the Sydenham Society and other stakeholders, TfL reports the latest news on the East London Line.
Written Update – London Overground 13 December 2010
1. Dalston Junction – West Croydon service
Performance on the Dalston Junction / West Croydon route is the highest on the Overground network. On average 95.4% of trains, arrive within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
Customer satisfaction levels on the new Dalston Junction – West Croydon route have been high since it opened. The key stats from the most recent customer satisfaction surveys are:
Overall satisfaction score of 86 out of 100 (Overground network average was 81)
General punctuality score of 84 out of 100 (Overground network average was 77)
Service frequency score of 83 out of 100 (Overground network average was 71), reflecting the value of the high frequency 5 minute service provided on the core section.
October 2010 passenger counts on the Dalston Junction – West Croydon route showed that the number of journeys undertaken per weekday on the route had risen to 70,000 (compared with 40,000 in the first full month of operation).
2. London Overground extension to Clapham Junction
The Government’s recent Spending Review announcement re-confirmed the funding for the London Overground extension to Clapham Junction, so TfL London Rail continues to press on with the project.
The construction works will be split into new railway works (which will be developed and delivered by TfL), and On-Network works, i.e. those to existing National Rail infrastructure (which will be developed and delivered by Network Rail).
Tender responses have now been received for the TfL works, i.e. construction of the new 1.3km railway ink between Surrey Quays station and the existing South London Line at the Old Kent Road (largely within LB Lewisham). It is expected that the contract will be awarded in early 2011 and construction work will start in spring of 2011.
Network Rail is continuing with the design of the connections into the existing national rail network and the works at Clapham Junction required for the scheme.
When the construction works are complete in late 2012, London Overground services will run from Clapham Junction to Dalston Junction via Surrey Quays calling at all stations en route. A fleet of new high capacity, air conditioned trains will provide a direct and frequent service of four trains per hour to Docklands (via Canada Water) and the City (via the new Shoreditch High Street station).
The funding for the scheme did not include the cost of building a new station at Surrey Canal Road. Although TfL, Lewisham Council and other stakeholders have lobbied the Department for Transport for funding, the Department has now confirmed that it will be unable to provide the £7m required. However a site for a possible future station has been incorporated in the design of the extension so that, should funding be confirmed at a later date, it could be built with reduced disruption to the operational railway. TfL and Lewisham are continuing to work together to ensure that the design of the scheme in this area takes account of the proposed development nearby.
3. Later Dalston Junction – West Croydon services.
From 13 Dec later services will run between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate allowing late night travellers to interchange with Southern services at New Cross Gate. From 13 Dec the extra trains between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate will be the 23:47hrs, 00:01 hrs and 00:15hrs from Dalston Junction.
Local commuters have been advised wrongly by station staff that they cannot purchase monthly Oystercard or annual season tickets at Sydenham or Forest Hill and that they need to travel to London Bridge or another national station to do so.
Thanks to an intervention by Caroline Pigeon, Lib-Dem member of the London Assembly, this has now been sorted out. Here is a reply from TfL to Caroline on this issue:
I can advise that passengers can purchase a Monthly ticket on Oyster directly from the ticket office or Ticket Vending Machines at the London Overground stations on the Sydenham line. If a passenger requires an Annual season ticket, they can request it from the station but it would have to be collected the following day (or later). We apologise if staff have been advising passengers to travel to another station as this is not the case. Our operator LOROL has confirmed that the staff have been re-briefed them so this should not happen again.
Kind regards
Emma
Emma Shannon
Stakeholder Communications Manager
TfL London Rail
Our thanks also to Richard Hibbert Chair of the Forest Hill Society for raising the issue.
The footbridge over the railway between Dacres Road and Sydenham Park (close to the Dietrich Bonhoeffer German church) is to be given a major make-over in 2011.
Lewisham’s Mayor and Cabinet meeting on the 17 November approved a report of recommendations for schemes for inclusion in the 2011-2014 Local Implementation Plan.
The report included a sum of £330,000 to be spent in 2011-12 on repairing the Sydenham Park rail footbridge.
Work is now underway on the new housing scheme at Bell Green, consisting of 156 flats, two retail units with 164 bike spaces and 111 car parking spaces.
In the next few months, planning will start on a £1m scheme to improve the Bell Green Gyratory system with improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and traffic. The five sets of traffic lights around the gyratory will be improved and linked through SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) – a system that responds automatically to fluctuations in traffic flow through the use of on-street detectors embedded in the road. It is expected that work on the new road scheme will be carried out in the financial year 2012-13.
The £6bn Thameslink north-south link through the capital is safe from cuts, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has announced. But the project will not now be completed until 2017-8 – opening at roughly the same time as the east-west Crossrail project is completed.
The newly revamped line – so long delayed that the project was initially called Thameslink 2000 – will enable passengers to travel directly from Sydenham station to Thameslink stations north of the river (via London Bridge). Existing lines from both south and north of London will feed into the network meaning that passengers from Sydenham will be able to travel to destinations such as Peterborough or Cambridge without leaving the Thameslink system.
What Thameslink and Crossrail will mean for local passengers:
The ability to travel directly from Sydenham to Thameslink stations north of the river
Direct access to Farringdon station giving links to Crossrail and underground network
Brand new station at Whitechapel giving step-free access to Crossrail, Hammersmith & City and District lines.
John Bull, the respected rail commentator who runs the London reconnections blog sums up the situation:
“Overall, it is important to keep in mind the positives, and the confirmation that Thameslink will go ahead is most definitely a huge one. In addition, Hammond also confirmed a number of electrification schemes that will be of benefit to London and its surrounds – notably between London and Reading, Didcot, Newbury and Oxford all of which should be completed by 2016.
Given the potential for wholesale cuts, therefore, which had left many commentators (this author included) fearing the worst, today has represented another good day for London’s transport infrastructure. It is easy to pick at the details, but there are few who, pre-CSR, would have thought it likely that London would emerge with its Underground upgrades, Crossrail and the Thameslink project intact. Common sense, of course, indicated that they should all proceed, but it would not have been the first time that common sense had fallen victim to financial or political necessity.
So whilst it is easy to look upon today’s announcement as a re-announcement rather than an announcement – an exercise in confirming that which was already taking place – it is worth bearing in mind that this is ultimately very much a positive thing for the capital.”