654 bus route – proposed withdrawal

Proposal

We are proposing to permanently withdraw the school bus route 654. It currently provides one journey in the morning and one in the afternoon between Addington Village Interchange and Ramsden Estate to primarily serve the Harris Academy Orpington. It also passes Ravens Wood School and St Olave’s Grammar School.

Please view map below for route 654 and parallel services 353, 664,R1.

(Click on map for larger version)

Why?

• Recent on-bus surveys found usage to be low with around 40 trips in the morning (50% of the total users are adults) and around 60 trips in the afternoon (15% of total users are adults)
  
• At Harris Academy Orpington demand is around 6 passengers in the morning and 10 passengers in the afternoon
  
• The 654 is largely paralleled by route 353 between Addington Village and Harris Academy Orpington. It is also paralleled by school route 664 between Addington Village and Keston. When looking where to save money on the bus network we look at locations and routes where at present, we run excess capacity and can look to match the service with the demand for that service
  
• This change will allow us to better use our limited resources; operating a more efficient bus service helps us make financial savings that can be reinvested in other parts of the London bus network, including in areas where there is not enough bus capacity to meet customer needs

You can also view linear maps for bus routes 654, 353 and 664.

How it impacts you

• Most passengers using the 654 will be able to make their journey on either route 664 or route 353 without the need to change buses. There is enough capacity on these routes to accommodate those passengers
  
• If you use the 654 bus service currently between Chelsfield and Harris Academy, you will have to use the bus route R1 (runs every 20 mins) and change at Orpington High Street for route 353 or route R4 to complete your journey. This also applies for the return journey in the afternoon
  
• There is same stop interchange at Orpington High Street in both directions:
  
  
  • Towards Harris Academy: Bus Stop R ‘High Street/Orpington War Memorial’, (with a shelter and lighting)
    
    
  • Towards Chelsfield: Bus Stop S ‘High Street/Orpington War Memorial’, (has shelter/lighting and countdown)

Please view map below showing route 654 and connecting services 353, R1 and R4.

(Click on map for larger version)

In summary:

• Those passengers travelling to and from areas between Chelsfield and Harris Academy Orpington will no longer be served by a direct school bus service
  
  
• Those passengers will remain directly served by the R1 that runs every 20 minutes. Consequently, there will be broken direct trips and a need to change buses
  
  
• Passengers will need to interchange between the R1 and route 353 or route R4 at Orpington High Street to complete their journey
  
  
• Routes 353, R1 and R4 all run approximately every 20 minutes during daytimes

Equalities Impact Assessment

Our Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) identifies:

• The effects these proposals could have on people
• How we propose to minimise any negative impacts

After we’ve considered all comments, the EqIA will be reviewed and may be updated. We use the EqIA to help us decide if, and how, we should proceed with these proposals.

More Information

We have provided more information to help you respond:

Accessible Information

We want to make sure everyone is able to take part in our consultations. To help make it accessible to everyone we have provided:

Tell us your views

You can reply by completing our survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete or if you are short on time, you can submit a quick response.

The closing date for comments is 9 March 2025.

Questions?

You can use our question tool during the consultation period. We will respond to your questions as soon as we can.

You can also contact us by email, via our telephone call back service (020 3054 6037) or in writing (FREEPOST TFL HAVE YOUR SAY)

Next steps

These proposals are subject to the outcome of our consultation. Once consultation ends on Sunday 9 March 2025 we will spend time considering all the responses we receive and will prepare a consultation report.

The report will be sent to everyone that takes part in the consultation and a copy will be published on our website.