Women relying on an under-threat night bus through Peckham could be in danger with data showing they need it more than ever.
Statistics released by Transport for London (TfL) show that the 24-hour number 12 route from Dulwich Library to Oxford Circus is being used more than it was pre-pandemic.
The data, revealed following a Liberal Democrat freedom of information request, counters TfL’s claims that bus cuts respond to falling passenger numbers post-pandemic.
If the 12 route gets axed, its passengers may have to use interchanges more often, which TfL has previously said is detrimental to women’s safety and disabled people.
Leader of the Southwark Liberal Democrats Cllr Victor Chamberlain said: “Night buses are an irreplaceable asset to our city.
“They transport people safely home at night and help residents, including key workers, access hospitals at all hours.
“Getting rid of them poses a risk to Londoners’ safety, reduces access to hospitals and will badly affect the workers we rely on most.
“This latest data lays bare just how important they remain to people all across London and what a travesty it would be if TfL’s proposals were to come to fruition. Sadiq Khan must commit to preserving our night buses.”
Passenger numbers on some Southwark bus routes facing axe are above pre-pandemic levels
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The data assessed the use of eight threatened night buses, including the 24-hour route 12, and found that many were often used at over 90 per cent of their pre-pandemic levels.
The buses included in the study were the N11, N16, N31, N72 N74, 12, 14 and 24, between 12am and 5am, over a 23-week period, between February and August, in 2019 and 2022.
Out of the eight routes, all were above 80 per cent of pre-pandemic use, five were 90 per cent and up, and two, including route 12, were over 100 per cent.
In August, a spokesperson for London TravelWatch, an advocacy group for London’s travellers, said: “Women and girls, older and disabled people and people of colour told us that they feel especially vulnerable when travelling at night. And with Londoners on lower incomes relying on the bus the most, taking an uber instead just isn’t an option.”
The latest figures come just months after the News reported that the at-risk 78 bus was being used 27 per cent more than during the same week in 2019.
