Bexley is to benefit from better transport under a proposed £10 billion, five-year investment programme to give London a 21st century transport system, unveiled by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today.

Speaking at City Hall, the Mayor said:

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse decades of under-investment in Bexley and right across London. It marks an end to stop-start funding for London's transport. The programme will deliver real improvements in the services and capacity needed to keep passengers travelling in and through Bexley on the move."

The main benefits for Bexley included in TfL's 5 Year Investment Programme, subject to approval by the TfL Board, are:

  • the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge, connecting Beckton and Thamesmead. This will carry four lanes of traffic as well as separate lanes for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists;
  • a major new high quality bus service - the Greenwich Waterfront Transit - will serve areas between North Greenwich and Abbey Wood. It will link residential areas with new development zones and connect other transport services and:
  • improvements to the A206 - the road will be upgraded to a dual carriageway, facilitating regeneration and improving access to the Thames Gateway.

The Mayor added:

"The last four years have seen huge improvements in Bexley's bus services. This investment programme will build on this and deliver improvements right across the transport network.

"We have had to take hard choices. Even with the biggest transport investment programme London has seen since the Second World War, we cannot do everything we want to do this time round. But there have been no trade-offs between maintaining the existing system or launching new projects."

Work undertaken to improve transport in Bexley by TfL over the past four years, benefiting all Londoners including those with disabilities and the socially excluded, include:

  • more reliable services and better information on all bus services;
  • licensing of private hire vehicles to improve passenger safety;
  • funding for improving conditions for walking, cycling and road safety;
  • improvements in dial-a-ride and taxicard funding;
  • new low floor, fully accessible buses on nine routes, increased frequencies on six routes, introduction of a new route (486) and a new night bus route (N89);
  • the piloting of 'metro-style' rail services on four key south London routes, providing a minimum of four trains per hour during the week and increased trains during the evening period. Improvements have also been made to passenger information, station facilities and security.
  • In partnership with Bexley borough, a range of schemes have been introduced during 2004 including:
  • The Safer Routes to School programme, which encourages children to walk or cycle to school;
  • The introduction of a 20mph zone in Bexley village to improve road safety and traffic calming and pedestrian improvements at Upper Wickham Lane and;
  • Cycle parking and lockers for Bexley College, Holy Trinity Lamorbey COE and St Paulinus COE Primary Schools.
  1. The Investment Programme will be formally approved by the board of TfL at a meeting on October 27th.
  2. Crossrail is not part of the Programme. TfL is progressing it as a joint partnership with government in expectation of a Hybrid Bill.
  3. Many of the projects listed are subject to further consultation or other statutory processes before they can be delivered, and may be delivered beyond the life of the Programme.
  4. Tube Lines are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines;
  5. Metronet Rail BCV are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines;
  6. Metronet Rail SSL are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Sub-Surface lines, the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines.