Croydon 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 Croydon 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 Croydon on the move."

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

  1. 1. the East London line will be extended south to Crystal Palace and West Croydon and north to Dalston Junction by 2010 - in good time for the Olympics;
  2. 2. the A23 Coulsden Improvement Scheme, including the completion of a single carriageway road, better access to Smitham station and improved pedestrian and cycle facilities;
  3. 3. funding the proposed extension of Croydon Tramlink from Beckenham Junction to Crystal Palace to design and powers stage;

The Mayor added:

"The last four years have seen huge improvements in Croydon'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 and launching new projects."

Work undertaken to improve transport in Croydon over the past four years benefiting all Londoners including those with disabilities and the socially excluded, includes:

  • more reliable services and better information on all bus services;
  • new low floor, fully accessible buses on 29 routes, increased frequencies on 17 routes, the introduction of 4 new routes (363, 432, 434, 494) and 5 new night bus routes (N119, N137, N250, N264, and N75);
  • the piloting of 'metro-style' routes on four key south London routes, one of which is the Victoria to east/west Croydon route via Norbury. This provides a minimum of four trains per hour during the week and improved passenger information, station facilities and security. The same improvements on the Sutton to West Croydon route have now been agreed and will be completed by the end of 2004;
  • 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.

In partnership with Croydon a range of local schemes have been taken forward, including:

  • the Safer Routes to Schools programme, incorporating traffic calming measures along Dartnell Road, which is already being used successfully by students at Davidson Infants and junior schools;
  • controlled Parking Zones in Addiscombe, Selhurst and South Croydon.
  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.