Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Published: 6 September 2007
Using this bus service is better than walking
• I USED regularly to have to walk the busy and polluted roads between Tufnell Park and Chalk Farm but now I can relax on the 393 bus. However, if Ken Livingstone does not support the current route (which is perfect) I shall be back to walking.
The bus will be no good for me if it does not go down Leighton Road.
I am too young to pay tax and I get free travel while I am at school, so I don’t contribute to the cost of London transport.
But I will do soon and I will be voting for a mayor who supports sustainable transport in my area. GENEVIEVE BOALER
Brecknock Road, N19
• I ALSO like the 393 and I like it because it goes along Leighton Road. I was originally opposed to the bus as I feared it would bring yet more noise and pollution outside my home on the western end of Prince of Wales Road, which is considerably more urban than Leighton Road. We are already surrounded by roads which are bus routes and we can hear the heavy freight trains in the early hours on the Euston main line. However, I barely notice the bus from my Victorian dwelling, which I am prohibited from putting double glazing in. In fact the bus is much less obtrusive than the white vans.
The bus serves the community of Torriano Avenue, Brecknock Road and York Way including four primary schools. That is potentially a big reduction in school run traffic. Agar Grove is already served by a bus which goes through Camden. But the 393’s present route brings a much needed link between Kentish Town, Brecknock and the hard to get to Hillmarton area.
Many people have told me they are pro the bus knowing I was involved in campaigning against it. But the 393 has to be the quietest, smallest bus I have ever encountered. I have gotten out of my car to use the bus to work on a daily basis. The bus is not about money; it is about the infinitely wider agenda of sustainability. London, indeed the whole planet, is being ruined by cars and we all have to make sacrifices for future generations. I would have thought that the Mayor of London’s agenda to encourage children to go to school not by car would have meant that he would be extremely enthusiastic about a bus route which takes in four primary schools.
I for one will be looking forward to my journey on the 393 as so far the drivers have driven carefully and slowly along ‘narrow’ Leighton Road. While it is true there are often only seven or eight people on the bus at any one time, it is also true that the bus needs to stop at most stops, (including Leighton Road) proving it to be very much a local service.
It is early days. I suggest people try the bus regardless of their tax bracket, which seems quite the least relevant and most ridiculous point made in this whole debate. MARIANNE MATTINSON
Prince of Wales Road, NW5
Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.
