please empty your brain below
n.b. All seven cul-de-sacs off one side of Courtwood Lane are called either Osward or Markfield.
Any bus driver wanting to practice getting around narrow, twisty roads with odd shaped spaces would do well trying out a few routes on the Isle of Wight. Some of them are run with double deckers.
London Transport, as was, had no interest in providing an Orpington - Croydon service so the predecessors of today's Metrobus provided one instead. This detoured via Courtwood Lane to serve Forestdale.
Eventually all the Metrobus routes were absorbed into the main London bus network. Courtwood Lane residents at the 'turning circle' end no longer enjoy a direct bus to Croydon only to the tram interchange at Addington.
You could see it as a contrast between London as it is and what might have happened under deregulation: under the public authority, after years of nagging, you get a more frequent service but which links into a network requiring interchange whereas commercially, you get a much less frequent service going to the main destination. Pros and cons with both I suppose.
The estate is surprisingly big. I believe at one time it was the largest council (or equivalent) state in Europe. Until you go into it you don't really appreciate how big it is and how far it extends. Hence all the feeder services.
I notice that in the consultation document the word "fares" was mentioned only once but I am sure this is key to this. If the free ride on the bus as a tram feeder is withdrawn a lot of people who are not well off will be disadvantaged. On the other hand there is no logical reason why the New Addington estate should, uniquely in London, have this. At the time of the introduction tram fares were higher than bus fares but they are now the same and the tram ride is exceptionally good value for money considering most people on the tram travel at least to East Croydon.
What really grates is the consultation document highlights the need to improve bus services to the south end of The Parade. This was precisely where the trams were originally planned to terminate. It was cut back due to last minute reduction of funding by the then government prior to approving the scheme. Most of the economies have now had to be implemented (e.g. double tracking Beddington Lane - Mitcham Junction) or we are now really regretting that they were not.
It is a real pity that there seems to be no appetite for doing the job properly and extending the tram further into the estate - possibly with second decent bus-tram interchange in the vicinity of the south end of the parade - replacing the rather inadequate arrangements at King Henry's Drive tram stop.
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=herdings+park&hl=en&ll=53.342494,-1.440883&spn=0.007622,0.021136&sll=53.345574,-1.426608&sspn=0.007673,0.021136&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=53.342588,-1.440557&panoid=DsdQc3ADpoE55FLOOlnmVw&cbp=12,73.83,,0,-1.37
I asked my bank, today, to replace my existing card with a contactless one.
I have come to realise that, although I rarely use public transport, I might be permanently deprived of being able to enjoy the pleasures of travelling on "a bus" unless I have one.
It is now a question of which will come first: the day I actually want to visit New Addington, or the day I want to get there on a bus.
:(
Don't hold your breath.
@Bronchitikat
"narrow, twisty roads with odd shaped spaces on the Isle of Wight. Some of them are run with double deckers."
Double deckers take up the same road space, and are just as manoeuvrable, as single deckers. That's their point of them.
The other oddity with the transfer scheme is that you can pay cash and use a paper ticket if you start on Tramlink but have to use a card and can't pay cash coming in the opposite direction (starting on a bus).
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