An elderly Pratts Bottom pensioner claims she will be forced to take six buses for one round-trip to the hospital if Transport for London carry out its proposed changes to routes in Orpington.
If the proposals go ahead the R11 bus, which runs from Green Street Green to Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, will no longer call at Orpington Hospital.
Marion Tomkins, 76, said she would have to catch three buses to reach Orpington Hospital from her home in Pratts Bottom.
She said the proposed changes would affect much of Orpington’s elderly residents who rely on public transport to get to the area’s main orthopaedic hospital.
Mrs Tomkins told News Shopper: “I just think it’s so stupid and the R11 is a fantastic route.
“It’s a fantastic route to the hospitals.”
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Mrs Tomkins has just undergone hip surgery and is waiting for an operation on her knee, meaning she’ll need to make future trips to the hospital on top of her regular blood tests.
At the moment she catches two buses to make the trip to the hospital, having to change at Green Street Green.
But the proposed change to the R11 would force her to take a third bus from Orpington high street to the hospital.
Under the proposals the R3 would run from the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough to the Orpington Hospital.
“Now I’m on my own I haven’t got a husband to run me around,” she added.
“I have to rely on buses, friends or cabs.”
Mrs Tomkins has responded to the TfL consultation urging them to reconsider the changes.
She said: “There’s nothing wrong with the R11 bus – why change something that works?
“It seems a lot more complicated, why fix it if it’s not broken?”
The consultation on the changes to several key routes, including the R1, R2, R3, R7 and R11, will run until March 13.
In the proposal online TfL said its plans aim to improve reliability and provide enough buses to meet demand as well as provide new links from Chelsfield Village, Chislehurst and Bickley.
Regarding the R11 route TfL wrote: “Between Orpington and Green Street Green we propose to run buses directly via Sevenoaks Road, no longer serving Orpington Hospital, which would be served by the proposed reroute of route R3.”
Click here to read the full proposals and have your say.
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