Anyone who has observed the service on London Tramlink in recent weeks probably can’t helped to have noticed that following on from the speed restrictions the service has become less regulated with trams on the same branch often bunching rather than being at regular intervals. Now in order to try and provide a more reliable service Transport for London are proposing a new timetable which would see a reduction in the service frequency on most lines along with a new service pattern.
The main headline from the proposed timetable is that the New Addington to Wimbledon service would be replaced with trams from New Addington instead running along the central Croydon loop with Wimbledon seeing services to both Beckenham Junction and Elmers End.
The following services would run for most of the day:
* Wimbledon to Beckenham Junction (every 10 minutes)
* Wimbledon to Elmers End (every 10 minutes)
* New Addington to West Croydon (every 7-8 minutes)
The first two departures from New Addington each morning would still run to Wimbledon but apart from that anyone wishing to travel between the two termini will have to change in central Croydon.
The Wimbledon branch continues to have a tram every 5 minutes in these changes and it is planned that the departures from Wimbledon will both be more evenly spaced and both platforms will be used alternately.
Obviously the big loser in this timetable would be Elmers End which loses one of its services but this shouldn’t be a massive issue as the main reason for the introduction of the second service was for the tram to go somewhere from Wimbledon. In the evenings and on Sundays the Elmers End service will run around the Croydon loop instead of to Wimbledon.
It is also planned that the route numbers will be abandoned giving more space on the front of the trams for the destination.
A small consultation has been launched and details of this and the full service can be found at https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/trams/new-tram-timetables?cid=trams-changes.