Thornton Avenue (B221) Bus Priority Background

Thornton Avenue Bus Priority - Background

What could be changing in the area?

Bus Priority corridors help create a safer and more welcoming environment not just for bus passengers, but also for people walking, wheeling and cycling. By reducing general traffic and improving bus reliability, these schemes create calmer, more predictable conditions along the route. This also supports our Healthy Routes plan, which aims to make walking, wheeling and cycling more convenient, attractive and safe across the borough.

Healthy Main Roads, as defined in our Road Danger Reduction Strategy, can take a variety of shapes, with tailor-made objectives. Lambeth has received funding from TfL’s Bus Priority programme, through the Local Implementation Plan. As such, the primary focus will be on improving bus journeys delivering the Mayor’s Bus Action Plan. Bus Priority contains a wide variety of measures to improve bus journey times and enhance the overall journey experience. Some examples could include:

• Bus lanes
• Traffic signal phasing to prioritise bus routes
• Removal of pinch points on the road
• Introducing bus-only streets
• Improving the environment around bus stops
• Make it easier to cross the road or side streets to get to/from a bus stop

Example visualisation of a bus lane, Streatham Hill (A23).

Example photo of a bus gate, which only buses, cycles, and exempted vehicles to pass through, Railton Road.

Overview of Corridor

The Thornton Avenue Bus Priority Corridor covers an approximately 1 km section of the B221 running north-south between Brixton and Streatham . This stretch of the corridor passes through a primarily residential area with pockets of local shops, schools, and community facilities, generating consistent levels of walking activity throughout the day. For most of its length, the corridor comprises a single general traffic lane in each direction, with intermittent parking bays and also includes the mini-roundabout with Telford Avenue, where several collisions and speeding issues have been reported.

Why are things changing?

The way we design our streets influences how people use them. In Lambeth, we want to make it easier to walk, cycle, and take public transport. When people choose to travel sustainably, this helps us all live healthier lifestyles and is more environmentally friendly. Our transport system needs to be equitable and fair, and we prioritise these values in our decision making.

Bus Priority Corridors have tailored objectives that are specific to the funding programme and will help achieve our strategic objectives for transport in Lambeth. For the Thornton Avenue Bus Priority Corridor, the main goals are to:

• Improve bus journey times, for quicker and more reliable journeys
• Reduce traffic and improve air quality, with more people choosing to travel by bus, walk or cycle. Our aim is for 85% of journeys to be sustainable borough wide.
• Make streets safer and healthier, with clearer road layouts that are safer for people walking, cycling and using public transport.
• Make it easier to access local shops, services and jobs through faster travel, including neighbourhoods that other forms of public transport don’t reach.

Bus Journeys on Thornton Avenue

Bus speeds

Using data from Transport for London, we have mapped out average bus speeds along the corridor. Improving bus speeds will improve bus journey times, providing a better quality of service for Lambeth residents. Improving bus speeds will also help reduce operating costs and create a more consistent overall journey.

An objective of the Mayor’s Bus Action Plan is to achieve reliable average speeds of 10 to 13 mph. The map below showcases average speeds during peak hours. In certain sections bus speeds are low, sometimes only reaching 5-6 mph during peak hours.

Map showing average bus journey times along Thornton Avenue during the morning peak (Source: TfL iBus data).

Map showing average bus journey times along Thornton Avenue during the evening peak (Source: TfL iBus data).

Bus usage

On Thornton Avenue, a total of two day bus routes travel through the corridor. There are 332 buses per day, which means that on average, Thornton Avenue sees 10 buses per hour during the peaks in each direction, carrying 2200 passengers northbound and 2100 southbound daily. In the morning peak, 700 use the bus northbound and 300 southbound, while in the evening peak, 400 use the bus northbound and 600 southbound.

You can view a map of the bus stops and routes in the area here.

Making streets safer and travel fair for everyone

The majority of bus routes in Lambeth follow main roads. On these busy streets, there are lots of different demands for limited road space. By reimagining these spaces, we can make active travel and public transport more attractive and create streets that reflect the needs of Lambeth’s diverse communities.

Quicker and more reliable bus journeys

In our borough, 60% of people don’t own a car, and in some areas it’s even over 70%. About 81% of all journeys in Lambeth are done via active travel or public transport already, but our roads are also among London’s most dangerous. Bus Priority Corridors can reduce bus delays from traffic congestion, helping people reach their destinations faster and safer, with more dependable timetables.

Less traffic and cleaner air

By making buses a more attractive option, Bus Priority Corridors help to cut car use, easing congestion and improving local air quality. Our Climate Action Plan has got ambitious goals that more than 85% of all journeys in the borough are done via active travel or public transport by 2030.

Safer, healthier streets

Clearer road layouts and fewer conflicts between vehicles create a safer environment for people walking, cycling and using public transport. Lambeth’s Road Danger Reduction Strategy aims make our streets safer, healthier and more accessible for everyone. Lambeth's Kerbside Strategy addresses how we use road space. On most streets, the "kerbside" is primarily occupied by parked cars, which is neither fair nor efficient given that most people in Lambeth don’t own a car.

Better access to shops, services and jobs

Lower-income households use bus services more frequently, and buses are also often used in journeys with multiple stages, i.e. getting to a rail or tube station. Faster, more reliable buses make it easier for people to travel to high streets, workplaces and essential services across London, including neighbourhoods that other transport modes don’t reach.

Improving our health and the environment

Transport emissions, mostly from motor vehicles, make up nearly a quarter of the borough’s total emissions. Alongside that, a third of car journeys in London are under 2km, with 60% made by just one person. Many of these trips could be replaced with more sustainable options, such as walking, cycling, or taking the bus, or a combination of these modes as part of a trip-chain. Reducing traffic will ease congestion, improve bus reliability, and improve air quality over the long term.

Adding exercise to our daily routine is one of the best ways to improve our health, such as walking to and from bus stops. If Londoners walked just 20 minutes each day, over 25 years we could prevent 85,000 hip fractures, 19,000 cases of dementia, and more than 18,000 cases of depression. By using the bus more often, we can become healthier and make our environment cleaner.

Lambeth’s Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2019, aims to cut vehicle journeys by 27% and increase walking, cycling, and public transport use by 85%, as part of our commitment to reach Net Zero by 2030. In practice, this means Lambeth is committed to reducing 110 million miles of driving each year. This means more people will need to use buses, walk, cycle, scoot, or wheel, so these options must be easy and work well together.

The Healthy Streets Approach

The Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy follows the Healthy Streets approach.

This approach is about making the city a place where people can live active, healthy lives. It focuses on putting people and their health first when making decisions, encouraging everyone to drive cars less and use public transport or walk, wheel, scoot, and cycle more.

Lambeth’s Transport Strategy sets out how we will build a transport network that can be used by everyone, has a positive impact on our quality of life and the environment, and helps us deliver more homes and jobs, ensuring long term sustainability. Improving public transport services is a core part to deliver on this objective.