Bad vibrations: Bus stop is ‘ruining our lives’, say Bayham Street residents
Cracked walls and windows ‘caused by passing buses’
Published: 15 April 2010
by JOSH LOEB
ROADWORKS are normally the cue for grumbling, but the residents of one Camden Town street have been celebrating since the council started digging their road up.
The street is home to one of Camden’s busiest bus stops, served by seven buses, five of which are double-deckers. In all, 17 bus routes use the street, and residents have long feared the vehicles take their toll on buildings as they rumble past during the day and night.
And because of the roadworks, the stop has been temporarily closed bringing an end to the “nightmare” of shaking homes, cracked foundations and pavements chock-a-block with waiting passengers.
It is due to be reinstated, but a group of Bayham Street residents are calling on Transport for London (TfL) to take some of the strain off their properties by moving the stop or sending some of the other routes elsewhere.
Grandmother Josie Kelly, who has lived in Bayham Street since the early 1970s, said she spent £2,000 to fix a crack in a wall and has twice paid to repair cracks under her windows.
She said: “About 17 years ago they put the bus stop in and since then it’s been a nightmare.
“At times the buses stretch back to Greenland Road, but the worst thing is the constant shaking. I had to pay to repair a foundation crack and the engineer said he thought the movement was due to the weight of the buses rattling my house.”
Mrs Kelly wrote to TfL and received a reply stating that re-routing the buses would “disbenefit a large number of passengers”.
The letter added: “Our understanding is that there is no current research that links traffic vibration to structural damage.”
Mrs Kelly says: “You only need to sit in my house to see it no longer shakes now the stop is closed.”
Her neighbour, Alex Romeo, said the shaking was so bad that he avoided using the rooms at the front of his property – the ones nearest to the street.
Raymond Farago, Mrs Kelly’s grandson, said pollution was also a problem. He said: “This must be one of busiest bus stops in London. It’s ridiculous.”
The Camden Town Speaks Residents’ Association has written to the Town Hall complaining about bus traffic in Bayham Street.
A TfL spokesperson was unavailable but in a letter to Mrs Kelly last month, TfL said: “We are committed to being good neighbours to those living close to bus operations. Our aim is to minimise disturbance to residents as much as possible.
“I must stress that all vehicles in the bus fleet are legal.
“They meet the noise requirements set out by the European Union and in fact we aim to operate vehicles with a lower noise threshold than set by legislation.”