The Public Transport Liaison Forum is scheduled to discuss updates from transport providers, questions raised about transport services, and declarations of interest from members. Southeastern Railway's investment plans, including station improvements and rolling stock upgrades, are scheduled to be discussed. Also on the agenda is the problem of abandoned Lime e-bikes blocking pavements.

Southeastern Railway Investment and Performance

Southeastern Railway (SER) and Network Rail's Kent Route have integrated under one management team. As an integrated team, their objectives are to deliver a high level of performance, reduce reliance on the taxpayer, and to support thriving communities across their network.

The forum is scheduled to discuss Southeastern's performance data. According to the report pack, Southeastern Railway uses 'Time-to-3' reporting, which measures the percentage of trains arriving within 2 minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled time at every station stop. For Railway Period 6 (August 18 to September 14), Southeastern recorded a T3 punctuality of 86.7% across its network. During this period, 2.3% of Southeastern services were cancelled, marginally increased from 2.2% in the same period last year. The target cancellation rate is below 2%.

The report pack states that Southeastern is undertaking a considerable investment programme across track and train. Planned works in the borough of Lewisham for 2026/27 include:

• Rewiring and relighting of Catford Bridge station in addition to platform refurbishment
• Platform and building refurbishment at Deptford station
• Footbridge refurbishment at Grove Park station
• Canopy refurbishment at Lewisham station
• Relocation of the Platform 1 ticket gates at Lewisham station to alleviate congestion issues

Other projects include a £90 million re-signalling of the Parks Bridge area, which includes the lines via Catford and Catford Bridge as well as the line between Hither Green and St Johns. There is also a £28 million investment at Hither Green, which is making the station fully step-free. Recent work in the borough has included a £1.7 million heritage restoration of Blackheath station, with support from Lewisham Council, the Blackheath Society, and Railway Heritage Trust.

The report pack also refers to a question about bringing the north bound platform station house at Catford Bridge Station back into use. Network Rail say they have been working with prospective tenants, Lewisham Council, and other partners to explore options to bring this station back into use, but that major refurbishment works would be required and they are exploring potential sources of funding for this.

E-Bike Management

The Public Transport Liaison Forum is scheduled to discuss measures to reduce abandoned Lime e-bikes obstructing footways. Lime has stated that its £20 million London Action Plan includes increasing its on-street team by 60%, meaning that they now have 20 staff working in Lewisham to tidy and remove obstructive bikes and address issues on-street. Lime also has a £5 million parking infrastructure fund available to support Lewisham in building additional parking locations. Lime has stated that they warn and/or fine almost 1,000 riders in Lewisham each month for poor parking, and their teams clear, move and remove hundreds of vehicles daily.

Lime has also been asked what percentage of their hire fee goes toward insurance coverage, and whether riders are financially liable for damages or injuries caused by irresponsible behaviour. Lime has stated that they don't publish financial information or company accounts, but that relevant information and documentation regarding Lime's comprehensive insurance coverage is available on their website, and their dedicated claims team is available to help support on any claims or issues experienced. Lime has also stated that they take reports of unsafe rider behaviour very seriously and will warn, fine or ban riders as appropriate.

Bus Service Issues

The forum is scheduled to discuss issues with Stagecoach buses using residential roads in Lee Green as unauthorised standing points. Stagecoach has stated that whenever there are delays on bus routes, service controllers need to implement measures that will help protect the bus routes for the passengers that rely on them. They say that recently, there have been a number of delays on certain bus routes in the Grove Park/Lewisham area, requiring controllers to use the, TfL Authorised, Lee Green curtailment point for service control. Stagecoach has stated that use of this curtailment point is only allowed as a 'turning point only', which means buses pause/stand, to carry out their admin tasks and check for lost property which should be for a minimal amount of time, and that they will remind their drivers and controllers that use this location of the operating restrictions.

The forum is also scheduled to discuss the Superloop bus route SL4, and whether Transport for London (TfL) will consider reviewing the route to improve bus connectivity for Lewisham residents. TfL has stated that they keep their Superloop routes and frequencies under review, but that at present there is no business case to extend the SL4 service from Grove Park on to Bromley, and that additional bus standing areas would be required in Bromley Town Centre to make the extension of the route possible.

Station Accessibility

The forum is scheduled to discuss a petition asking for an accessible entrance to New Cross Gate station at Platform 5. TfL has stated that New Cross Gate is a National Rail station rather than one that is owned by TfL, and that as the station already has step-free access to all platforms via the main entrance, it is unlikely to be prioritised under the Department for Transport's Access for All (AfA) scheme. TfL has also stated that the new entrance proposed would require the installation of significant infrastructure such as security systems and a new gate line to ensure safety and revenue protection, all on a limited footprint and close to the operational railway, and that a new gate line also requires additional staff and security on an ongoing basis, adding to the cost and causing issues for revenue protection.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors Louise Krupski, Liam Curran and Sian Eiles are asked to declare any personal interest they have in any item on the agenda, according to the council's Member Code of Conduct. The code specifies three types of personal interest: disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, and non-registerable interests. If a member has a disclosable pecuniary interest, they must not participate in consideration of the matter and must withdraw from the room. If a member has a registerable interest which falls short of a disclosable pecuniary interest, they may stay in the room, participate in consideration of the matter and vote on it unless a reasonable member of the public would think that their interest is so significant that it would be likely to impair the member's judgement of the public interest.