Tag archive for ‘Transport’
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Crossrail – problems for a Tory mayor
Ongoing speculation about the future of Crossrail is mainly a problem for London. But it is also a problem for London’s mayor.
During the general election campaign Labour highlighted the failure of the Tories to give a clear commitment to complete Crossrail. That issue finally broke open when Justine Greening, then the Shadow London Minister, admitted that it was possible that under the Conservatives Crossrail might be cancelled.
The Tories’ deliberately imprecise formulation of ‘support’ for Crossrail – as opposed to any [...] -
Crossrail is on the ballot paper
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More bus strikes confirmed for next week
I’ve blogged before on industrial relations problems across the bus network. Boris Johnson has been explicitly criticised by trade unionists who see fares about to rise but their pay frozen, whilst revenue from the congestion charge will be reduced when the western extension is abolished. Johnson has blocked millions of pounds of potential revenue by axing the £25 c-charge on gas guzzlers.
Steve Hart, the regional secretary of the Unite union, has previously argued that his union believes Londoners are suffering [...] -
Gas guzzling drivers versus bus users – protecting the few, not the many
It’s not just nationally where the question of whose interests the Conservatives would govern in is posed. In London we are already seeing the impact on ordinary Londoners of an administration committed to defending the interests of the gas guzzling few against the needs of the public transport-using many.
Sir Simon Milton – Boris Johnson’s chief of staff – told viewers of the London segment of the Politics Show today that one of the principal reasons for scrapping the planned £25 [...] -
Boris Johnson’s policies blamed for bus and tube disputes
Last week I wrote that industrial relations on London’s transport system were being allowed to drift. Bus workers in East London (members of the Unite union) were on strike, whilst talks aimed at resolving the longstanding tube pay dispute appeared to be unravelling, with the TSSA union withdrawing its acceptance of London Underground’s offer – a very unusual development.
Events today suggest that the prognosis was right, with Unite warning that the mayor’s transport policies are worsening the situation across public [...] -
PQT – 66 per cent against c-charge western extension removal
As Dave Hill reports, Conservative Assembly member Roger Evans has blogged about this week’s PQT in Brixton. Information flowed thick and fast from Brixton on the night via Twitter, including informative tweets by the Liberal Democrat head of office at City Hall Nick Carthew.
In answer to the question “Do you support the removal of the Western Extension?”, 66 per cent responded “no” and 34 per cent responded “yes”. Roger Evans concludes that “as the WEZ doesn’t cover Brixton, all this really [...] -
Tube talks founder and busworkers strike
Though industrial relations on London’s public transport system may seem quieter than the summer, when the RMT took strike action on the Tube (and it was revealed that no steps had been taken to implement a fantasy no-strike agreement) the reality is somewhat different.
The Standard’s transport correspondent Dick Murray reports that bus workers are on strike today in a dispute affecting fifty-eight routes. The routes are provided by the East London Bus Group but the strike will have a greater [...] -
Former Tube MD Tim O’Toole’s tribute to Redmond O’Neill
The former Managing Director of London Underground, Tim O’Toole, posted a comment earlier today paying tribute to Redmond O’Neill, Ken Livingstone’s former director of transport, who died last week.
He said:
“I join with you and everyone who was lucky enough to know Redmond in the profound sense of loss and sadness at his death. How I admired his kindness, his gentle soul and his rigorous mind. You are right that any attempt to sum up his life will be an injustice, [...] -
Should some fares be cut?
Despite the fact that there is a clear alternative path to hitting fare payers, such as retaining the western extension of the congestion charge, introducing a CO2 charge on gas guzzlers, and abandoning wasteful policies like the removal of bendy buses, it is Londoners who are going to be forced to pay for Boris Johnson’s misleadership of London.
Over the next few weeks those who support public transport and want to keep it affordable will need to press the case for [...] -
FT – fare increase is biggest in TfL’s history
This coming January’s high fares package, announced yesterday, is “the biggest real-terms fares increases in [TfL's] history,” says the Financial Times.
This is relevant because Boris Johnson, spinning wildly, tried to argue that Ken Livingstone had raised the fares more.
But the FT’s report shows that Johnson’s increases are the biggest yet.
“The London mayor’s transport organisation is to impose the biggest real-terms fares increases in its history as it seeks to plug what it claims is a £1.7bn “black hole” in its [...]
