London: Mayor & More

Boris & Concessionary Bus Fares (Continued)

I didn't see Thursday's Daily Mirror which carried an assessment of Mayor Johnson's first month in power. But I'm assured that it contained the following statement from his office regarding the provision of half price bus and tram fares for Londoners on income support. You'll recall that this was part of the Chavez oil deal.

"We will continue to offer the half-priced travel concession to those on income support for the duration of which the deal was planned and will improve the transport system in the capital."

This doesn't go as far as the statement I was given when I asked if a new scheme to help claimants might be introduced to replace the old one. Its concluding sentence said that the mayor:

"[H]as asked officials from Transport for London to consider whether there may be alternative ways of providing this support."

Is TfL still looking into an alternative concession scheme? Must find out on Monday morning.

Boris's Bus: A Continuing Story

I didn't quite catch who asked Mayor Johnson about progress with his promised new model Routemaster at yesterday's press conference but I'm glad he did, not least because the reply answered question 8 on my little list. I think it worth quoting in full:

"Let me tell you that the work is going on the whole time on the bendy bus and the Routemaster. There are plenty of people who are coming up with some very, very good solutions for this. You will see an announcement in due course. There are two elements to this, of course: phasing out the artic - the bendy bus - over time and then we're going to be launching a competition to design a new generation Routemaster bus. We are not, repeat, not bringing back the old Routemaster. You can't bring back the old Routemasters because quite a few of them are, frankly, being used to grow potted plants [in] in California or wherever; they are not roadworthy any more. And we will be bringing forward a new generation model which will retain that feature of an open access at the back of the bus."

That's all quite hazy, but you can't expect much else at this stage in the game. On a key point, though, The Blond was definite: that there will be "open access" at the back of his new bus. Let's remind ourselves of significance of that pledge by recalling what the Standard says it heard from his new transport director, Kulveer Ranger:

"Mr Ranger said: 'It's almost a fact to say Londoners are not happy with bendy buses. We want to develop a bus that is safe, reliable and has that extra bit of style and panache. The Routemaster was, and indeed still is, an icon and we need something that has the same iconic status.' But in a departure from Mr Johnson's policies, Mr Ranger said the new design would not necessarily be 'hop on, hop off' with a conductor, as on the old Routemasters. He said: 'Whether or not we have a conductor depends on the design of the bus. We want people to be creative. Our brief is very flexible.'"

But definitely not flexible enough, it seems, for "open access" and the "hop on, hop off" principle to be abandoned. The saga continues.

Jon Stewart On The Tube Boozers

These Yanks, they're just jealous cos we've got culture, see...

Brian Cooke Removed From TravelWatch

Tom of Blairwatch has just commented here as follows:

"He got the boot. Voting went pretty much on party lines, three Tories against, Lib Dems and Labour in favour and Jenny Jones abstaining for the Greens. The Tories are up in arms about the Deputy Chair [of TravelWatch] taking over, since she's a Labour councillor from Haringey."

More on this soon, I hope.

UPDATE: So here's why Tom was so on the case!

UPDATE 2: The Troll reports.

UPDATE 3: The Assembly makes it official.

Brian Cooke

Thanks to the Troll for spotting today's main event at City Hall - an Extraordinary Meeting of the Transport Committee to discuss whether TravelWatch chair Brian Cooke broke the rules with his "vote Boris" outburst to the Standard and, if so, what should be done with him. Cooke's in attendance. There's a live webcast.

Strumpet Stay-At-Home

Pity:

"I never put on the cocktail dress, and the absinthe bottle remains unopened on my shelf. One of the pitfalls of living most of your life in your head is that reality never really matches up. By the time a few friends had agreed to go with me, so had several thousand other people via the “Last Orders” Facebook page. My friend Aaron texted me to say that on Friday night it was on the front page of the evening papers. What I thought was going to be a nice piece of semi-political street theatre suddenly became a full on street party. I remembered the sloppy and abrasive British stag nights I’d seen in Amsterdam. This would be like that but multiplied by thousands. And then I remembered the World Cup– since I don’t watch football it was just a drunkfest of macho bullying to me. Lads rampaged the cyclical-tube-car-cocktail-party in my head. I stayed home."

Now read on.

Circular Cocktails

Nice idea, but past my bedtime I'm afraid.

Annie Mole Saves The World

And on a bank holiday, too.

Tube Troubles

Tony Travers:

"Anyone who thought the collapse of Tube maintenance contractor Metronet last year was an end to the scheme's problems had better think again. Metronet was an indicator of only some of the underlying failures of the PPP. More are about to manifest themselves. That poses real dangers for the future of the Tube - and ministers must now face up to them...

Long-suffering commuters might well wonder where the money is all going. If you hadn't noticed any improvement on your daily Tube journey, that's because there hasn't been any to speak of. The PPP has patently failed to deliver more than a few station improvements in its first five-and-a-half years, despite expenditure of £7-£8 billion. Indeed, the new Mayor would be well-advised to publicise the realistic likely outcomes from the PPP, rather than continuing with his predecessor's over-enthusiastic 'Transforming the Tube' message."

Now read on.

Crossrail Troubles?

From the Guardian:

"Boris Johnson faces a funding crisis which threatens to paralyse London's public transport system and overshadow his term as the capital's mayor, according to sources close to the financial negotiations. Senior transport figures say the £16bn Crossrail project, an underground rail link from Heathrow in the west to Canary Wharf in the east, will stifle investment in the ageing tube network, meaning a number of station revamps and line upgrades could be postponed or cancelled....speculation within transport industry circles is putting the potential funding hole at up to £5bn."

What next? Blame games? Fare rises? Asking Gordon nicely? All of the above? Now read on.