London: Mayor & More

On The Buses (Pt 6)

Two more interventions. The first is by Chris Cheek, director of the independent public transport consultancy TAS. Quoted in the Guardian, he said of Boris Johnson's calculations:

"Having look at the figures and run them through our National Bus Model, they are not correct. I think the true cost is closer to the £112m put forward by Transport for London."

The second is by the Liberal Democrats, who've obtained information about the cost of fare-dodging under the Freedom Of Information Act. Reports the Standard:

"The problem is worst on bendy buses, where an estimated one in 10 passengers does not pay, costing £6.4 million this financial year. On other buses, 3.4 per cent do not pay, costing Transport for London £45.9 million a year."

Via London Unlocked, a site I am rather fond of.

Green Badge Taxi School Pt2: The LDA Responds

I've just received an email from the London Development Agency. I publish the following from it with their blessing:

"Two points worth noting:

- the LDA funded the Green Badge Taxi School once, agreeing a grant in January 2002 and actually making the payment in March 2002. A lot of reporting implies we've funded them over several years, which is not accurate.

- the LDA referred the Green Badge Taxi School to the police in September 2007. This followed our own investigation in 2006 into complaints made to us about the scheme. When we could get no further - for example, we can't sequester bank accounts - we passed information on to relevant regulators HM Revenue and Customs and the Charity Commission suggesting they might look into it. And when we got nothing from them, we passed it to the police...months before the Standard launched its campaign."

I refer readers to this post and Andrew Gilligan's comment there.

Hendys & Bendys

My latest for the Guardian:

Yesterday, Boris Johnson pitched in to the boss of Transport for London. His grounds were that Peter Hendy had described the capital's buses as "safe places". Not so, raged the Conservative candidate for London mayor: "You tell that to the people who have to travel on them every day. How many times a day does the Mayor's transport supremo get on a bus?"

"Secret Congestion Charge" Believers

Tory bloggers have certainly bought the Times's "secret congestion charge" story, even though both Livingstone and Peter Hendy have said that it's completely untrue. Phil Taylor quotes from the Mayor's long-term transport strategy document to suggest it is true. Assembly candidate James Cleverly insists C-Charging is on its way to Bromley unless Boris wins.

Boris Johnson's Attack On Peter Hendy: TfL Responds

Following Boris Johnson's criticism of TfL boss Peter Hendy yesterday, I asked TfL some questions. See them and TfL's answers and full response below:

Background: Anyone who knows Peter Hendy understands his professionalism, deep experience and total commitment to delivering high quality public transport. Peter travels by bus in London regularly, often several times a day. He knows precisely what it's like to use public transport every day.

In fact, Peter travelled on three buses yesterday morning to get to City Hall, where he answered questions from the London Assembly Transport Committee.

Q: Where/when and what did Peter Hendy actually say about crime on buses?

A: Peter Hendy is London’s Transport Commissioner. It was in this role that he was at the London Assembly Transport Committee on Tuesday, March 11 to answer questions about a whole range of transport developments over the last 4 years.

The questions included crime and anti-social behaviour on the bus network. Peter set out the successful measures that have been put in place to tackle this, including more Police through Borough-based Safer Transport Teams, leading to the latest figures showing crime on the bus network falling by 11% overall. So Peter made the point that crime on the buses is low and getting lower, with the rate of crime, at 15 crimes per million passenger journeys, at its lowest levels since free travel was introduced in 2005. However, he also made it clear that crime and, just as importantly, the fear of crime remain a top priority for TfL over the coming years.

Q: Does Peter use buses a lot - how often?

A: Yes, Peter travels by bus in London regularly, often several times a day.

In fact, Peter travelled on three buses yesterday morning to get to City Hall for the London Assembly Transport Committee.

Peter’s itinerary that morning – Tuesday, March 11, 2008 – on his journey to City Hall was as follows:
*Denbigh Street, SW1 – Pimlico Station via 24;
*Pimlico Station – Elephant & Castle via 360;
*Elephant & Castle – City Hall, SE1 via 343.
*Journey start, approx 8.40am – arrived approx 9.20am, total time 40mins.

Q: Do TfL want to respond re Peter Hendy being called 'one of the Mayor's cronies'?

A: Peter Hendy is a public transport professional with extensive experience in both public and private sectors, both in the UK and overseas. He is responsible for leading an organisation which delivers 27m journeys each day, has an annual budget of around £7.5bn a year and which is delivering on a whole range of projects essential to London's continuing economic and social health.

Team Boris took its cue from Hendy's response to questions from the Assembly's Transport Committee yesterday morning. You can watch the relevant section on the GLA archive from about 21 minutes in.

Boris Bashes TfL Again!

A press release arrives from Team Boris. It says:

"Responding to London's Transport Commissioner, who today stated that buses in London are safe, Conservative Candidate for Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: 'So City Hall says buses are safe places? You tell that to the people who have to travel on them every day. How many times a day does the Mayor’s transport supremo get on a bus? I will stop the lawlessness on London buses by introducing more uniformed officers and removing free travel from the under-18's who abuse the privilege. This is yet another example of how the Mayor and his cronies are out of touch with everyday Londoners.'"

So Tfl's commissioner Peter Hendy is one of the mayor's "cronies", is he? Oooh, that's a bit strong!

Secret Congestion Charge Plan?

From The Times:

"Ken Livingstone is secretly planning much wider use of congestion charging across London if he is reelected as mayor on May 1, The Times has learnt. He did not mention the plans in his transport manifesto, announced yesterday, because he fears that he may lose votes in outer London boroughs. A source close to Mr Livingstone said that Transport for London was developing plans to introduce charging to other congested parts of the capital but was under strict orders not to disclose anything before polling day."

C'mon, then! Who's the source?

Cyclists On Boris

From Bike Radar:

"In their first assessment of Mr Johnson’s transport manifesto, the London Cycling Campaign said some of the Conservative hopeful's transport plans are ill-advised."

Now read on.

Livingstone's Transport Policy: Johnson Responds

Quoth Boris:

“With less than 8 weeks to go before the election, Mayor Livingstone has again turned to making promises on transport to try to save his job. The problem is that we’ve heard it all before from this Mayor – inflated promises before an election which are broken straight after. This Labour Mayor says judge him on his record, claiming he is the man to deliver. Well his administration has consistently fallen behind with major projects or gone way over budget costing Londoners millions. What kind of record is that to be proud of?"

Full press release here. Full Johnson transport manifesto here.

Livingstone Transport Policy: Berry Responds

Says Sian of Ken:

"His heart is in the right place, but again we're seeing some real lowballing from Ken Livingstone. The Green Assembly members have consistently pushed him further on transport, and it's clear that much more than this is possible. A Green Mayor or more Green AMs would guarantee cheaper, faster, safer travel starting with a 20p fare cut and 20mph speed limits."

"Lowballing", eh? I'd sue. Read the Greens' candidates transport policy here.