Caroline's news

The BBC reports on the 5% rises that Transport for London has imposed on off-peak Railcard fares without warning.

Caroline told the BBC:

Boris Johnson has real form in pushing through fare rises in an underhand way.

He has already been caught red handed over his attempt to sneak through fare rises as high as 74% by abolishing Zone 2-6 Travelcards this year.

I am not aware of previous mid-year fare increases and think it is extraordinary that this has been sneaked out.

The mayor should publish his fare proposals for all fares for the year ahead and fully consult Londoners on his plans.

South West Train passengers may face a wait of many more months before they can finally obtain Oyster top-up from station ticket machines in the London area, Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, has been informed this week.

Both South West Trains and Transport for London declared back in November 2010 that by May 2011 all ticket vending machines within the London Travel zone would allow passengers to top-up their Oyster cards. The latest delay has been explained as being due to technical problems facing Cubic, the technical supplier of Oyster to Transport for London. At present South West Trains are unable to give any indication to Caroline Pidgeon as to when the technical problems will finally be resolved.

Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group and Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, commenting on today’s announcement that next Summer there will be more than 2,000 extra train services serving London during the Olympic Games and an additional 1,500 extra services during the Paralympic Games said

“It is incredibly welcome that nearly 4,000 additional train services will run during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Caroline met up with John Stewart and the team from HACAN (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) at their stall in the Oval Farmers’ Market on Saturday.

Caroline chatted with John about the night flight concerns and the impact it has on a wide area including Vauxhall and Camberwell.

“It was good to see John and to hear about HACAN’s hard work around flights from Heathrow”, said Caroline

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Oval Lib Dem Cllr Ishbel Brown and Streatham Cllr Jeremy Clyne visiting the exhibition for the proposed Northern Line extension from Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Vauxhall Nine Elms.

“The exhibition showed the planned route but still left many questions unanswered and meant residents were very concerned about the impact on their homes and during the construction. I was pleased to hear that residents in Kennington – both Southwark and Lambeth - will have a further exhibition explaining details of the proposals for construction shafts which could cause real disruption to local people” commented Caroline.