Caroline's news

Caroline visited an "Exchanging Places" event outside Tate Modern, organised by the Metropolitan Police's Cycle Task Force to raise awareness of cycle safety. These events allow people to sit in the driver's seat of a HGV or bus to get a better understanding of what the driver can and can't see, especially in regards to cyclists on the nearside and directly in front of the vehicle.

You can read more information from the Met here.

This article originally appeared at Liberal Democrat Voice.

Last week Brian Paddick and I launched a fairer fares package ahead of this year’s London Mayoral and Assembly elections.

Boris Johnson has been Mayor of London since 2008. In just four years he has increased the cheapest bus fare from 90p to £1.35 – and he had planned to raise fares even further until the Coalition Government stepped in and helped limit the rise. As well as bus fares, the cost of travelling on the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway, the Croydon Tramlink and the London Overground have all soared under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty.

Of course there is the argument that investment in public transport has to be paid for by someone, and surely passengers have to pay their fair share? There is of course an element of truth in that. Yet accepting that there is still a need for investment to continue in the tube network, does that let Mayor Johnson off the hook? Of course not. There are realistic alternatives to his fare policies.

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group has exposed key failings in the way the London bike hire scheme is performing.

The failings, which could be holding back the success of the scheme, include:

• A widespread failure in the allocation of the bikes across the docking stations, making it difficult for people to either hire a bike, or return a bike at the end of a ride. Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that in November 2011 there was on average 27 docking stations in London that had no bikes available for hire for between 6 to 8 hours each day. At the same time there were 31 docking stations that had no spare spaces for people to dock their bikes for between 3 to 6 hours each day.
• Internal Transport for London reports also obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly have highlighted other problems with the scheme, which include:
  

A much needed review of the contraflow bus lane on London Road near Elephant and Castle will soon be taking place following action taken by local MP Simon Hughes, local councillors and Caroline Pidgeon, the leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group.

Following numerous complaints by local residents about safety issues a meeting was held at City Hall where local councillors, Caroline Pidgeon and Simon Hughes set out a number of specific concerns to Transport for London engineers about how the contraflow bus lane operates.

Despite hiking up fares at the start of 2012 the Mayor has delayed his plans to get tough on fare evaders, reveals Caroline Pidgeon, the leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group.

In August 2011 Transport for London started a consultation proposing to increase the penalty fare on all TfL services to £80 with the proposed introduction date for the new rate being the 2nd January 2012. On the 29th November 2011 the Mayor of London then signed a Mayoral decision which again stated that the increased penalty fare would start from the 2nd January 2012.