London-wide + Hammersmith and Fulham stories
River Thames is a great opportunity for transport
23 December 2011 - 8:55pm — Administrator
The River Thames is a forgotten highway, a tube line effectively, across the centre of London and yet under-resourced in terms of transport.
In January, the London Assembly Transport Committee is looking into river transport services - so Caroline and other Committee members spent a chilly morning in early December out and about on the river with Thames Clippers from Putney to Erith, looking at the challenges and opportunities to really expand river transport services for Londoners.
Olympia business and residents face Tube service loss
22 July 2011 - 7:54pm — Administrator
Caroline Pidgeon AM was contacted recently by Olympia Venues about the cancellation without consultation of the weekday District line service to their nearest station. The changes are scheduled to take place from December. Not only are local businesses such as Olympia upset by this, so are many local residents who currently use this service.
Caroline therefore arranged a site visit for the people from Olympia, a local resident who has been campaigning on the issue, and Richard Parry, a Director at London Underground and Rail, to look at the issues first hand and try to reach a solution.
No grounds for complacency over transport crime
3 June 2011 - 5:58pm — AdministratorCaroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Mayor welcoming the latest crime figures for London’s transport network, said:
“The Mayor should not be complacent with these latest figures. Across the whole of London’s transport network there has been no uniform fall in crime – indeed in some areas levels have increased, and in some cases by a significant degree.
Making London's roads safer for cyclists
30 May 2011 - 3:39pm — Administrator
Caroline Pidgeon is continuing to support action to tackle the high number of accidents and fatalities that face cyclists on London's roads. London faces an especially serious problem with accidents involving collisions between lorries and cyclists at junctions.
A recent question asked by Caroline to the Mayor revealed that in 2009 six cyclists were killed on London's roads in accidents involving a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), and with a further two cyclists killed in accidents involving a refuse lorry and a cement mixer. In 2010 there were two cyclists killed in accidents involving vehicles and two further two fatal collisions including a skip lorry and a cement truck.
Caroline has already given her full support to the campaign by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) for better training for lorry drivers and recently received the petition that had already gathered more than 10,000 signatures. Read more information about the campaign here.
£3.8m in Oyster overcharges for W12 residents
19 March 2011 - 8:52pm — AdministratorShepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood has an article about the £3.8m in Oyster card overcharges for W12 residents in 2010, as revealed in the Mayor's answer to a question from Caroline Pidgeon.
Read Chris's full article here.
The Fulham Chronicle has also covered the story here.
Bill for Central and Hammersmith & City replacement buses nears £1m
5 December 2010 - 8:37pm — AdministratorShepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood reports on Caroline Pidgeon's questioning of the Mayor, which revealed that £927,000 has been spent so far in 2010 on replacement buses to cover the closure of the Central and Hammersmith & City Lines.
Chris also points out Caroline's work in revealing the Mayor's waste of £39m on a feasibility study for a lift in the new Shepherd's Bush station:
Mayor's "guided cycle" failure attracted only one Hammersmith rider
2 November 2010 - 10:51pm — AdministratorThe Fulham Chronicle reveals that the Mayor's "guided cycling" scheme over the summer attracted literally only one Hammersmith rider.
The Chronicle quotes Caroline Pidgeon:
Last year's Cycle Fridays were an expensive flop. Yet instead of learning any lessons the Mayor insisted on going ahead this year with guided commuter cycle rides before suddenly cancelling them half way through the summer.
There is much that needs to be done to encourage cycling across London, but guided commuter cycle rides are clearly not the answer. The Mayor should instead concentrate on expanding the bike hire scheme and making roads safer for cyclists.
Shepherd's Bush passengers threatened by removal of traffic lights
20 October 2010 - 9:11pm — AdministratorShepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood reports on the news - as revealed by the Mayor's answer to a question from Caroline Pidgeon in the London Assembly - that Hammersmith & Fulham Council is pressing ahead with plans to remove traffic lights despite concerns about pedestrian safety.
Caroline Pidgeon: Please list all boroughs in London which have agreed to the removal at traffic lights at all sites proposed by TfL.
Answer from the Mayor: TfL has not yet met all of the London boroughs to discuss the individual traffic signal sites proposed as potential candidates for removal but many have been receptive to the general principle. These discussions are therefore on-going.
To date, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has undertaken a public consultation on a site on Shepherd’s Bush Road and it has agreed that the site should be removed. Other boroughs, including Brent, Ealing and Westminster, have been receptive to the concept and are looking at alternative/additional locations where signals could potentially be removed.
Guided cycle tours are a flop - just like last year
28 July 2010 - 8:38pm — AdministratorShepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood has a story on the failure and cancellation of the "guided cycle tours" that TfL offered in Hammersmith and Fulham in June.
The article includes Caroline's question to the Mayor on the subject:
Caroline Pidgeon: Can you give an outline of how the publicity strategy differed to last year’s, in light of the low participation rate last year?
Boris Johnson: Between last year and this year the approach differs in the following ways:
Link to existing cycle programmes: Cycle Fridays was a standalone initiative, marketed via an advertising campaign. This year, rides are being offered as a support product to help individuals take advantage of existing cycling programmes including the London Cycle Challenge and Barclay’s Cycle Superhighways. The publicity for the rides is incorporated into existing programme channels; the only cost incurred is for the rides themselves.
Create a flexible programme, which responds to demand: Last year the number of rides publicised were fixed, but this year TfL is closely monitoring participation in the rides.
Roll out the rides in short bursts: Last year TfL publicised a block of rides for 10 weeks and participation dropped off over time. This year, each set of rides will last no longer than five weeks before a break. If a particular programme is not generating sufficient demand, the remaining rides can be scaled back or cancelled.
Change the name: Awareness of Cycle Fridays was relatively high; however understanding of what was on offer was lower. To make this clear, TfL changed the name to ‘Guided Cycle Rides’.
Still no fix for shoddy Shepherd's Bush Market works
20 June 2010 - 3:25pm — AdministratorShepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood returns to the story of the shoddy works to the site of Shepherd's Bush Market, which is owned by Transport for London.
Caroline Pidgeon has been keeping up the pressure on the Mayor to get these fixed, but there has still been no action.
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