London-wide + Hammersmith and Fulham stories

Visiting Tubelines to review the Northern line upgrade

Caroline joined fellow Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates at a visit to Edgware on Thursday 1st April to see the upgrade works for the Northern line trains. Run by private partner Tubelines, the delegation talked to Tubelines staff about the problems with the proposed closures to the Northern line whilst it is upgraded and discussed other options such as closing smaller bits of the line for a week or two at a time to get the works done quickly and without damaging business for many traders as well as local residents.

“It was very interesting to see the upgrade works to the trains, in particular the huge amount of cabling that is hidden behind the walls of the trains! I hope that Tubelines and Transport for London will get together and find a way forward so that we can get the upgrades done as quickly and painlessly as possible for the sake of Londoners” added Caroline.

1 April 2010 - 10:30pm

Roadworks make Londoners' journeys unpredictable and horrendously slow

The Evening Standard reports on the disruption caused to drivers and bus passengers by the major roadworks which affect thousands of roads in London every day.

Caroline Pidgeon is quoted saying:

London's road network has probably never faced so much disturbance. For too many people their daily journeys are both unpredictable and horrendously slow.

As well as bridge and tunnel closures, thousands of roads are being dug up by Thames Water, not to mention other utility companies.

28 March 2010 - 2:10pm

Oyster passengers overcharged £500,000 a month

In an article for the Lib Dem Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon describes how anomalies in the Oyster card system result in Londoners being overcharged by £500,000 a month when they travel on National Rail services:

This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a “negative Liberal Democrat” when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London.

Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no doubt that a huge number of Londoners are not getting the best deal that Oyster could deliver. There are serious anomalies in how the system operates, and the full benefits of the technology are simply not being delivered. Most significantly many people using Oyster on the trains, whether they are Londoners or visitors, are being overcharged, sometimes by quite large amounts. This January alone it is estimated that 32,000 passengers were overcharged a total of half a million pounds.

Read the full article here.

1 March 2010 - 9:27pm

Rail companies must improve their response to snow

Following the chaos on London's railways during this winter's snow, the London Assembly Transport Committee has written to the Secretary of State for Transport, asking for a national review of the rail industry's performance in bad weather to cover:

  • Rail operators’ and Network Rail’s contingency plans
  • Modification of trains and tracks so they can cope in icy conditions, for example using 'third rail' technology
  • Better information and compensation arrangements for passengers, with a consistent and transparent industry-wide standard
19 February 2010 - 9:06pm

Every Londoner now owed £5 by embassies evading the Congestion Charge

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson, has revealed that each and every Londoner is now owed £5 by embassies that evade paying the Congestion Charge. For the first time ever the total unpaid bill for non-payment of Congestion Charge and Penalty Charge Notices now exceeds £40 million.

Through repeated questioning, Caroline Pidgeon has obtained figures from the Mayor showing that the amount owed by embassies soared during 2009 by more than 40%, with the unpaid bill rising by £1 million every month. At the very start of the 2010 the total unpaid bill from embassies stood at £39 million, compared to an unpaid bill of £26 million at the same time last year.

Commenting on these new figures, Caroline Pidgeon said:
"It is shameful that a minority of embassies continue to evade paying the Congestion Charge. British diplomats respect the law of other countries and it is only right that diplomats do the same in this country.

12 February 2010 - 9:25pm

London Assembly calls on Mayor to guarantee the future of London's buses

The London Assembly Transport Committee has launched a report, The Future Of London's Buses, setting out a number of questions to the Mayor about how he will guarantee the future of the capital’s world-class bus service despite large cuts to the bus subsidy.

The report captures a range of views expressed at a seminar hosted by the Committee to debate both the benefits of the bus service and how any changes to it would impact on Londoners.

Buses are by far the most popular mode of public transport in London, catering for nearly two billion journeys each year. However, despite a growing population, and for the first time in several decades, the bus network is not anticipated to expand at all between now and 2012. Over the next eight years, the bus subsidy will be cut by a third, from £700 million in 2008/09 to £450 million in 2017/18.

25 January 2010 - 8:48pm

London Assembly criticises government cuts to Freedom Pass plans

The London Assembly has called on the Mayor to persuade the Government to meet its original commitment to contribute funds to London boroughs to help them meet the costs of extending off-peak free bus travel to people who do not live in London.

A motion agreed today deplored the government's decision to halve this contribution, and urged the Mayor to put pressure on the government to abandon their U-turn and honour the agreement they originally made.

14 January 2010 - 8:42pm

The Mayor just doesn't understand bus travel

The Mayor of London has rejected the proposal of a One Hour Bus Ticket despite recent unanimous support for the proposal from the London Assembly.

In response to a letter from Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson and Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, the Mayor has stated that he has “no plans to introduce such a scheme”.

19 December 2009 - 9:16pm

London Lib Dems slam the government on Freedom Pass cuts

London Lib Dems have reacted angrily to news that the concessionary fares scheme in London will be cut by £29m this coming year.

It is yet another clear sign that Gordon Brown has given up on London, choosing to sacrifice capital seats for marginals elsewhere in the country.

London taxpayers have always paid for the Freedom Pass, which covers pensioner travel on all forms of transport. But when the Government introduced the national free bus scheme, they agreed to contribute to the cost and cover journeys made by tourists and neighbours.

8 November 2009 - 9:28pm

Petition to save the threatened Freedom Pass

Plans uncovered by London Councils show Government proposals to cut funding for the popular Freedom Pass - the scheme that gives older people and disabled residents free travel across London.

The government plans to seize £50 million from London to shore up funding gaps in other parts of England. Unlike other parts of the country that receive 100% of the costs of the free travel scheme, in London local council tax payers pay a third. These government cuts would reduce that support to 50%.

1 November 2009 - 6:31pm

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