London-wide + Lewisham stories

Mayor must keep his promise over Catford danger junction

The News Shopper reports on the Mayor's promise - following a question from Caroline Pidgeon - to ensure the dangerous junction between Bromley Road, Whitefoot Lane and Southend Lane in Catford gets pedestrian crossings.

Caroline commented:

There have been far too many false promises about improvements to this junction made by the present and previous Mayors of London.

It is vital that promises are now met and that this junction is finally made safe for pedestrians

Oyster overcharging at a station near you

Passengers are being overcharged more than £1 million a week when using Oyster, with overcharging occurring at every tube and train station across the capital, new figures obtained by Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group leader, have revealed.

The top ten stations where passengers were ripped off last year were:

Waterloo National Rail £2,452,000
London Bridge National Rail £2,300,000
Liverpool Street National Rail £1,615,000

Mayor cannot ignore disturbing rise in bus crime

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Mayor’s announcement today about crime statistics on public transport and his claim to be providing extra policing on to the transport network said:

“The Mayor should take great care when boasting about crime statistics on London’s transport network, especially as the overall fall in crime seems to hide some very disturbing rises in bus crime in about a third of London boroughs.

Lewisham Lib Dem Supper Club

Caroline Pidgeon was guest speaker at the Lewisham Lib Dem Supper Club in January at a Thai restaurant in Brockley.

Caroline spoke about the transport issues in London where the Mayor has really let Londoners down, and listened to concerns from local members about local issues such as keeping safer neighbourhood teams and the libraries that are under threat from Labour-run Lewisham Council.

Mayor should honour his pledge to deliver a better train service for Londoners

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, today called on the Mayor of London to look at whether Transport for London could take over the running of certain rail routes serving Londoners.

Following her questioning of the Mayor at City Hall she said:

“There is a chasm between what the Mayor promised train commuters before he was elected and the harsh reality facing so many commuters each and every day.

Olympic transport will not be as easy as the organisers hope

The Telegraph covers the advice by the 2012 Olympics organising committee that commuters should stay at home and avoid public transport during the Games, despite polls showing that 80% of Londoners plan to be in the city as normal.

Caroline Pidgeon comments:

Instead of relying on many commuters staying at home or avoiding London we need assurance that plans are in place and the transport network will be able to cope to prevent gridlock across the capital.

I fear travel will not be as easy as they hope.

You can read the full article here.

Why are Southeastern repeating the same mistakes again?

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the widespread failure of Southeastern to provide accurate information to its passengers over the last two days of snowfall, including many of its information boards at its stations not even working, said:

“Back in January during the two days of snow Southeastern passengers faced a double whammy of a much reduced train service combined with an appalling lack of useful information being provided by the train company.

Thameslink go-ahead is a great day for commuters

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on today’s confirmation that Thameslink will go ahead in its entirety, virtually doubling the number of north-south trains running through central London at peak times said:

“This announcement is a great day for commuters and London’s economy.

“Firstly Crossrail and now the confirmation that the Thameslink project will go head in full means that train capacity across the whole of London will be greatly increased within an decade.

“At a time of such tight public finances and when difficult short term decisions are having to be made in so many areas it is excellent news that long term plans to improve transport in London have not been compromised.”

One in ten Londoners cannot access public transport

More than one in 10 Londoners are excluded from large sections of the public transport network because buses, trains and stations are not accessible to people with reduced mobility - and the situation is set to get worse, says a new study from the London Assembly Transport Committee.

The detailed study reveals that there far more needs to be done to introduce step-free access and other accessibility measures, and points out that by 2031, more than a million Londoners will have reduced mobility

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