Caroline 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.
The Mayorwatch website reports on Boris Johnson's misleading claims in his election literature that bus crime has fallen by 30% across London during his term in office. In fact, the detailed statistics show that the local picture is patchy, with bus crime actually increasing in many areas.
Caroline told Mayorwatch:
Just three months ago the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority warned Boris Johnson that the way he was using the bus crime data could ‘be damaging to public trust in the statistics’.
Sadly the Mayor has totally ignored this warning and is up to his old tricks of using misleading figures. It is simply wrong to suggest that bus crime is falling across the whole of London, when in fact in more than one third of boroughs it is increasing – and in some boroughs significantly.
Even where there has been some fall in the figures there should be no grounds for complacency about the level of crime on London’s buses. Bus crime is a problem everywhere, and in far too many places it is a growing problem.
You can read the full article here.
You can also read local coverage in the Barking and Dagenham Post, in the East London Advertiser (Tower Hamlers), the Wimbledon Guardian and at the Wimbledon SW19 website.
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.
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.
The Wimbledon SW19 website reports on Caroline Pidgeon's question to the Mayor on how to improve the confusing signage at Wimbledon station, which leaves many passengers unsure as to where they should swipe their Oyster cards.
You can read the full article here.
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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.”