In the news articles

The Jubilee Line deserves later opening hours

21 March 2010 - 6:28pm — Administrator

The Mayor has been urged to deliver on his pledge to Londoners to extend the tube’s opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights, starting with the Jubilee Line, at today’s Mayor’s Question Time (Wednesday 17th March).

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, reminded the Mayor of his specific election pledge to extend the opening hours of the whole tube network for one hour later on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Speaking after her question to the Mayor she said:
“The Mayor was elected promising to extend the opening hours of the whole tube network. It is now time he honoured his pledge, starting with the Jubilee Line, where the upgrade works be completed this year.

“Everyone who uses this line has already faced months of inconvenience and many traders that rely on weekend and evening business have been hit for six. If there is one line that deserves to benefit from longer hours it must be the Jubilee Line.

Oyster passengers overcharged £500,000 a month

1 March 2010 - 9:27pm — Administrator

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.

Crossrail is vital but needs to learn lessons

24 February 2010 - 9:15pm — Administrator

The London Assembly Transport Committee has launched a new report, questioning the sums Londoners are paying for the Crossrail project, and criticising the way compulsory purchases of businesses and homes have been handled.

In the report, 'Light at the end of the tunnel', the Committee recognises the value of the £16bn rail link project, which will bring an extra 10% capacity on London’s overcrowded rail and Tube network, thousands of new jobs and a massive boost to the national economy.

However, it questions the fairness of Londoners contributing the majority of the funding, when 8 of the 37 stations are outside Greater London, and the project is expected to generate £22bn for central government over the next ten years. It also points out Crossrail's poor handling of displaced businesses and residents whose premises are compulsory purchased to make way for construction work, especially in Soho.

Rail companies must improve their response to snow

19 February 2010 - 9:06pm — Administrator

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

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

12 February 2010 - 9:25pm — Administrator

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.

Long-awaited replacement buses for Waterloo passengers

26 January 2010 - 10:16pm — Administrator

The London SE1 website reports on Transport for London's announcement that it will finally provide replacement bus services to Waterloo during weekends when the Jubilee line is closed.

Caroline Pidgeon, who raised this issue with the Mayor several months ago, commented:

I welcome TfL's long-awaited replacement bus service which includes Waterloo. Despite the Mayor's previous claims that this was not possible it clearly can be done.

It is just a pity that such poor excuses were previously made by the Mayor. It is local people who have continued to suffer unnecessary inconvenience.

The full story is here.

TfL's "incredible incompetence" on step-free Tube access

26 January 2010 - 9:54pm — Administrator

The Disability Now website has an article on the scrapping of plans to introduce step-free access at over 20 Tube stations.

The article quotes Caroline Pidgeon:

Transport for London, which the Mayor of London chairs, has shown incredible incompetence in starting work on step-free access at six Underground stations and then cancelling the work before completion.

The full article is here.

Thames Estuary airport - "United against this mad idea"

25 January 2010 - 8:54pm — Administrator

The BBC covers the news that the Conservative party has rejected Boris Johnson's plan to build a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

The story quotes Caroline Pidgeon's comment that Boris's only success has been to "unite councils in Kent and Essex, environmental groups, and now, we hear, all three main political parties in Parliament, against this mad idea".

The full story is on the BBC website here.

Serious questions about Southeastern's management

17 January 2010 - 6:56pm — Administrator

The Evening Standard has a report on the London Assembly Transport Committee's investigation into the poor performance of Southeastern rail service during the recent severe weather.

Caroline Pidgeon is quoted in the article:

Questions have to be asked how freight trains can run and yet passenger ones can't on the same lines.

Passengers need to be compensated and serious questions have to be asked about Southeastern's management during this snowy weather.

The full article can be read here.

Lewisham Lib Dems have also launched a petition calling for Southeastern to reimburse Network Rail with 3 days' worth of its public subsidy. This would provide £1.1m for improvements to stations served by Southeastern.

You can sign the petition here.

Caroline challenges TfL over wasted £20m

6 January 2010 - 9:16pm — Administrator

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, has criticised Transport for London over the £20m it has wasted in starting and then abandoning work at six tube stations.

Caroline said:
"Transport for London have shown incredible incompetence in starting work on step free access at six underground stations and then cancelling the work before its completion."

You can read the full story, as covered by the BBC and the Evening Standard.

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