As part of the London Assembly's work on the passenger experience on the underground, Caroline Pidgeon, Chair of the Transport Committee, went to Old Dalby, near Loughborough in the East Midlands on Thursday 12th November to see one of the new Metropolitan Line trains at a test track.
"It was quite extraordinary to arrive in the middle of the countryside in the East Midlands and to see a brand new London Underground train sitting there!" commented Caroline.
Caroline Pidgeon joined local residents and other Assembly members to lobby Boris Johnson. Mayor of London about the future of the South London Line. They then went to meet Sadiq Khan MP, Minister for Transport.
Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Lynne Featherstone MP out in Hornsey to campaign for better bus links to the new Community Health Centre on the old Hornsey Central Hospital site.
Whilst the new Health Centre is very much welcomed, Transport for London completely overlooked that it would bring with it more people wanting to travel to it.
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.
Recently Caroline Pidgeon highlighted failures in TfL's Dial-A-Ride service for disabled Londoners.
In October, TfL "relaunched" the service - and published a new phone number to report any problems. But two weeks after the relaunch, this feedback line still has not been connected, leaving users with no way to tell TfL about any issues with Dial-A-Ride.
Caroline Pidgeon said:
If the Mayor simply ensured that Dial-a-Ride users were listened to he would not make the insulting claim that Dial-a-Ride's service is continuing to improve.
It is already bad enough that Dial-a-Ride users face extensive delays in booking trips but now every day 400 trips are refused to Dial-a-Ride users across London - a figure far higher than two or three years ago.
