Following on from extensive work by Caroline Pidgeon on Oyster overcharging, London Travelwatch have now looked at the issue and discovered that 8 million passengers are overcharged every month.
The Evening Standard covers the story here, and discussed the situation with Caroline:
Speaking to the London Assembly Transport Committee, the Managing Director of the London Underground has publicly acknowledged that problems on the Tube over the past year have resulted in an increase in lost customer hours on almost every line.
Chair of the Transport Committee, Caroline Pidgeon AM, said:
We recognise the challenges London Underground is facing as it works to deliver an extensive upgrade programme while carrying more and more passengers, but the past year has seen an unreliable service for passengers who are exceptionally frustrated by their daily commute.
While we heard today that if you go back several years things are generally improving, the recent performance of the Tube has undoubtedly deteriorated and is not good enough.
With major upgrade work about to start on the Northern line we hope lessons have been learned so that passengers who use it will not have to deal with the levels of disruption seen on the Jubilee and Victoria line upgrades.
Over the last few weeks thousands of cyclists have expressed concerns about the Mayor's and Transport for London's plans for Blackfriars Bridge.
The initial plans put forward by Transport for London were severely criticised for ignoring cyclists and after an extensive campaign which Caroline fully supported, the design plans were improved.
However the Mayor and Transport for London are still determined to end the temporary 20 mph speed limit on this dangerous bridge, and instead seem wish to introduce a new speed limit of 30 mph on this vital river crossing for cyclists.
London Assembly Members were set to have a formal debate about the safety of cyclists on the bridge at a recent Plenary meeting of the London Assembly. The outcome of the debate and vote taken by London Assembly Members would have played a key role in influencing both Transport for London and the Mayor of London.
However the Conservative Assembly Members, instead of debating the issue, collectively walked out of the chamber of City Hall before the motion could be debated. Their actions directly prevented any debate taking place.
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.
Caroline has welcomed Transport for London's decision to back down over their design proposals for the new Blackfriars junction.
After a site visit in April, Caroline expressed her strong objections to TfL's plans, which would have led to the removal of an existing cycle lane, with priority given to vehicles rather than pedestrians and cyclists.
Full details of Transport for London's new proposals can be seen at the Cycle London City blog.
Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Baroness Sarah Ludford, London’s Lib Dem MEP, and local Councillor George Allan for a tour around Farringdon Station. The Station is being rebuilt by the end of 2011 as part of the Thameslink programme, but also preparing for Crossrail.
When both of these transport programmes are complete by 2018, this will be one of the busiest stations in London and a very important interchange for people wanting to travel to all London airports and St Pancras International Station.
Caroline Pidgeon AM carried out a site visit with TfL to Blackfriars bridge on Monday 18th April to look on site at the new plans that TfL are proposing for the design of the junction.
The new plans, which would be introduced after the works to Blackfriars station are complete, result in the removal of an existing cycle lane and priority really given to vehicles rather than pedestrians and cyclists.
Last Autumn saw the dreadful news that the late night service on the Clipper service was being removed from the winter timetable.
The good news is that following an excellent campaign run by commuters, Southwark Liberal Democrat Councillors and Caroline (read more on Caroline's site here and here) an evening service has now returned, starting from the 1st April.
The East London Advertiser and the Essex Enquirer have articles about the £1.6m in Oyster card overcharges for Liverpool Street commuters in 2010, as revealed in the Mayor's answer to a question from Caroline Pidgeon.
Read the Advertiser's full article here, and the Essex Enquirer's 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 |