Scrutinising the Mayor articles

Fairer Fares - affordable proposals that would make an immense difference

Writing for the London Loves Business website, Caroline Pidgeon discusses the areas where Transport for London needs to treat Londoners fairly - including returning the £55m held on dormant Oyster cards, and stopping the overcharging of passengers for "incomplete" journeys - and outlines the London Liberal Democrats' key transport policies:

There really are policies which can make fares fairer, which are affordable and will not undermine TfL’s much needed investment programme.

The Liberal Democrats are advocating a one hour bus ticket, so people can make two or three short bus journeys for the cost of a single fare. You can do this on the Tube, so it is only right bus users can do the same. Time limited bus fares are actually quite common in other European cities. It is time London caught up.

Olympic strikes would be the height of irresponsibility

The London Assembly has condemned remarks by Unite union leader Len McCluskey suggesting the 2012 Games should be seen as an opportunity to protest against the government.

In an interview with The Guardian on 28 February Mr McCluskey stated:
“I believe the unions, and the general community, have got every right to be out protesting. If the Olympics provide us with an opportunity, then that's exactly one that we should be looking at.”

A motion passed unanimously at yesterday's Assembly meeting rejected Mr McCluskey’s call to consider disrupting the Olympics.

We need to do far more than just expand the bike hire scheme eastwards

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the eastward expansion of the London bike hire scheme, said:

“Today’s eastward expansion of the bike hire scheme is welcome, but in reality we need to do far more to improve the scheme so it can be enjoyed by far more Londoners.

“The fun and excitement of the bike hire scheme has now largely gone.

London Lib Dems tell criminals - “You Break It, You Fix It”

Criminals have been warned that ‘if you break it, you fix it’ as part of a new poster campaign launched today by London Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick and his candidate for Deputy Mayor, Lib Dem London Assembly Member, Caroline Pidgeon.

The London wide payback programme co-ordinated by the Mayor’s office will be an alternative to short term prison sentences for convicted criminals so that they can give something back to society. The slogan for the proposal - ‘You Break It, You Fix It’ appears on posters at 176 sites around London.

Brian said: “We need to judge whether a sentence is tough or not from the criminals' perspective, not ours. Rather than sit in a cosy cell in prison for hours on end, criminals should be forced to clean up graffiti, repair broken fences, clear up fly-tipped rubbish and improve London’s public spaces. Local people will decide what needs to be done to improve their local area, something local authorities can’t currently afford to do.”

The Thames is still London's forgotten highway

The London Assembly's Transport Committee has published a report highlighting the improvements that still need to be made in order to make full use of the Thames as a resource for transport.

Caroline Pidgeon AM, Chair of the Transport Committee, said:
“While there have been some developments and passenger numbers have grown, it’s frustrating that progress is so slow on expanding a service that has so much potential – particularly for the 2012 Games.

“Our last report described the Thames as London’s forgotten highway and unfortunately in many ways it still is.

Mayor still will not give timetable for dangerous junction review

The King's Cross Environment blog covers this week's Mayor's Question Time - where under questioning from Lib Dem London Assembly Leader Caroline Pidgeon, Boris Johnson would give no commitment to a timetable for reviewing the most dangerous junctions for cyclists.

Blogger William Perrin comments:

The Mayor (and also Chair of TfL) is questioned by Caroline Pidgeon AM about his sudden conversion to cycle safety, from 40 minutes in. Caroline Pidgeon AM gently mocks the Mayor’s giant flip flop on a review. But despite repeated questioning the Mayor gives no timetable for his review of dangerous junctions. At 43:30 she tried to pin the Mayor down to specific actions, timetables and commitments from his panicky review – but the Mayor just dodges sideways refusing to give any hints on a time table or guarantees that work will happen following the review.

Read the full article here.

And you can watch the webcast of Mayor's Question Time here on the London Assembly website - Caroline Pidgeon's questions start at around 43:30.

TfL admit King's Cross junction does not meet safety standards

As a result of questions asked to the Mayor by Caroline Pidgeon, Transport for London have admitted that a large junction at King's Cross does not meet their own safety standards, and refused to answer on why they have done nothing to comply with those standards.

You can read full coverage on the King's Cross Environment blog.

And on the same blog, you can read about Caroline's continued scrutiny and Boris Johnson's complacency on cycle safety issues.

Time for honesty over Jubilee line fiasco

As news emerges that TfL has had to pay £25m to the company that owns Canary Wharf in compensation for the major delays to the Jubilee line upgrade, Caroline Pidgeon commented:

"Users of the Jubilee line have faced years of misery as the upgrade programme over-ran. To learn now that millions of pounds has been shelled out to Canary Wharf Group, while passengers have not been compensated, adds insult to injury.

"It is time the Mayor and TfL were honest with Londoners over the real cost of this long-standing fiasco. We are entitled to know the details of every penny that has been spent."

You can read full coverage in the Evening Standard, the Docklands & East London Advertiser and the Wharf website.

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