On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 01:30:43 -0000, "Alek" wrote:

Bow Road does have a Point there.....
TfL`s Director of Surface Transport,Peter Hendy has been quite voluble
lately on the ReRegulation issue and has underlined the size of
his.......Budget.

His point was simply that the PTEs are wasting their time demanding
reregulation without considerable and sustained funding being part of
the package. As they aren't going to get that sort of money then they
might as well not bother - unfortunately. Knowing this the big groups
have no incentive to play ball either as they can just carry on because
the PTEs' threats of policy changes are empty.

With figures of £1 Billion per anum being spoken of for Surface Transport on
London it`s quite obviously an area which would be readily seen as a cost
savers dream.

It's all very well talking about cost but what about benefit? Yes you
can save money but how much benefit disappears at the same time. Once
you get to where LRT was in terms of declining service performance and
poor quality then it is very hard to get the system back to something
worthy of a capital city without spending a fortune. The last 5 years
teaches us that.

It`s apparent to most now that fare Evasion IS an increasing problem on LB
services.

It is? How so? Child fares have been removed so there is no scope for
adults travelling on child tickets. Flat fares remove the issue of
overriding. The removal of zones for the bus network removes season
ticket based fraud. The ability to stop lost or stolen Oyster cards
deals with one element of more serious fraud. While the number of
passengers has risen I struggle to understand how it is apparent that
fare evasion is an increasing problem

I completely fail to see how either the cashless zone or open boarding
on artics can possibly account for sufficient levels of evasion to
support your assertion.

TfL figures obtained through the FoI appear to indicate that Fare Evasion is
running at least 25% higher than the figures which they were previously
quoting to the media.

I think you are referring to *one* report about the levels of fare
evasion on bendy bus routes compared to other routes. This does not
constitute a valid argument in respect of the whole network.

Added to this is the rather dubious principle of extending Free Travel to
under 18`s which really does tempt fate and raises the prospect of a
generation of Public Transport users who really DO believe that Lunch is
Free.

I would agree that there is a potential risk here that will require
management in the future.

With new vehicle orders due to be reined in and the term Refurbishment now
starting to occur in conversation with more regularity it is surely going to
be a very interesting time in old London Town.

Not sure why refurbishment makes it a more interesting time. What is of
more concern is the "locked in" cycle of vehicle replacement in about 10
years time when there will be a huge requirement to replace the current
generation of low floor vehicles. It remains to be seen how keen TfL
buses will be to deal with the early generations of LF vehicles that are
now "non compliant" with standards and which are incapable of reaching
compliance. Will these be shoved out of London with TfL funding
replacements as they have done with some fleets of late?

It will be doubly interesting to see just how Refurbishable the Low Floor
generation of vehicle are in comparison to Mssrs Park Royal Vehicles
products especially in cost benefit terms.

As most refurbishments to date include tarting up the seats, removing
tip ups, sticking in some additional window openers and a white roof I
struggle to see the difficulty. These are all items that require regular
replacement as part of maintenance and repair activities. It is also
worth noting that more substantive chassis, bodywork and engine refurbs
are done in Hong Kong and I'm not aware of any issues there with LFDDs.

I seem to recall P Hendy saying he could get 3 Euro 2 RM`s for the price of
a new Low Floor vehicle so one wonders how many Volvo/Scania/Mercedes units
he will get refurbed for the price of a new Citaro G..?

Depends entirely on what the word refurbishment" means in this context.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!