http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12891117

Excerpt:
---quote---
London's mayor is to cut £7.6bn from the budget of Transport for London
(TfL) over the next seven years.

TfL is already in the middle of a £5bn "savings programme" but the RMT union
said the new cuts target "defies belief" and will lead to job losses.

The extra £2bn cuts will mean passengers could see fares rise by 2% above
the inflation rate - an annual rise of 7% - for the next four years.
[...continues...]
---/quote---


A slightly muddled story I feel, though perhaps that's because I've rather
lost the thread on the overall budget cuts situation given the various
different announcements over the past few years. (But £2bn on top of £5bn
doesn't come to £7.6bn!)

I just hope that someone - in City Hall or in the media - holds Boris Johnson to account and demands exact details of what this will mean in practice and how much money will be saved.

I was chatting this morning with someone who works for London Underground and he told me that only Crossrail and HS2 will be supported with public money in the foreseeable future. As I am deeply sceptical about both projects, this depressed me.

On the other hand, if Boris Johnson denies TfL money for their road sabotage schemes - e.g. Tottenham High Road - then I will jump for joy.

"Robin9" wrote in message
...

I was chatting this morning with someone who works for London
Underground and he told me that only Crossail and HS2 will be supported
with public money in the foreseeable future.

Not according to the 143 pages of the TfL business plan, (which I won't
attempt to summarise).

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...and-Budget.pdf

Paul S

I'm well aware that Boris Johnson is nominal head of TfL. Indeed I once heard him declare on Vanessa Feltz's radio programme "I am TfL." I am also aware that frequently in sizable organisations some staff members have their own agenda while pretending to be be loyal and conscientious. This doesn't happen only in politics and public administration. I've come across it several times within commercial organisations.

It is indisputable that some of TfL's activities concerning London's roads are at variance with some of Boris Johnson's declared policies. For example, in his introduction to the new TfL business plan Boris Johnson writes about ripping out many of London's (innumerable) unnecessary traffic lights. Off-hand I can't think of any location where traffic lights have been removed but I know of several where TfL have either recently installed or plan to install some. Boris Johnson has often said he wants to reduce air pollution in London but the main reason air quality in London has deteriorated so much in the past ten years is that TfL have taken measures all over London to prevent traffic from moving. (When motor vehicles are held at red traffic signals or behind a bus where the pavement has been extended to prevent cars from passing the stationary bus, the motorists do not switch their engines off)

Does Boris Johnson realise that some of TfL's activities contradict his declared policies? I don't know. We have here a classical fools or knaves situation. Either Boris Johnson is as big a liar as Ken Livingston and does not at all intend to carry out his declared policies of smoothing London's traffic flow and reducing air pollution or he is an utter fool who simply does not know what is going on.

Both interpretations are feasible because both accord with known facts. We know that since becoming Mayor Boris Johnson has done nothing to improve road conditions but has indulged his pro-cycling prejudice. On the other hand we know that he does not pay attention to detail. On more than one occasion Nick Ferrari, when interviewing him, has been able to demonstrate that Boris Johnson has not familiarised himself with the precise details of some policy Johnson has announced. To twist a man like that round their fingers, all TfL has to do is tell Boris Johnson the same pack of lies they tell everyone else. I'm quite sure they have told him that their plans for Tottenham High Road will smooth the flow of traffic, improve conditions for pedestrians, increase safety all round and reduce air pollution. TfL have made those same fraudulent boasts about all their road schemes which have created massive traffic congestion and air pollution and have turned London into a backward city.

What is clear to anyone with any common sense is that returning the Seven Sisters section of Tottenham High Road to two-way traffic will not work. It did not work 40 years ago when traffic levels were much lighter than now and it will not work today when TfL have confiscated half the road space for bus lanes and have installed additional traffic lights to prevent traffic from moving.

Robin9 wrote:
Does Boris Johnson realise that some of TfL's activities contradict his
declared policies? I don't know. We have here a classical fools or
knaves situation. Either Boris Johnson is as big a liar as Ken
Livingston and does not at all intend to carry out his declared policies
of smoothing London's traffic flow and reducing air pollution or he is
an utter fool who simply does not know what is going on.


A bit of both. His pre-election promises mean absolutely nothing to
him, which is why so many have been reversed or simply forgotten. He
simply doesn't have the grasp of detail that a Mayor needs in order to
"know what is going on".

Overall, he is hopeless. I'm no Livingstone fan but Ken was a far
better and more effective Mayor than Boris ever could be.

I preferred Steven Norris to Boris as a candidate, but after he was
defeated twice it was always apparent that Boris had a better chance
of beating Ken.

On 2011\04\03 11:08, Robin9 wrote:

I'm well aware that Boris Johnson is nominal head of TfL. Indeed I once
heard him declare on Vanessa Feltz's radio programme "I am TfL." I am
also aware that frequently in sizable organisations some staff members
have their own agenda while pretending to be be loyal and conscientious.
This doesn't happen only in politics and public administration. I've
come across it several times within commercial organisations.

It is indisputable that some of TfL's activities concerning London's
roads are at variance with some of Boris Johnson's declared policies.
For example, in his introduction to the new TfL business plan Boris
Johnson writes about ripping out many of London's (innumerable)
unnecessary traffic lights. Off-hand I can't think of any location where
traffic lights have been removed

Fortune Green Road / Mill Lane, lights removed about a fortnight ago.
At Summers Lane / A1000, an avoiding slip was put in about a year ago
allowing some traffic to bypass the lights.

On Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:51:06 +0100
Basil Jet wrote:
Fortune Green Road / Mill Lane, lights removed about a fortnight ago.
At Summers Lane / A1000, an avoiding slip was put in about a year ago
allowing some traffic to bypass the lights.

Pity they don't remove the lights at the Brent Street/Spirehall Lane
junction in golders green. Until about 5 years ago it used to be a mini
roundabout which worked perfectly. Since they put the bloody lights in
you can guarantee a queue at virtually any time of the day and in the
rush hour all the way back to the A406 sometimes causing blocking of that
due to vehicles getting stuck in the junction because the back of the
queue isn't moving as much as they thought it would. The people who made the
decision to install them were either complete retards or they were getting
backhanders from vested interests.

B2003

On 2011\04\04 12:32, d wrote:

Pity they don't remove the lights at the Brent Street/Spirehall Lane
junction in golders green. Until about 5 years ago it used to be a mini
roundabout which worked perfectly. Since they put the bloody lights in
you can guarantee a queue at virtually any time of the day and in the
rush hour all the way back to the A406 sometimes causing blocking of that
due to vehicles getting stuck in the junction because the back of the
queue isn't moving as much as they thought it would. The people who made the
decision to install them were either complete retards or they were getting
backhanders from vested interests.

I don't see it as an either/or thing.

I would have liked Steve Norris as Mayor too. Judging by interviews he gave, he had a good idea of what was wrong at City Hall and he understood that the essential pre-condition to reduce congestion in London was to keep traffic moving.

Norris's problems in being accepted by Londoners was that he was associated with both Margaret Thatcher's government and with Jarvis and that his seemingly energetic love life did not win him widespread admiration.

Ah yes! Thank you. I was in Fortune Green Road recently and I walked up there because I wanted to use the W. C. - which has been closed! I did notice that the lights were no longer there but the penny didn't drop because it was so long since I had been there and I remembered how it was before they installed those completely unnecessary lights.

I'll have a look at the Summers Lane junction. I'm pleased progress has been made. The London Borough Of Barnet was one of TfL's most determined opponents before Boris arrived. I hope they have as thorough a clear out of unnecessary lights as they did of speed humps and expanded pavements. Brian Coleman is of course a colleague of Boris Johnson