"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Nick wrote:
"Mizter T" wrote in message
oups.com...
Paul Weaver wrote:

Kev wrote:
How come Ken Livingstone, the great environmentalist is allowed to get
away with dumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Couldn't he have
linked into this by video conferencing. That is what we are encouraged
to do .
Ken often delivers the opposite of what he preaches, hence massive
congestion as he throws more and more buses into London, and they end
up nose-to-tail for miles on end.
I fundamentally disagree with that. The bus service has improved
dramatically since his reforms, services are now far more reliable and
frequent.

What reforms? Piles and piles of cash have been thrown at TfL bus
services thanks to chunky government grants (so they can persuade
everyone the whole Mayoral/GLA thing is working) and debts run up by TfL
themselves. Unless you're saying he's such a strong personality he can
extract more money out of central Govt than anyone else? I suppose the
Kengestion Charge has helped with additional funds for public transport,
but I believe they are small in comparison to the overall spend. Anyone
who has been given such a large amount of cash for spending on buses
would've made them more reliable and frequent, I wager.
(snip)

The London Assembly disagrees, and criticising the Mayor is their
full-time occupation.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-cent...t.asp?prID=712

No, I didn't disagree it was value for money necessarily. My point was
anyone with wads of cash to spend on TfL bus services was bound to provide
more of them and probably improve their reliability. Ken Livingstone
doesn't have magic-like qualities to improve bus services, he just got given
lots of money by central government and spent it.

And I maintain the quality of the bus environment in Bexley (in terms of
broken bus shelters, vandalised and dirty buses) is very, very poor - way
below expectations, particularly given the amounts TfL have spent on the
network overall. Maybe someone other than Ken Livingstone would've directed
TfL and those who have appropriate power to improve the dreadful situation
in Bexley; presumably, therefore, he hasn't and doesn't care very much.

Nick