Mizter T wrote:


I hadn't realised that both the LTDA (through Bill Oddy, the General
Secretary) and also the minicab business - in the form of Steve
Wright, the Chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association - were
represented on the Board. That's most interesting. I wonder if Oddy is
at Wright's throat half the time! And yet they both have to force
themselves to be nice to the cycling Chairman of the Board, Boris
himself. Then there's the motorcycling Kulveer Ranger, Boris'
transport go to man at City Hall, to throw into the mix as well. Also
interesting to note that there's not one but two union men on the
Board as well (Patrick O'Keeffe of Unite, and also Tony West, a former
Gen Sec of ASLEF and a long serving TfL Board member), though no Bob
Crow - if he was on it then they'd definitely need bouncers in
attendance

Boris also received £25,000 from Addison Lee for his election campaign,
which I'm sure has no bearing on his relations with the black cab trade.

There's also this 'news' website which reads very much as a cabbie's
front organisation:

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/bl...-c-23_141.html

Watching their changing attitude to Boris is instructive - they
obviously expected him to be much more amenable for some reason.

Tom

"plcd1" wrote:

On Jul 13, 5:24 pm, "Chris Read" wrote:

Three irrational reasons for disliking the bendy bus. But we are a
rational
nation, and now quite like the idea of a bus which swallows huge crowds,
has
easy access and a very good turn of speed. You wait for the moaning and
groaning when the Dennis Darts arrive on the 521.

I think you mean brand new dual door 12m Mercedes Citaros on the Red
Arrows - the first of which are apparently at Evobus in Coventry. I
don't expect to see a Dennis Dart anywhere near those routes.

The RV1 is supposed to be Citaro operated, isn't it? On very many occasions
when I observe RV1 buses at London Bridge, they are Darts of the Marshall
variety, or double deckers. Is this because the Citaros have proved
unreliable, or was the service level increased at some point, without an
accompanying new order for Citaros?

Chris

On Jul 14, 7:07*pm, Tom Barry wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

I hadn't realised that both the LTDA (through Bill Oddy, the General
Secretary) and also the minicab business - in the form of Steve
Wright, the Chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association - were
represented on the Board. That's most interesting. I wonder if Oddy is
at Wright's throat half the time! And yet they both have to force
themselves to be nice to the cycling Chairman of the Board, Boris
himself. Then there's the motorcycling Kulveer Ranger, Boris'
transport go to man at City Hall, to throw into the mix as well. Also
interesting to note that there's not one but two union men on the
Board as well (Patrick O'Keeffe of Unite, and also Tony West, a former
Gen Sec of ASLEF and a long serving TfL Board member), though no Bob
Crow - if he was on it then they'd definitely need bouncers in
attendance

Boris also received £25,000 from Addison Lee for his election campaign,
which I'm sure has no bearing on his relations with the black cab trade.

Most interesting... minor quibble - Addison Lee are a private hire
operator - a "minicab firm" if you will, though a rather upmarket one
at that - a word away from the typical somewhat decrepit minicab
office with a flashing orange light outside!


There's also this 'news' website which reads very much as a cabbie's
front organisation:

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/bl...-c-23_141.html

Watching their changing attitude to Boris is instructive - they
obviously expected him to be much more amenable for some reason.

Ha - an interesting observation! Not officially associated with any
trade body as far as I can see [1], but nonetheless seemingly
representing the cabbie's collective take on things. They haven't got
their way on pedicabs being banned/ licensed yet, for example!


-----
[1] Owned by IPM Media Monitoring, whoever they are - the domain
registration suggests it's some bloke in Southgate.
http://www.thelondondailynews.com/in...er-p-1205.html

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:50:40 +0100, "Chris Read"
wrote:


"plcd1" wrote:

On Jul 13, 5:24 pm, "Chris Read" wrote:

Three irrational reasons for disliking the bendy bus. But we are a
rational
nation, and now quite like the idea of a bus which swallows huge crowds,
has
easy access and a very good turn of speed. You wait for the moaning and
groaning when the Dennis Darts arrive on the 521.

I think you mean brand new dual door 12m Mercedes Citaros on the Red
Arrows - the first of which are apparently at Evobus in Coventry. I
don't expect to see a Dennis Dart anywhere near those routes.

The RV1 is supposed to be Citaro operated, isn't it? On very many occasions
when I observe RV1 buses at London Bridge, they are Darts of the Marshall
variety, or double deckers. Is this because the Citaros have proved
unreliable, or was the service level increased at some point, without an
accompanying new order for Citaros?

Yes the RV1 does get other types on it from time to time. However that
route is run by First London and what they do has no bearing on how
London General manage things. I don't know what the relative reliability
of vehicle types is for First. The frequency of the RV1 has been
unchanged since it started - a rare example of the same frequency
applying each day of the week, every 10 minutes throughout the day
except early mornings.

London General do not have Darts at either Waterloo or Mandela Way which
is where the Red Arrows will run from. I would therefore say that the
chance of anything non standard appearing on this routes is remote.
Might be fun if a route 453 bendy sneaked out one day - that does run
from Mandela Way so could turn up on the 521 or else the evening /
weekend service on the 507.

--
Paul C

Mizter T wrote:

attendance
Boris also received £25,000 from Addison Lee for his election campaign,
which I'm sure has no bearing on his relations with the black cab trade.

Most interesting... minor quibble - Addison Lee are a private hire
operator - a "minicab firm" if you will, though a rather upmarket one
at that - a word away from the typical somewhat decrepit minicab
office with a flashing orange light outside!


Basically the black cabbies appear to have assumed Boris and co., as
people more likely to travel by cab than public transport would see them
as the backbone of the capital and see their point of view on such
things as night buses (which have really annoyed them in recent years),
bendy buses, scrapping mid-year inspections, prioritising traffic over
pedestrians, banning pedicabs and so on. In other words, support a
protectionist attitude with the black cab remaining as a special case -
a conservative position, in fact.

Instead, Boris and co. appear to have gone the Thatcherite way, in which
minicabs in particular should be allowed to compete for trade and old
fashioned restrictive practices should be swept away. Hence the bizarre
sight of the RMT recruiting cab drivers into a union to fight for their
rights against the right wing free marketeers.

Of course, the free market approach benefits firms like Addison Lee who
are in a strong position to benefit from any relaxation of the rules of
plying for hire. I'm sure this had no bearing on their donation, of course.

On the TfL board, most of them never say anything - last time I watched
a webcast it was basically Steve Norris and Daniel Moylan who appeared
to be running the show, the latter in particular probably being the
originator of a large number of schemes to scrap bits of street
furniture under the bizarre naked streets obsession K&C council has had
for a while. Ealing and Hammersmith are also starting to do this with
the express support of TfL. There's actually a fairly clear line of
descent for this policy since Nicholas Ridley, which isn't something
that particularly recommends it too me, but the cabbies approve, no doubt.

Tom

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On Jul 14, 5:34 pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:18:25 -0700 (PDT), Mizter T
wrote:

On Jul 14, 12:39 pm, plcd1 wrote:

[snip]

It is going to be interested to see if the Red Arrows can run properly
at their much higher frequencies without ending up as 36m long
convoys. I expect people expecting the roads to be clearer might be a
bit disappointed.

Quite. We shall of course see how it works out. But if the
stereotypically red-faced cabbie thinks the roads are going to
suddenly be clear of all the other red things, he might well be
mistaken!

Given two of them are on the TfL Board some interesting questions might
be asked in "high places".

I hadn't realised that both the LTDA (through Bill Oddy, the General
Secretary) and also the minicab business - in the form of Steve
Wright, the Chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association - were
represented on the Board. That's most interesting. I wonder if Oddy is
at Wright's throat half the time! And yet they both have to force
themselves to be nice to the cycling Chairman of the Board, Boris
himself. Then there's the motorcycling Kulveer Ranger, Boris'
transport go to man at City Hall, to throw into the mix as well. Also
interesting to note that there's not one but two union men on the
Board as well (Patrick O'Keeffe of Unite, and also Tony West, a former
Gen Sec of ASLEF and a long serving TfL Board member), though no Bob
Crow - if he was on it then they'd definitely need bouncers in
attendance!

List of TfL Board Members:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/abou...cers/1432.aspx

Doen't any of them ride a horse??? )

On Jul 15, 8:15*am, "Ian" wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

I hadn't realised that both the LTDA (through Bill Oddy, the General
Secretary) and also the minicab business - in the form of Steve
Wright, the Chair of the Licensed Private Hire Car Association - were
represented on the Board. That's most interesting. I wonder if Oddy is
at Wright's throat half the time! And yet they both have to force
themselves to be nice to the cycling Chairman of the Board, Boris
himself. Then there's the motorcycling Kulveer Ranger, Boris'
transport go to man at City Hall, to throw into the mix as well. Also
interesting to note that there's not one but two union men on the
Board as well (Patrick O'Keeffe of Unite, and also Tony West, a former
Gen Sec of ASLEF and a long serving TfL Board member), though no Bob
Crow - if he was on it then they'd definitely need bouncers in
attendance

List of TfL Board Members:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/abou...cers/1432.aspx

Doen't any of them ride a horse??? )

Seems like the Equestrian commuter lobby obviously didn't donate
enough money to the Boris election campaign... they need to up their
profile somehow, there's hardly any facilities for horses on the roads
at the moment, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is
the horse crossing at Hyde Park Corner - see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianofthegrahams/3045891110/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrybloomfield/3306280265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninoxowl/3132046063/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catapultsam/506529510/

On Jul 15, 11:12*am, Mizter T wrote:

On Jul 15, 8:15*am, "Ian" wrote:

[snip stuff re TfL Board members]

Doen't any of them ride a horse??? * )

Seems like the Equestrian commuter lobby obviously didn't donate
enough money to the Boris election campaign... they need to up their
profile somehow, there's hardly any facilities for horses on the roads
at the moment, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is
the horse crossing at Hyde Park Corner - see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianofthegrahams/3045891110/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/henrybloomfield/3306280265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninoxowl/3132046063/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/catapultsam/506529510/

But there *are* more... and actually when I think about it, I think I
have indeed come across these south west London horse crossings in the
(horse)flesh before...

Wimbledon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicamulley/3439068052/
Richmond:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drscar/3214017311/

Also, Bell Lane near London Colney:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dansai/461808729/

Plus away from the big smoke, in the big rain - Stockport, up in
Greater Manchester (or 'ye olde Cheshire' for the traditionalists
amongst you!):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jacockshaw/3273140642/

And och aye the noo, here's one that going by the Flickr tags is
somewhere near Dundee:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/malky/525357502/

That last one almost looks as if it's crossing a busway of some sort -
can anyone work out where it is?

In article , (Tom
Barry) wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

attendance
Boris also received £25,000 from Addison Lee for his election
campaign, which I'm sure has no bearing on his relations with the
black cab trade.

Most interesting... minor quibble - Addison Lee are a private hire
operator - a "minicab firm" if you will, though a rather upmarket
one at that - a word away from the typical somewhat decrepit minicab
office with a flashing orange light outside!

Basically the black cabbies appear to have assumed Boris and co.,
as people more likely to travel by cab than public transport would
see them as the backbone of the capital and see their point of view
on such things as night buses (which have really annoyed them in
recent years), bendy buses, scrapping mid-year inspections,
prioritising traffic over pedestrians, banning pedicabs and so on.
In other words, support a protectionist attitude with the black cab
remaining as a special case - a conservative position, in fact.

Instead, Boris and co. appear to have gone the Thatcherite way, in
which minicabs in particular should be allowed to compete for
trade and old fashioned restrictive practices should be swept away.
Hence the bizarre sight of the RMT recruiting cab drivers into a
union to fight for their rights against the right wing free
marketeers.

Of course, the free market approach benefits firms like Addison Lee
who are in a strong position to benefit from any relaxation of the
rules of plying for hire. I'm sure this had no bearing on their
donation, of course.

On the TfL board, most of them never say anything - last time I
watched a webcast it was basically Steve Norris and Daniel Moylan
who appeared to be running the show, the latter in particular
probably being the originator of a large number of schemes to scrap
bits of street furniture under the bizarre naked streets obsession
K&C council has had for a while. Ealing and Hammersmith are also
starting to do this with the express support of TfL. There's
actually a fairly clear line of descent for this policy since
Nicholas Ridley, which isn't something that particularly recommends
it too me, but the cabbies approve, no doubt.

One of Nick Ridley's other gifts to the (out of London) cab trade was
delimitation which is not popular in Cambridge right now.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On 14 July, 13:47, Tom Barry wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:
I'd like the Routemasters to go over Tower Bridge,
but I can't see that happening.

What, with it open, like that stunt motorcyclist the other day? *Boris
would choke into his chicken feed!

Tom

An LT driver _did_ jump Tower Bridge in an RTL c.1950 as recently
featured in the Millar's Tales pages of Buses