London: "Tube and Buses Never Better"
Jun 20th, 2007 | 06:43 AM
#1
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London: "Tube and Buses Never Better"
BBC carried a report on Mayor 'Red' Ken's congestion charge - now about $16/day to enter central London with a car during the day - Red wants to expand the area.
But what interested me was one obviously Red Ken supporter touting that 'London's buses and trains' are now better than ever due to the congestion charge pumping funds into the TfL system. (Assuming he meant Tube trains when he said trains and not the Overground, limited largely to southern London)
Well i've ridden London transports for three decades now and fail to see that the system is better than ever - though the money is often spent on things the casual tourist may not realize - the inevitable work on 'signalling' for example.
I'm not saying the Tube or buses are bad - to me they are still Europe's finest transit system but i would say not better than ever but now much more crowded, etc. Buses especially seem way more crowded as i guess Red's class system of making bus fares much cheaper than tube fares has resulted it seems in poorer folks being relegated to buses, middle class to tubes and the thick and rich can afford to pay the congestion charge and drive into central London.
Red Ken i believe takes the Tube to work.
And to think London will be adding 1,000,000 more residents within the decade i read and most of these types will be immigrants without resource to private cars and the system seems doomed to decline as even Paris type CrossRail underground rail lines which are needed it seems to relieve beleagured Tube lines never seem to be realized and except the new extenstion of the Jubilee Line, meant mainly to serve business types in the Canary Wharf area it seems, there seems no real extension of the system.
Even the evergreen tram schemes - the north south one seem to exist mainly on paper.
So are the 'buses and trains' better than ever and is this due to the congestion charge? (Or was it the work of Keiley, Red Ken's handpicked saviour of the Tube, plucked from NY after the American straightened out that system?)
But what interested me was one obviously Red Ken supporter touting that 'London's buses and trains' are now better than ever due to the congestion charge pumping funds into the TfL system. (Assuming he meant Tube trains when he said trains and not the Overground, limited largely to southern London)
Well i've ridden London transports for three decades now and fail to see that the system is better than ever - though the money is often spent on things the casual tourist may not realize - the inevitable work on 'signalling' for example.
I'm not saying the Tube or buses are bad - to me they are still Europe's finest transit system but i would say not better than ever but now much more crowded, etc. Buses especially seem way more crowded as i guess Red's class system of making bus fares much cheaper than tube fares has resulted it seems in poorer folks being relegated to buses, middle class to tubes and the thick and rich can afford to pay the congestion charge and drive into central London.
Red Ken i believe takes the Tube to work.
And to think London will be adding 1,000,000 more residents within the decade i read and most of these types will be immigrants without resource to private cars and the system seems doomed to decline as even Paris type CrossRail underground rail lines which are needed it seems to relieve beleagured Tube lines never seem to be realized and except the new extenstion of the Jubilee Line, meant mainly to serve business types in the Canary Wharf area it seems, there seems no real extension of the system.
Even the evergreen tram schemes - the north south one seem to exist mainly on paper.
So are the 'buses and trains' better than ever and is this due to the congestion charge? (Or was it the work of Keiley, Red Ken's handpicked saviour of the Tube, plucked from NY after the American straightened out that system?)
Jun 20th, 2007 | 07:11 AM
#2
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"And to think London will be adding 1,000,000 more residents within the decade i read and most of these types will be immigrants without resource to private cars and the system seems doomed to decline"
Are you suggesting that if a million more people came to London with cars, the system would cope?
Are you suggesting that if a million more people came to London with cars, the system would cope?
Jun 20th, 2007 | 07:51 AM
#4
Joined: Jun 2006
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Pal, if you want to ponder about the adequacy of transportation why don't you consider blogging about the fact that the international airport serving the so-called "most powerful nation on earth" still doesn't have a rail link to the city.
The one that is "planned" is currently bogged down in a dispute about whether or not it should have an elevated or excavated segment to get it through a major shopping center area.
And, amazingly enough, there aren't even any Communists or "red" anybodys (except ink) involved!
The one that is "planned" is currently bogged down in a dispute about whether or not it should have an elevated or excavated segment to get it through a major shopping center area.
And, amazingly enough, there aren't even any Communists or "red" anybodys (except ink) involved!
Jun 20th, 2007 | 09:01 AM
#5
Joined: May 2005
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See Ken has sold the running of trains around London to the Chinese
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=964832007
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=964832007
Jun 20th, 2007 | 09:01 AM
#6
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 19,881
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