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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Caroline Pidgeon's transport newsletter: August 2011
August 13, 2011 11:12 AM
• [Aug 08] Caroline Pidgeon* writes: THIS is the summer edition of my quarterly transport newsletter, highlighting some of the key transport issues I have been looking into and championing at the London Assembly.
At the end of July, the big announcement from the Mayor has been the extension of the bike hire scheme. Whilst completely supportive of cycle hire, I have to question the logic of where it is being expanded and the lack of transparency over the sponsorship deal with Barclays. I know many parts of London desperately want the scheme extended but they seem to be at the back of the queue. I have written a detailed letter to the Mayor asking serious questions about the plans and sponsorship deal.
I was shocked to uncover with some London bloggers that the Mayor slipped through a mid-year fare increase to around 80,000 passengers. This underhand fare rise of around 5% was due to TfL miscalculating some of the discounted fares for passengers with railcards. Given the huge increases in fares across London, it is extraordinary that TfL thought they could simply slip this increase out without telling passengers!
I have continued to support the work of the London Cycling Campaign and cyclists across the capital to tackle the high number of accidents and fatalities that face cyclists on London's roads. London faces an especially serious problem with accidents involving collisions between lorries and cyclists at junctions.
A recent question I asked the Mayor revealed that in 2009 six cyclists were killed on London's roads in accidents involving a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), and with a further two cyclists killed in accidents involving a refuse lorry and a cement mixer. In 2010 there were two cyclists killed in accidents involving vehicles and two further two fatal collisions including a skip lorry and a cement truck. Better training for lorry drivers and trixi mirrors at key junctions are essential to ensure cyclists are safer on our streets.
• The "Big Switch"
Lib Dem Assembly Members were joined by the Secretary of State for energy and climate change, Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP at the launch of the Big Switch plan, to turn London's taxis and buses electric by 2020.
The plan has been developed by Mike Tuffrey AM and myself to cut London's appalling air pollution, dramatically reduce premature deaths and ill health, and help meet climate change targets.
With electric vehicles emitting no exhaust pollution, turning London's buses, taxis and commercial LGV fleets electric will reduce the air pollution suffered by Londoners by an estimated 25% - and even more in central London, with a 65% cut in dangerous nitrogen dioxide emissions in Oxford Street. Wider benefits include a reduction in CO2 emissions of over 300,000 tonnes, far quieter streets and cheaper running costs, helping make public transport more affordable.
New electric taxis are now coming onto the market, yet TfL provides no encouragement for taxi drivers to purchase them, despite big savings on running costs. Electric taxis are good for the lungs of Londoners and will protect taxi drivers from sky high fuel prices in the years ahead.
Please do have a look at our detailed, costed proposals and let us know what you think.
* Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and London Transport Spokesperson
• Keep in touch
You can keep in touch with Caroline Pidgeon by:
Website: www.carolinepidgeon.org and www.glalibdems.org.uk
Email: caroline.pidgeon@london.gov.uk
Twitter: @CarolinePidgeon
To subscribe to our regular Lib Dem GLA e-mails, contact: assemblynews@lists.libdems.org.uk
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