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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Caroline Pidgeon*‘s Transport Newsletter: January 2012
February 1, 2012 4:47 PM
• [Jan 31]: THE New Year brings annual fare rises and you may have noticed this has become a political hot topic in London. The Government put extra money into London to reduce the fare rises slightly, but passengers have still faced significant fare rises, above inflation. Whilst the current Mayor is sticking to his line of inflation plus 2 % every year for fares, the Labour former Mayor is intent on claiming he can cut fares by 7 % from October, putting them up again by inflation in 2015 which just does not add up.
As Liberal Democrats we don't think either of these options is the right way forward. We have developed our fairer fares package, which targets reduced fares for those most in need. We would introduce a One Hour Bus Ticket allowing passengers to change bus as many times as they like within an hour and only pay one fare. We would bring in early bird fares, shifting the off peak period to 7.30 am to give reduced fares to those using Pay As You Go on the tube, TfL rail and the DLR. And we would introduce a Part Time Travelcard, for three days a week to ensure those people who work part time do not have to pay high peak fares for daily tickets.
Fare evasion was a staggering £63 million in 2010. This contributes to fare rises for everyone else. The Mayor delayed implementing his decision to increase fines for this and has blamed bendy buses as the main cause. However, I challenged the Mayor that his new bus for London, with three doors and a conductor who will not collect fares or check passes is effectively going to be the new 'free bus' in London. Our budget proposed additional officers on the transport network to bring down fare evasion.
2011 ended with a total of 16 tragic deaths of cyclists on London's roads, up from 10 the year before. I have worked with a number of victim's families and pushed the Mayor to review all dangerous junctions across the capital. After much pressure and a cross-party motion - we have succeeded and TfL is now carrying out a comprehensive review of dangerous junctions across London. We must ensure works are carried out as soon as possible to ensure that cyclists and pedestrians are far safer on our streets, and that trixi mirrors are rolled out at junctions on our red routes.
I continue to go out and about, meeting up with councillors, campaigners, local groups and residents to look at transport issues across the capital. From Sutton to Waltham Forest, Brent to Lewisham I have taken up a large number of transport issues over recent months. Details for each London Borough can be found at my website www.carolinepidgeon.org.
* Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on the London Assembly and London Transport Spokesperson
• Brian Paddick makes his 'fairer fares' pledge [Dave Hill's London blog Jan 10]
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