|
|
Other Topics
Topic has 76 replies.
  
|
|
Sort Posts:
|
|
|
|
 04/05/2008, 9:40
|
You can call me Betty
 
Joined on 23/08/2004
Beaver-Free Zone
Posts 954
|
|
|
 Quillan wrote: | |
Looking forward to the political comment this morning on the Politics show to see what they have to say. Having read a few of the 'morning after' article's perhaps it was not just the link between Ken and Gordon that was Kens downfall. There seems to be a state of apathy involved especially when you consider 55% of the registered electorate could see little point in getting out and voting.
|
|
Interesting observation, Quillan. Especially since it is widely acknowledged that the turnout for this particular election is approximately double that for the last two mayoral elections. Which, IMO, tends to suggest that whoever was going to win, people have realised that perhaps it was apathy that helped seal the results of the previous two elections.
Incidentally "Why not introduce school buses?" Well, one argument put forward by Ken Livingstone on a radio interview only a few days ago seems quite sensible......Imagine clogging up parts of London just that little bit more at peak times, with buses that ordinary commuters can't get on, and spending money on acquiring buses that are only effectively going to be used for a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon. There are something in the region of 2600 state schools in London, plus any number of private ones. That'd really encourage people back onto public transport, wouldn't it? And I would happily have allowed both my children to use a "walking bus" if they had been up for getting up at 5 in order to walk the 4 or so miles to school............
In the year 2159
If man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find................
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 10:32
|
Quillan
Joined on 23/08/2004
Forum Moderator
Posts 3,576
|
|
|
|
|
School Buses - You don't have to buy them yourself, you do a deal with the private bus companies so that they can use ordinary bus's to take the kids to school and then once dropped off can carry one transporting ordinary people about.
Somebody on TV pointed out that the number of 'school runs' has actually increased now in London because parents are more worried about lack of policing coupled with (over) sensationalism in the media about youths stabbing other youths that older children (12/14+) are being taken to school by private cars. If you wanted to be generous and say each car takes two children (many take only one) then by using a bus that takes typically 40 kids then that 20 cars off the road at peak time, less roads blocked by cars dropping kids off, easier for people to get around, better on the environment (that Ken cares so much about), is not such a bad thing.
"Walking Bus" - When I have seen it in action the kids are outside their house waiting for it to arrive. I don't think it is used for 4 mile 'runs' probably a mile at most. In our case it just went round the village and collected about 40 kids on each 'bus'. It's good for the kids as well what with schools being forced to sell off playing fields, at least it means they get a certain amount of healthy exercise every day.
http://www.chambresdhote.com
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 11:57
|
You can call me Betty
Joined on 23/08/2004
Beaver-Free Zone
Posts 954
|
|
|
|
Sorry, but I can't see the logic of flooding the roads with buses which, after all, won't be able to take kids from their front door to school - London just isn't that simple - at a time when ordinary commuters are (supposedly) being encouraged to take buses to work.You'd need hundreds and hundreds of routes for this to be a convenient and easy method for transporting kids to the number of schools we're talking about. Neither school buses nor ordinary buses will be able to benefit from bus lanes if they're choked with extra traffic, and the only significant benefit would be in removing many of the little fragile flowers, whose parents are so worried about them, from transport being used by people who are old enough to have learned how to behave in public. There's been enough flak concerning the upset, inconvenience and violence shown to ordinary passengers by schoolkids on buses since they were all given free Oyster cards..............................And it's all very well saying that the bus companies could buy additional buses, but what's their incentive to do so?? So they can run them practically empty on little used routes from 9.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.??????
In the year 2159
If man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find................
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 18:45
|
Quillan
Joined on 23/08/2004
Forum Moderator
Posts 3,576
|
|
|
|
| You can call me Betty wrote: | |
It's been a while since you lived in London (or anywhere near it), hasn't it, Quillan? ![Smile [:)]](/cs/images/emotions/smile.gif) .
Seriously, it's a piece of cake being an armchair politician and fixing London's transport problems at a stroke from the comfort of sunny France. It really, really isn't that simple. And I am speaking not just as an armchair politician. My husband ( you're gonna love this) happens to work for TFL.
|
|
Your right it's a long time, 8 years but I visit and my daughter lives and works there and would love to meet people like your husband and his mates, so would many other commuters. I wonder what will happen to TFL under Boris, a few heads for the chop or 'reassignment' to 'other' places. Nothing personal intended.
The problem is these policy makers don't live in the real world plus it's common knowledge (and has been mentioned many times on TV like Friday, Saturday and today being the most recent) that transport and policing were controlled directly by Ken, he said, they jumped. This is the problem when you have career politicians involved in these sort of issues. Things get made very murky and complicated when often the answers are very simple and just require some common sense. Some of the transport issues in London are very simple to cure. The real issue with London transport and London policing. like many other things, is that it's the policy makers who operate from armchairs with no concern for those who use the system. They need to be reminded that they are servants of the people and should listen to their wants and needs and not to the politicians. Something Gordon has just discovered judging by what he said on TV today but it's now a bit too late.
http://www.chambresdhote.com
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 19:23
|
You can call me Betty
Joined on 23/08/2004
Beaver-Free Zone
Posts 954
|
|
|
|
|
I'm sure MOH would be thrilled to meet anyone who thinks he's in any way responsible for London's transport problems, just to disabuse them of that erroneous thought!!! However, he's fortunate in not being involved in the political machinations, just the mammoth task of enhancing capacity on an already overstretched transport infrastructure. And I can assure you, he lives in the real world. It's a real world that has meant we've been unable to take a holiday together since last August, that has meant this Bank Holiday weekend is the first one he hasn't worked since before Christmas (and he's worked the others 24/24) and he'd probably love to consult with you over these simple, common-sense answers that you appear to have at your fingetips. In fact. so would I, if it means it'll restore some normality to my family life, which is set to continue on the same course until 2010, or he has a heart attack, whichever comes first.
In the year 2159
If man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find................
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 19:24
|
Ron Avery
Joined on 29/11/2004
Posts 3,099
|
|
|
|
|
Corr I haven’t read so much inaccurate rubbish since the last time I read an Evening Standard on the train cut into strips and hanging on a hook in the toilet. I don't want to spoil a good yarn with facts Nectarine but you said "They couldn't drive in to London - why not vans are not banned from London.
and suburban train services can be patchy in the evenings and at weekends) not sure what that has to do with van man doesn’t he work in the day? But anyway, perhaps the next time you see your white van man you can tell him the Congestion charge does not actually apply in the evening or at weekends
From TfL site" You do not have to pay the charge on weekends, English public holidays, designated non-charging days, or between 18:00 and 07:00"
Livingstone did not beat van man around the head, or ban him from central London, he was never going to use the bus or train anyway, he just told him if you want to come into central London and pollute the streets and air, then pay for it or go around London on the M25 or up Park lane.
Too right Betty, Quillan is another one who is short on facts and woefully out of date, if he wasn't he would know that there are as many buses on the road in the Capital now than since the bus strike in 1958, and all put in place before the congestion charge was put in, plus many special school buses on many routes in London, which had been the situation around the capital for many years.
Of course all those shops have really gone out of business due to the congestion charge, those lines of cars parking outside on yellow lines on their way through London to work buying their papers and groceries have been forced to go elsewhere, or had use the bus or tube. Of course the downturn in retail has nothing to do with a drop in retail sales across the whole country and the fact that many of those shops were just uncompetitive and out dated and been priced out of the market by Tesco Metros, far easier to blame the congestion charge, which by the way Boris Johnson has said he will keep. So why did van man want to vote for the Mayor exactly?
Quillan, why people at TfL should lose their jobs just because there is a new Mayor is beyond me, why should they? What exactly have they done that warrants the sack of generally hard working and conscientious people whose overall policies and finances were dictated by City Hall?
It was not so long ago that a certain candidate to be Mayor told everybody that the Directors of London Underground were totally incompetent and he would sack them all if he became Mayor, well he did and he didn’t, only two left, both for better positions, perhaps they were doing a good job after all.
Driven away by an idiot
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
04/05/2008, 22:42
|
brianagain
Joined on 08/11/2007
Somerset
Posts 33
|
|
|
|
A French perspective: "le trublion* conservateur" is how Boris is described on the front page of today's Figaro.
What can they mean?
Brian (again)
* trublion = troublemaker (in Larousse) or maybe true blue lion?
|
|
|
|
|
Report
|
|
|
|
|
France Forum » General Discuss... » Other Topics » New London Mayor
|
|
|
|