London Banter - View Single Post

Dave Arquati · March 4th 05, 11:19 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
Well, clearly the full question *wasn't* heard clearly where I and a
colleague were sitting (L/H at rear), since we both reached the same
assumption that the full implications weren't mentioned.

The question was clearly worded on the screen. The person reading it out
may have faffed around a little - I was reading rather than listening to
him. I accept that some people in the audience may have been relying on
hearing rather than looking, but for the majority who could see the
screen, the question was clear.

How are people required to start around 0700-0730 going to get to work
on Sunday mornings? Frankly, employers are not going to be interested
in how they get there and despite ken's exhortation that "buses are
getting better" they are *not* a viable alternative for people living
in the suburbs.

How do people currently required to start around 0600-0630 get to work
on Sunday mornings? I suspect night bus hours will be shifted to
compensate for the loss of the Tube; as for them being a viable
alternative, they seem to manage out to the suburbs every night of the
week. However, the demand is much higher at 0100 than 0600, so letting
the Tube take the strain seems like a sensible proposal.

As for the Infracos holding London to ransom, even if I don't think
Livingstone a particular good example to quote, I'll settle for
Christian Wolmar, Simon Jenkins and Peter Ford to start with. Also, the
Infracos moaned like hell recently when LU cancelled 'engineering
hours' to allow sleet trains to run, despite heavy snow being forecast.
Clearly, it was better for them to carry out maintenance work at night
on lines, and risk no service operating in the morning, and then pay
the penalty charges (capped after a certain time), instead of
postponing such activities and ensure lines were kept ice-free for
passenger trains.

Engineering time would still be required regardless of whether we had
infracos or not. Whether infracos are inefficient or poor value is a
completely different discussion.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London