"Mizter T" wrote in message
oups.com...
Paul Weaver wrote:

Kev wrote:
How come Ken Livingstone, the great environmentalist is allowed to get
away with dumping tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Couldn't he have
linked into this by video conferencing. That is what we are encouraged
to do .

Ken often delivers the opposite of what he preaches, hence massive
congestion as he throws more and more buses into London, and they end
up nose-to-tail for miles on end.

I fundamentally disagree with that. The bus service has improved
dramatically since his reforms, services are now far more reliable and
frequent.

What reforms? Piles and piles of cash have been thrown at TfL bus services
thanks to chunky government grants (so they can persuade everyone the whole
Mayoral/GLA thing is working) and debts run up by TfL themselves. Unless
you're saying he's such a strong personality he can extract more money out
of central Govt than anyone else? I suppose the Kengestion Charge has
helped with additional funds for public transport, but I believe they are
small in comparison to the overall spend. Anyone who has been given such a
large amount of cash for spending on buses would've made them more reliable
and frequent, I wager.

For many people going by bus is now a good alternative to
taking the car, not least as good bus services open up the rest of the
public transport network to those not in the immediate proximity to a
station.

Maybe in some parts of the TfL network but I wouldn't agree with that in
Bexley. The only time I use a bus is when I take my car in for servicing
and have to get home and, although reliable and fairly frequent, they are in
an absolutely appalling state; smelly, dirty, defaced, graffiti over the
windows and other interior services. A really squalid form of transport
thanks to rampant teenage vandalism that TfL quite clearly do not care too
much about or they'd be doing a hell of a lot more about it. I am sick and
tired of the operators bleating "we haven't got the money to add a conductor
or replace the windows when they've been scratched" and then reveal profits
of millions every year.

Occasionally there are bus jams - but the increase in buses on the
streets is IMO a very good thing - and it hasn't created "massive
congestion". Road congestion existed beforehand, and is probably
inevitable at certain pinch points.

I would say, however, that I see loads of busses traversing Bexley at night
that are in-service but completey empty (while chucking out loads of
combusted diesel fumes). This is a complete waste - for such small numbers
in the evenings it would probably be less polluting and cheaper to run a
taxi service and actually take people to their door ;-)

Ken deliveres on what he preaches far more than most other politicians.

Quite possibly.

He'll get my vote again next time.

If he stands...

Nick