Western Extension Scrapped
 

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements, hello
happy petrolheads.

Tom

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

"Tom Barry" wrote ...
Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop.
Back to all day queues at Kensington Church Street.
Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!
--

Andrew

Interviewer: Tonight I'm interviewing that famous nurse, Florence
Nightingale
Tommy Cooper (dressed as a nurse): Sir Florence Nightingale
Interviewer: *Sir* Florence Nightingale?
Tommy Cooper: I'm a Night Nurse

Campaign For The Real Tommy Cooper

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:
"Tom Barry" wrote ...
Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop.
Back to all day queues at Kensington Church Street.
Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.


I'll make a point of not going to Kensington for my shopping, anyway.

The current scheme stays until 2010, for legal reasons, by the way.

Tom

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

"Tom Barry" wrote ...
I'll make a point of not going to Kensington for my shopping, anyway.
The current scheme stays until 2010, for legal reasons, by the way.

Could be a fun couple of years; I know several 'western extension' people
who loathed the congestion charge, hated Ken, and vowed to go to prison
rather than pay, etc., etc.,

But once it happened, and they realised they got a reduction, free access to
the old zone, etc., they learned to love it. Really love it.

Even Boris' BlunderBuses won't deliver the goods now - they'll really need
that open rear platform, as they'll never reach the bus stops!
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements, hello
happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central London, i'm
happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged from driving into my
bit of the city, and quite content to watch them stew in their own juice
in theirs.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd like
to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but there's no
prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to come out of the
budgets for public transport, cycling, and black lesbian mime groups or
whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

tom

--
I now have a problem with tomorrow. -- Graham

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

"Tom Anderson" wrote ...
There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd like
to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but there's no
prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to come out of the
budgets for public transport, cycling, and black lesbian mime groups or
whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

Black lesbian mime is *ok* this week; perhaps TfL could simply axe the buses
they added for the western expansion (they won't be able to move, anyway!).
That would be much of it.

But I wouldn't count on Boris not raising the CC charge; 2010 is a long time
after his election, after all.
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

Andrew Heenan wrote:
"Tom Barry" wrote ...
I'll make a point of not going to Kensington for my shopping, anyway.
The current scheme stays until 2010, for legal reasons, by the way.


Even Boris' BlunderBuses won't deliver the goods now - they'll really need
that open rear platform, as they'll never reach the bus stops!

I'm pretty sure the consultation was flawed, too, since there were two
sets of results announced achieved by two different methods and they're
not even close to each other on the same question (slight majority
against abolition on the second one, overwhelming support on the first one).

Boris preferred the results of the larger survey size, which I gather
was achieved by people being sufficiently concerned to write in. I've
no idea whether any consideration was made to weighting this statistically.

Actually, one council, Hammersmith and Fulham, did urge its residents to
write in and support abolition, which in itself rather biases it - I'm
not sure if the retention camp could call upon similar public resources.

I'd also be interested in whether that's considered to be an acceptable
method of consultation for the statutory hoops that now have to be gone
through.

Oh, and finally, there was a strong majority at consultation in favour
of the Cross River Tram, and look where that went, and there's no
consultation on bendy buses at all.

Tom

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

"Tom Barry" wrote ...
I'd also be interested in whether that's considered to be an acceptable
method of consultation for the statutory hoops that now have to be gone
through.

I don't think there's any rules; he said he'd consult - indeed, was careful
to avoid any commitment to democratic consultation (eg local referendum).
He's consulted the Evening Standard and Andrew Gilligan - what else matters?

Oh, and finally, there was a strong majority at consultation in favour of
the Cross River Tram, and look where that went, and there's no
consultation on bendy buses at all.

Perzakkerly!
Mind you, the bendy bus ban was a manifesto commitment, so for good or ill,
no consulation was ever even considered (except Evening Standard and Andrew
Gilligan, of course!).

We (not me personally) voted for Boris; and that's exactly what we've got.
I'll take the good with the bad. Trouble is, he hasn't come up with the
good, yet.
--
Andrew
seo2seo.com
sick-site-syndrome.com

"When 'Do no Evil' has been understood, then learn the harder, braver rule,
Do Good." ~ Arthur Guiterman

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

Western extension: Londoners have spoken and the Mayor has listened

[Please note, this is NOT the whole press release; rather than just read my
selection, follow the link below!]

'As a Mayor that keeps his promises I am instructing Transport for London to
begin work on the process of a formal consultation on the removal of the
Western Extension.

'One thing every body should be assured of is my determination to make it
easier for Londoners to get around our great city

'Transport for London is working on a series of measures aimed at easing
congestion and smoothing traffic flow, which include rephasing traffic
signals and cracking down hard on the chaos caused by badly-planned road
works.

'They are also setting up a task force with external experts to review
further ways in which traffic flows can be smoothed.



Removing the scheme
A third supported changing the way that the scheme operates.

A draft revision to the Mayor's Transport Strategy reflecting his intention
to remove the Western Extension will be the subject of a 12-week statutory
public and stakeholder consultation scheduled for summer 2009.

Following this, TfL would also need to consult the public and stakeholders
on a variation to the Congestion Charging Scheme Order to formally remove
the Western Extension.

The Western Extension cannot be removed until these statutory consultation
procedures have been concluded and the Mayor has taken into account the
views expressed in the consultations and decided whether or not to confirm
his decision.

The earliest that the extension could be removed is spring 2010.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...tre/10590.aspx

Western Extension Scrapped
 

"Tom Barry" wrote in message
...
Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements, hello
happy petrolheads.

Tom
--------------------------------
What a terrible waste of public funds this all is, Ken livingnazi & his
loyal gang of thugs should arrested & hauled in front of the courts &
jailed for life.

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

On Nov 27, 2:34*pm, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:
"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements, hello
happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central London, i'm
happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged from driving into my
bit of the city, and quite content to watch them stew in their own juice
in theirs.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd like
to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but there's no
prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to come out of the
budgets for public transport, cycling, and black lesbian mime groups or
whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

I was never really in favour of the congestion charge, although I was
in favour of what it was trying to achieve, ie stop selfish people in
cars from clogging the streets. Trouble was that it was a bit
indiscriminate in who it affected.

But I saw a news item with totally spurious complaints from
campaigners against the charge.

Like one owner of a takeaway saying that people didn't drive there
because of the charge, but what time of day do people drive to
takeways?

And even sillier, people claiming that it was stopping people going to
Portobello Road market. Were they seriously claiming that everyone
should drive there and park in the area (or ever did)?

Interesting thought that people who had paid that charge would then
continue to central London. I hadn't thought of that, but it might
improve things if it wasn't for all the roadworks that are making bus
travel impossible at the moment.

Western Extension Scrapped
 

"RobWilton" wrote
--------------------------------
What a terrible waste of public funds this all is, Ken ...
...jailed for life.

What a nice, reasonable chap. *plonk*

Western Extension Scrapped
 

"Actually, one council, Hammersmith and Fulham, did urge its residents
to
write in and support abolition, which in itself rather biases it -
I'm
not sure if the retention camp could call upon similar public
resources. "

As a resident of that Borough, I was not aware that the council has
urged that course of action on us, but I am glad that they did, and I
certainly voted for the abolition of the Extension: maybe it's
selfish, but this has something to do with not wanting Wandsworth
Bridge Road jammed up all day with traffic by-passing the Extension!

Marc.

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central London,
i'm happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged from driving
into my bit of the city, and quite content to watch them stew in
their own juice in theirs.

Stew in what juice? Most of the extension was ridiculously quiet before the
CC was extended.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd
like to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but
there's no prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to
come out of the budgets for public transport, cycling, and black
lesbian mime groups or whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

Yeah, that cycle-hating *******.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...ke_667500n.jpg
http://themotorreport.com.au/wp-cont...ing-a-bike.jpg
http://www.everydaycycling.com/web/M...ON_BIKE_DR.JPG
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...is-johnson.jpg
http://www.marinbikes.com/cms/_image...in-bike_v2.jpg

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

In article
, MIG
writes

And even sillier, people claiming that it was stopping people going to
Portobello Road market. Were they seriously claiming that everyone
should drive there and park in the area (or ever did)?

I did, when I lived in, er, Marylebone.

In any case, the market's main day is Saturday when no charge applies.
--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

On 28 Nov, 11:29, congokid wrote:
In article
, MIG
writes

And even sillier, people claiming that it was stopping people going to
Portobello Road market. *Were they seriously claiming that everyone
should drive there and park in the area (or ever did)?

I did, when I lived in, er, Marylebone.

In any case, the market's main day is Saturday when no charge applies.

Indeed, making the complaint that much more spurious.

I suspect that many people who claim that they've lost business due to
the charge will find that they were losing business anyway.

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008, John Rowland wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central London,
i'm happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged from driving
into my bit of the city, and quite content to watch them stew in
their own juice in theirs.

Stew in what juice? Most of the extension was ridiculously quiet before the
CC was extended.

Er, well, steam in their own juice then. You need less of it.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd
like to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but
there's no prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to
come out of the budgets for public transport, cycling, and black
lesbian mime groups or whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

Yeah, that cycle-hating *******.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...ke_667500n.jpg
http://themotorreport.com.au/wp-cont...ing-a-bike.jpg
http://www.everydaycycling.com/web/M...ON_BIKE_DR.JPG
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...is-johnson.jpg
http://www.marinbikes.com/cms/_image...in-bike_v2.jpg

Oh, he rides a bike. That means his policies must be good for cyclists.

Oh no, wait.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...-boris-johnson
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3613
http://www.channel4.com/news/article...gerous/1829747

And i have yet to hear a peep out of him about reducing the danger posed
by HGVs.

Still, here's a splendid article by the Great Helmsman:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...mment.politics

Apparently bendies are "odious, inhuman, socialistic 18-metre Frankfurter
buses". Perhaps he thinks that they're inherently communist because
they're red? Oh, and "the greatest menace, much more lethal than the
motorcar, is the catatonically oblivious pedestrian, in particular the
foreign tourist". He's right, of course, pedestrians kill and injure far
more cyclists than motor vehicles.

Oh no, wait.

tom

PS Apologies for the number of Grauniad links, by the way.

--
Would you like to remember more?

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Fri, 28 Nov 2008, John Rowland wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central
London, i'm happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged
from driving into my bit of the city, and quite content to watch
them stew in their own juice in theirs.

Stew in what juice? Most of the extension was ridiculously quiet
before the CC was extended.

Er, well, steam in their own juice then. You need less of it.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd
like to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but
there's no prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to
come out of the budgets for public transport, cycling, and black
lesbian mime groups or whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

Yeah, that cycle-hating *******.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...ke_667500n.jpg
http://themotorreport.com.au/wp-cont...ing-a-bike.jpg
http://www.everydaycycling.com/web/M...ON_BIKE_DR.JPG
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...is-johnson.jpg
http://www.marinbikes.com/cms/_image...in-bike_v2.jpg

Oh, he rides a bike. That means his policies must be good for
cyclists.
Oh no, wait.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...-boris-johnson
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3613
http://www.channel4.com/news/article...gerous/1829747

count to ten and calm down

You accused him of hating cyclists. I pointed out that since he is a cyclist
himself, he probably doesn't. You suggested that since he hasn't devoted all
his time and all his budget to putting cyclists before everyone else, he
obviously does. You are quite wrong. Very wrong. Extremely wrong. In fact,
since feminists use the word "misogynist" to describe anyone who thinks that
maybe people who are not women matter too, and you use the word
"cyclist-hater" to describe anyone who thinks that maybe people who are not
cyclists matter too, you are as wrong as a feminist, and it isn't really
possible to get much wronger than that.

For years space has been taken away from all other people and given to
cyclists. While that was appropiate at some point, it couldn't continue for
ever or the entire earth would be a cycle path. Deciding that the time to
stop the process has been reached now does not make you a cyclist hater.

Western Extension Scrapped [Congestion Charging]
 

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008, John Rowland wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Fri, 28 Nov 2008, John Rowland wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Andrew Heenan wrote:

"Tom Barry" wrote ...

Boris to announce today. Bye bye public transport improvements,
hello happy petrolheads.

Happy for a week or two. Then the penny will drop. Back to all day
queues at Kensington Church Street. Hoist With Their Own Petar.

Plus more income (and less congestion) in the original zone.

Lager and crisps all round!

Quite. As a resident of northeast London who works in central
London, i'm happy that inner-west Londoners will be discouraged
from driving into my bit of the city, and quite content to watch
them stew in their own juice in theirs.

Stew in what juice? Most of the extension was ridiculously quiet
before the CC was extended.

Er, well, steam in their own juice then. You need less of it.

There is talk of a loss of 70 million in charge revenue, though. I'd
like to see this made up by increasing the central charge, but
there's no prospect of that happening, so i suppose it'll have to
come out of the budgets for public transport, cycling, and black
lesbian mime groups or whoever it is that Boris hates this week.

Yeah, that cycle-hating *******.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph...ke_667500n.jpg
http://themotorreport.com.au/wp-cont...ing-a-bike.jpg
http://www.everydaycycling.com/web/M...ON_BIKE_DR.JPG
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/20...is-johnson.jpg
http://www.marinbikes.com/cms/_image...in-bike_v2.jpg

Oh, he rides a bike. That means his policies must be good for cyclists.
Oh no, wait.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...-boris-johnson
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3613
http://www.channel4.com/news/article...gerous/1829747

count to ten and calm down

Appreciated!

You accused him of hating cyclists.

Actually, i didn't. The "whoever it is that Boris hates this week" was
attached only to the "black lesbian mime groups", which was itself a
tongue-in-cheek reference to the sort of thing Ken was perenially accused
of wasting money on by the Tories, who presumably did not approve of this.
Apologies for any confusion caused.

I pointed out that since he is a cyclist himself, he probably doesn't.

Agreed. I have no reason to think he hates cyclists.

You suggested that since he hasn't devoted all his time and all his
budget to putting cyclists before everyone else, he obviously does.

That's not what i meant at all. My point was merely that the fact that he
rides a bike himself doesn't automatically mean his policies are good for
cyclists.

You are quite wrong. Very wrong. Extremely wrong. In fact, since
feminists use the word "misogynist" to describe anyone who thinks that
maybe people who are not women matter too, and you use the word
"cyclist-hater" to describe anyone who thinks that maybe people who are
not cyclists matter too, you are as wrong as a feminist, and it isn't
really possible to get much wronger than that.

Noted.

For years space has been taken away from all other people and given to
cyclists. While that was appropiate at some point, it couldn't continue
for ever or the entire earth would be a cycle path. Deciding that the
time to stop the process has been reached now does not make you a
cyclist hater.

As far as i'm concerned, as long as there is any road space in inner
London that is not purely for the use of buses and cycles, it hasn't gone
far enough.

tom

--
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.