Peter's blog

GLA Member Proposes End To LU Staff Cuts - Tories Walk Out Of Meeting

Greater London Authority member Valerie Shawcross has put forward a motion to end the job cuts at London Underground. When the meeting began only five of eleven elected Tory members were present. Three left when the motion regarding LU job cuts came to the agenda which meant there were not enough members at the meeting for it to continue.

It is reported that one Tory AM, when asked why they left the meeting, responded "because we couldn't be arsed".

Survey Suggests LGBT People Feel Unsafe on Public Transport

Research by several organisations across London has found that LGBT people fear for their safety on public transport including the tube and that there is a higher incident of assault - both verbal and physical - on public transport than there is in other public areas.

The British Transport Police state ‘For passengers, feeling safe is as important as being safe. The visible presence of rail staff, PCSOs and police officers can reduce the fear of crime dramatically.’

With these figures showing how LGBT people feel about travel on the underground, it should be considered that many LGBT people will feel more at risk of assault on the underground as staff cuts will inevitably mean the reduction of staff visibility.

London Assembly Tories' Plan For The Tube Without Train Drivers

The Conservative group on the London Assembly have sent a memo to Mayor Boris Johnson detailing how they believe an underground system without drivers would provide a world class mass transit system.

The conservative group believe the underground would be better with an increased number of faster trains, more customers but less staff (sound familiar?). They claim that the acquisition of Tube Lines by London Underground is the perfect time to ditch drivers.

Average Call to Oyster Help Line Takes Nearly 11 Minutes

A freedom of information request shows that it takes on average nearly 11 minutes to resolve a query for customers calling the Oyster Helpline.

Is this what TfL and LU see as staying true to their vision of world class customer service when discussing job cuts? Is 11 minutes on a telephone better service than a face to face chat with staff in a ticket office?

TfL Spends £7.8 Million On Five Buses, Whilst LU Dumps 800 Staff

TfL have spent £7.8 million pounds of a budget allocation of £15 million, to find a replacement for the Routemaster bus which was scrapped by the previous London Mayor Ken Livingstone, as it was inaccesible to many people.

This is at a time when 800 staff are being cut at LUL in a drive for ‘efficiency'.

'Notts Stop The BNP' Conference Report

Notts Stop The BNP held a conference in Nottingham to discuss how to counter the threat from the British National Party (BNP) and the English Defence League (EDL). The conference was organised with the support of Workers Liberty. There were Delegates from Stoke, Lincoln, Liverpool, Sheffield, Amber Valley, Birmingham, London and Nottingham - many of whom were members of local anti-fascist organisations, or unions. The RMT had a good turnout.

Three Thousand, Four Hundred And Eighty Six Reasons To Have Fully Staffed Ticket Offices

TfL have finally listed ticket fares on their website.

There are 3,486 variations.

If London Underground has it's way, customers will be left to figure out how much money they need to put on their Oyster Cards at ticket machines.

World class service from a world class ticket machine? Not when there are no staff to refill the machine there isn't.