Westminster Council to charge for bike spaces

I struggle to understand your comments as virtually every bus service
has had some form of improvement over the last few years. As you are in
Metroline land (if I've read between the lines properly) you might have
suffered as a result of some of their recent poor performance. Not sure
why they got worse but the performance stats haven't been good on a fair
slice of their services. What are your local services?

The other point to make is that the bus network overall is carrying much
higher numbers of passengers than when Ken took over. Now OK it's cost a
lot of money in terms of subsidy (most from central government and not
the precept) but it's a better service and helping London to function as
a City. The only downside that is becoming apparent is that some routes
that are very popular are starting to "creak" a little and there is not
the money around to maintain the former speed of improvement although
there has been a recent spurt of beneficial changes since October and
lots more planned through to next Summer.

These sorts of issues don't bother me at all. A fair proportion of
politicians make foreign trips for all sorts of reasons and while I am
not a fan of taxis I can see how it might be difficult to keep to Ken's
schedule if he had to go everywhere by bus and tube and shank's pony. I
can see the advantage of using cabs where time is valuable and you
really do need door to door transport. Would you prefer he had an
official limo instead?

I do detect a strong "I hate Ken" line from you which is almost worthy
of the Daily Mail. I don't think your politics are quite in line with
those of Associated Newspapers so I find your dissent even more
noteworthy. He's an astute politician and at least has been brave
enough to try things like the congestion charge, has fought to get
strong and sustained government funding for rail improvements and
recognises the need to have plans for a city like London. There's been
less "lunacy" than there was in GLC days. I'd say that's a big
improvement on where we were before there was a Mayoralty.

 

Comfrey?

If they don't I will dig up a bit from our garden and pot it up. So
dormant at the moment I don't want to disturb it and not exactly sure of
the location until the new growth starts a bit.


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Urm, let me see - 245, 316, 232, 266, 32, 632 and N16. Is that Metroline?
It's been the 316 and 245 that are a pain - especilaly the 316 which is very
difficult to get on in rush hour and infrequnt outside then. If you get on
a 245, you have to change. The alternaitve to using them is to walk about a
mile to past Crickleoowd Garage. Or change busses. The other problem is that
we *used* to have a bus service that ran all the way to Victoria. Now, you
have to change, which is a pain and an extra cost, even with Oyster. It's
absurdly messy.

There's a plan to build a new BR station which will help, but it's ten years
off.

I wouldn't mind what he did if he wasn't so hypocritical about it - and that
cab bill was simply for his home to office stuff, so I'd love to know how it
ramped up so much. Besides which, I'm not convinced that from where he
lives, it's any faster by cab! He's a five minute walk from Cricklewood BR
and about ten minutes from the Tube.

I think *all* politicians should travel with ordinary people at least some
of the time - and in general, shoudl have far more conact with the masses
than they do.

<snort> No, I think my politics are somewhat to the left of AN.

He's an astute politician and at least has been brave

I'm basing the dislike on his track record as our MP as well, which was
abysmal. I've never really forgotten his support for the IRA, for one thing.

And the fact that he railroads local councils and is trying to take power
away from them to a huge extent. I am very much in favour of real devolved
power, as local as possible. I don't like any system that places so much
power in the hands of one individual, which the Mayoralty has done. And yes,
I can see the argument for far more coherence of overall planning in London,
but there is a huge risk in how far this is now going.

I remember the GLC very well indeed; ILEA for example, worked well. And
there were periods of GLC authority which weren't loony at all.

Ali

 

Sadly not. Some generally useful packets of seeds as a sort of ta for the
horseradish.

Ali

 

"Mayor Champion" has a certain ring to it.

Sounds fare enough.

 

Yes all those routes are Metroline operated and most from Cricklewood
garage which I think has had some issues over reliability. Certainly
many of the routes in your list are busy.

You may be interested to learn that there are changes proposed for the
316 and 16. The 16 would be very slightly reduced in frequency. The 316
will be cut back to Cricklewood Garage but extended at the other end on
to White City Shopping Centre. A new 332 bus would run from Brent Park
over the 316 to Cricklewood Broadway then via the 16 as far as Edgware
Road flyover and then round the corner to Paddington. The 332 will be a
double deck route.

That might help a bit in terms of adding some capacity and an extra
route into the very edge of the West End.

Not aware of that one.

I personally don't count taxis as public transport but many people do.
I'm sure Ken would argue he was using public transport. He does use the
tube - we know because we get the questions if he gets stuck! I

I agree but a fair old slice of them do. I've seen lots of MPs on the
Tube and many use the main line railway.

Well you have that direct experience but unless my MP had personally
failed to deal with one of my issues I'm not sure I would hold an
ongoing grudge against a MP. I reserve grudges for more noteworthy
targets.

I can understand the IRA issue but Northern Ireland strikes me as an
issue where no side comes out smelling of roses. I don't think standing
shoulder square with the Protestants and British Army is any better
position. I have no religious conviction that leans more to one side
than the other so far as NI is concerned.

On balance I would have preferred the return of a GLC form of London
government rather than the Mayoralty. Yes there are risks in
concentrating power in the ones of one person but the counterbalance is
that one person can often get stuff done that a committee approach would
not. The other issue is that having a Mayor means there is one person
to get rid off rather than a plethora of people. I'd still argue it's
better than the Boroughs arguing and doing nothing with added anonymous
quangos conducting business in secret.

 

<shrug> YMMV, as they say. Dave is normally carrying assorted heavy things -
and he does walk it quite often, although it means his journey to work can
be an hour and a half or more. Which is daft, given the total distance. If
it was a matter of walking a mile or so to get to work, it would be fine:
but it's walk to bus stop. Wait for bus. Get bus to Tube. Change twice on
Tube. So, it is very time consuming.

I can't walk it, but don't have to, as I drive to work on those days I go
to an office. I'll rephrase that. If it was on the flat, and I did not have
to carry an absurdly heavy laptop and a briefcase, I could probably do it,
depending on how bad my walking was on the day. (Arthritic degeneration of
the L5 disc in my spine.)

Ali

 

Only representing his constituents, I'd have thought. It's only a couple
of years since I last saw a pub in Kilburn (on the Brent side of the
High Road) with a poster outside saying how much they'd raised for 'the
cause'. And that (McGoverns) was one of the nicer ones.

 

Senior Citizens' Railcard?

 

<mwah>

 

Heh. Clever fellow.

Ali

 

After having done that for Didcot - I wouldn't bother.

You won't change anything, you won't be able to air your complaints (as
it's not supposed to be about your individual issues) and ultimately,
all they did was waffle without ever listening and they certianly were
never proactive - ie ask their customer panel what customers like them
MIGHT think about their latest ideas BEFORE introducing them,

The customer panel is a fluff piece designed to make First look good
which, occasionally, accidently makes enough noise to get the odd
customer improvement - nothing more.

 

It's even less effective now because FGW are just doing what government
have mandated. Therefore the power to change stuff is at the DfT. Given
that every newspaper in the West Country is full of articles about how
shit FGW and their service is I can't see a customer panel will make any
difference at all. People need to start saying they'll vote out their
Labour MPs for anything to change. Oh and threatening to sell their
First Group shares.

 

Blimey. Kill or cure for the lurgy.

Yeah, can someone tell me what happened to the concept of true portability?

Heh. I can sort of empathise with that - I had two laptops nicked from
supposedly secure offices. Makes one paranoid. Thobbut, if there's decent
networked backup, I'd not care.

Ah, but I am all over the place, so to speak. I'm theoretically based in an
office, but only go in a few days a month - I'm with customers/partners or
working from home the rest of the time. So, my laptop has *everything* on
it. I also end up working in the evenings a lot, as I'm dealing with people
based in Vancouver. Most of my colleagues have similar work patterns, hence
the need to schlep the damn thing.

Ali

 

What about the office supplies for your ebay shop?

 

None whatsoever. It's an opinion.

I'll alert the media.

 

One of my biggest issues with FGW at the moment, other than the shitty
timetable they've been forced to cobble together, is the fact that the
interests of a long distance operator are almost entirely incompatible
with those of a short range commuter service. The whole business seems
geared towards providing a hunky dory HST-based inter-city service while
shunting commuter-belt passengers onto shit buses on rails if/when they
can be arsed to let them use the line. It's crap. All I want is a train
to work at a reasonable time in the morning with some chance of a seat -
redecoration of HSTs means sod all to me while we (the poor sods who pay
in advance every month) get a second-rate service on second-rate trains.

Grumble grumble grumble.

 

I've never sat _anywhere_. The whole point of having a bike, see?