Reply to petition on tube disappoints campaigners
The on-line petition requesting a Piccadilly line stop at Turnham Green has received a non-committal response from the Prime Minister's office. The reply says that it is not the Government's responsibility to consider the issue and that London Underground should be lobbied on the matter.
The response in full reads:
"Responsibility for London Underground (LU) transferred from the Department for Transport to Transport for London (TfL) and ultimately the Mayor in July 2003. It is for LU and not the Government to determine the service patterns and timetabling on the underground network.
This issue would be best directed to the London Underground Stakeholder Communications Team at 55 Broadway, London, SW1H 0BD. "
Gary Malcolm, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Southfield ward said, "It is sad that the government is giving people the perception that their petition site can be helpful when should be more proactive. Lib Dems want to see not just the Mayor of London reply but the transport minister to explain why the Piccadilly line cannot stop at Turnham Green tube station."
Campaigners for the stop have already had meetings with Transport for London on the issue but they reportedly remain set against introducing a stop at Turnham Green for the foreseeable future.
In a letter to a local newspaper written when the petition was initiated, London Underground's Director of Strategy and Service Development Richard Parry claimed that the extra stop would "extend journey times for all passengers travelling to and from stations west of Acton town, including Heathrow and Uxbridge, and would necessitate a reduced Piccadilly line service to all destinations."
He denied claims made by campaigners that the District line was more crowded on this section of the line than the Piccadilly saying that their figures showed that the Piccadilly line was more busy. This claim was greeted with amazement by regular users of Turnham Green station.
In all 2880 people signed the petition which was initiated by local resident Gareth Thomas.
September 2, 2007