Forum Topic

Elections local and mayoral postponed until next year

Philippa Bond ● 2427d26 Comments

Another year of Khan. Can we afford it?

Jeffrey Cope ● 2427d

So, then will the new mayor serve just three years, or what?

Susan Kelly ● 2427d

Good question. Who knows the answer?Generally this is bad news for us I think. Sadiq Khan may feel he has to put through a fare rise on the tube early so that it is out of the way before the election. He can use the drop in passenger numbers as a result of the coronavirus as a reason as TfL's financial position is genuinely quite bad already.It also probably prolongs the Hammersmith Bridge situation as the government would probably have given TfL the money after the election.Also not great news for Sadiq Khan. The direct impact of the ULEZ will be more apparent and everyone being forced to sell their car will be cross. He was hoping that this wasn't going to be a major election issue in May but it will be next year.

Paul Corcoran ● 2427d

Mayor now has the opportunity to push on with alternative transport infrastructure implementation and can use Coronavirus as an excellent justification to improve public health by reducing respiratory disease associated with pollution and encouraging people to use bikes as a great way of avoiding close contact with other people while remaining active.

Paul Campbell ● 2427d

And your solution for those unable to use bikes is?

N V Brooks ● 2427d

Best to self isolate in the comfort of a car listening to heavy metal..

Steve Taylor ● 2427d

Are there no existing readily accessible alternatives to bikes?

Paul Campbell ● 2427d

Cycles can have various numbers of wheels - not necessarily just one or two!

Philippa Bond ● 2427d

'Mayor now has the opportunity to push on with alternative transport infrastructure implementation'He doesn't because the TfL balance sheet is under serious stress. The delay to Crossrail has left a significant hole in it which has just got much bigger due to the impact of coronavirus. The rating agencies are reassessing TfL's credit rating so Sadiq Khan's capacity to borrow for transport projects is much diminished.At the same time the chances of grant funding from central government is much diminished. It remains opaque how much of the recent work in sustainable transport was funded by this source but a project such as CW9 would almost certainly have been partly dependent on central government funds.From a purely financial point of view projects that encourage cycling and walking are problematic for TfL.  If the work and encourage modal shift that is great when people use their car less but in practice a large part of any modal shift will be from public transport. It is not a good look for an organisation looking to get financing if the project is one that will reduce their revenue.Sadly, the scope for action for Sadiq Khan for the remainder of this term and the next one will be very limited.

Paul Corcoran ● 2427d

The electric rickshaw is ideal for everyone, those who cannot carry heavy shopping and will keep it dry in wet weather, do need doors though for security.

Janice Evans ● 2427d

Sadiq Khan's team has indicated that Tube fares will rise with inflation in January.  Bus fares will be frozen. Source: today's FT.

David McLoughlin ● 2427d

That was reported on this site yesterday.Don't think the Mayor has any choice but the best way to promote sustainable transport is to keep fares low. He should be commended for freezing fares and can't really be blamed for the circumstances which made it impossible to continue the policy.

Dan Evans ● 2427d

"He should be commended for freezing fares and can't really be blamed for the circumstances which made it impossible to continue the policy."
Yes he can, it is Khan and his team's total incompetence in managing TfL that has allowed them to build up a deficit of £1.2 billion!
We will all be paying for this for years to come.

N V Brooks ● 2427d

He might have saved a wad of cash if he'd resisted funding those endless virtue-signalling ads on radio and TV.

Colin Jordan ● 2427d

The only way TfL could run a surplus is by massively increasing fares. My point was that the deficit has been driven up by two factors either partly or totally out of Sadiq Khan's control.As for the TV ads, I've never seen one so can't really comment but I do know TfL spends substantially less on advertising than it did under Boris Johnson.

Dan Evans ● 2426d

What factors in the day-to-day running of TfL are outside Khan's control?
TfL doesn't need to run a surplus, in every country public transport is subsidised to a greater or lesser degree.
TfL has been allowed to accumulate a massive deficit due to poorly-managed contracts and by allowing unions to walk all over them.

N V Brooks ● 2426d

Funds are in place for C9. So let’s crack on.

Paul Campbell ● 2426d

Well for a start he inherited a pointless vanity project called the Emirates Airline and overpriced and operationally inadequate buses from his feckless predecessor (plus had to pick up the tab for the aborted garden bridge etc etc)Anyway, any debts and deficits accumulated by TfL are mere pimples compared to the national debt accrued by 10 years of incompetent Tory governments, whilst busily cutting public services. These cuts are now coming back to bite us - destroyed early years education, police cuts, utterly shambolic privatisation of probation - result? crime across England which had fallen sharply in the previous decade is now accelerating. And the nightmare of the skeletal NHS is only just beginning to emerge. 5000 more doctors promised in the previous parliament - a couple of hundred LESS delivered.And still they give Grayling a job."Grayling’s latest incarnation? Heading the intelligence committee that will finally decide how, when and whether to release that rather important report on Russian interference in UK democracy."Heaven help us

Guy Lambert ● 2426d

Sorry Guy, you cannot obfuscate by doing the normal Labour 'Tory cuts'; bleat so favoured by those who have no cogent argument to explain Khan's woeful under-performance.
The accumulated losses on the Emirates airline are £24m )2% of the losses accumulated by Khan' mismanagement of TfL).

The NHS has nothing to do with Khan (nice try at trying that one).
The bus subsidies ate wholly within Khan's remit. Journey numbers on many routes are falling (source TfL themselves at Mayor's Question Time Otober 2018) but Khan refused to do anything about the restructuring as it would have made him even less popular.
To quote from the aforementioned Question Time "There are roads in central London, such as Kingsway, that are served by more than 100 buses an hour, many of which are significantly underused. This oversupply of buses can cause congestion, slowing down journey times and worsening reliability and air quality.
Not one mention of how much these under-used buses are costing to run, but then economy (except with the complete facts) has never been a strong point of this mayorality.

N V Brooks ● 2426d

We've had a conservative government for 10 years.Public finances are a disaster (as they usually are under the Tories if you bother to research it) and public services are woefully underfunded.And now we are almost certainly heading for a world recession (can't blame them for Coronavirus but their poor attempts to control it reflect the dozy, narcissistic personality of the 'Prime Minister').Sadiq Khan kept his promise on fares (there were lots of people before he was elected claiming he wouldn't) and a deficit in TfL was quite inevitable.Meanwhile the freeze on the fuel duty escalator has cost the treasury £46Bn so far, whilst encouraging people to pump out CO2, NOx and particulates and clogging up the bus routes with cars usually carrying just the driver. Rather puts any deficit at TfL in the shade.Credit to him for continuing to invest in the future, and the ULEZ will make an enormous improvement to London transport, just as the Congestion Charge did back then despite the desperate protestations of Tories that it would be a disaster.That's part of why he has such strong support across London

Guy Lambert ● 2426d

Lest we forget the two trillion of debt run up under the Cons as well.

Stewart Jones ● 2426d

"Sadiq Khan kept his promise on fares ......... and a deficit in TfL was quite inevitable."
So, that's acceptable is it?
Mount up debt and hope someone else will pay, sounds like the last Labour manifesto.

N V Brooks ● 2426d

GL I think I now know where your affinities lie. It must be hell on earth for you these days.My earlier point was to say that Khan has done nothing to deal with the deficit for which he has responsibility. Another year under his stewardship is likely to result in increased debt for Londoners.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2426d

Don't think there is any suggestion that CW9 isn't going to proceed. The money has already been allocated and work has started. If you want to be hard headed about it the coronavirus may mitigate the traffic issues during the construction phase although we have yet to see how travel patterns will change - it may be that in the short term people are staying away from work by postponing projects but eventually they will need to go back and will choose to self-isolate by going by car.

Paul Corcoran ● 2426d

One of the greatest mitigations in traffic in a lot of Inner London suburbs will be the threatened quarantine for all over 70. No driving to the supermarket, to meet up with friends, to go to the cinema, to the many volunteering jobs a lot of us do, a walk in Richmond Park or even further afield. We (I don't have a car but belong to the age group) will be "encouraged" to remain in self isolation for possibly up to 4 months. The sources for this information? Robert Peston writing last Friday and Matt Hancock today. Lack of exercise and companionship (the older you are, the more likely you are to be living alone), are certainly not going to help keep us healthy. But maybe that's the whole thinking behind it - Soylent Green springs to mind.

Sue Rowe ● 2426d

Possibly but for every over 70 who follows government advice there may be another who decides to go out anyway and use a car or a taxi instead of a bus. It will take a while for travel patterns to settle down. Under 70s probably contribute relatively little to congestion in London as they generally have the discretion to make their journeys when it is less busy.I don't drive during the week so can't really comment authoritatively on how traffic has been affected but it looks to me as if it has stayed as quiet as it was over the half term holiday. The main difference is the increased proportion of delivery vehicles.

Paul Corcoran ● 2426d