London-wide + Southwark stories

Passengers losing too many hours down the Tube

Speaking to the London Assembly Transport Committee, the Managing Director of the London Underground has publicly acknowledged that problems on the Tube over the past year have resulted in an increase in lost customer hours on almost every line.

Chair of the Transport Committee, Caroline Pidgeon AM, said:

We recognise the challenges London Underground is facing as it works to deliver an extensive upgrade programme while carrying more and more passengers, but the past year has seen an unreliable service for passengers who are exceptionally frustrated by their daily commute.

While we heard today that if you go back several years things are generally improving, the recent performance of the Tube has undoubtedly deteriorated and is not good enough.

With major upgrade work about to start on the Northern line we hope lessons have been learned so that passengers who use it will not have to deal with the levels of disruption seen on the Jubilee and Victoria line upgrades.

14 June 2011 - 9:52pm

Greenwich Council lets down pedestrians and cyclists with yet more delays

The full reopening of Greenwich foot tunnel has been delayed once again, with users facing night time closures and no lifts throughout the Summer until September. At the same time work on the Woolwich foot tunnel, which has been completely closed since last year, is not set to be finished until August.

Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, discovered this information buried away on Greenwich Council’s website. The explanation for the six-month delay to the Greenwich foot tunnel is put down on the website to “additional works and problems with materials used in the repairs.” At present, no information at all has been provided by Greenwich Council about why the works at Woolwich foot tunnel are so far behind schedule.

10 June 2011 - 9:44pm

Making London's roads safer for cyclists

Caroline Pidgeon is continuing to support action to tackle the high number of accidents and fatalities that face cyclists on London's roads. London faces an especially serious problem with accidents involving collisions between lorries and cyclists at junctions.

A recent question asked by Caroline to the Mayor revealed that in 2009 six cyclists were killed on London's roads in accidents involving a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), and with a further two cyclists killed in accidents involving a refuse lorry and a cement mixer. In 2010 there were two cyclists killed in accidents involving vehicles and two further two fatal collisions including a skip lorry and a cement truck.

Caroline has already given her full support to the campaign by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) for better training for lorry drivers and recently received the petition that had already gathered more than 10,000 signatures. Read more information about the campaign here.

30 May 2011 - 4:39pm

Northern Line extension plans on show

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Oval Lib Dem Cllr Ishbel Brown and Streatham Cllr Jeremy Clyne visiting the exhibition for the proposed Northern Line extension from Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Vauxhall Nine Elms.

“The exhibition showed the planned route but still left many questions unanswered and meant residents were very concerned about the impact on their homes and during the construction. I was pleased to hear that residents in Kennington – both Southwark and Lambeth - will have a further exhibition explaining details of the proposals for construction shafts which could cause real disruption to local people” commented Caroline.

23 May 2011 - 9:43pm

Another day of rush hour Jubilee line chaos

The Evening Standard reports on the rush-hour chaos on the Jubilee line yesterday, with a loose screw on a platform door at Westminster causing major delays along the line.

Caroline told the Standard:

The ongoing problems and delays on the Jubilee line cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents. There is something seriously going wrong with one of London's most important transport links.

It is time that the Mayor provided proper answers and not just excuses over the running of the Jubilee line.

20 May 2011 - 7:57pm

Mayor’s unbelievable latest broken promise over Jubilee Line

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Mayor’s admission made today at City Hall that substantial improvements in capacity on the Jubilee Line will only be completed by the Autumn, said:

“Passengers will find it truly unbelievable that there is yet another delay to when the Jubilee Line will be operating at full capacity, seven days a week.

“Today’s admission is the fourth broken promise made by the Mayor as to when improvements to the Jubilee Line will finally be completed.

18 May 2011 - 10:02pm

Southeastern's Olympic cuts to train services challenged

Caroline Pidgeon has sharply criticised Southeastern's plans to scale back local train services during the 2012 Games. Commenting on Southeastern's proposals to reduce the frequency of some train services and to even remove some stations from their timetable, Caroline said:

"Ensuring more people can get into London to visit Olympic venues will of course create challenges for Southeastern, however Southeastern's approach to tackling these challenges is completely wrong. Putting on extra carriages and extra staff at stations is the best way to ensure that the needs of local commuters and visitors are both met, while ensuring a reliable service is also maintained.

"Southeastern must listen to the outrage they have created amongst residents in Greenwich and Deptford and back down over their completely daft proposals."

15 May 2011 - 6:50pm

Caroline becomes Honorary Alderwoman of Southwark


Caroline Pidgeon AM and eight other former Southwark Councillors were honoured on Saturday 7th May. At St George’s Cathedral, Borough the former councillors were given the title of Honorary Aldermen or Women.

Caroline was the first person to become an Honorary Alderwoman of Southwark, a title now allowed due to a change in legislation last year.

“It was a great honour to be recognised for my service as a local councillor for 12 years. It was fun to catch up with former colleagues from all parties and for the Newington Lib Dem Team of 12 years to be reunited again!” commented Caroline.

The London SE1 website has a report and photos on Southwark's civic award ceremony, which recognised people who have contributed to the borough's life in many fields.

8 May 2011 - 8:14pm

Why are there yet more delays on the Jubilee Line?

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on today’s admission by the Mayor and Transport for London that weekend closures and upgrade work on the Jubilee Line will not be completed until July, said:

“The Mayor, who is Chair of Transport for London, must now apologise to Londoners for this further delay in completing the upgrade of the Jubilee Line.

28 April 2011 - 10:01pm

Blackfriars junction plans are a backward step

Caroline Pidgeon AM carried out a site visit with TfL to Blackfriars bridge on Monday 18th April to look on site at the new plans that TfL are proposing for the design of the junction.

The new plans, which would be introduced after the works to Blackfriars station are complete, result in the removal of an existing cycle lane and priority really given to vehicles rather than pedestrians and cyclists.

20 April 2011 - 9:56pm

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