please empty your brain below
Mind you the grandiously-titled "Transit" schemes were rubbish, what started off as segregated tram or trolleybus services ended up as mere buses with a few off-street sections and which would have never encouraged a car-to-public transport transfer.
The DLR Dagenham Dock extension is the most seriously casualty, expect more success for certain politcal extremists in this benighted backwater.
Didn't you steal that off this evening's BBC London News bulletin?
It's quite a shame though to see these transport projects mothballed. Some of them sound like good ideas. For example, they have trams running through the main shopping streets in many cities in Europe and even in places like Nottingham, and they certainly help in alleviating congestion. Therefore it's a pity that BoJo has decided to more or less cancel them completely. The High Street 2012 scheme also seemed to be a vital project for rejuvenating the East End in time for the Olympics, so it's surprising to see that lying in the gutter as well.
Ah well. Never mind, eh?
The bonfire idea came from Val Shawcross.
And it's feckless reactions like "Ah well, never mind, eh?" that help this sort of transport meltdown along.
But in 1987 Maggie, Heseltine and the LDDC gave us the DLR, built on the cheap to encourage the pinstripes into the uncharted wastes of the Island. And it was much-derided for being a toytown railway by the commuters, but much-loved by daytrippers for its stunning views of the new Docklands and its easy connection to Greenwich (via the foot tunnel) and to Stratford for connections all over London.
And slowly, it grew into a real railway, adding a link right into the City, and out into the wilds of Cyprus and Beckton, and under the river to Greenwich, Lewisham and soon Woolwich. And all this was done bit-by-bit, almost by stealth, without massive feasibility studies à la Crossrail, and without bankrupting LRT/TfL.
And a further, relatively cheap, extension was planned - no tunnelling - to open up probably the most inaccessible area - and one of the most deprived - in the whole of London.
And a further extension of the DLR to the West End and Victoria has been mooted.
And now Boris has summarily cancelled the almost-organic growth of the DLR and, in true short-sighted Tory style, his decision means that when the project is resurrected, it'll probably cost 3 times as much. Remember Crossrail would have been virtually built by now, and for about 1/3 of the price, if a few Tories hadn't blocked it in the '90s.
I had thought Boris an amiable right-wing buffoon; now I know why I didn't vote for him.
Now they have been canned - and the Cross River Tram is a particular loss for me - London will be struggling to find worthwhile projects for a (relatively) quick start should central government turn on the financial taps in the next few years.
Boris - the man is a joke and out of touch.
index
It's a shame to see some of the projects disappear, but I for one won't be missing the Oxford St Tram. Seemed a complete waste of money when you could have hugely less expensive buses run down the street instead: if I was in charge I'd terminate all buses at either Marble Arch or Centrepoint and then have a regular (FREE) bus which connects the two, in effect concentrating numerous bus routes into one.
Dagenham dock extension will be missed (seem to remember it wasn't particularly expensive compare to crossrail) and as for HS2012, wonder if the ODA will pay instead?
Can't agree that Oxford Street will be a nicer place on 6 December though - by accident I was at last years car free event. There were just so many people it was almost scary. Great for the shops no doubt!
Why has the transport system in London got to this state of saturation and dilapidation?
Because, for years, the Conservative Government refused to invest properly in public transport.
He may be a funny bloke but the jokes back on us because it's happening again.
Except to note that Barking and (especially) Dagenham voted overwhelmingly FOR Boris.
Contemptible decisions
I don't know what you are moaning about really.
I speak as a Camberwell resident who would have benefited from the Cross River Tram.
Unsurprisingly this has resulted in Labour councils being asked to provide on average of 865 new affordable homes per year, Liberal Democrat boroughs 435 and Tory-run boroughs just 372.
More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/dav...08
ov/02/
boris
If you call mopping up the mess of under investment caused by 18 years of Tory misrule and sod everyone but the shareholders mentality (which, as Kings Cross showed us in 1987 can almost cross the line into murder) "pissing money up the wall" then so be it, show me the urinal.
CF
I do wonder whether Ken's ambitions were simply financially over ambitious or not and whether his numbers added up, without putting us in hock for a generation. I say 'I wonder', as I don't actually know.
In the same vein, I can see the Tories being blamed for a fair chunk of Labour's mismanagement of the economy for the last 11 years.
The Routemaster will also cost cash - research by London TravelWatch believes scrapping bendy buses will cost a significant amount because they'll need more buses on the road to provide the same capacity. And of course any new Routemaster (should it ever get in service) needs conductors, thus pushing staff costs up for the buses, so if that goes through its pretty much a dead cert that bus costs will go up at that point.
It's quite possible Ken would be scrapping schemes at this stage if he was still in power. Alternatively he might still be fighting to keep them, and trying to wrangle more money from central government. Who knows?
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