Making public transport more affordable

This morning Liberal Democrats across London have been out and about talking to commuters about London Lib Dems’ 5 point plan for fairer fares. The plan includes proposals for ‘One Hour Bus Tickets’ allowing passengers to “hop on and off as many times as necessary within an hour”, early bird rates, part time Travelcards and the reinstatement of the Zone 2-6 Travelcard.

Here in Merton, local Lib Dem campaigners were in Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden town centres, talking to people about the One Hour Bus Ticket. Later this evening, they’ll be doing the same in Raynes Park.

You can sign the petition supporting the One Hour Bus Ticket here and you can take Brian Paddick’s Transport survey here.

 

 

South London Bookswaps [updated]

The Book Swaps for London blog argues that “When it comes to Station book swapping, it really is all about South London“.

There are book swaps at Wimbledon, Raynes Park and (reportedly) Morden stations. You can find out more about the Wimbledon Station bookswap here.

The Book Swaps for London blog aims to support book swaps in “200 of the near 700 underground and rail stations in Greater London” in time for the Olympics.

Update: BookMachine interviews London Book Swap (Jan 2012).

 

Save our Thameslink: Transport department says all still to fight for

Cutting the 'Wimbledon Loop' would affect several Merton stations.

Following Network Rail’s plans to cut the direct Thameslink rail link between south London, the City and central London (known as the ‘Wimbledon loop’), Merton’s Liberal Democrats have launched the “Save our Thameslink” petition.

The Thameslink Programme Team at the Department for Transport have recently responded to questions from local campaigners:

The proposal that Wimbledon Loop services should be amongst the eight trains that terminate at Blackfriars was included in Network Rail’s South London Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) . . . 

 

Tories: a bit too little, too late on Wimbledon Chase Railway Bridge

The Tory London Assembly Member for Merton & Wandsworth has tabled a question for London Mayor Boris Johnson asking him:

The Wimbledon Chase Station Bridge is covered in graffiti. Will you write to Network Rail calling for them to repaint it?

Perhaps Conservative Richard Tracey AM just wasn’t present when Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon asked Boris the same question back in July 2010?

Boris wasn’t keen to help then, but perhaps Mr Tracey will have more luck.

However, the timing of Mr Tracey’s question is very peculiar given Network Rail’s announcement on 28 October that it would clean up the worst parts of the bridge. This announcement followed a two year campaign to get them to take action.

Perhaps it would be worth him flicking through the Wimbledon Guardian each week – they covered the story on 1 November.

 

Wimbledon Chase Railway Bridge Success: Graffiti Cleared!

Caroline Pidgeon (centre) investigates the bridge back in 2009. The graffiti has now gone!

Welcome news that one of our original “six to fix” has been fixed!

The Messy Train Land Blog was pleased to receive the following press release from London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon yesterday afternoon:

After years of pressure from Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, Network Rail has finally agreed to repaint parts of the railway bridge at Wimbledon Chase station in order to cover up the offensive and antisocial graffiti on the bridge.

 

End of the line for Thameslink ‘Wimbledon loop’?

Network Rail has said it may cut the direct link between south London, the City and central London, commonly known as the ‘Wimbledon loop’, after the Thameslink upgrade is completed in 2016.

As a result of the change, trains would terminate at Blackfriars, leaving thousands of commuters without a direct link to several London stations and other busy train stations throughout the south east. (the Thameslink programme’s FAQs can be seen here.)

 

Foul state of lifts at Wimbledon Station

Merton Council and South West Trains (SWT) were very keen to respond to criticism about difficulties caused by the new station forecourt design.

Residents had written into the local paper to complain about access to the station for those with mobility issues. However, in terms of accessibility, if you can’t use stairs the station platforms are only accessible via rather horrible lifts.

 

“Fix My Transport”

The people behind website, Fix My Street, My Society have launched a new site – Fix My Transport.

Fix My Transport aims to make reporting public transport problems as easy as reporting pot-holes and broken street lights is on Fix My Street.

Problem issues can be outlined on the site, which will then work out who is responsible for the station, stop, bus, train, tram or ferry complained about, and forward your message straight to them. The site also allows other individuals to sign up to “support” your query, and get email updates on progress.

The lack of transparency over who is responsible for maintaining transport land is something we’ve long campaigned on (see for example, London Lib Dems’ 5 point plan to end Merton’s messy train land) and so this is a welcome development. However, at the moment with regards to trains you can only report problems at specific stations, or along specific routes – you can’t use the site to report issues to Network Rail, who are responsible for most of the trackside embankments and property (meaning we can’t use it to report the awful state of Wimbledon Chase bridge). We’ve been in touch with them about this already.

The awful state of the lifts at Wimbledon Station has already been reported – here and here!

 

Wimbledon Station one of the most overcrowded in UK

Says Network Rail (NR). The station is one of 11 listed, which it says need action to ease overcrowding.

NR said measures to reduce congestion should be identified by 2019. Apparently “A number of measures have been identified to ease congestion, ranging from encouraging more print-at-home ticketing or relocating information points, to more expensive options involving the provision of additional space”.

The Station forecourt has already undergone a significant change in layout.

 

No help from minister on Wimbledon Chase bridge

Another (disappointing) response from Theresa Villiers, Minister of State for Transport.