Barnet + London-wide stories
Caroline welcomes cancellation of August Northern Line closures
28 July 2010 - 10:03pm — Administrator
Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat Assembly Group and transport spokesperson, commenting on Transport for London’s sudden decision to cancel most weekend closures on the Northern Line during the month of August after their review of required weekend closures, said:
Caroline joins Lib Dems from across London and the UK at Pride 2010
19 July 2010 - 9:21pm — Administrator
Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the London Assembly Lib Dems, joined senior Lib Dems including Lynne Featherstone MP, Sarah Ludford MEP, and party president Ros Scott, at the Pride London 2010 event on Saturday 3rd July - the UK's largest annual LGBT event.
Caroline Pidgeon receives pledge that a new approach will be considered for upgrading the Northern Line
23 May 2010 - 6:01pm — AdministratorCaroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson, today received an assurance from the Mayor that following the end of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for London Underground he will now “look at all options” over how to upgrade the Northern Line.
Caroline Pidgeon, who has been a long-standing advocate of the use of temporary blockades to complete the upgrades, said:
Five-point plan for a better Northern Line upgrade
8 April 2010 - 9:43pm — Administrator
Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem chair of the London Assembly's Transport Committee, has proposed a five-point plan to get the Northern line upgrade completed with the minimum possible disruption to residents and businesses who rely on the line.
In a letter to Ed Fordham, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, Caroline makes these proposals:
- All current upgrade plans be immediately suspended for 3-4 months, allowing a full consultation to be conducted, enabling local residents and businesses to have their views heard.
- Replace months of early evening and weekend closures with short, sharp bursts of work on sections of the Northern line (blockades lasting several weeks).
- Keep the Northern line open when the London Overground rail network or the Jubilee Line are closed for upgrade work.
The Jubilee Line deserves later opening hours
21 March 2010 - 7:28pm — AdministratorThe Mayor has been urged to deliver on his pledge to Londoners to extend the tube’s opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights, starting with the Jubilee Line, at today’s Mayor’s Question Time (Wednesday 17th March).
Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, reminded the Mayor of his specific election pledge to extend the opening hours of the whole tube network for one hour later on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Speaking after her question to the Mayor she said:
“The Mayor was elected promising to extend the opening hours of the whole tube network. It is now time he honoured his pledge, starting with the Jubilee Line, where the upgrade works be completed this year.
“Everyone who uses this line has already faced months of inconvenience and many traders that rely on weekend and evening business have been hit for six. If there is one line that deserves to benefit from longer hours it must be the Jubilee Line.
Northern Line could close from 10pm on weekdays
2 September 2009 - 10:44pm — AdministratorThe Evening Standard reports on plans for sections of the Northern Line to close at 10pm on weeknights, as signalling systems are replaced over the next two years.
In the article, Caroline gives her views:
Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem transport spokeswoman on the London Assembly, encouraged TfL and Tube Lines to “think outside the box” and suggested that full-line closures, lasting several weeks at a time, may be more efficient than repeated weekend shut-downs.
Lib Dems pledge early delivery of cross river tram
22 April 2008 - 9:34pm — Administrator
Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem GLA candidate for Lambeth & Southwark, today joined mayoral candidate Brian Paddick, Camden & Barnet GLA candidate Nick Russell, Simon Hughes MP, the leaders of Southwark and Camden councils, Cllr Nick Stanton and Cllr Keith Moffit, and Lib Dem supporters on Waterloo Bridge to show their commitment to the early delivery of the Cross River Tram.
Poorest children in London must not be penalised by new Oyster fees
25 July 2010 - 6:56pm — AdministratorCaroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Leader and transport spokesperson, commenting on the Mayor’s plans to introduce a one-off £10 fee for Zip Card concessionary travel for children, teenagers and students, said:
”I understand that TfL have to look at cost savings but any change needs to be fair. Given that two fifths of children across London live in poverty TfL should exempt this charge to children and young people who are entitled to free school meals."
The MayorWatch website covers the story here.
Are plans to get Londoners walking on the right track?
25 July 2010 - 6:25pm — AdministratorThe Mayor has declared his intention to make 2011 the ‘year of walking’ and allocated millions of pounds to the cause, but will his proposals see more Londoners making their journeys on foot?
Caroline Pidgeon AM will lead an investigation on behalf of the Assembly’s Transport Committee to assess the effectiveness of current plans to get people walking and look at what more could be done.
Almost a quarter of all journeys in the capital are made on foot – nearly 6 million trips every day – making up nearly a third of the total time Londoners spend travelling. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy states that he wants to see the share of all journeys made on foot increase to 25 per cent by 2031 – an extra million journeys a day.
To help meet this target, the Mayor and Transport for London have allocated over £200 million over the next three years to ‘Better Streets’ - which includes schemes ranging from de-cluttering streets to pedestrianisation - and ‘Better Green and Water Spaces’ to improve access to London’s parks, rivers and canals.
Caroline Pidgeon AM said:
“The Mayor wants 2011 to be the ‘year of walking’ but to encourage more Londoners to make their journeys on foot he will have to carefully tailor his proposals and investment.
Mayor's cuts to Tube ticket offices - "an absolute sham of a consultation"
19 July 2010 - 10:34pm — AdministratorCaroline Pidgeon, commenting to the Evening Standard, has sharply criticised the Mayor's plans to drastically reduce ticket office services at Tube stations, costing up to 450 jobs and leaving many stations with ticket office staffing for most of the day.
Caroline said:
The Mayor was elected on a clear commitment to keep ticket offices open. His plans to have many closed for most of the day flies in the face of his election commitment. This is an absolute sham of a consultation. If the Mayor really thinks he is consulting Londoners he obviously needs to look up what the word actually means in the dictionary.
You can read the full story at the Evening Standard here.
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