Caroline Pidgeon

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem London Assemly Member, joined local Liberal Democrats for a large 'demo' outside Turnham Green Tube Station, continuing the Lib Dems' their campaign to get Piccadilly Line tubes to stop there all day.

Councillor Gary Malcolm handed a document to Caroline Pidgeon, which she will pass to the Mayor of London asking for a meeting to discuss the possibilities of a 6 month trial to extend the short early morning and late evening stops at the station (which are often unannounced so customers either get to the wrong destination or miss out).

Commenting on Mayor Johnson’s pledge to intervene on the issue of the possible closure of South West Trains’ ticket offices, Caroline Pidgeon AM, the transport spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Group at the London Assembly, says: “I’m extremely disappointed to see Mayor Johnson hasn’t personally got involved in this matter when he quite clearly said he would.

“Getting his minions at TfL to do his work simply doesn’t have the same impact as if the Mayor of London gets involved. I want to see the Mayor sticking to his promises.”

Research by Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, has revealed London Underground are planning to close ticket offices across the underground by 7458 hours every week.

Responding to London Underground’s defence of the reduced hours and their repeated claim that all tube stations with a ticket office will continue to have one, Caroline Pidgeon said:

“London Underground and the Mayor are playing with words when they keep peddling the claim that no ticket office will actually close. The harsh reality is that if you can’t access a ticket office for most hours of the day it is effectively closed.

“Ticket office staff carry out many tasks to help customers, with their duties going far beyond just serving tickets. If staff numbers are severely reduced at 9 out of 10 stations it will become far more difficult for staff to help disabled and vulnerable customers and other people who need assistance including visitors.

“London Underground's simplistic portrayal of many ticket offices being quiet places where few tickets are actually sold overlooks the vital service and safety that staffed ticket offices provide. If the plans were to allow ticket office staff to go in and out of the office, depending on the needs at a station, and without a reduction in staff numbers that would help to improve customer services. But to simply cut ticket office hours and take away so many frontline staff makes no sense. In the end it is passengers who will lose out.”

In an article for the Liberal Democrat Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon warmly welcomes the new London bike hire scheme as a "tremendous idea", while pointing out that Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone are eager to take more credit for it then they deserve:

Despite its launch being associated with quite a number of problems – including a highly complex registration process, and a number of cyclists being overcharged – no one can deny that the scheme is proving incredibly popular. And let’s be realistic, no major scheme ever starts without at least some minor teething problems. Of course I will be chasing hard until these glitches are resolved, and they certainly must be, but the bottom line is that the bike hire scheme is a tremendous idea. Especially if the scheme is expanded it has the potential to help reduce congestion and pollution as well as making it easier for Londoners, visitors and tourists to get around the capital at very little cost. Most significantly it could play a vital role in transforming the status of cycling...