Following questions put by Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, the Mayor of London has admitted that South West Trains are the only train operating company in London now refusing to sell Oyster tickets or provide Oyster top-ups for passengers. The Mayor also admitted that South West Trains do not even have any plans to start selling Oyster tickets in the near future.
The Islington and Camden Gazette newspapers cover London Assembly Lib Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon's criticisms of the Mayor over his failure to act on the King's Cross Gyratory system, which has seen 63 crashes since 2007.
Caroline says:
The Mayor can't explain away the facts. The one-way system is a very dangerous road, and it needs fixing.
The London SE1 website reports on Caroline Pidgeon's recent question to the Mayor, asking him to make representations to Network Rail to rename Blackfriars station as "Blackfriars and Bankside" on its reopening in 2011.
Boris Johnson claims not to be "closed-minded" but has still failed to give a firm commitment.
The BBC reports on the Mayor's responses to questioning from Caroline Pidgeon AM, the London Assembly Lib Dem leader, revealing the impact of glitches in the launch of the cycle hire scheme.
Question: Has any money been returned to Barclays since the start of the scheme for any reason?
Answer from the Mayor: The Barclays Cycle Hire sponsor agreement does incorporate measures to reflect the success of the scheme. The precise details however are commercially sensitive.
The Evening Standard's "London At Large" blog has an article on the lack of bike hire docking stations around Brixton and Stockwell, which Caroline Pidgeon has raised to Boris Johnson at Mayor's Question Time:
Caroline Pidgeon: "I have had many people express dismay that most of the docking stations are north of the river. Will you rectify this by adding more south of the river, particularly to areas with no tube stations?"
Answer from the Mayor: "TfL is studying ways of expanding the scheme to benefit more Londoners and visitors to London. One of the basic premises of the scheme is that a dense network of docking stations needs to be in place throughout the cycle hire zone, as users rely on the expectation that there will be a docking station close to their desired origin/destination. Therefore, areas with no Tube stations could not be incorporated in isolation to the rest of the network but rather the entire area would need to be covered by cycle hire. Cycle hire, though a valuable addition to London’s transport modes, is specifically designed to serve short trips and is to be used in addition to other modes, such as the Tube."
