Congestion in London

A flurry of articles have appeared over the last couple of days discussing the various merits of the Mayor’s embryonic transport agenda.
First, James Daley in the Independent wrings his hands of the absence of pip-squeezing Green influence on the Mayor’s budget, which pushed Ken Livingstone to support a cycling agenda. Mayor Johnson, he says, does [...]

It’s Boris

The BBC carries an interview with him and a profile of his career thus far.
LondonUnlocked looks forward to working with his administration, which will hopefully have a more open attitude to progressive transport than under Ken Livingstone’s control.

Waiting for the Results

With all the news dominated by the local elections and the long wait for the Mayoral result to be announced, we’re going to feature a pamphlet produced by a partner site of ours, LondonSays.org.
LondonSays is an independent, cross-party think-tank which focussed exclusively on issues surrounding London.
Recently the site published an alternative manifesto based on the [...]

Election Day and Our Verdict

Voting has begun across the country in local elections and in London in the Assembly and Mayoral elections.
The BBC is updating its coverage throughout the day and will be issuing results as soon as they are made known.
Meanwhile, there is a final flurry of activity in the Mayoral race:

The Mirror offers Ken Livingstone’s 20-Point-Plan for [...]

Reviews of the Race

Three different publications run articles on the state of the race, the candidates and their policies today.
Firstly, Time has a thoughtful outsider’s view on the race, available on-line here.
Secondly, Dave Hill writes another excellent piece in Comment is Free, singing the incumbent’s strengths over those of Boris Johnson.
Thirdly, Johann Hari defends Ken Livingstone’s record in [...]

Newslinks | Envionment & Transport, 2012 Costs, K&C Join Porsche

The BBC covers the spiralling cost of the 2012 Olympics.

Kensington and Chelsea Council have joined Porsche in their battle against the Congestion Charge expansion. [link]

A Major Blow to Ken Livingstone

Brian Cooke, Chairman of London TravelWatch, has endorsed Boris Johnson as the best candidate to run London’s transport network.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Cooke based his decision on the politically motivated holding back of information on fare rises (as covered by us here), a lack on consultation, and arrogant management style.
This is [...]

Newslinks | Transport Gridlock & a New Livingstone Policy

David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, states that Britain faces transport gridlock.

Ken Livingstone has pledged to make transport in London safer for women, reports the Standard. Our policies page has been updated accordingly.

Newslinks | Livingstone’s funding, BAA, Fare Rises

The Evening Standard carries allegations of a conflict of interest between Ken Livingstone’s campaign being funded by the very unions which he recently acceded to the demands of.
The Economist finds good reasons behind breaking up BAA.
Continuing the story from last week, the Evening Standard confirms that the Mayor did mislead Londoners over planned fare rises.

Fare-gate

The BBC and Evening Standard are both carrying damning allegations that Ken Livingstone was involved in a conspiracy to deceive Londoners over planned-for increases in transport fares.
The projected increases in fares are due to the burden of large capital projects such as CrossRail, the Olympics and the East London Line extension.
As Andrew Gilligan writes in [...]