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| Johnson has vowed to scrap so-called bendy buses |
London’s mayoral candidates locked horns over transport this week.
Tory candidate
Boris Johnson has vowed to end the era of the ‘bendy bus’ and replace them with Routemaster buses with conductors, but incumbent Labour hopeful,
Ken Livingstone, said the idea would never work due to cost and no economies of scale.
‘Who would want to build these buses if they are only asked to make 600?’ he asked. ‘They would be very costly.’
Livingstone also questioned where the money would come from to fund bus conductors, suggesting it would result in either an extra £3-£4 a week on council tax or a doubling in ticket prices.
Johnson disagreed with Livingstone’s maths and said that conductors would cut down on the £8M worth of fare dodging, which would fund their wages. Johnson, who had just unveiled his transport manifesto featuring promises to let motorcycles in bus lanes and reduce the amount of time traffic lights spend on red, accused Livingstone of using too much stick and not enough carrot to encourage more people on to public transport.
‘We can’t bully people out of their cars by blocking lanes and slowing traffic, we need to entice them onto public transport,’ he said. He proposes to do this by making buses safer – through the use of conductors and making it harder for trouble-making youngsters to get a free bus pass.
Johnson, who describes himself as a ‘militant cyclist’, agreed with his rival on one issue – the introduction of a ‘Velib’, a low-cost short-term bike rental scheme similar to the type used in Paris.
However, they still argued over how it would be funded, with Boris favouring a company bearing the costs and Ken looking towards public money.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat London Mayor hopeful,
Brian Paddick, has promised to scrap the low emission zone, western extension zone, and forthcoming £25 congestion charge for high emission vehicles, replacing them with a £10 charge around the whole of the Greater London Authority area. Those living in the 33 boroughs would be exempt from the charge, as would commercial vehicles and people who come from just outside on a daily basis.
The elections are due to be held on 1 May.
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