Archives for September 2010

While the "cycling revolution" in the capital rolls on - more news today on what I've noted before - signs of a continuing crackdown on those who disobey the highway code.

The cycle task force (cops on bikes paid for by Transport for London) created to tackle bike theft is being expanded by 10 more officers.

These are traffic cops who have taken to two wheels and will focus on traffic enforcement. So it's not extra resources, more a reorganisation of existing resources.

Transport for London claim:

"Cyclists and their bikes will be safer than ever with 10 more officers joining the MPS's Cycle Task Force just three months since the team was introduced."

There will be those who dispute that claim and say this is just moving the furniture in the Met and more a re-branding exercise. They will argue it actually won't make anyone safer if traffic cops are on two wheels or in a car.

Many cyclists though will welcome more police.

Today's press release also says:

"The unit ran a six week long operation this summer to target road users who disobeyed traffic signals, encroached on advance stop lines, cycled carelessly or on pavements, or used their mobile phones on the two pilot Barclays Cycle Superhighways.

The operation resulted in:

• More than 900 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) of up to £60 issued to drivers and motorcyclists;
• Over 400 FPNs of up to £60 issued to cyclists;
• Around 300 people attended an Exchanging Places safety education course to encourage considerate and safe behaviour from all road users and to promote sharing the road safely;
• 106 cyclists who were given FPNs for less serious offences were given the option to have their ticket cancelled if they attended an Exchanging Places safety education course. Fifty per cent of those offered the opportunity attended and had their ticket revoked;
• More than 20 arrests made for a variety of offences, including for bike theft and driving while disqualified to do so.

It certainly seems the team have been busy.

Cyclists will note there have been 400 £60 fines - I'll bet many of them are for shooting red lights.

It's also worth noting that this isn't ALL the tickets given out to cyclists. The Met in total issued around 730 Fixed Penalty Notices to cyclists in just June and July.

And an interesting point about the "Exchanging Places" education course. Half of cyclists would rather take a 60 quid hit than attend the safety course. Defiance?

You can contact the cycle task force at: CycleTaskForce@met.police.uk

Hire bikes being taken for repairs

Also I've been given some more stats on the bike hire scheme from questions asked by Caroline Pidgeon, of the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly.

It does show that many of the bikes have been repaired and there is a chance Barclays have had some of their outlay returned due to glitches.

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.

(That's not a no...)

Question: How many complaints has TfL received about the scheme and what general areas have been raised as concerns since it went live?

Answer from the Mayor

As of 7 September 2010, TfL have received a total of 1,431 complaints regarding the scheme.

Key areas of concern include confusion over the billing for access periods - particularly when a member has multiple keys, the location and availability of docking stations, and enquiries over how to successfully return a cycle to the docking point.

Question: How many reports of faulty cycles have there been since the start of the scheme, broken down by fault?

Answer from the Mayor

At present, Serco's reporting system does not report exact information regarding the nature of faults but are expecting to be able to provide this information in the future.

As of 7 September 2010, a total of 2,774 repairs have been carried out by Serco with the majority of these being minor repairs and adjustment on-site without the need to take the cycle out of service.

Let me know your thoughts.

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Want to know if your bus stop is overflowing during the Tube strike next Monday?

Want to tell everyone of a shortcut from Manor House to Baker Street avoiding all the bother?

There is now a way of sharing all the vital, detailed information to get you to work, in addition to travel news that we and other broadcasters put out which gives you the broader big picture.

But we need your help.

Last month myself and social media consultant Claire Wardle set up a Tube Strike Crowdmap - a place for you and us to report all of your transport problems, alternatives and share tips such as where to find an empty BorisBike docking station, or a quiet bus route.

It really worked as an experiment last time, but as my colleague Claire writes in her blog, 'this time, we're serious'.

You can contribute to the map in three easy ways:

• Text the words 'LONDON STRIKE' and your message to 81333 (standard network rates apply).
• Email us at londontravel@bbc.co.uk
• Send a tweet including the hashtag #TubeStrike

Your report will then appear on the map.

You can also check where you are to see if there are any problems in the area, with clear catagories from public transport to roads and tips.

If you come across an overcrowded bus route or want to tip everyone off about a lovely boat ride in, put it on the map. We'll be adding the official information too.

So, let's get cracking - it really is the only way to tell the full story of the strike.

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Boris riding his bike with one hand. Not so safe either, Mr Mayor

A slightly dull Transport for London board meeting today perked up a bit on the subject of bike hire safety.

None other than the Mayor himself, Boris Johnson, said:

"I see some terrifying things being done on those bikes. Only last night I saw a girl completely dead to the world wobbling into traffic .. anything could have happened."

(Training, instructions on the docking stations, HGV training etc.)

So far Mr Brown said there had been only a handful of accidents.

But if the Mayor is admitting there are issues with some of the cyclists using the scheme and safety, then that has to be a concern.

What else can they do though? Isn't it the responsibility of the individual cyclist?

Also on the subject of Overland rail now accepting Oyster cards, there was much grinding of teeth about the Train Operating Companies now making a tidy sum from accepting the Oyster.

Straight talking Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy also piped up:

"South West Trains also used it as an excuse to reduce ticket office staff."

LU is due to plead guilty to health and safety breaches - the fine could be £25,000.

If you are that lady then please get in touch: tom.edwards@bbc.co.uk

UPDATE: 3pm

I've just been told by the Lib Dems, who received a written answer from the mayor, that the fees for those TfL bike films are:

• Dermot O'Leary - filming "Catch up with the bicycle" (£5,000)


• Edith Bowman - filming "Catch up with the bicycle" (£5,000)

The age of austerity?

Indeed, Lib Dem Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon says:

It is scandalous that the Mayor is splashing out our money on frivolous celebrity videos, paying them £500 a second, when Londoners are facing huge hikes in fares. The Mayor needs to get a grip.

UPDATE: 4.30pm

We are still some weeks away from the official report into the runaway train incident on 13th August.

The incident happened when a grinding train descended out of control from Highgate before coming to rest at Warren Street.

Initially, on the day, London Underground said the distance between the runaway and a passenger train was about 1km.

I have checked my records and on the day of the incident Richard Parry said:

"At no point were the trains within 800m - although we'll look into that as part of the investigation."

When I was leaked some footage the next week from within the signal box, sources close to the investigation said the distance was 600 metres.

Now in a report to the Board of TfL, it says the distance was "within around 500m" and it reached a speed of around 35mph.

It also says:

"The braking system on the Rail Grinding Train had been isolated as part of the recovery procedure, so the two operatives .. Jumped off the RGT without injury as it rolled through Highgate station."

So we have now gone from 800m to 500m...

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I've been working on this story about first aid provision for commuters on our trains.

The scene is St Albans station on First Capital Connect's route.

An eyewitness, Rachel Hughes, saw a man collapse in the station's foyer.

He wasn't given any help by First Capital Connect's staff and although they rang for an ambulance, Rachel had to speak to the operator.

Staff at the station said they were not trained in first aid so couldn't help the stricken commuter.

Rachel complained to First Capital Connect, who replied saying that even if they had been trained in first aid "this is only offered to staff and not customers."

You might be surprised to learn that it isn't a legal requirement for employers to provide first aid for commuters, although a lot of the companies I spoke to, like London Underground and BAA, do have staff at busy interchanges with first aid training.

Have you come across something similar on public transport?

This is the statement First Capital Connect sent me:

"Our staff always try to do their best to help customers. In this case they identified a passenger on a train whose health was causing them concern so they encouraged him to leave the train early at St Albans.

"After he had left the train he collapsed. We called an ambulance and a passenger came to his assistance. Staff did what they could to assist until the emergency services arrived.

"All our staff are trained in how to respond in an emergency situation. This includes calling for paramedics and checking whether there is someone with a greater level of medical competence on the station who can provide expert assistance quickly. In this case our staff, two PCSOs and a customer were present to provide help.

"Our staff, including trained first aiders, always do what they can to help any customer in difficulties. It is always helpful to investigate how we can do better and we have a meeting arranged with Mrs Hughes so we can look at this incident in more detail. "

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Boris Johnson with Peter Hendy

I had a quick chat with the Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, last night after his appearance on Eddie Nestor's Drivetime on BBC London 94.9.

On air, he said Transport for London would not survive unscathed from the government cuts. That's not unexpected.

He also said that the Mayor has ordered him to make sure the bus service isn't cut.

By implication it means cuts will be away from the Tube upgrade, Crossrail and the core bus service.

Off air, he was extremely enthusiastic about driving a group of Routemaster buses on to a deserted Salisbury plain at the weekend.

Unfortunately, his own old Routemaster had broken down so he had to drive someone else's.

More significantly, he also said that TfL hope to run more trains during the next Tube strike.

This time he'd like them just to concentrate on running the Tube in Zone One. So presumably relying on train companies to get commuters in to town to change on to the Tube.

There weren't many olive branches for the unions that's for sure. Talks are at ACAS on Wednesday to try and sort this out.

Hardened commuters, do not hold your breath over a compromise.

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An interesting exchange at Mayor's Question Time last week between Caroline Pidgeon from the Liberal Democrats and the Mayor Boris Johnson, which shows you the way the wind is blowing at Transport for London.

The Lib Dems seemed to be attacking the "free nominee travel" perk that Transport for London employees get.

As things stand, TfL employees get free travel.

But I was a bit surprised to hear they can also nominate someone at their address to also get free travel. It doesn't have to be a relation or a spouse.

The Lib Dems clearly don't like this and say the money should be going into Tube investment.

They estimate it costs £26 million a year with 21,000 people getting free nominee travel.

Instead of a robust defence of this, the Mayor said he was actually looking at it - so you might see this being cut in the future.

Fair enough? And is this the thin end of the wedge?

How long until the hawks start looking at free travel full stop?

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Artist Mark McGowan dressed as a parking attendant is 'attacked' by a member of the public outside Bethnal Green Tube station

I have had a number of emails, like this one below from Tim, about a rise in charges at London Underground car parks and I'm afraid it's true.

I don't know if you are aware but NCP, who run the station car park at Hounslow West Station on behalf of London Underground, are increasing the car park charge at this major commuting station from £2.50 per day to £4.50 per day effective this weekend.

This increase of some 80% will add almost £500 a year to the costs of a commuter who uses this car park and then the Piccadilly Line to get to and from work in central London.

It is difficult to see how such an increase can be justified and, I suspect, that it will drive many of the current users to find parking spaces in local residential streets causing congestion and frustration for those that live there.

I've just been sent these comments from Transport for London about the charges being raised in its 60 car parks.

London Underground maintains all 60 of its car parks to the highest standards and has 100% CCTV coverage at all sites.

From September, prices will increase at car parks. Charges at our car parks have increased only once in the last five years, and this increase will enable LU to continue investing in improving the Tube for Londoners.

These charges will mean that our car park prices, which have always been much lower than other providers, still compare favourably to those operated by train companies and local authorities.

TfL also made the following points:

• Following the tariff rise, most LU car parks will be priced between £3.50 and £4.50 per day on weekdays, £1.50 on Saturdays and £1 on Sundays.


• Free parking for motorbikes will continue.


• The vast majority of LU car parks are in the outer fare zones - there are none in Zone One. Demand for car park space at most locations continues to increase with the majority of car parks full by 0800hrs on weekdays.

In some cases parking charges will go up by 80% to £4.50 a day.

These are clearly tough times for the transport budget and someone is looking at everything to optimise revenue.

However, for those that Park and Tube it is going to cost an extra £500 a year.

Let me know what you think, or if you are affected.

Follow me on Twitter: @TomSEdwards

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Yesterday, I went over to Ballymena near Belfast in Northern Ireland to see how the New Bus for London project is coming along.

Or the "Boris Bus" as I'm sure City Hall would like it to be called, or "son of Routemaster" as others have called it.

The name, needless to say, has yet to be decided.

These are some of the photos I took and here is also a quick guided tour of the bus giving my first impressions exclusively for the blog.

The project itself is just half complete with the actual unveiling at the end of the year in London.

The first bus will be tested in Spring 2011 with the first five prototypes hitting the streets of the capital by Spring 2012.

What's very apparent is that this is certainly a striking and unusual looking bus where the designers have got their way.

There are swooping glass windows, especially near the staircases.

There seems to be quite a lot of space (although not all the seats are in), however there doesn't seem to be a lot of headroom upstairs and I'm (nearly) 5ft 10.

And it's a bus specifically designed for central London. I doubt very much you will see it in outer London. It's a bus that will stop a lot in very congested areas.

It will be a hybrid bus with low emissions, good fuel consumption and it has brakes that recharge the battery.

This mock-up is fully to scale. It's made of plastic, steel and wood but it lets the designers work out problems.

All of those in Ballymena, unsurprisingly perhaps, were raving about the new bus.

The investment by Transport for London is £7.8 million - some have called it Boris Johnson's vanity project.

The MD of Wrightbus, Mark Nodder, told me that without this investment the radical approaches to design and technology wouldn't have happened.

Tom Edwards catches the new bus

Transport for London owns the bus though. And if there were resales abroad TfL would get a cut.

But on the question of the stretched transport budgets, the Mayor's adviser Kulveer Ranger said they continued to make their case to central government.

But if large cuts came to TfL all projects, including this one, would have to be looked at again.

If I was a betting man though I'd say a project so closely associated with the Mayor would probably survive any cull.

Anyway, more importantly let me know what you think below...

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The survey is trying, it seems, to quantify how many people have taken to two wheels due to the cycling superhighways and the bike hire scheme especially in light over those ambitious targets the Mayor has set himself.

For example, it asks questions about the surface of the superhighways and the call centre on the bike hire scheme.

Presumably it is too soon to issue a definitive statement on the schemes - considering the full roll-out of the bike hire has been delayed (and delayed). But this will be the first official report. There is a "public" hearing on 12 October where, no doubt, Transport for London and the contractor Serco will be quizzed about the schemes.

The London Assembly Transport Committee, perhaps unsurprisingly, go for the headline grabbing investigations where they can create some waves.

I'm thinking its investigation into the "snow day" when London's buses were taken off the roads, the tube upgrades and the recent report into accessibility into public transport.

No doubt this latest report into cycling will bring some more high profile recommendations .. watch this space.

A spokesman told me the Assembly hopes to have the cycling report out by Christmas.

Anyway if you want to put in your two pence worth the survey is at https://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/cycling. It takes two minutes.

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So Boris Johnson is to stand again for Mayor.

Speaking on BBC London 94.9 the Mayor said he wanted to argue for fewer cuts from a position of clarity and stand again.

He also said he believed the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osbourne understood the value of investing in transport infrastructure.

So, from that, can we deduce he's secured funding for the Tube upgrade and Crossrail?

With the spending cuts looming transport budgets in London are looking vulnerable.

As I've written before, the Department for Transport has a budget of £12.7 billion.

Of that Transport for London gets £3.2 billion (as part of an annual £9bn budget) and £1.7bn goes on the Tube upgrades.

So if the DfT's budget is cut by 40 per cent some say the upgrades may never happen.

It seems Boris Johnson is pinning his hopes on getting a decent settlement for the Tube upgrade, Crossrail and Thameslink.

Or certainly he wants to make it look like he's fought extremely hard with central Government to get a decent settlement.

His aides have told me: "He's pretty confident they accept the case he's made on those."

But there are those that think a row with the Coalition Government is actually what Boris wants and needs.

My colleague Norman Smith has just written a piece about it. He calls it the "the semi-detached strategy" - a deliberate attempt by Mr Johnson to put some distance between himself and the Prime Minister.

Tony Travers from the London School of Economics has just told BBC London:

"It's not a massive surprise Boris Johnson is running again.

He's obviously been pacing the decision as to when he will announce it, almost certainly to put a bit of pressure on the Government about spending items particularly big ticket items such as Crossrail and the tube upgrade.

But the implication of what he's announcing today is that he feels he's got enough of a commitment from Government to say yes to standing again."

He goes on:

"The implication is those items are secure, but having got commitments, if he has from the leadership, at the national level, he's still going to have to distance himself a bit from the Conservative Government.

If you're going to be a Mayor of London you're always going to have to distance yourself from your own party particularly when it becomes unpopular in mid-term."

So will this strategy work? Could central Government have called his bluff?

From a commuter's point of view are we going to get the upgrades and Crossrail?

Yet again we have huge billion pound infrastructure projects caught up in politics.

Having been burnt a few times (remember Crossrail first time round?) that makes many people in the transport world extremely nervous.

Let me know what you think...

UPDATE: 3.20pm

Boris Johnson has told BBC London's Political Editor Tim Dononvan this morning that he can't wave a piece of paper showing government have guaranteed sufficient funding for transport.

But the Mayor said they are hearing the message loud and clear, and now have the 'certainty' that he will be standing again to see them through .

And just a thought - what if the Tube upgrade, Crossrail and Thameslink are protected and indeed go-ahead but, for example, the bus subsidies get cut and fares go up again?

The Department for Transport have made it very clear Transport for London won't escape the funding cuts completely.

Will safeguarding the "Big 3" still be enough for Boris Johnson to get re-elected?

Or is he putting all his eggs in one big project basket?

Bear in mind Crossrail completion date is 2017 (at the moment....) and so voters aren't going to be that impressed with that for a few years yet.

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Rental van re-distributing the cycle hire bikes on Portland Place in central London

This photo I've just taken shows the difficulties facing Serco in distributing the Boris bikes.

Initially the plan was for 10 electric low emission "green" vehicles to redistribute the bikes along with 20 staff.

It quickly became clear that 10 vehicles couldn't cope around mainline stations where the docking bays are either full or empty.

So now we have rental transit vans being drafted in to help along with some Ford Focus estates with trailers. These extra vehicles are neither electric nor green.

Transport for London have confirmed there are now 20 vehicles and 40 staff distributing bikes.

That's double what Serco initially thought they'd need, and presumably it will mean double the cost for the contractor.

Are we going to see this contract renegotiated as happened in Paris? It's probably too early to tell.

Transport for London says the extra vehicles are a short to medium term solution until more docking stations are introduced.

There have been many computer glitches but it's looking like distribution is the real problem for the London Bike Hire scheme.

It's happening due to the huge number of train commuters at stations who want a cheaper alternative to getting the tube.

Paris introduced incentives to park the bikes on the top of hills, are we getting towards that?

UPDATE: 12.50pm

We were getting complaints about the bike hire scheme last night with some users having to take their bikes home as they couldn't find docking points.

Some users were told they would have to pay £50 for taking the bikes home.

Not surprisingly perhaps, usage was up massively due to the tube strike. This is the experience of one user who emailed us:

There was nobody from TfL/Serco at our docking station (Notting Hill). However, this was part of the problem! They kept promising us someone would appear, but to no avail. We waited 2 hours - my husband getting very cold having sweated whilst cycling.

The situation was frustrating for 3 reasons:

1. Obviously, the fact that no-one had planned ahead for the obvious consequence of the tube strikes - namely that many more people would be using the bikes to commute from the City to residential areas like Notting Hill.

A bit of foresight would have meant extra staff would have been on shift to move the bikes from residential areas back to the City.

2. The docking station computer system was obviously faulty, as it was saying spaces were available in docking stations that weren't. Serco staff on the phone would still say 2 spaces were available when we were standing in front of a full dock.

3. The customer service was absolutely appalling - staff were rude, openly laughing at the predicament people were finding themselves in.

Our operator said we'd have to pay for the bike being out of dock during our waiting time and laughed saying, 'just enjoy it.'

We arrived at the docking station at 8pm to find it full and all surrounding ones full - the Serco phone-lines were all busy, as obviously they were receiving lots of calls.

An Australian lady at the docking station with us was left on hold for 25 minutes, then put back on hold, then laughed at by a phone operator - she told them she will never use the scheme again.

Once we finally got through to a member of staff, he assured us someone would arrive within 40 minutes to clear some bikes from the docking station. At the same time, a gentleman next to us was being told that, categorically, no-one would be leaving the depot to collect bikes until 10pm.

We were continually told someone was en route. We waited for 2 hours. People were dumping their bikes at the dock or taking them home - whilst all the while dozens of bikers kept arriving and leaving again - directed their by Serco's faulty computer system that wrongly indicated there was space. What was simply a lack of foresight and proper planning became a customer service disaster.

4. Eventually, after my husband had given his details over the phone for the fourth time, he argued the phone operator into agreeing that he could take the bike home for no charge and return it in the morning. We won't have to pay, despite taking the bike home. The people who took their bikes home earlier, however, will have to pay £50. This discrepancy feels unfair.

I await a response from Transport for London. Anyone else suffer the same?

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Extremely strong words from both London Underground and the Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond about the Tube strike.

Mike Brown MD of London Underground says they will run more trains next Tube strike and they can't compromise over the cuts.

The Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond was very blunt. He said the unions would have to back down.

All of which means that this could be a very long dispute.

Here's the full interview with Phillip Hammond.

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Photo sent in to the BBC's UGC hub of the scene outside Liverpool Street station this morning

When the editor asks you to put your neck on the block and predict how many Tube trains are going to run the next morning, you are on a hiding to nothing.

Perhaps I hedged my bets a little saying it was difficult to tell (it is) and said London Underground is hoping to run some services and we could get a "skeleton service" and "a handful of trains."

Certainly last night when I was at Warren Street and they shut the station at 10.30pm while we were on air I thought the disruption would be severe.

So how has it been?

Most news outlets have been reporting "severe disruption" and here in the newsroom we are getting the stories of people missing meetings and hearings.

No doubt many commuters stayed at home and some have switched modes of transport - the roads have been extremely busy and there have been many more bikes on the road (even our Political Editor Tim Donovan got onto two wheels).

When you take reliability out of the Tube then people will switch.

And there have been long queues at bus stops and taxi ranks.

All morning the unions and London Underground have been trying to get their message across about the scale of the disruption.

The unions at one point said every line had been affected. The problem in assessing it is that it varies from hour to hour.

At one point lots of the lines were suspended offering no service and then later in the morning more lines started to put trains with severe delays.

The RMT picket line outside Finsbury Park Tube

By 10.00am London Underground said 40% of tube trains were operating. Of course commuting is extremely subjective so let me know how you got on.

My fellow Mind the Gap blogger Steve Phillips thinks the disruption was at least as bad as this time last year.

Into the mix another issue is the accusations being made by the Unions about alleged safety breaches at some stations.

The RMT says its "filing reports this morning with the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) detailing clear breaches of safety regulations".

The accusations according to the RMT Union are:

• On the Bakerloo Line a limited "shuttle service" is running non-stop from Marylebone to Queens Park passing through six closed stations - a clear breach of the section 12 Kings Cross fire regulations that stipulate if three stations in a row are closed the service should be suspended as an incident in a tunnel would make safe evacuation impossible.
• A similar situation on the District Line where Embankment, Temple and Blackfriars are closed - with Cannon St expected to close - but trains still being allowed to run through in contravention of section 12.


• 150 passengers dumped off a train on the Central Line at Leytonstone and forced to climb over fences to get out of the closed station after managers were caught out trying to run an under-staffed service and were forced to cancel in mid-stream.

UPDATE 12pm:

Here's the response from London Underground.

On the RMT's claims over breaching fire safety regulations:

WRONG - London Underground has thorough and well-practised contingency plans in place, drawn up following detailed risk assessments. These state that if three stations in a row are closed due to insufficient staff, train services can still continue through those stations as long as member of staff is present at any one of those locations to assist should an emergency evacuation be necessary.

In the cases outlined [by the RMT above], we have staff qualified in evacuation procedures at those locations, we just don't have enough staff to open those stations at the moment. Therefore it is entirely safe to operate trains through these lines.

On the RMT's claim that 150 passengers were 'dumped' off a Central Line at Leytonstone:

WRONG - The station was preparing to open when the service came in, with 40 passengers on board. In order to help customers exit as quickly as possible, a manager guided them out via the staff entrance. This took a couple of minutes. No customers were seen climbing over fences by our staff.

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If you don't use London Underground and live miles away from the capital, you might be wondering why and how the Tube strike affects you.

Well, in London there's been a Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson for the last two years.

And one of the first things he did was to instigate £5 billion of efficiency savings at Transport for London, which he oversees.

A lot of money has been saved in the renegotiation of contracts but London Underground wants to save £16 million a year by cutting 800 posts and reducing ticket office opening hours.

London Underground says there will be no compulsory redundancies and is rationalising staffing due to the success of an electronic payment card called Oyster.

It says every station that has a ticket office will continue to have one and no station will be unstaffed.

The unions say it's a safety issue and will mean a poorer service for customers.

At the moment we are in dead-lock with a wave of strike dates planned through the Autumn. While the RMT union has a reputation for striking, the TSSA union, who represent station staff, don't and isn't militant.

So the cuts we are seeing in the capital have taken some time to come through and certainly City Hall thinks it is two years ahead of the cuts being talked about by the Coalition government.

Other unions will be watching how this dispute plays out.

Will either side compromise? Has this now become a clash of ideologies?

Will other Unions react in a similar way if job cuts are proposed there? Will the Unions in other areas copy these tactics of a long drawn out dispute with a strike for 24-hours every four weeks? Some think they could.

Not everyone agrees though.

Tony Travers at the London School of Economics thinks it's very difficult for other unions to copy the action on the Tube.

London Underground is a monopoly and he thinks the unions know it's very difficult for the politicians to do anything about the strikes.

He also believes the action is unique and not a harbinger of cuts elsewhere.

Let me know what you think...

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Pretty simple request really - have a look at this. It's the new website for London's travel news from ourselves and will replace the current one which sits at www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel.

The new version's main feature is the draggable map, sprinkled with incidents across the capital. This will sit alongside the more familiar list that you've been used to.

At the moment, the site is in 'beta' version which basically means 'trial', so now's the time to get your thoughts in about what you like or don't like.

Myself, I'm hoping that once the finished version is live it'll have a link to this blog (shameless promotion I know, that's me all over), plus links to travel stories similar to what we used to post on the old site (photo on the right).

I posted the link on our Twitter feed yesterday and the first opinions are favourable.

But I'm sending you, the jury, out. What's your verdict? Are we on the Road to Nowhere or have we taken the right turning? I'll stop now...

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