| Topic: | Re:Now the Xrail chickens really come home to roost | |
| Posted by: | Thomas Barry | |
| Date/Time: | 29/10/09 21:50:00 |
| Um, are you for real, Chris? The step-free access has been cut a) because political priorities have changed and b) TfL are run by Boris, who's influenced (fortunately less so than it looked at one point) by people like Andrew Gilligan and the Policy Exchange think tank, who think that the 'disability rights agenda' is a communist/European plot to drain our manly juices or something. I exaggerate, but not much - the whole bendy/Routemaster idiocy stems from these people, and that's costing several step-free station projects by itself and Gilligan recently wrote an ill-tempered piece in the Spectator complaining about all the money wasted helping the disabled get around. Look up a chap called 'Dean Godson' too. The point about Crossrail is that *it has a cost/benefit ratio > 1*, which means it wastes money *not* building it, at the moment. I know this is a difficult concept for the hard of thinking but it's difficult to fund thing like step-free if you've just metaphorically stabbed yourself in the wallet by cancelling Crossrail and thus effectively foreclosed any economic expansion in London because the public transport system won't cope, which means you can't afford any investment in the system any more. Anyway, Ealing's objection is half-hearted - if they were really angry instead of going through the motions for PR reasons, they'd be calling for urgent talks with Boris instead of blaming 'London Underground', but the last thing a Tory council wants is a high-profile fight with the Tory Mayor 8 months before the next local elections. It's pretty clear where the cancellation has come down from. |