During a visit to Finchley Central Tube station this week, she said congestion charging was necessary to tackle gridlock in the capital. Congestion charging will make people think twice about getting in their car. People will then have very high expectations that improvements are coming, but people have to understand that improvements are not going to happen overnight. A leaked report from the Health and Safety Executive this week highlighted 69 key safety issues in the present Tube network including overcrowding on trains and platforms and emergency evacuation, which have to be resolved before the Government's plans to hand over the Underground to a public-private partnership can go ahead. Leading the Lib Dem campaign against Labour's plans for the part-privatisation of the Tube, Ms Kramer said the best way of getting finance into the Underground was through bonds, without involving the conflicting aims of several private firms.
Nobody feels they get good value for money at the moment.
Aside from the roads and the Underground, customer confidence in the railways has plummeted since the Hatfield disaster last October and the latest tragedy on the tracks near Selby. Ken Livingstone will have a job on his hands getting people out of their cars and onto trains, given concerns over safety and reliability. Alternatively, a summary document and the full draft are available at Hendon Library in The Burroughs.