Waterfront Transit Sinks
Am I the only person that thought that the proposed Waterfront Transit System had already been axed months, nay, years ago? My only surprise when I found out about its demise yesterday was that it had still been on the table at all. I don't even remember a time when it was talked about as though it was ever going to actually happen. I mean - even the name smacked of pie-in-the-sky. It was a a new bus route, not some Jetsons-alike monorail.
But, whatever - it's been made official - Matthew sent me this link to Boris finally sealing its fate.
Was it always just part of a bunch of proposed things that mandarins knew could never be afforded, just for short-term look-goodism to make TfL seem like they were 'doing something'? I don't know. It's possible that someone at some point thought it was do-able, but its death is nothing to do with the latest credit crunch. There were mutterings about it not happening long before the latest financial crisis.
Here we are again. A whole load of cash spent on on faffing round a project that wouldn't ever happen. I'm not convinced anyone ever thought it would.
If I had cash to invest at the moment, I'd be looking for a feasablity-study company to sink it in. It would seem these guys are the only ones working these days.
But, whatever - it's been made official - Matthew sent me this link to Boris finally sealing its fate.
Was it always just part of a bunch of proposed things that mandarins knew could never be afforded, just for short-term look-goodism to make TfL seem like they were 'doing something'? I don't know. It's possible that someone at some point thought it was do-able, but its death is nothing to do with the latest credit crunch. There were mutterings about it not happening long before the latest financial crisis.
Here we are again. A whole load of cash spent on on faffing round a project that wouldn't ever happen. I'm not convinced anyone ever thought it would.
If I had cash to invest at the moment, I'd be looking for a feasablity-study company to sink it in. It would seem these guys are the only ones working these days.
Labels: News
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:21
2 Comments:
Boris cancelled everything except stage 1 (North Greenwich - Thamesmead) shortly after he came to power. The further phases weren't funded, and were at least partially dependent on the construction of the Thames Gateway Bridge, which was also cancelled.
However, stage one did have earmarked funding and indeed TfL submitted the necessary planning applications for the scheme to LB Greenwich in December 2008. As recently as the start of this month, senior councillors were certain that the scheme was going ahead. I have no doubt that Boris will try to blame Livingstone in some way for this (Andrew Gilligan definitely will...) but the truth is that this is a funded scheme that has been axed.
I think this is a great shame: true, it wasn't the most exciting scheme in the world, but it was a workable and affordable system that would have provided faster and more reliable buses for Thamesmead, probably the most public-transport deprived place in Greater London. There are plenty of examples of relatively limited bus segregation schemes producing significant increases in bus usership - see for example Leeds, or Dartford.
Sanity prevails: this was nothing more than a replacement for the 472bus route, on the same frequency, using the same kind of buses and following almost exactly the same route - at a cost of £46 million.
Exactly the same benefits could be achieved by simply painting some bus lanes in the road, and the only bill would be a few grand for the paint.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home