Huge announcement from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson on his transport expansion plans for the next ten years. There are some big changes in priorities from the previous Ken Livingstone plans. Some costly schemes are scrapped including the Thames Gateway Bridge. But there will be air-conditioning on the tube, increased capacity with carriages increased from six to seven, a cycle hire scheme, Cross-Rail, the return of the Routemaster, expansion of river transport with more piers, more charging locations for electric vehicles, measures to improve traffic flow, hydrogen buses, etc, etc. The full thing is here.
Boris said of the Thames Gateway Bridge:
Given the pressures on TfL funding and concerns over local traffic impacts, TfL will no longer be pursuing he proposed Thames Gateway Bridge. It has become clear to me that it is highly unlikely that the scheme will ever truly be acceptable to all those affected and it is right that the £90m we are currently spending on it be redirected.
Other projects that Boris believes have merit (Cross River Tramlink, Croydon Tramlink) have been shelved for the time being because of cost. So there are some tough choices. I suspect Londoners won't mind the odd prestige project being delayed or abandoned if it means they will cease to be treated worse than cattle when using the tube.
