Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Extending the use of Oyster to First Capital Connect's overground train services running north out of Finsbury Park is the subject of my latest local column:

To us public transport users in London it seems as plain as the nose on our faces that Oyster should be extended to our local overground rail (and everywhere actually) – so we can go boldly and easily wherever we choose! But no – we still have to put up with a two-tier ticket system if we want to use our local overground stations like Alexandra Palace and Haringey.

We are stalled because First Capital Connect are holding back from extending Oyster north of Finsbury Park station. Having to get separate tickets to travel in the same city is akin to Soviet-style bureaucracy – not what you expect in a world-class city like London.

These days we’re no long train travellers but customers – but whatever then happened to putting the customer first? This sort of bureaucratic small mindedness does rather make a mockery of their slogan, “Your Journey, Your Choice, Your Railway” – but not “Your Convenience” or “Your choice of ticketing” it would seem.

Other train operators like First Great Western and South West Trains have already committed to making their passengers happy and will install the Oyster pay-as-you-go system in the next year – and they are putting First Capital Connect to shame.

Recently I met with the Oyster specialists Cubic - who delivered Oyster for our tubes and buses – at Alexandra Palace overground station and they are keen as mustard to get on with it. So I’ve written to First Capital Connect calling on them to get on with it – and you can too at Freepost RRBR-REEJ-KTKY, First Capital Connect, Customer Relations Department, PO Box 443, Plymouth, PL4 6WP.

But before you do - you can read the rest of the piece here.

Labels: oyster, trains

Hornsey Journal - have picked up the story of Mrs Kelly and the NHS's failure to properly provide for her health care.

It's also covered the Crouch End Fun Run and my calls for simpler ticket systems for local train travellers.

York Press - have covered my visit to York last Friday.

The Charities Aid Foundation have picked up on my comments about China's response to its awful earthquake.

Labels: trains

Met with Cubic - the company who deliver Oyster - yesterday. I met them at Alexandra Park Station where they said that Oyster compatibility for such train services would be coming to in mid 2009. Hurrah! Having a joined up system will bring much benefit to local travellers!

But their bigger quest is to get Oyster-compatible ticketing across the nation. Their problem - it is low on the Government's priority list - and no one in the Government transport team seems to want to champion it, even though it would be cheaper and more effective in the long run to do it as a complete scheme now - rather than piecemeal as and when franchises come up.

Of course - Cubic have their own interests in seeing Oyster go national, but seeing the benefits it has brought to public transport use in London, it is in all our interests to see it spread.

Labels: oyster, trains

Visited St Pancras to see how the new Eurostar terminal is progressing.

LCR showed us the works. The opening is on November 14 - and I have to say, it is a very exciting new station. I love that they are using the high level standard and model of New York's Grand Central.

So we will see a station the like of which we haven't really seen before in this country. Proper boutique shops (like in airports), farmers' market with fresh produce, eateries and the longest champagne bar. And trains!

Labels: trains

All hell has broken loose in Chelsfield. Where's Chelsfield? It's a small rail station, just part Orpington - a commuter village where almost all the population rely on the train to link them to their work in Central London.

But the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has put out to consultation their plans to make the railways more "efficient". In real terms they are proposing large cuts to the peak hour services.

As I travelled down to chair a meeting with local residents, I have to stand all the way. The driver announces that there are seats down the front of the train - so I make my way from the back towards the front. Three carriages on, I give up.

There are packed carriages with standing passengers everywhere and it is, in the end, impassable. If this is what it is like with 6 trains - no wonder life as Chelsfield has known it will end if they cut the numbers.

The meeting is packed with over 150 people. Simon Hughes (as LibDem spokesperson for London) is there, as is Chris Maines, the Leader of the Opposition on the local council, and Duncan Borrowman - the LibDem GLA candidate. We all agree, despite the fact that the LibDems have organised the meeting and form the panel - that all political parties need to act and stand together to fight these proposals.

A couple of hours later the meeting agrees to take it forward in a variety of ways. My role is to champion it at GLA level and respond to the SRA from the LibDem GLA group. There will be people counts at the station and representations at all levels.

The SRA are an outrageous body who seem to care nothing for regional needs and support unquestioningly the Train Operating Companies whose only interest is the profit from long-haul journeys. That's why it is vital that London has its own Commuter Rail Authority. Peoples' lives and life choices are based on the ability to travel into central London - but the SRA couldn't care less. Given their constant failure to make any headway with our rail industry - their days must be numbered.

What's more, Mayor Livingstone has singularly failed to get anything out of them with what powers he does have. We had all the players into a scrutiny of the Assembly Transport Committee last year and they assured us that the best way forward was to rely on the very good working relationship between the Mayor and the SRA.

But the 'working relationship' has delivered nothing but reduced rail services for London. Time the Mayor used his teeth and issued directions rather than guidance - which are the two powers he has under the GLA act - but he won't!

Labels: ken livingstone, simon hughes, trains