What are your feelings about Ken's time as Mayor? Has he done a good job?
Mani Hussain Fri 02/05/08 11:12
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I'm not exactly a Londoner but I enjoy being there more now. I like the festivals, I find it easier driving (though the water people are doing their best to slow it all down again). I'm not mad on his love of skyscrapers (though I don't know if Boris will be any different), I hate bendy buses. I don't like the crooks he hired but again Boris's friends are a nasty lot.
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The new Trafalgar Square has transformed the centre of the city. It used to be a grimy roundabout. The congestion charge has been an unmitigated success for me. I'm loving the festivals. In fact, the city feels far more vibrant and cosmopolitan and fun than it did 8 years ago.
I'm fine with bendy buses. I've no idea why they have played such a big part in this election. It's a slightly different-shaped bus?
He's surrounded himself with silly people, which has been a major failing.
8/10.
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He has done ok, but does seem to be a bit of a dictator. The London transport system is still unreliable and fares are far too expensive. I think also, fare paying adults are subsidising the free fares children now get.
The extended congestion charge is unpopular. More people would probably use public transport if it was cheaper, safer and more reliable. These days, I feel very threatened on buses and trains.
I'm also unhappy that my tax money is going towards the 2012 Olympics. Londoners haven't really been consulted about this and small businesses are not going to benefit from any contracts, as most are being given to the huge, well established firms.
There has also been lots of wasted money on peojects run by the mayors department, for instance millions spent on the new bendy buses, which don't really work in a congested place like London, where roads are narrower. Plus the fiasco with the engineering contractors responsible for the London underground repairs and extension.
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I think we would not be able to judge his performance until we see what someone else has got to offer. Personally the only thing I did not like out of his inventions, are the bendy buses. They catch fire a lot. Luckily I do not go on them as I drive, and I do not go near them as I work where there are no bendy buses (nearest one would be about 3.5 miles away).
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Ken didn't actually buy the bendy buses himself; but they slow traffic down on London's narrow streets and can take ages to turn corners. Fine for American boulevards, or even NYC's narrower, but straight, streets; not for London. Plus, as mentioned, they catch fire.
The Tube fiasco wasn't Ken's fault either, it was Gordon Brown's - he backed these public-private partnerships (which seem to mean the public pays the money and the private sector takes it). Ken opposed this and was proved right. Boris, however, wants more of it.
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My complaint about the bendy buses is that they are dangerous for cyclists and some pedestrians. Oyster cards fine ... free travel for kids fine. I think that people are fed up being overcharged for local services and subbing pensions of others while all charges are being raised for the hard pressed working folk. We also know families who bought one slightly bigger better ( they thought ) for the environment cars who were seriously hacked off at the larger zone and then increased charging on the horizon. Coupled with the whole schools furore - lottery mmm stunning idea. I do think Ken has done some interesting things for London too- I think his going is a warning shot to Uncle Gordon more than anything else. CCTV everywhere I have reservations about - is it all about crime prevention or some film trail of evidence following a tragic event - not sure.
As an opening act for Mayor we could have done a lot worse than Ken. Boris just needs to collect his Diploma from the Prince Phillip Acadamy for International Relations and he is good to go, lol!
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But he has a lot more charisma than Ken, doesn't he? Lol.
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