Lib Dems Need to Vote Ken To Stop Boris.

If you want to keep London moving and keep it going green, then cast either your first or second preference for Ken to stop Boris. Ken has proved his competence, even the Tories have tacitly admitted Boris is not up to the job. Whereas Ken has delivered:-

• 90p single bus fare in London, compared to £1.70 in Brighton (more elsewhere in UK).
• Free bus and tram travel for under 18s and half price for those on income support.
• Free tube travel for under 11s.
• An extra 1,000 buses, all 8,000 buses are modern, low floor & wheelchair accessible.
• An extra 2 million passenger trips per day in London. Bus use is falling across UK.
• Faster ticketing with Oyster.
• Night time buses up from 57 routes to over 100.
• CCTV on all buses and offenders losing oyster cards and free travel.
• London Overground introduced improving service and safety in outer London.
• 30 London Underground stations refurbished and renovated.
• Pedestrian and cycling friendly re-phasing of traffic lights.
• 40% reduction in deaths on roads. 58% reduction in child road deaths - saving 500 children a year.
• River service passengers increased by 80%.
• 40,000 new cycle parking spaces. Five-fold increase in cycle lanes. Cycling up 83%.
• Free 'dial a ride' for older and disabled people.
• Congestion charge, Oyster card & new services all delivered on time and in budget.
• 70,000 less cars in centre of London (congestion charge area).
• Defended and extended Freedom Pass for pensioners against Tory opposition.

The next stage of...

£39bn of improvements are even more challenging and need someone with a proven track record - Ken is the man to deliver:-

• Start constructing Crossrail, linking Heathrow to the West End, the City
and Canary Wharf and the Thames Gateway
• New trains on the Victoria Line with better accessibility, audio
announcements and ventilation and an increased service on the line
• Air conditioning on new trains on the Circle, District, Metropolitan,
Hammersmith and City lines, and air cooling on the Piccadilly line
• Refurbished District Line trains with enhanced CCTV and better information
• 30% addition to capacity on the Jubilee Line with higher service frequencies
• New seventh car to increase capacity on all Hammersmith and City trains
• 25 per cent of stations to have step free access
• Major schemes to provide more space for passengers at Kings Cross St
Pancras, Paddington, West Ham, and Shepherds Bush, with work underway
at Highbury and Islington, Finsbury Park, Tottenham Court Road, Bank,
Vauxhall, Bond Street and Victoria.
• New Olympic station at Stratford Regional, and new station at
Wood Lane.
• All new buses to be hybrid by 2012 reducing CO2 emissions by 40%.
• Double the number of Countdown signs from 2000 to 4000, with a
new state of the art GPS vehicle location system, giving passengers accurate
second-by-second information at bus stops, on buses, and to mobile phones.
• Overground stations will be refurbished, fitted with high quality CCTV and better
lighting and staffed throughout the hours of operation
• All stations and services will be covered by dedicated transport policing
• There will be new high quality trains running from 2008/9
• All trains will be lengthened to at least 4-cars by 2010
• Service frequencies will be doubled and hours of operation extended to
be consistent with London Underground.
• Deliver a 30% increase in capacity on suburban services, with 900 new train
carriages, such as 10-car trains to serve Waterloo and Victoria.
• Expand Oyster to National Rail.
• Take over Croydon tramlink.
• Extend Freedom Pass to 24 hours.
• £25 charge on gas guzzlers.
• Instant Payment Debit for Congestion Charge, so no more fines for forgeting to pay.
• Free bike hire - 6,000 bikes, all 300 metres apart.
• All residential roads to have 20mph speed limits.
• 200 paved over streets for pedestrians.

All these details and much more here in Ken's transport manifesto (pdf).

The advantage Boris has over Ken, is that he doesn't have to tell the truth and has even claimed some of the above policies as his own. He got caught out lying over his routemaster figures to the tune of £100m. Boris was over 1000% inaccurate in his figures - can you imagine this incompetent in charge of the £16bn Crossrail project?

The truth is Boris is a Tory, has spoke against Ken on virtually all these measures and Tories on the assembly have fought Ken tooth and nail and will fight tooth and nail to stop all these measures. If Boris is elected he will have enough support from Tory members on the assembly to mess up all of Ken's good work and future innovation. Who do you trust to deliver all these massive changes? Someone with a proven track record of success or a proven incompetent?

Also, as the Greens point out, you might want to change your first preferences as well, Brian Paddick may be a celebrity candidate but he makes a very anti-environment Lib Dem.

• He wants to scrap the Low Emissions Zone.
• Privatise the Tube.
• Cancel the £25 charge to gas guzzlers.

In short, he isn't much different to Boris.