Tonight (Monday 12 September), the House of Lords will debate an amendment to the Localism Bill which, if agreed, will effectively end independent passenger representation in London.
The amendment will abolish London TravelWatch, with its work being taken over by the London Assembly, which proposes to outsource rail issues and complaints.
London needs an independent, non-political passenger voice which can hold Transport for London and train companies to account.
We put an unbiased objective view on vital policy transport issues on behalf of the travelling public, and each year more than 10,000 passengers contact us to help resolve their problems.
The plans also mean that there will no longer be one body looking at all transport issues in the capital: rail passengers will be represented differently from other passengers in London.
Dividing representation between two separate bodies makes absolutely no sense in a city like London where fares, tickets and journeys are increasingly integrated, and where there is a real risk of long-distance rail passengers being prioritised over local London passengers.
We call for all peers and Ministers to oppose this amendment in order to ensure sixty years of independent passenger representation in London continues.
David Barry says
A perfect example of why TravelWatch is needed is the work it has recently done on the level of “incomplete journey” payments people are making on Oyster. Oyster’s usefullness rests on it being usable on all modes of transport and consequently any issues arising from problems with Oyster have to be taken up by a body that deals with all modes of Transport.
As well as the assembly, it seems, not being prepared to work across all transport modes if it “takes over” the TW function, it also consists of politicians elected by voters resident in Greater London. But a very large proportion of Transport Users in London do not live in Greater London being commuters and so are not London voters.
Nick Biskinis says
Trouble is that London TravelWatch isn’t a very good organisation that for all its supposed ‘independence’ does not bother consulting local people and has become far too close to transport operators. It very much ressembles a quango that arrogantly thinks it knows best rather than a powerful advocate body.
In South London London TravelWatch publically endorsed a plan by TfL to axe key services: yet in private TravelWatch officers were scathing about TfL’s costings. So it does seem as though TravelWatch’s committment to commuters in reality is cosmetic, and only when its own existence is threatened does it suddenly get shaken out of its cozy stupor.
Sharon Grant is the wrong person to lead TravelWatch: she was seen by some as a political appointee (she is a former Labour councillor) and does not have any transport campaigning background. This has meant an ability to challenge operators and an assumption that her own staff know best rather than commuters.
The problem is that TravelWatch is a self-proclaimed ‘champion of commuters’ yet is willing to constantly compromise commuters’ interest for its own convenience. Its record – inverse to its funding increases – is very poor. So whilst it would be better for there to be a passenger body, that really isn’t the same thing as keeping London TravelWatch that has failed passengers.