800 london underground jobs to go

princeofpounds

They generally don't check, although they can. There was a family in the East End who were basically making a living on top of their benefit claiming these refunds. They got caught eventually, but IIRC they had taken about 20 grand worth by then.

BexInLondon

drc wrote: »

What really annoys me is when you pay your tube fare etc but you have to use a bus replacement service instead. So they are charging you for using the tube even though you are actually using their bus service, so should be charging you bus prices. Nice little earner there.

London Transport is smelly, dirty, dangerous, expensive and unreliable.

As far as I know the bus replacement service is free. Round my way, DLR closures mean free travel all weekend on the replacement! The replacements don't have Oyster touch in so no means of paying even if you want to!

MissMoneypenny

ninky wrote: »

what makes a real londoner btw?

Born and bred in London, to generations that were born and bred in London.

Like most other areas when newbies arrive, London also suffers from a small number that want to change things for the benefit of themselves and to the detriment of the area they have moved to.

lostinrates

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Born and bred in London, to generations that were born and bred in London.

Like most other areas when newbies arrive, London also suffers from a small number that want to change things for the benefit of themselves and to the detriment of the area they have moved to.

I dunno. I think part of what is great about London is the melting pot, the introduction of novelty, the thirst for information about new culture. I don't claim to be a ''real Londoner'' though, just a real londonphile.

ninky_2

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Born and bred in London, to generations that were born and bred in London.

.

not boris then.

i don't agree you have to have generations behind you to be a londoner. also, where is the edge of london these days? do you have to be born within the sound of bow bells or something too?

ken was born in london as was his mother. boris was born in new york.

MissMoneypenny

ninky wrote: »

not boris then.

i don't agree you have to have generations behind you to be a londoner. also, where is the edge of london these days? do you have to be born within the sound of bow bells or something too?

ken was born in london as was his mother. boris was born in new york.

I thought Boris was of Turkish decent?

Being born within the sound of Bow Bells is for the East of London (cockneys).

Red Ken is a total disgrace. He never changes. He always was a prize pr&£k, even when he was leader of the GLC.

lostinrates

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

I thought Boris was of Turkish decent?

Being born within the sound of Bow Bells is for the East of London (cockneys).

Red Ken is a total disgrace. He never changes. He always was a prize pr&£k, even when he was leader of the GLC.

Yes he is, but many people are cosmopolitan from birth....that we chose London, and britain is testament to this countries...worth..in many respects. That's why changing it too much...over neutralizing risks...losing that.

(I'm struggling atm to say exactly what I want, sorry...having a ''trouble with words'' afternoon.:o)

chewmylegoff

the closure of all of lines at the weekends has nothing to do with either ken livingstone or boris johnson.

it is the fault of central government which decided that PPP was a great idea, and gave 30 year maintenance contracts to the PPP money pits. livingstone strongly opposed this but got nowhere. as far as i understad it, the mayor can't really stop the weekend maintenance. the PPP companies have the power to demand closures so that they can carry out the work they're responsible for. the mayor can tinker with some details of the closures but i don't think he can actually do anything to intervene.

on the subject of whether the tube has got worse since boris got in, i use the southern part of the northern line and then the jubilee line every day. 2007/8 the service was abysmal. on both line, especially the jubilee line. there were a massive series of power failures on the jubilee line. there was a period of three months when it was especially bad, and one week when 5 out of 10 of my commutes took three times as long as normal.

aside from the closure of bank DLR for the whole of january, things have been much better in the last couple of years. i certainly don't think things have been worse under boris. the stations are no more crowded - if anything the clapham stations are slightly less ridiculously busy than they were before. i doubt any of this is anything much to do with the direct influence of either mayor.

regarding compensation of travelcard payers, it's pointless. the tube has to raise revenue from its users. if they reimburse all the people who wanted to use the jubilee line at weekends, they'll have to ratchet up fares to compensate. the consumer still pays in the end. it's a bit like the system of compensating you when you are late. if everyone religiously claimed the money back every time they were 15 minutes late, ticket prices would just be much higher than they are now.

bo_drinker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2NN3gliAPc

Cor blimey??