Ratepayers pay for election gimmick
Page 28
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE LAW LORDS have made it abundantly clear that there is a world of difference between the use of bus-fare cuts as an election gimmick and reasonable subsidies from the rates to encourage travel by public transport and reduce traffic congestion.
They have found that the Greater London Council's new proposals to reduce bus and underground railway fares by an average of a quarter were based on a "carefully researched strategy for transport in London as a whole" after full consultation. That is a far cry from the rabid "Fares Fair" ploy.
So after the ratepayers have been milked for costly litigation and steeply increased fares since the Law Lords ruled fares unfair in December, 1981, the level of fares will revert in May to that which existed before Dave Wetzel, chairman of the transport committee, and his playmates at County Hall (better known as Livingstone's Folly) monkeyed about with them. What a way to run a railway!