LRT gets o-p-o warning
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A WARNING that rapid moves to one-person operation might "light the fuse" of the London Regional Transport "tinderbox" was sounded last week by Transport and General Workers Union London bus secretary Terry Allen, following a report showing that overall costs of conversion could outweigh the benefits.
The report by Oxford University's transport study unit said the financial savings to LRT from reduced conductors' wages were offset by extra drivers' pay and revenue losses.
Current LRT plans to move from 53 per cent to 65 per cent o-p-o meant that 500 conductors went in February, 200 more in April, 420 in July and 400 in November, totalling 1,200 in a year said Mr Allen.
He claimed LRT was using o-p-o to help move rapidly to improve the economics of its marginal routes in the light of forthcoming tendering and deregulation.
He was particularly concerned at two-door buses being used for o-p-o and said London was -virtually the only city doing this". TGWU passenger national secretary Bill Morris said that the case for resisting o-p-o in the central area was
irrefutable".
FRANCE has banned the transport of groups of 15 or more children under 16 by coach on all French roads from 3pm on Friday, August 2 to 3pm on Friday, August 3.