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| Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) Part 39: Next Stop, The Treasury | Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) Part 39: Next Stop, The Treasury |
| (4 months later) | |
| This month's mayor's question time was less ratty than most, partly because Boris Johnson kept his OGD - obsessive grandstanding disorder - under fairly tight control. The presence in the City Hall gallery of a Daily Mail sketch writer - for reasons not hard to guess - may have had a restraining effect, though a more likely explanation is that an appearance of statesmanlike sobriety will cut more ice with ministers at the treasury than the usual chortling. | This month's mayor's question time was less ratty than most, partly because Boris Johnson kept his OGD - obsessive grandstanding disorder - under fairly tight control. The presence in the City Hall gallery of a Daily Mail sketch writer - for reasons not hard to guess - may have had a restraining effect, though a more likely explanation is that an appearance of statesmanlike sobriety will cut more ice with ministers at the treasury than the usual chortling. |
| The outcome of the comprehensive spending review is due in just over a month, and fears that the GLA group faces a giant funding chop are rife. Transport grant, in particular, is reported to have been sized up for serious shrinkage. If so it was a little odd that the mayor's main resort to show-off mockery was reserved for a question about the New Bus for London, the transport project his critics are keenest to ascribe to profligacy and vanity. | The outcome of the comprehensive spending review is due in just over a month, and fears that the GLA group faces a giant funding chop are rife. Transport grant, in particular, is reported to have been sized up for serious shrinkage. If so it was a little odd that the mayor's main resort to show-off mockery was reserved for a question about the New Bus for London, the transport project his critics are keenest to ascribe to profligacy and vanity. |
| Liberal Democrat Stephen Knight asked if the New Bus would be clean and green enough to meet the standards Johnson proposes for an ultra low emission zone in central London, which he has promised will be introduced by 2020 - a handy four years (at least) after he's found alternative employment elsewhere. The answer was "unlikely" but discussion of what this said about Johnson's policy judgment was obscured by a smog of "Good Old Boris" filibuster banter about secret Lib Dem labs and cucumbers. | Liberal Democrat Stephen Knight asked if the New Bus would be clean and green enough to meet the standards Johnson proposes for an ultra low emission zone in central London, which he has promised will be introduced by 2020 - a handy four years (at least) after he's found alternative employment elsewhere. The answer was "unlikely" but discussion of what this said about Johnson's policy judgment was obscured by a smog of "Good Old Boris" filibuster banter about secret Lib Dem labs and cucumbers. |
| The mayor's defensiveness about the New Bus should be understood in the context of the CSR. His recent excursion to the Wrightbus factory in Ballymena where the vehicle is made had the look of a pre-emptive damage limitation exercise, with much boasting that his investment in the project is boosting economic recovery. | The mayor's defensiveness about the New Bus should be understood in the context of the CSR. His recent excursion to the Wrightbus factory in Ballymena where the vehicle is made had the look of a pre-emptive damage limitation exercise, with much boasting that his investment in the project is boosting economic recovery. |
| Well, the New Bus is handsome enough, especially on the inside. It is claimed by the mayor to be genuinely cleaner and greener then other hybrids (though the Greens are not so sure - see update) and said to be popular with passengers. But it has cost a great deal more than advertised. | Well, the New Bus is handsome enough, especially on the inside. It is claimed by the mayor to be genuinely cleaner and greener then other hybrids (though the Greens are not so sure - see update) and said to be popular with passengers. But it has cost a great deal more than advertised. |
| During the five years since he came to power Johnson has said that its development costs (about £11m) would be met by the manufacturer, that other cities in the UK and abroad would be eager to buy it, and that each bus would be priced no higher than existing "hybrid" models. In each case he has been wrong, which hardly helps deflect his critics' barbs and might suggest to number crunchers upstream of City Hall that if Transport for London can find the £200m to add 600 of these luxurious vehicles to the capital's fleet it isn't too hard up to take a hit. | During the five years since he came to power Johnson has said that its development costs (about £11m) would be met by the manufacturer, that other cities in the UK and abroad would be eager to buy it, and that each bus would be priced no higher than existing "hybrid" models. In each case he has been wrong, which hardly helps deflect his critics' barbs and might suggest to number crunchers upstream of City Hall that if Transport for London can find the £200m to add 600 of these luxurious vehicles to the capital's fleet it isn't too hard up to take a hit. |
| The New Bus for London has always been a vehicle for Brand Boris, going right back to the false impression created during the 2008 election campaign that it would directly replace the bendy buses so eagerly demonised by some of Johnson's most devoted media chums. If it ends up contributing to a reduction in public spending on transport in the capital, one of his most overstuffed political chickens will have come home to roost. | The New Bus for London has always been a vehicle for Brand Boris, going right back to the false impression created during the 2008 election campaign that it would directly replace the bendy buses so eagerly demonised by some of Johnson's most devoted media chums. If it ends up contributing to a reduction in public spending on transport in the capital, one of his most overstuffed political chickens will have come home to roost. |
| Update, 23 May 2013: BBC London's Tom Edwards has received TfL's latest figures on the fuel economy and emissions from the New Bus. They suggest slightly more miles per gallon than other hybrids currently operating and, at face value, the emissions data are encouraging. However, TfL says that the latest figures are "not definitive" Read the whole piece. | Update, 23 May 2013: BBC London's Tom Edwards has received TfL's latest figures on the fuel economy and emissions from the New Bus. They suggest slightly more miles per gallon than other hybrids currently operating and, at face value, the emissions data are encouraging. However, TfL says that the latest figures are "not definitive" Read the whole piece. |
| All previous installments of Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) are archived here. | All previous installments of Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) are archived here. |
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