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Post by vjaska on Dec 25, 2023 5:26:34 GMT
She is an election candidate so it is right she is held to account. The Silvertown Tunnel development consent order, including tolls for both crossings, was submitted under Boris Johnson, not Sadiq Khan, and it is almost impossible to cancel it once it has gotten to that stage, contracts signed etc ‘Just blame Boris’ - seems to be a popular rhetoric lately…. And so, presumably, if the Rotherhithe Tunnel ends up tolled then that’s Boris’ fault too? TBH, the same happens with Khan on here regardless of whether it’s his fault or not. TB123 provided evidence that shows regardless of Boris, Khan or anyone else, this was going ahead. I believe they also mentioned Livingstone proposed a toll as well so I don’t see where this blame Boris rhetoric is?
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Post by southlondon413 on Dec 25, 2023 7:39:48 GMT
‘Just blame Boris’ - seems to be a popular rhetoric lately…. And so, presumably, if the Rotherhithe Tunnel ends up tolled then that’s Boris’ fault too? TBH, the same happens with Khan on here regardless of whether it’s his fault or not. TB123 provided evidence that shows regardless of Boris, Khan or anyone else, this was going ahead. I believe they also mentioned Livingstone proposed a toll as well so I don’t see where this blame Boris rhetoric is? To be fair 99% of Khans M.O is blaming someone else, if it isn’t Boris it’s the government so it’s hard to tell when it’s his fault and not somebody else’s, even 8 years in to his reign of terror. At this point he might as well turn it into a campaign slogan. Every single City Hall and TfL press release features some part of the phrase “lack of government funding”. If they didn’t come out at awkward times you could turn it into a drinking game, bottle of wine every time Khan deflects off his own failures to blame somebody else. It doesn’t help that Khan does not take criticism very well, we’ve all seen those city hall videos where he throws more shade than a drag queen in a nightclub. Regardless of when the plans were submitted Khan has had 8 years to come up with an alternative and 8 years to think of a solution but in typical Khan style he just goes with someone else’s idea because he can hide behind the fact that it wasn’t him who did it so he can just blame the last guy and get away with it. No doubt when questioned in the future he will deflect and blame Boris. He hasn’t got an original thought in that tiny head of his. At what point does Khan take responsibility for his own actions that being made now under his current administration? The man is just a mouthpiece with an expensive press team and a fancy car.
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Post by matthieu1221 on Dec 26, 2023 0:40:05 GMT
Simple solution to all the outroar here would be tolling will be suspended when Rotherhithe is closed for works. Works chosen to start at that time given the extra capacity from Silvertown. Would go a long way to buy a bit of goodwill.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Dec 26, 2023 14:56:46 GMT
I'm not supporting Hall in any way, actually am quite a strong Labour supporter when Corbyn's end are kept away from the party but the issue being made by Khan is the fact that all other crossings will also have tolls introduced. If the repairs for the Rotherhithe were so important why not just do that now? Why wait until all the alternative crossings start being tolled too? If you were to toll all bridges in West London wouldn't there be an uproar? Why should it cost a tenner to do a round trip in East London but not in West London? The price is actually so absurd that it might even be cheaper to get to South London using Chiswick Bridge if you have a relatively fuel efficient car. I dread to think how the traffic situation will be heading towards Tower Bridge as that'll be the only crossing if the Rotherhithe were to close unless you include the Woolwich Ferry. That will take traffic all through Bermondsey and potentially Aldgate and the Shadwell area. Buses are not an alternative in this situation, how many of the car drivers are coming from the depths of Beckton exactly? Anyone who wants to get to Canary Wharf is probably also using the Jubilee Line so the SL4 isn't going to prevent car usage either as it's not catering to car users. Where are the actual links to where the traffic stems from such as places down the A13 like Barking, East Ham and Dagenham? and also from the A12 such as places like Redbridge and Leytonstone? What about the parts of South London such as Eltham and Bexleyheath? It's completely absurd that such a raw deal is being provided to people in East London specifically. I think Khan will still get into power simply because the Conservatives are worse in potentially every aspect at the moment. But we need to prepare for traffic chaos and even more people deflecting to the car as a result of buses getting caught in the ridiculous amounts of traffic that will inevitably develop in the West Silvertown and Greenwich areas as people start navigating down other roads in search of a free crossing. I daren't say starting Rotherhithe works in 2025 is due to the extra capacity from Silvertown becoming available, but I do understand the cynicism that could arise from this given it's tolled. I support the Silvertown Tunnel, there are some journeys that are always going to need a car and these journeys should be made safer and smoother - but it's a tricky scenario as no politician can realistically pledge to spend public money on new road schemes, especially in an urban area, given their general unpopularity regardless of the opinions on tolls. I would add that many central London bridges were also historically privately owned and tolled, through City Bridge foundation, which continues to own and maintain London, Blackfriars, Tower, Southwark, Millennium bridges, but does not charge tolls as it derives income from rental property nearby to the bridges and Square Mile instead. I can understand the frustrations at the differences between East and West London re having tolled crossings, though. I think the fact new crossings downstream in the last century have largely had to be funded through private finances for varying public policies and of course this has led to tolls, which again have been retained beyond payment periods (like Dartford) for varying reasons The problem is with a £5 toll each way the Silvertown will not make journeys faster and smoother, it will end up causing excessive traffic as people will start going upstream to the next free crossing that they can use. Any toll should still be cheaper than added cost to get to the next free alternative and this extortionate price will mean it will actually be cheaper to drive all the way to Tower Bridge, use it to cross and you'll not have burnt an extra tenner on petrol. Dartford is an example of how a toll should be introduced, something reasonable in line with inflation and low enough to still keep it as the cheapest option. By the time anyone drives to Woolwich for the ferry they'd have burnt the money in petrol anyway. If the tunnel needs to be privately financed, then why not start tolling all bridges too to make up the funds faster? Why toll the only two crossings in East London? It's not as if they're only tolling the Silvertown tunnel as the Blackwall is also going to be tolled. I imagine worst case why not even start to sell advertising rights? Why not plaster adverts along the inside of the tunnel? If TfL are happy to put the IFS Cloud on the tube map I'm sure they can at least make money this way.
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