The Mayor

The positive side of Ken Livingstone (addressing RoadPeace). The statistics (if accurate) are impressive.





The negative side (from the Ken-hating Evening Standard)

BUS FARES

Claim: "Average real bus fares [ie allowing for inflation] are now lower than when I took office in 2000" (Mayoral press release, 30.10.07).

Reality: Average London bus fares rose by 29.1 per cent between 2000 and 2007 (Department for Transport, Transport Statistics Great Britain, 1.11.07, table 6.15). This was 12.1 per cent above inflation over the same period.

ROUTEMASTER BUS

Claim: In a speech on 2 December 2003, Mr Livingstone pledged: "I will save the Routemaster." In 2001, he said: "Only some ghastly, dehumanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster."

Reality: Mr Livingstone got rid of the Routemaster from normal service in December 2005.

GROWTH IN CYCLING

Claim: "Cycling levels have raised by 83 per cent compared to 2000." (Mayoral press release, 11.2.08.)

Reality: This turns out to relate to the number of cyclists passing just 29 sampling points along a few main roads. According to TfL's Achievements Report, January 2007, p43, the actual rise in cycling across London is 50 per cent, from 300,000 to 450,000 trips a day - in line with the growth in use of other modes, such as the buses, Tube and suburban rail.

EXPANSION OF LONDON'S AIRPORTS

Claim: In March 2007, Mr Livingstone's "climate change action plan" said the Mayor would "challenge the need for further runway expansion at UK airports". He has repeatedly reiterated this on the campaign trail.

Reality: The London Plan, the definitive statement of the Mayor's policy, opposes expansion at Heathrow but says: "The Mayor ... recognises that further runway capacity [elsewhere] in the South-East will be required to meet London's needs." (London Plan as amended, policy 3c, page 131.)

The full hatchet job here.