Darren Johnson - Public private partnership not in the interest of
10 December 2009
The Transport Select Committee met yesterday on Wednesday 9 December for an update on the use of the public private partnership (PPP) tofund improvements on the London Underground.
It heard evidence from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and other people involved in the programme, including Dean Finch, the chief executive of Tube Lines, which has responsibility for upgrading the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. The contracts to improve the other tube lines had been given to Metronet, but following the financial collapse of Metronet, Metronet was taken over by Transport for London (TfL) in 2007.
The Green Party has been against the use of public private partnership contracts from the start. The collapse of Metronet has brought forward costs that would have been paid over 30 years and a lot of money was paid to the company for work it did not complete before it folded. As a result, there will probably be staffing cuts of front line station staff to pay again for the tube improvements that Metronet did not do. PPP can never be in the public interest as the only reason for a private company to take on a contract of this magnitude is to make a significant profit. Had taxpayer's money been used to fund the improvements directly, it would not have to pay companies like Tube Lines a significant profit.
Concerns have also been raised about staffing at London Underground stations. A leaked briefing note sent to RMT the rail union from a senior TfL executive shows that in order to find savings, London Underground staff numbers will be reduced by up to 1200. Up to 144 stations will have no ticket staff and only the main stations and smaller central London stations will have ticket staff. Boris seems to have moved away from his manifesto promise of a manned ticket office at every station.
In yesterday's evidence to the Transport Select Committee he said "whether or not you have a person behind glass, in a ticket office at all times is another matter". This seems a far cry from the campaigning days when he was at Harrow North Station signing a petition against the removal of ticket office staff. In all, PPP represents a bad deal for Londoners. The Greens are against public finance initiatives, because the profits paid to these companies rob the taxpayer of money that should have been spent directly on improving the service. The delay in the Jubliee line improvements, and the collapse of Metronet, show that private involvement does not always mean a better improvement programme.
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