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Saturday, 3 October 2009

Sarah Teather and the Jubilee Line Refund

I see Sarah Teather MP is pursuing a populist campaign for a refund for Jubilee Line users. First thought of everyone is: "Money back? Great" but how would it actually work?

The petition says: "We the undersigned call on Transport for London to refund local people for not providing a 7-day Jubilee line service. We also call for the Metropolitan line to be allowed to stop at Willesden Green and Neasden stations and for more information to be provided to the public in advance of closures."

Who are the "local people" in this context? I use the Jubilee line sometimes, although my nearest Tube is the Bakerloo. Would I be sufficently local? What about people who live near the Jubilee line, but seldom use it? To qualify for a refund, would you need to produce an oystercard, or have recorded a certain number of trips using Jubilee line stations over a given period?

How much money will I get out of my refund? Sarah Teather says it is because users are paying for a seven day Tube, but only getting a five day service, so I assume that means a per diem figure of some sort. How much is it, and do I have to prove that I use the Jubilee Line on the weekend?

Sarah Teather says that 8 miles of the line were laid with the wrong kind of cable. She then goes on to say: "How on earth did they manage to lay nearly half the length of the Jubilee line with the wrong type of cable without anybody noticing?" Is the Jubilee line really only 16 miles? Does she want refunds from Stratford to Stanmore, or is she only asking for refunds along part of its length?

Finally, there is the point about reopening Willesden Green for the Met line as suggested some time ago by Simon Fletcher HERE. Well done Sarah for catching up. When Cllr David Clues raised this in Council, he was told that the platforms were not maintained at a sufficent quality to be useable, which I assume means that they are accessed for engineering, but there are health & safety or other reasons for the public not to get access. Still it may be worth pursuing.

Perhaps, Sarah Teather should actually use her position to pursue it with TfL like a proper MP, rather than just putting out leaflets making promises that she has no interest in costing or implementing.

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