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September 2006
September 18th 2006
Opinion Poll: big majority of Londoners want East London tube extension kept in the public sector
NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS of people in London and the South East want the London Underground’s East London Line operations to stay in the public sector, according to an Ipsos MORI opinion poll. Just one person in ten wanted the line's operations to be handed to a private operator. The poll was commissioned by the RMT trade union, which is the biggest union on the London Underground.
The line, which until June 2006 ran from Shoreditch to New Cross and New Cross Gate, is being closed in 2007 to allow work which will extend the service to Croydon, Clapham Junction, Dalston and Highbury and Islington. The first phase of the extension is due for completion in 2010.
The extension of the line is necessary to support the 2012 Olympic Games, and will also facilitate economic regeneration in East London. Four private sector companies (National Express; MTR Laing; NedRail; and Govia) have been short-listed to operate the North London Railway and the extended East London Line. The general experience of privatisation since national rail services were sold off in 1994 has been one of worse services, higher fares and increased subsidies.
For the RMT-commissioned poll, a sample of 528 British adults In London and the South East of England were interviewed between August 31 and September 7 2006. The data are weighted to match the profile of the populations The participants were asked:
"Currently the Tube is run by Transport for London, a public-sector organisation. Transport for London is proposing to expand the Tube's East London Line, which currently runs from Shoreditch to New Cross, further into north and south London. If it were to be expanded, do you believe that this expanded passenger service on the East London Line should continue to b e operated by the public sector, or by a private rail company?"
The responses were: Public sector 74%; Private rail company 10%; Don't know 16%.
RMT general secretary Bob crow commented:
"Commuters and rail workers alike have had a belly-full of privatisation and it beggars belief that anyone could want to hand over any part of the Tube's operations to the privateers. Unfortunately the mayor of London is trying to kid us that handing East London Line operations to a private-sector operator is somehow not really privatisation, but you can't justify privatisation by trying to redefine it.
"The simple fact is that TfL intends to remove East London Line operations from London Underground, which is publicly owned, and transfer them to a private franchisee.
"It is not too late for the mayor to keep the East London Line public, and this poll should tell the mayor just how far his plan is out of step with what Tube users and Tube workers want," Bob Crow said.