Croydon Tramlink is officially part of TfL London Rail, having been bought out from its private PFI contractors Tramtrack to save money and remove an stupid inflexible contract (obviously a late-Ken era decision rather than a Boris Damascene conversion). However, it’s brave of Boris to welcome what is effectively a rejection of the Conservative Party doctrine (Tramlink started in 1996 under John Major, naturally using the private sector ideology then prevalent for public sector investment) in favour of Livingstonian public sector control. Just read this:
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘This is marvellous news for tram fans and a fantastic deal for Londoners.
‘This puts an end to the unbelievable scenario of millions of pounds of their taxes being used to pay Tramtrack to keep fares down.
‘We are going to ensure fares are kept affordable and improve services at the same time.
‘Our team is already hard at work planning how trams can further contribute to improving public transport in south London; and I am delighted TfL has already guaranteed passengers will see an immediate increase in the number of services.’
I wonder if Mr. Parker is already looking to sell it off?
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Oh, I remember when nationalising the railways was as bad as Robert Mugabe.