Thanks to Mr. Darling’s masterful intervention over the weekend the pound has again plummeted. Therefore the $32m annually that Boris has rejected due to his scrapping of the Venezuela deal is now worth:
£17,754,106
or about 9% more than when Boris took over.
The oil price is only about $5/barrel more, but with the fall in the value of the pound this translates to about a 14.5% rise. In other words, upward pressure on bus fares, particularly if the looming recession means ridership falls.
Tags: bus · oil · Venezuela5 Comments
5 responses so far ↓
Yes, but
OMG!!! ROFL!!! BORIS IS HILARYUS!!! OMG!!!
Apparently.
PDVSA made $6.2bn in net income last year, and made investments of $14bn. They need that cash bad.
[...] consultation, which doesn’t sound to me like a particularly good use of money, but then what with shovelling money into the Venezuelan state oil company, pouring cash down the drain into an unnecessary (and seemingly poorly responded-to) bus [...]
Talking about “upward pressures on bus fairs” I am currently on the dole and claimed the Venezuelan discount. When Boris announced its abolition as far as I am the actual date is was to stop was not given. Moreover despite my Oyster card being properly registered with them having my email address no-less, I was never directed contacted with either the news of the schemes closure or on the date it was to occur.
So imagine my announce the over day when returning from Summerfield’s when I found that I did not have enough money on my Oyster because it had automatically switched back to the standard fair and I had to cough up £2 for a trip that I expecting to pay only 45p!
Now I am not sure you actually blame Boris personally for this poor service, but perhaps it is indicative of the new regime – both in its contempt for the poor, and its blinding incompetence.
Both, really - they evidently hated the thought of doing business with Chavez so much that thinking through the consequences never occured to them, and they’re still floundering.
If you write to TfL or the Mayor’s office or your London Assembly Member to express your opinion, please consider copying us or Dave Hill at the Guardian in on it. There’s a world of difference between analysing pound signs in the abstract and the reality of being caught out by a badly advertised and ill-thought-out change.