Tube fails performance tests

The Tube failed to meet customer satisfaction targets

Critics of plans for a public-private partnership for London Underground have seized on a report showing the Tube has missed key targets set for it by ministers.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) said London Underground's annual report showed the management which wanted the controversial public-private partnership (PPP) plan did not know what it was doing.

By contrast, the government says the findings only demonstrate how much their plans for extra investment through PPP are needed.

The Conservatives urged ministers to abandon the controversial plan, which they said offered no light at the end of the tunnel for frustrated passengers.

Missed targets

The 2000/1 annual report shows customers were least satisfied with the cleanliness of the network, while new figures showed journeys were on average taking more than three-and-a-half minutes too long.

Ken Livingstone has dropped his legal challenge to PPP

Those excess journey times, blamed partly on strikes, were among the seven operational performance targets the Tube failed to meet.

The distance operated was another missed target, while the rest came through customer satisfaction surveys on:

Train service

Safety and security

Staff helpfulness and availability

Cleanliness

Information

The report says PPP and bad headlines about rail safety are both evident in the customer surveys.

Mick Rix, leader of train drivers' union Aslef, said: "This is a damning report. It shows the depth of the crisis LU is in under the present management.

"The report illustrates why it is essential to hand the Tube over to Bob Kiley and his team without the albatross of PPP."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has dropped his court challenge to PPP but vowed to continue the political fight against the plan.

Focus on privatisation

Bob Crow, assistant general secretary of the RMT union, also linked the failures to the PPP controversy.

"They are spending too much time trying to privatise London Underground rather than getting on with the real job of looking after the travelling public."

Waterson: No light at the end of the tunnel

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, defended the government's plans against the attacks.

"It shows exactly why we need our Tube investment programme to reverse the years of under-investment," she said.

She rejected the argument that the figures reflected badly on those managers who favoured PPP.

"I don't think we would accept that - the Tube is struggling to cope with the massive demand."

The figures show that demand has risen by a quarter over the last decade and 4.5% over the last year to a record 970m passengers.

Tube getting worse

Conservative transport spokesman Nigel Waterson said: "This report confirms what people who travel on the Tube every day already know - the Underground has got worse under Labour.

"Gordon Brown's misguided PPP means that there will be no light at the end of the tunnel for many years to come.

"It's time the government saw sense and handed the Tube back to Londoners."

Performance bonus

News that LU chief Derek Smith has taken a £17,000 performance-related bonus as part of his £229,000 annual salary package may anger passengers further.

A LU spokesman stressed the money did not relate to last year's performance and Mr Smith only taken half the full bonus.

"This payment relates to the previous year when Tube performance had shown some areas of improvement," he continued.

On the general thrust of the report, the LU spokesman said: "We are disappointed that we failed to improve the levels of service provided the our customers and we will continue to work on improving priority areas."

For the Lib Dems, party transport spokesman Tom Brake said: "The government and London Underground management that failed to reach all seven targets is the same government and London Underground management that are going to bring PPP to a Tube station near you.

"This news gives Londoners no reason to believe that the Tube is in safe hands."