London Mayor and Assembly member in spat over Heathrow T5 bus services
18.11.07
London Assembly member Richard Barnes and Mayor Ken Livingstone are having a spat over Heathrow Terminal 5 (T5) bus services. Mr. Barnes had submitted a question to Mr. Livingstone, but withdrew it 'after it was exposed as being based on a lie,' according to the Mayor's website.
Mr. Barnes submitted a question concerning Transport for London's (TfL) preparations for the opening of Heathrow T5 at the Mayor's Question Time. This asked the Mayor to reconsider his position regarding 'Transport for London's decision to introduce no extra bus routes' when the new terminal opens in March next year.
He withdrew his question, after it was pointed out that TfL plan to create 3 new bus routes, the 350, 423 and 482 to serve the new terminal. They will also extend the existing 490 and N9 routes to create new passenger links from areas including Southall, Feltham and Richmond directly to Terminal 5.
These changes are in addition to the bus services already serving Terminals 1, 2 and 3, from which passengers will be able easily reach T5 via a fast, free and frequent train service. The hours of services to T5 will also be extended so they run between 04:00 and 00:30 each day to accommodate shift workers and early passengers.
Mr Livingstone said: 'Yet again Richard Barnes has proved he is ready to throw questions loaded with wrong assertions and false information before checking his facts. I am pleased that on this occasion he has realised that there is a limit to what he can get away with.'
'TfL has extensive and detailed plans to increase bus services to meet the demands of Heathrow T5. If he'd bothered to speak to me or TfL about this, he would not have had the embarrassment of being shown to be submitting questions based on total falsehoods.'
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