AN AMERICAN'S VIEW OF THE TUBE - WELCOME TO BOB KILEY
Obviously Bob Kiley's been in the news quite a lot recently. He's London's new Transport Commissioner, appointed by Ken Livingstone to look after the tube and has been sacked by The Government as Chairman of London Transport because of his opposition to the partial privatisation of the tube. I came across an interesting article in the San Franciso Chronicle (of all places) the other day with an interview with Bob Kiley (orginally from Boston) and his very "suprising" reaction when seeing the usually crowded Victoria station.
"Bob Kiley was standing in Victoria Station the other day when some of his new employees walked out and put their hands up, telling people to stop entering the station because there were too many already inside.
Kiley panicked.
"There's going to be a stampede," he thought. "People are going to die."
But the masses stood patiently, grim-faced but uncomplaining, for what must have been 10 minutes before they were allowed in."
Bob, you need to get used to us Londoners who are totally used to being shut out of Victoria station on an almost daily basis. The article continued with Bob saying: "If that happened in Boston, there would have been trouble, and if it happened in New York you'd have a lot of dead passengers," Kiley said. "But there's a civility here."
Too right...although it was reported there were scuffles at bus stops on the 5th Feb the day of the first tube strike!!!
Bob continued: "In the 1970s, when I first got into transportation in Boston, the Underground was the organization to emulate. But there has been 30 years of neglect. The Metro in Paris is now considered the best in Europe, and the Underground is regarded as a once great system that has been allowed to deteriorate."
Let's hope Bob's the man to revitalise it, after all he's used to political shanigans as he used to be in the CIA.
The article ended on this poignant note: " 'I never dreamed I would be trying to recruit a CIA agent,' Livingstone told Kiley in their first conversation.
'I never expected to be hired by an unreconstructed Marxist socialist,' Kiley replied. "
If you'd like to see the full story click here. There is also an absolutely brilliant recorded interview by National Public Radio (NPR) in the States. It's wonderful - about 8 minutes long but worth every minute as it contains an interview with Bob Kiley, comments from Ken Livingstone, comments from station assistants, passengers and some brilliant train drivers announcements. This is not to be missed - click here. Or log on to this page on NPR's site for the more on this including an acknowledgement to my site of which they write: "Going Underground, is a quirky web guide to the London Undergound, covering such topics as tube smells, notable fare-dodgers, tube etiquette, and the occasional subway-riding pidgeon." - Thanks guys!!!
BYE BYE DEREK
Twas a sad day when I heard that Derek Smith - Managing Director of the London Underground was leaving. Poor old Derek is considering a £40,000 drop in his salary to take him to a measly £110,000 for returning to the NHS. Del boy, the vast majority of the people in this country don't even earn £40,000 so I can't say my heart bleeds. Anyway, Derek is reportedly tired of Ken Livingstone's accusations that the tube managers were "dullards" and "knuckleheads" (Speak your mind Ken and say what you think). Last week, after his interview for the NHS job, Del wrote a very strongly worded letter to Ken accusing him of having "a disruptive and unsettling effect on morale in the company". Well Del, you'll be sorely missed. 
Paul Godier succeeded Derek Smith as full time managing director on
the 8th October 2001 and Del Boy is now Chairman of the London Underground.
Oh my god!!! Privatisation, what can I say. It's a hot topic at the moment. Bob Kiley's been sacked as Chairman of London Transport but he's still part of Ken Livingstone's team as Transport Commissioner for London. Basically Mr Kiley and the Government don't see eye to eye about the partial privatisation (PPP - Public-Private Partnership) of the tube. Bob's dismissal was ordered because of his staunch opposition to PPP for the Tube which he says is unsafe and expensive. It came just before the former New York subway chief was to present two damning reports to the LT board both of which back his argument that PPP is bad in terms of safety implications and financial prudence. 
On the 14th December 1999 Tony Blair took the Jubilee Line through Canary Wharf on his way to the Millennium Dome, and almost nobody took a blind bit of notice. 
Again, she ignored him. Only once did she glance in his direction and even then showed no recognition. By the time she got off at Canary Wharf, Mr Blair had resorted to shuffling through his papers and talking to his Press secretary Alistair Campbell, who was sitting opposite him.