Boris fumbles all over the place on buses
boriswatch Wed Apr 09, 2008 at 01:34:57 PM GMT 
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In the Newsnight debate last night, Boris Johnson was all over the ropes as he struggled to defend his botched election pledge on buses.
Johnson’s bus plan revealed a huge £100 million hole in his costings when it emerged that he had forgotten to add crucial costs.
The debate saw Boris “fumbling all over the place” as Schwarzenegger said. He was unable to give a straight answer on one of the most crucial issues facing the Mayor. It got even worse when, the next day, he got the figure even more wrong, claiming £20 million on BBC London.
This is one of those cases where the facts just speak for themselves. Hat-tip to Dave Cole, who's published the transcript:
“Jeremy Paxman (JP): Where do you get this idea you can develop Routemaster buses in a new incarnation for £8m?
The debate saw Boris “fumbling all over the place” as Schwarzenegger said. He was unable to give a straight answer on one of the most crucial issues facing the Mayor. It got even worse when, the next day, he got the figure even more wrong, claiming £20 million on BBC London.
This is one of those cases where the facts just speak for themselves. Hat-tip to Dave Cole, who's published the transcript:
“Jeremy Paxman (JP): Where do you get this idea you can develop Routemaster buses in a new incarnation for £8m?
Boris Johnson (BJ): Nobody has ever proposed that. What I was saying was that if you wanted to have conductors for 337 bendy buses, which was the notional discussion I was having with Vanessa as it happens the other day, then it would cost about £8m. If you wanted to have conductors …
JP: You want a new fleet of …
BJ: I do. If you want conductors for the new generation Routemaster bus, which I do, and I think would be essential for London and I think would be much valued by Londoners, then you’d need to spend about £25m.
JP: £25m for a fleet of how many buses?
BJ: No, for the buses that’s a different matter and that’s a different funding …
JP: How many? How much would it cost?
BJ: Let me invite me you to speculate how much the Mayor’s…
JP: No, no, no, no! I want you to speculate, in fact more than speculate, tell us how much it would cost.
BJ: Let me tell you this, they would cost no more and no less than the Mayor’s own manifesto commitment to produce another 500 hybrid buses which are going to ply the streets of London.
JP: Which is what?
BJ: Which will be bought, of course, as the Mayor knows full well, not by TfL, they will be bought by the bus companies…
JP: Give us a figure come on!
BJ: I think when you look…
JP: Come on!
BJ: … at the prospect that this offers London.
JP: What is the figure?
BJ: The average cost of the bendy bus is about £200,000. I envisage it being, the cost over time being substantially amortised to be easily bearable under the transport budget. And certainly …
JP: Am I not making myself clear – what we want to know is how much you propose to spend on this new fleet of Routemaster buses?
BJ: As I say, it will be no more, no less …
JP: A figure.
BJ: … than the cost of the Mayor’s …
JP: I despair.
BJ: Five hundred new hybrid buses! I invite the Mayor now to tell us how much he’s proposing to spend on the new 500 hybrid buses.
Ken Livingstone: The new Routemaster has to be designed and built, it will be very expensive.
BJ: Your hybrid bus is yet to be invented…
JP: We’re getting nowhere here”
Boris fumbles all over the place on buses | 1 comment (1 topical)
Boris fumbles all over the place on buses | 1 comment (1 topical)
