In which Signal Failure supports Bob Crow's position

Tube from Paddington to Waterloo was on time yesterday, but the train suffered delays owing, sequentially, to a late departure from Waterloo because of a previous train being held at a red signal, and then congestion at Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, and Wimbledon.  Got home five minutes late in the end for £12.50.

This morning, the train from Hersham was a minute late by the time it arrived in Waterloo, and the tube to Paddington accrued three minutes from there.  Plus the two-minute Paddington penalty charge to make another 5 minutes and £12.50.  So 10 minutes and £25 in total.

And finally, whoever would have thought I would find myself agreeing with Bob Crow?  But he said:

"With transport taking a massive hit in the spending review, and with jobs cuts and fare increases looming large, it is outrageous that the top brass across TfL are raking in combined bonuses of £2.5m."

And he's right.  This was in reference to the news that TfL has been splashing around serious amounts of money for its senior staff because they didn't manage to cause any massive cock-ups during the Olympics last year, when there was a record number of passengers and a 20% reduction in delays.  I do have to wonder, though, whether there was a record number of passengers anyway, or if it's only because of the Olympics boost.  Because if it's the latter, then they're basically using the Olympics twice as a justification.  And potentially three times because they don't state how delays are calculated.  For example, if they were based on reported delays per passenger, likely a lot of Olympic visitors didn't know or couldn't be bother to complain (not to mention the regular commuters, who have learned it's rarely worth bothering to complain about delays), thus reducing the ratio.  Possibly that information is somewhere out there, and if anyone has more time on their hands than me and would be willing to check it out, I'll happily post an update/correction to the proceeding.

In for a particular windfall was head honcho "Sir" Peter Hendy, who got a £319K bonus on top of his £331K salary.  Nice work if you can get it.

Peter Hendy
(Graphic credit: allcandycontainers.com)

But much as I don't feel TfL staff in general deserve all the perks and pay they already receive (as mentioned one or two times in this blog before, I believe), it's hard to see how liberally dousing the bosses with cash can be reconciled with refusing to give any more to the staff on the ground (r under it, as the case may be).