manonabus.com

Oyster cards (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster) are really quite popular amongst people I know. People really like how convenient they are. Yet they have to be one of the most intrusive tracking systems ever effectively imposed on a large population in modern times. They are actively used by the authorities for reasons other than transport efficiency (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4800490.stm). But that doesn’t seem to bother people. I think it’s because they’re the nearest thing you can get to a membership card for London - they kind of betstow a London ethnicity, and identity.

So if the government’s plans for ID cards are to gain popular acceptance they’ll have to promise more than entitlement to services. They’ll not just have to verify your identity, they will have to give you an identity. I wonder if the Home Office have got a branding consultancy on this yet?

Last week’s local council elections in our borough in London kicked the Labour Party out of power and brought in the Conservatives. It was quite a shock to me as Hammersmith & Fulham has been fairly solidly Labour for years. Looking at the election map of H&F shows that the Tories gained ground near the border with posher Kensington & Chelsea. I suspect that one big reason was transport.

The proposed extension of the Congestion Charge zone right into Kensington & Chelsea has provoked lots of reaction on our side of the fence (actually it’s provoked lots of bumper stickers, but I reckon people with bumper stickers are more likely to vote). Also, the proposed tram down Uxbridge Road seems to have quite a few people frothing.

I don’t get it - the Congestion Charge is at worst a minor inconvenience (if you can afford to keep a car in London, the odd 8 quid a day isn’t going to break the bank) and the tram will completely change Shepherds Bush Green for the better and make getting down Uxbridge Road a lot quicker for the average resident. I think it just bothers people that it’s getting harder to get out of H&F without having to interact with the locality. I think lots of people who live here rather wouldn’t, and any reminder that they do - ie, having to walk or take public transport round here - is an affront.

So why don’t they just take the plunge and escape to the country?