Londoners Against Government Plans For Tube

Thursday 16 November 2000

A new opinion poll, commissioned by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, has revealed twice as many Londoners oppose plans for a Public Private Partnership for London Underground than support it. (53 per cent oppose PPP compared to just 23 per cent in support).

The poll, which throws fresh doubt on government proposals for the Tube, also found Londoners do not expect services to improve if the PPP goes ahead.

More than twice as many (42 per cent) thought safety would get worse compared to just 19 per cent believing it would improve.

And three times as many (47 per cent) believe that passengers would get less for their money under PPP, compared to just 16 per cent who say value for money for passengers would improve.

Ken Livingstone said: 'This polls shows Londoners reject the break up and partial privatisation of the Tube. I call upon the government to listen to people's concerns that PPP as presently conceived will compromise public safety and fail to deliver a better service.'

Technical details

The poll on London attitudes to the Public Private Partnership for the Underground was carried out by MORI, and is based on 801 interviews with adult Londoners earlier this month.

LONDON ATTITUDES TO THE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FOR THE UNDERGROUND

• Results based on 801 interviews with adults aged 18+ living in London
• Interviews conducted by telephone on 9-12 November 2000
• Data are weighted to the profile of London
• Data based on all unless otherwise stated
• An '*' indicates a figure of more than zero, but less than 0.5%
• Where figures do not add up to 100%, this could be due to computer rounding, multiple answers or the exclusion of don't knows
• Research Study Conducted for Greater London Authority

Q1 The Government is proposing that the London Underground is run under a 'Public Private Partnership'. This would mean that the network would be split into four parts, with three private companies maintaining and upgrading tracks, tunnels, trains, signals and stations, while the running of train services would be done by the public sector. Overall, how strongly do you support or oppose this proposal?

Q2 And if the Underground were to be run under this 'Public Private Partnership', do you think would improve, get worse, or stay the same?

Q3 Who do you think should have the final say on the future of the London Underground? Should it be