The Metropolis

Tfl's Jerry Maguire takes on Bob Crow. Nobody wins

Mike Pollitt | Monday 24 October, 2011 11:31

There’s a Jerry Maguire figure on the loose at Tfl. Someone so racked with existential terror they stayed up one hot July night writing not a memo, but a mission statement. And dreaming some big and important dreams:

*Driverless trains

*Swipey bank card payments

*To reduce operational cost by approximately 20 per cent once resources are aligned to business needs

So, their version of Jerry’s “fewer clients; less money” mantra seems to be “fewer staff; less money on wages”. Can’t wait to see the film.

I bet Bob Crow’s got something sensible to say about this.

“It would leave passengers stranded in tunnels with no means of evacuation and would turn the platforms and stations into a muggers and vandals paradise.”

I know his job is to protect his staff but this really is scaremongering tripe. Driverless trains could work (and on the DLR do work). Automation can help eliminate human error. Crime across Tfl is falling (pdf link, section 1.4) at the same time as staff recruitment is limited, so to draw a causal link between fewer staff and more crime is facile.

Tough to pick a side in this one. But an increasingly automated service is surely on the way. If Crow isn’t preparing for this behind the scenes, it’s his own members he’s failing.

---