Hendy warns of riots unless public transport in London improved

The notion that inadequate transport in the capital could lead to “social unrest” was endorsed by one of the possible candidates to be the next mayor of London. Rik Thomas reports

Rik Thomas

03 October 2014

Peter Hendy warned of “social unrest” if public transport in London is not made more affordable, a statement that transport expert and mayoral candidate Christian Wolmar broadly agreed with

Christian Wolmar

ON 21 SEPTEMBER, Peter Hendy, commissioner of Transport for London, used an interview in The Guardian to warn of London’s potential future transport problems in apocalyptic terms. “London could see riots again unless more trains and buses are provided at affordable fares for the poorest communities as the population soars,” the paper said, quoting Hendy. “He [Hendy] said low-paid workers now lived on the outskirts of the capital rather than in inner-city neighbourhoods,...