London’s new Mayor Sadiq Khan takes the bus to work

LONDON, ENGLAND - 9 MAY: London Mayor Sadiq Khan (R) waits at a bus stop after leaving his home in Tooting on May 9, 2016 in London, England. Mr Khan begins his first day at his City Hall office after winning the race to become London's Mayor with 56.8% of the vote.

A fine example to set on his first day in office. The son the of a bus driver, Sadiq Khan is seen here using the bus and the underground to get to work, something other leaders should emulate to encourage others to do like likewise.

In this case, Sadiq promptly announced that he was going to introduce a new 1.50-pound ‘hopper’ fare to make it cheaper for those who needed to use more than one bus within an hour, instead of having to pay multiple fares. (From the above photo, it looks like he will also need to look into what’s happening to the road-sweepers in Tooting!) He has pledged to make public transport affordable.

Unfortunately, local mayors in Malaysia can’t do much about bus fares or even bus routes because public transport comes under Putrajaya, not even the state governments, let alone local councils! Time for a decentralisation of powers in our heavily centralised federation.

But, in the meantime, they can encourage others by setting the tone and opting for public transport to work, at least periodically. It would allow them to experience first-hand what other public transport users – including senior citizens and people with disabilities – and pedestrians experience every day.

For a start, how about dedicated lanes for buses and high-occupancy vehicles? And can we look at how central London restricted its streets to just buses and taxis? -anilnetto