Caroline Pidgeon AM takes complaints to the Dial-a-Ride's London manager

12.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 4th Sep 2008

Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrat group's transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, on Wednesday presented the grievances and complaints of many of the users London's Dial-a-Ride to the services general manager.

Caroline met with Paul Blackwell to discuss the many issues that had been raised by dial-a-ride users and to hear about what TfL are doing and have put in place to improve the service.

She says: "It's quite clear the centralisation of the service has caused huge problems, particularly in certain parts of London, and that their computer system has had real problems.

"I'm trying to get to the bottom of how much the computer system has cost Londoners.

"I've requested further statistics, going back as far as possible, so I can really get a clear picture of the maximum length of time users are having to hold on the telephone before speaking to someone. We also need to know how often dial-a-ride are unable to provide a service.

"I pressed Mr Blackwell to examine closely cases where they're not able to provide a journey and look at how they can amend their service to ensure that as many journeys as possible are provided" adds Caroline.

As part of the meeting Caroline visited the call centre and listened in to some calls and watched how the system operates.

Caroline also looked at and travelled in one of the new Dial-a-Ride vehicles which will make the journeys more comfortable, offering genuine flexibility in terms of numbers of wheelchairs and scooters that can be accommodated.

Dial-a-ride are now beginning to roll out these vehicles across the service.