
The Socialist 19 April 2017
Tories out!

Defeat the millionaires' Tory government
900 carers quit a day - nationalise social care now
Benefits workers oppose 'rape clause' and two-child limit
Joint struggle can stop tuition fee interest hike
Protest is not a crime: back Jobstown Not Guilty
What kind of movement is needed to save our NHS?
Trump escalates geopolitical tensions on Korean peninsula
Turkey: constitutional referendum result a pyrrhic victory for Erdogan
French presidential election: Mélenchon campaign gains momentum
Relaunch of socialistworld.net
CWU conference: fight Royal Mail pension attack
Workers sailing to victory on Woolwich ferry
PCS ballot papers out: vote Democracy Alliance
Weapons workers continue pension strike
Mood for a fightback at education conferences
Picturehouse cinema strike spreads
National Shop Stewards Network conference 2017
Mass movements, not 'fringe cultures', can win feminist change
Buses and buggies: a driver speaks
TUSC backs RMT Save Our Guards campaign, while local Labour Party blocks debate
Energetic start to TUSC local election campaigning
Doncaster mayoral election: Socialist Steve campaign diary
TUSC council candidate vows never to go to the 'dark side'!
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Reader's comment: public transport
Buses and buggies: a driver speaks
'Alfred Babcock', bus driver, London
Angry letters in free London newspaper Metro this January asserted the rights of bus passengers with baby buggies. Other irate letters demanded priority for wheelchair users. This cacophony echoed the real arguments I hear on the bus I drive.
Wheelchair user Doug Paulley originally went to court after he was refused entry to a Yorkshire FirstGroup bus in 2012 when a mother with a pushchair refused to move. The Supreme Court eventually ruled that bus drivers are responsible for pressuring other passengers to move if a wheelchair user can't get on.
Heated
A dispute between a wheelchair user and a person with a buggy can generally be resolved amicably - especially when passengers realise my bus isn't moving until it is. But when things get more heated you really need a quiet word with the people involved to calm things down and resolve the matter.
Ironically, the people who could do that - conductors - were phased out as low-floor, wheelchair-accessible buses came to London.
I'm not allowed to leave the cab and I've no powers of enforcement - so how am I expected to sort out a dispute five metres behind me which I may not even be able to see?
Once the argument's over, if I still can't fit the wheelchair, I have to call the controller before I leave the stop. This seldom elicits a rapid reply from the controller. But understandably, it does provoke rapid enquiries from passengers as to why the bus is not moving.
And at a later stage I'll get questions from the controllers about why my bus is late. Meanwhile, management forces us to drive busy buses in heavy traffic up to the legal maximum five and a half hours without a break.
It's time to look at the bigger picture. Workers and poor people who use public transport shouldn't have to squabble with each other. Wheelchair users, parents with buggies and bus drivers are not enemies.
What we need is a massive expansion of public transport so there's room for all. Public services should be taken away from the private profiteers.
We need a party that represents the 99% which can fight against budget cuts and for public ownership.
The lorry driver unloading cases of burgers outside McDonald's and blocking my bus stop is another example of unplanned capitalism blindly setting workers against each other. It's not the lorry driver's fault.
In a planned socialist society, pensioners wouldn't need to get on buses with big trolleys they can hardly lift. They wouldn't need to go miles to the nearest supermarket because local shops have been pushed out of business and the ones that are left cost the earth.
A socialist society could bring many workers a shorter working week with no loss of pay so people wouldn't have to rush about so much. Then passengers and transport workers wouldn't be constantly put in situations where they find themselves in conflict.
In this issue
What we think
Defeat the millionaires' Tory government
Socialist Party news and analysis
900 carers quit a day - nationalise social care now
Benefits workers oppose 'rape clause' and two-child limit
Joint struggle can stop tuition fee interest hike
Jobstown Not Guilty
Protest is not a crime: back Jobstown Not Guilty
Save our NHS
What kind of movement is needed to save our NHS?
International socialist news and analysis
Trump escalates geopolitical tensions on Korean peninsula
Turkey: constitutional referendum result a pyrrhic victory for Erdogan
French presidential election: Mélenchon campaign gains momentum
Relaunch of socialistworld.net
Workplace news and analysis
CWU conference: fight Royal Mail pension attack
Workers sailing to victory on Woolwich ferry
PCS ballot papers out: vote Democracy Alliance
Weapons workers continue pension strike
Mood for a fightback at education conferences
Picturehouse cinema strike spreads
National Shop Stewards Network conference 2017
Socialist readers' comments and reviews
Mass movements, not 'fringe cultures', can win feminist change
Buses and buggies: a driver speaks
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
TUSC backs RMT Save Our Guards campaign, while local Labour Party blocks debate
Energetic start to TUSC local election campaigning
Doncaster mayoral election: Socialist Steve campaign diary
TUSC council candidate vows never to go to the 'dark side'!
Home | The Socialist 19 April 2017 | Join the Socialist Party
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