Can the public cope with a pile of numbers like this?

The “Re-Elect Boris” campaign in London has been keen that PB features its response to Ken’s move on bus fares following Henry G Manson’s piece last week in which the Ken video was presented.

The spat between the two men has yet to catch the public imagination but in the interests of balance I’m running the Boris response.

The Labour candidate, it will be recalled, is making a simple pledge to cut bus fares a key plank of his effort to regain control of London. This election in May is set to be the biggest in the UK until the 2014 Euros.

If he is elected Ken says he’ll cut fares by 5%, freeze them for a year, and then restrict future increases to the inflation rate. During his hoped for four year term, he says, Londoners would save an average of £800.

The Boris response seeks to remind voters about what happened to previous pledges on fares from the ex-mayor.

I think that this is all just two complex for a political campaign on either side. It has none of the simplicity of Ken’s famous congestion charge proposal where he could offer the prospect of fewer cars on the road thus making bus services more reliable.

Transport, inevitably, is a big issue in a huge urban area and a key part of the Boris effort will be the new routemaster bus.

@MikeSmithsonPB