BERNIE PRESSMAN
With the sad passing of Bernie Pressman, Call Sign has lost a good friend. Bernie has been writing for this magazine and its predecessor News and Views for over a quarter of a century. His knowledge of London was exceptional and in addition to writing for Call Sign, Bernie was much in demand as a public speaker with his range of topics being absolutely phenomenal.
   Just over one year ago, Bernie and his wife Mildred celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a huge party and they were on top of the world.
   Then Bernie phoned me several months ago to say that he had been diagnosed as having cancer in his bones. We hoped against hope that even though it was incurable, that at least the disease could be stemmed. Alas, within a few short months, Bernie lost his fight for life.
   Several issues ago, Bernie wrote to Call Sign's Mailshot page announcing his retirement from driving and asking if he could still continue writing for the mag. Of course I said yes, because I didn't want to lose his talent and I also hoped it might keep up his spirits. Unfortunately he was never well enough to write any more Call Sign articles and today we publish the last one he wrote. With the publication of that final piece, we remember Bernie Pressman as a friend and a true gentleman. Rest in peace, my friend...

FARE INCREASE
Ok, I'm going to hold my hands up and say that the fare increase on the evening shift has been as successful as it could have been considering the current financial circumstances. Business is picking up - albeit rather slowly - and the signs are there that we may get away without any further deterioration and indeed, hopefully, a gradual and sustained improvement. What the above means is that I was wrong! The increase caused some harm, but nowhere near as much as I had envisaged.
   I still believe that it was the wrong time to grant such a huge increase, but if it has achieved its aim, then how can I carry on complaining about it? However, 

IS THE MAYOR HELPING THE CAB TRADE?
Ken Livingstone reads Call Sign and quite honestly I would be loath anyway to complain about someone who is pumping such huge amounts of money into the transport system, however there does seem to be a pattern emerging from the Mayoral plans that could have a detrimental effect on our trade - and that means to our Society as well.
Mr Livingstone is not one to hang about and, like his politics or not, you cannot but help admire someone who believes that red tape is for tying up red parcels!
   In mid-February, Mr Livingstone announced a further £8 million to be aimed at improving local roads. This is part of the Mayor's £100M spending programme which is designed to complement his congestion charging scheme - something that will not be decided on definitely until this week.
  What worries me as a driver - and I agree that the same worries could possibly be reversed if I 

were a resident - is that there will be fewer and fewer short-cuts left to us. Certainly as an evening
driver, the bus and taxi lane along Marylebone and Euston Roads has helped a tremendous amount - even if the road works at Kings Cross are a pain in the proverbials. 
   If congestion charging does come in, it could help the trade providing the charging is done in a way that doesn't cause any hold-ups. After all, there is no point in cutting the traffic down if it then takes taxis - exempt from the charges - an age to criss-cross the boundaries. The current suggestion is that for a fee (£5) you can register your car registration number on a database and if caught within the zone by one of the network of cameras without having registered, you will be fined £80. That sounds simple enough... although simplicity in official circles always seems to look difficult.
   What really bothers me are some of the proposals coming under the heading of ETM - "Environmental Traffic Management" - because invariably, these schemes are generally anti-vehicle.
   Schemes such as that at Kennington Cross involving "pedestrian and cycle improvements." Does that sound anti-taxi to you? Or Shepherdess Walk, close to Brunswick House, with an 80K investment into ETM. Is that humps on top of the humps! How about the £1 million  Hackney plan to improve residents parking, cut back on rat-runs and launch a study into "unauthorised parking on derelict land?" Perhaps we'll all just get used to using Mare Street - but make sure you take a packed lunch because it'll take you an hour to get from one end to the other!
   I believe that we could do far worse than have Ken Livingstone as Mayor, but his method of working is to think of an idea and then do it. Cutting through red tape is fine, but much thought must be given to the fact that transport involves real vehicles and that vehicles need roads that do not just exist on paper and which do not resemble miniature versions of the Andes.

Alan Fisher