Why London's choked transport network is bad for business

London's traffic jams and creaking trains are bad news for UK plc., says Simon Nixon. So why do much-needed transport projects continue to go unbuilt?

The difference between business and politics is that in business you pump money into where you think it can get you the best return, whereas in politics certainly, so far as this Labour government is concerned the object seems to be to hose your cash around just about everywhere except where it might actually do some good. This thought occurs to me every time I find myself stranded in a stationary taxi, or stuck in a tube somewhere between the City and Docklands or the West End. Thanks to London's remarkable boom, I find myself travelling between these three financial centres all the time and it is becoming a serious ordeal.

The door-to-door journey time from my offices near Bank to visit a hedge-fund manager in Mayfair or a private-equity fund in St. James's is about 45 minutes at most times of day, regardless of whether you take the tube or taxi. At least if you take a taxi, you can still make a few phone calls. If you combine that with a nightmare commute as most now do, thanks to soaring house prices it's easy to rack up four or five hours a

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Simon Nixon

Simon is the chief leader writer and columnist at The Times and previous to that, he was at The Wall Street Journal for 9 years as the chief European commentator. Simon also wrote for Reuters Breakingviews as the Executive Editor earlier in his career. Simon covers personal finance topics such as property, the economy and other areas for example stockmarkets and funds.