BORIS Johnson has sent a festive message to all Transport for London staff, praising them for transport improvements and performance delivered in 2010 and calling for an end to divisive and “pointless” industrial action in 2011.

The Mayor praised the work of thousands of TfL staff to keep London moving during the recent cold weather, which has seen the Tube, Buses, DLR, London Overground, Tramlink and London’s strategic Red Route road network continue to operate well despite the coldest temperatures experienced in London for more than 20 years. Despite the heavy snowfall of last weekend, the vast majority of London’s buses continued to operate with only a small number of local diversions and around 85 per cent of scheduled Tube services operated.

Boris Johnson also hailed ongoing investment in London’s transport network, secured through a settlement for transport in London from the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, enabling a “neo-Victorian age of investment” and major increases in capacity and reliability across the capital’s transport network.

He said that improvements delivered by TfL during 2010 include:

- New air-conditioned trains on the Tube

- A new Northern ticket hall at King’s Cross St Pancras Underground station

- Work underway at five Crossrail stations and preparatory works at a number of sites

- The new extended �1bn East London line on the London Overground network, delivered “on time and on budget”

- The unveiling of the design of the New Bus for London

- New three-car trains on the DLR, increasing capacity by 50 per cent

- The Barclays Cycle Hire scheme

The Mayor also called on all TfL staff to work together to deliver transport improvements in 2011 and end the fruitless conflict, confrontation and disruption to Londoners lives caused by “pointless” industrial action.

He said: “I really don’t think that when we have so much to do, when we have so much to look forward to, that we will achieve anything more by pointless industrial action.

“All it succeeds in doing is alienating Londoners, stopping people from going about their jobs, impeding our great city from leading the country, as it will, out of an economic recession.

“We have a fantastic opportunity to harness investment in London transport. People are looking to us to provide ever better services.

“I believe that we are providing ever better services, in spite of some pretty challenging meteorological conditions.”