OK, this is nothing to do with transport, but it is a world-class fiasco. Decommissioning of London's Millennium Dome began on January 2, 2001, after the project had swallowed £628 million (over $1.7 billion) in public funds and operated for exactly one year. On 24 December 2000 the UK Daily Telegraph reported the history of the project entirely via statements of key players over its short history. This is a must for anyone interested in public decision-making. Here are some of the highlights.

The Millennium Dome will be the biggest white elephant in history. It makes my blood boil to see money flushed down the drain.
- Richard Branson: June 17, 1997.

This is a chance to make a statement of faith in our capacity in Britain to do things bigger and better than anyone else.
- Tony Blair, after he intervened to save the Dome following Labour's election victory: June 19, 1997.

It is very, very difficult explaining to a non-creative person what the creative process is.
- Stephen Bayley, the Creative Director of the New Millennium Experience, on why he could not describe what was going to fill the Dome: December 20, 1997.

I know it's quite possible that I will be forever associated in people's minds with the Dome, pure and simple. The Dome is a wonderful building and the contents are going to knock your socks off.
- Peter Mandelson: March 23, 1998.

No more public money will be put into the Dome.
- Lord Falconer, newly appointed Millennium Dome Minister, in the wake of Mandelson's Cabinet resignation: March 3, 1999.

I defy anyone who sets foot in the Dome not to be awed by its sheer scale, variety or range of attractions. Once people see it they will flood to visit it.
- Tony Blair: December 14 1999.

This is a fiasco which is rapidly becoming a scandal.
- Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish commenting on the plans to give the Dome another £29 million: May 24, 2000.

We are not going to ask for more money.
- P-Y Gerbeau (the new Chief Executive, who turned out not to have as desirable a business record as had originally been announced when he was appointed. There was speculation that he had been confused with another similarly-named French entertainment industry executive): June 8, 2000.

We are asking for a bridging loan to cover the Dome's running expenses.
- P-Y Gerbeau, asking for £53 million to allow the Dome to remain open: July 27, 2000.

If there's a proposal to buy the site and demolish the Dome we would look at it.
- spokesman for English Partnerships amid reports that the Government's financial advisers, Lazards, recommended scrapping the Dome: September 12, 2000.

We acknowledge that it has not been the runaway success that people had hoped.
- the Prime Minister's official spokesman, conceding the Dome's failure for the first time: September 23, 2000.

... and the saga continues ...

The right thing at this stage is to open up the competition to see who else will bid.
- Lord Falconer, Dome Minister, after the "preferred bidder" status of Legacy elapsed with out a deal being concluded February 15, 2001.

The competition, which has lasted nearly two years, now seems to have been a wasteful exercise, at great cost to everyone, including the taxpayer.
- Robert Bourne, Legacy Chief Executive, February 15 2001.

Lend Lease has secured the rights to redevelop the Millennium Dome and the Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London, in a project worth about £4 billion ($11.3 billion). The property developer and manager, however, has again found itself the subject of controversy amid suggestions by commentators that the deal was a "gift" by the British Government. The group strongly denies this.
- Sydney Morning Herald, 31 May 2002.

The man who was recruited to salvage what he could from the Dome fiasco, David James, took the opportunity of his chairman's statement in the report ("a document which purports to be the 2000 Annual Report of the New Millennium Experience Company") to spell out why disaster had been inevitable, even assuming that the country wanted to mark the date with the construction of an exaggerated circus tent in South East London. His catalogue of incompetence starts with the failure to assemble relevant expertise and establish proper reporting structures. It includes the dangers in having its operations accountable to such a variety of public sector bodies that it was almost inevitable that each expected the other to spot any potential nasties. Botched forecasts, lax financial controls and the lack of any clear idea of what was supposed to go inside the Dome eradicated any chance of success.
- Patience Wheatcroft, writing in The Times, 4 February 2003.

On 15 September 2004, a list of projects part-funded by the Millennium Lottery Fund appeared in the UK's Daily Mail. It gives food for thought ...

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