London needs to have the powers to control its own destiny – and transport November 22, 2021 It is no longer headline news that Transport for London is facing a financial crisis. Last week the mayor of London revealed the network needed £1.7bn over the next 18 months simply to balance its books, and at least £1.3bn every year to make essential upgrades on the Tubes, trains and buses. This summer, Tfl [...]
Service resumed: Waterloo and City line restored to pre-pandemic timetable November 22, 2021 The Waterloo & City line has returend to a full time-table today after 20 months of closures and restrictions during the pandemic.
Crossrail’s trial operations to begin ahead of opening November 22, 2021 Trial operations on the Crossrail are finally underway ahead of its opening in the first half of 2022, almost three years after the project’s initial deadline. Operations will involve exercises to ensure the project’s safety and reliability, while also testing the timetables. Over the coming months, more than 150 scenarios will be carried out – [...]
TfL’s future in Khan’s hands November 19, 2021 [Re: “Managed decline”, yesterday] Great front page headline City A.M. “Managed Decline” (18th November). The reality on Transport for London is London’s future is in the Mayor of London’s hands. He can reform the pre 1980’s era style union working practices and pay and conditions which are so generous other public sector workers are envious. [...]
Whitehall should not be able to escape TfL’s case for funding November 18, 2021 There is a brilliant, if possibly apocryphal, anecdote that emerged from the 2000 US election. Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s election strategist, was finally accosted by the journalists who had been following Bush on the campaign trail for weeks, reciting the same speech, city by city, state by state. The hacks begged Rove to change [...]
Lib Dems call for bank tax hike to plug TfL funding gap November 18, 2021 The Liberal Democrats have called for taxes on banks to be hiked to help fill Transport for London’s (TfL) £6.6bn funding gap. The party called the long-running TfL funding saga between the government and mayor of London Sadiq Khan a “a ridiculous macho battle”, while urging them to “sort this mess out”. Khan last night [...]
TfL: Network planning for “managed decline” and return to 1970s without Whitehall funding November 18, 2021 LONDON’S transport network is headed for “managed decline” that will echo the 1970s if central government refuses to fill a growing funding black hole. Late on Wednesday evening, TfL’s finance committee published the bleakest assessment yet of the future of London’s public transport network, outlining an 18 per cent reduction in bus services and a [...]
Lower than forecast ULEZ receipts hit transport network’s coffers November 18, 2021 The expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) has been so successful in driving down the use of heavily-polluting cars that it has blown a £600m hole in TfL’s forecasted budgets. The ULEZ was expanded out to the north and south circular in October as part of the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s push [...]
Sadiq Khan warns for ‘severe tube and bus disruption’ if govt does not cough up £1.9bn for London transport funding November 18, 2021 Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, warned this morning that without urgent Government investment London’s bus and tube services could be severely disrupted because of a £1.9 billion funding gap. Sadiq Khan says bus services could be reduced by a fifth and tube services by almost 10% unless the Government steps in with an injection [...]
UK advertising watchdog probes crypto meme coin Floki’s marketing ‘assault’ on London transport November 17, 2021 The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has bowed to calls for an investigation into an ad campaign for a digital token named after Elon Musk’s new dog, Floki, after hundreds of adverts for the cryptocurrency appeared across the capital’s transport network. A spokesperson for the ASA told City AM that the watchdog is currently investigating the [...]