Buses in “walking speed” congestion exacerbate London’s pollution problem June 2, 2016 London's pollution is exacerbated by London buses travelling at snail paces due to growing congestion, a new report has suggested. A report by Professor David Begg, a former chairman of the government's Commission for Integrated Transport, pointed to some routes "close to walking speed" that mean buses chug out more fumes. "Fuel efficiency measured in [...]
The reason your taxi driver won’t go south of the river for three months (not across Tower Bridge anyway) June 2, 2016 If your travels around London regularly take you across the Thames, you'll have one less travel option come October, as Tower Bridge closes for three months. Tower Bridge Road will be shut to vehicles from 1 October while repair and maintenance work is carried out, the City of London Corporation announced today. "This decision to close Tower [...]
Revealed: The sums behind Khan’s backing of the Garden Bridge May 25, 2016 London Mayor Sadiq Khan has claimed that cancelling a controversial Garden Bridge across the Thames would cost more than completing the project. Speaking at Mayor's Question Time for the first time since his election, Khan said that almost £40m of public funds have already been spent by the Garden Bridge Trust. Of a total of [...]
RMT’s vote for a strike over Night Tube will be Sadiq Khan’s first test as mayor of London May 25, 2016 Well, that parade has been been well and truly rained upon. At the start of this week, TfL announced – to widespread cheers – that the long-promised Night Tube would (finally) launch in August. That promise remains on track, but yesterday the sense of triumph was darkened by the prospect of more strikes. The RMT, [...]
We spoke too soon: Now maintenance and engineering workers are striking over Night Tube May 24, 2016 Thought a deal had finally been reached to launch Night Tube? Think again: the RMT union has confirmed that there's going to be a strike over the new 24-hour service – by maintenance and engineering workers. The much-maligned service was finally given a launch date of 19 August yesterday following months of delays while drivers' unions [...]
Now you can live in the apartment where D-Day was planned – if you have a cool £4.7m May 24, 2016 It's the ultimate piece of war memorabilia: an apartment in the building that served as a base for the Special Operations during the planning of D-Day has just gone up for sale. The only catch? You'll need a cool £4.75m to live in it. The five-bedroom duplex apartment is in Montagu Mansions, used as a headquarters [...]
“City sophisticates” will dominate the Night Tube and give a boozy £71m boost to the economy, according to new research May 23, 2016 There's something of the night about City workers, according to new research. Researchers at CACI International have put their heads together to work out just how much the hotly anticipated Night Tube will bring in to London's boozing economy. The white paper, "Mind the Gap", has found that London would see a staggering £71m boost to it's late-night [...]
Card is king? The UK is closer than ever to being a cashless society May 23, 2016 The old adage that cash is king is about to be kicked into the long grass, new research suggested this morning – with card payments about to whoosh ahead of cash payments. A study by Payments UK found although cash is still the biggest method of payment – some 45 per cent of all UK [...]
Night Tube is go: Launch date and launch lines for London’s first 24-hour service May 23, 2016 The Night Tube is go. London's new mayor Sadiq Khan has formally announced the 24-hour service will begin on Central and Victoria lines from 19 August, with Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern lines to follow in the autumn. The launch – almost exactly a year to the date that it was due to go live – means that London [...]
Transport for London’s contactless drive takes another stride forward May 20, 2016 Londoners are now able to use contactless on the Thames. Transport for London today announced that customers travelling on the MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus will be able to pay using contactless payment cards. Using contactless is the same cost as using an Oyster Card, which TfL says is up to 19 per cent cheaper than [...]