Black cab protest: Police close Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate as United Cabbies Group rails against TfL’s lack of support May 26, 2015 Central London roads were gridlocked this afternoon as the black cab protest caused chaos around Parliament Square, Whitehall, Embankment and Lambeth Palace Road. Campaigners are directing the protest, scheduled to take place between 2pm and 4pm today, against Transport for London, which they claim are not doing enough to keep on top of regulation [...]
Conservatives want to end free travel for friends and flatmates of TfL employees, saying it will save the government millions May 26, 2015 Friends, flatmates and family of TfL staff are currently able to use London's public transport for free, but the Conservatives want to put a stop to this. They say the rule, which allows each employee of the body to select one person they live with to be able to travel around the capital cost-free using [...]
London’s cabbies are taking on Uber, and TfL in high stakes fight for capital’s streets May 25, 2015 Transport for London’s (TfL) headquarters will be the scene of a protest by black cab drivers today. The action is a demonstration of the simmering tensions between traditional cabbies and modern firms like Uber, which show no sign of dying down. Black cab drivers are represented by the London Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), Unite [...]
As non-cash payments overtake hard currency, are we a few years off being a cashless society? May 21, 2015 Dennis Jones, chief executive of Judo Payments, says Yes This development isn’t surprising. One of the key drivers for this is the growth of lower-value transactions being made with cards. TfL alone has seen over 60m contactless transactions in the last six months, which were historically made with cash. And London’s buses are now cash-free [...]
Focus on Poplar: There’s good reason it’s getting so popular, you know May 21, 2015 It hasn’t always been so popular to live in Poplar. Its postcode, E14, has held the dubious honour of being the most unequal in the UK, as its East End estates sit a stone’s throw away from the shimmering towers of Canary Wharf. It’s now best known in the nation’s mindset as the impoverished setting [...]
UK national rail strike: Trains not expected to run to Wembley for Norwich City v Middlesbrough Championship play-off final May 21, 2015 UPDATE 2.45pm: The RMT has followed the TSSA union in suspending strike action after an improved offer from Network Rail. Bad news, football fans. It looks like the national UK strike could derail plans to get to Wembley for the Championship play-off final on Monday. The unprecedented strike – which looks set to go ahead despite days [...]
Train strike: Transport for London warns commuters of disruption from bank holiday Network Rail walkout May 21, 2015 UPDATE: The RMT has followed the TSSA union in suspending strike action after an improved offer from Network Rail. The nationwide Network Rail strike on bank holiday Monday will cause some Transport for London (TfL) services to also suffer delays and disruption. A 24-hour walk out has been called by rail union bosses from 5pm on Monday 25 May, [...]
UK national train strike: Unions begin fourth day of crisis talks as 24-hour rail walkout looms May 20, 2015 UPDATE: The RMT has followed the TSSA union in suspending strike action after an improved offer from Network Rail. Union representatives are returning for a fourth day at the bargaining table today after late-night mediation failed to avert a planned 24-hour rail strike. Network Rail and the unions RMT and TSSA are yet to find a compromise [...]
Video: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is far better than Transport for London at explaining why Tube delays happen – and how they’re solved May 19, 2015 Presumably in an effort to quell commuters' constant rage, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has released a video explaining the science behind delays on the subway – and it's in the style of an 8-bit video game. So what happens? According to the video, subway (and, presumably, London Underground) trains usually have a regular interval [...]
London Mayor 2016: Tessa Jowell focuses on housing for Labour bid May 19, 2015 Mayoral bids are like London buses. You wait for five years (or so it feels) and then two come along at once. Yesterday was the somewhat unorthodox launch of entrepreneur-turned-Tory candidate Ivan Massow, who opted for the “disarmingly honest” approach with his bid. Today it was the turn of Tessa Jowell, who stood [...]