Crossrail to be run by Hong Kong Metro operator MTR beating British rail firms to £1.4bn contract July 18, 2014 Hong Kong transport company MTR has been awarded the lucrative contract to run London’s new Crossrail train service by Transport for London. MTR already runs London Overground in a partnership with British firm Arriva, which it triumphed over in the bidding. Keolis with partner Go Ahead and National Express were also in the running. The [...]
Heathrow City in pictures: Designs for airport redevelopment include new homes and tech hub July 16, 2014 Heathrow airport could be replaced by 190,000 new homes, a factory or swathes of parkland, according to plans revealed by architects. London mayor Boris Johnson is especially keen on the plans to develop a "Heathrow City", given his backing for a new airport in the Thames estuary. The designs were backed by Johnson and commissioned by [...]
London’s future growth depends on bridging the east Thames chasm July 10, 2014 London is growing – and it is growing eastwards. A combination of large-scale redevelopment projects and underdeveloped land means that east London is in demand for both new homes and jobs. Over a fifth of all developments underway in London today are taking place in Newham, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich, while over a third of [...]
Cash fares no longer accepted on London buses July 6, 2014 London buses will no longer accept fares paid in cash in a move that Transport for London (TfL) says will save the capital £24m a year. From today, passengers will only be able to pay for bus fares using an Oyster card, contactless credit or debit card or travelcard ticket. TfL estimates less than one [...]
Serco fails to win rebid for Docklands Light Railway July 4, 2014 Troubled outsourcing firm Serco has received yet more bad news today as Transport for London informed the company it had failed in its rebid to operate and maintain the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). After 17 years of running the DLR Serco will hand it over to a venture between Keolis and Amey. However, Serco was [...]
TfL court ruling delayed as Uber drivers are sued July 3, 2014 The battle over Uber’s controversial car hire app escalated yesterday as Transport for London (TfL) said its attempt to get a High Court ruling on the dispute would be seriously delayed following news that the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) was taking its own legal action against Uber drivers. The dispute focuses on whether Uber’s [...]
Uber saved from London court battle and is operating within the law says TfL July 3, 2014 Transport for London (TfL) has announced that the High Court cannot proceed with a case regarding taxi app service Uber because the magistrates courts are deluged with cases concerning individual Uber drivers. Furthermore, as far as TfL is concerned, Uber is acting within the law by using an app to calculate fares based on the [...]
London’s iconic double deckers are about to get a lot smarter June 23, 2014 Transport for London (TfL) will be introducing screens displaying how many people are sitting upstairs and which seats are available, in a trial system to begin in two weeks. The display screens will be situated next to the driver as people board the bus and between the driver and the staircase before passengers go upstairs. [...]
Lego bus stop arrives in London June 20, 2014 No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, that actually is a London bus stop made out of 100,000 Lego bricks. It's not just for show (although the seats might be uncomfortable). Travellers can alight at the Conduit Street stop near toy store Hamley's on Regent Street until July 15 TFL, engineering company Trueform and the toy store worked together [...]
Uber app wins the heart of EU commissioner after taxi protests June 12, 2014 Smartphone app Uber has found a new champion in the form of EU digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes. After protests against the San Francisco startup swept Europe yesterday, Kroes wrote "we cannot address these challenges by ignoring them, by going on strike, or by trying to ban these innovations out of existence." “The disruptive force [...]