Citymapper launches contactless London travelcard that is cheaper than TfL’s Tube and bus travel fares February 20, 2019 London commuter app Citymapper has launched a new subscription service that will allow people to pay for weekly travel across all modes of transport, built into a contactless card. From launch, Citymapper Pass will cover travel on the Tube, buses, trains, Santander bikes and its own Citymapper Ride shared taxi service in zones one and two. Read more: TfL told [...]
Former Google finance boss to head a venture capital office in London with $600m fund February 19, 2019 Former Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette will lead a venture capital (VC) office in London with Canadian firm Inovia Capital. Inovia, which is also today announcing a $600m (£464.7m) fund for technology startups and entrepreneurs, said the office will back UK companies as well as create opportunities for North American firms to expand across the Atlantic. [...]
Nearly half of commuters think air taxis would solve transport problems in cities February 19, 2019 The public is turning more to the idea of air taxis to help alleviate congestion and air pollution on Britain's roads, new research reveals. Research carried out by aviation events organisation Revolution.Aero found that 43 per cent of those surveyed would support the introduction of air taxis to reduce transport problems in UK cities. Read more: [...]
The secret to saving the high street? Fewer shops February 19, 2019 Rarely does a day pass without another report about the high street’s seemingly never-ending struggles. However, the tendency to focus purely on the ups and downs of retailers masks a more nuanced picture about what is happening in city and town centres. To properly understand its problems – and, more importantly, come up with some [...]
Galliford Try picks up £275m contract to build new Ealing Council base February 18, 2019 Construction firm Galliford Try has been tasked with building a new headquarters for Ealing Council in west London, in a £275m deal. As well as building council offices, the contract also includes building 470 new homes, half of which will be offered at social and London living rent prices, as well as a library. Read [...]
Peak fares face the axe in proposed shakeup of rail ticketing system February 18, 2019 Peak rail fares could be abolished under new proposals to move away from the UK's complex ticketing system to a fairer, "tap-in, tap out" model. Trade body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) has called for a revamp of the ticket system to ensure customers only pay for what they need and are always charged the best-value [...]
Interiors: Laura Ivill reviews the new sustainable Ikea Greenwich on its opening weekend February 15, 2019 Four years in the planning, Ikea Greenwich opened last weekend as the company’s first “sustainable store” in the UK. A pilot ran in Germany, but the Swedish behemoth, the world’s largest homewares retailer, chose SE10 for its new dawn. Billed as taking sustainability to the next level, it opened with a BREEED 'excellent' accreditation for green [...]
Focus On Wanstead: Families flock to ‘the Twickenham of East London’, where houses near green spaces have sold for seven digits February 15, 2019 There was a time when Wanstead, an unusually leafy spot of east London, was most famous for its Member of Parliament. They don’t come much more recognisable than Sir Winston Churchill, who served Wanstead from 1924 up to 1964 with a patch of absence in the middle for his Wilderness Years. But there’s one other [...]
Parliament Square brought to standstill in climate change protest February 15, 2019 Nearly 50 school strikes took place across the country today as a coalition of youth climate change organisations led walkouts, leaving London's Parliament Square in gridlock. Thousands of young people gathered in Parliament Square between 11am and 2pm, holding signs and chanting messages that called attention to climate change and the environment. The protest brought traffic to a [...]
Revealed: Final cost of ‘botched’ Garden Bridge project comes to £53.5m February 13, 2019 Backers of the failed Garden Bridge project are under fire after the "galling" costs of the scheme were revealed to have spiralled north of £50m. The Garden Bridge Trust, which managed the project since November 2015, was accused of “squandering public money” on the ill-fated venture, after Transport for London admitted that the project racked [...]