Alibaba moves London tech headquarters to Canary Wharf December 14, 2014 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has moved its London headquarters from Mayfair to Canary Wharf as the Docklands continues to develop as a rival tech hub to Old Street. Alibaba, which raised a record $25bn (£15.9bn) when it went public in September, is now based on Level 28 of the iconic One Canada Square, just below [...]
Transport for London to make paying for Boris bikes simpler December 14, 2014 Transport for London (TfL) is hoping to boost the number of bums on bikes by simplifying the payment scheme. Customers who want to use Boris Johnson’s flagship scheme currently have to negotiate eight different pricing categories. But from 2 January onwards, the charges will be set at a flat £2 per 30 minutes [...]
These London boroughs have made the most from parking charges: Westminster, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea December 12, 2014 London boroughs netted an astonishing £293m from parking charges last year, according to new research by transport and research policy organisation the RAC Foundation. They contributed 44 per cent to the £667m of the overall total raked in by local councils across the UK. The total figure has surged 12 per cent from last year's [...]
Here’s what would happen if London followed Paris’ example and banned diesel vehicles too December 8, 2014 Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has called for a ban on diesel cars in the city by 2020, saying pollution was contributing to lower life expectancy and quality of life in France’s capital. What would happen if London followed suit? Boris Johnson is already considering increased taxes on diesel cars – but based on the fact Londoners are [...]
Alex Salmond confirms he will stand for seat in UK parliament at general election December 7, 2014 The former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has confirmed plans for a return to Westminster by standing for a seat in UK parliament at next year’s general election. The Scottish politician who stood down as leader of the SNP after being defeated in the independence referendum, announced his candidacy for the constituency of Gordon in [...]
Exclusive: “We are the anti-Uber”, says Kabbee CEO Justin Peters December 5, 2014 Yesterday, taxi app company Uber was valued at $40bn (£25.7bn) after it completed a $1.2bn funding round. This year, London has experienced an explosion in the growth of taxi apps, with different services dealing with black cabs, minicabs and other vehicles springing up all over the capital. Speaking to City A.M., Justin Peters, chief executive of [...]
TfL seals Tube map sponsorship deal with MBNA December 3, 2014 When it first emerged Transport for London (TfL) was seeking a sponsor for Tube maps back in June 2013, many jokes were made about the possibilities for stations like "Oxoford Circus" and "iPaddington". But now the sponsored Tube map is here: TfL announced today MBNA, the contactless card provider, will have its logos plastered across [...]
Boris Johnson welcomes £141m transformation of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into “Olympicopolis” December 2, 2014 Boris Johnson has welcomed the government's commitment to create a £141m education and culture hub on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The transformation will include two new campuses for University College London (UCL) and University of the Arts, new locations for the Victoria and Albert Museum and Sadler's Wells. It will create 3,000 jobs, 1.5m additional visitors [...]
London Bridge travel disruption: Everything Thameslink, Southeastern, Overground and Southern service commuters need to know December 2, 2014 Most commuters who travel to London Bridge are already used to stuffy train carriages, infuriating delays, slow trawls through crowded platforms and queues for ticket machines. Yet it could all be about to get even more stressful due to the next phase of a massive Network Rail rebuilding project at London Bridge mainline station [...]
London Underground has busiest day in history for second time in three weeks December 1, 2014 Last Friday was the busiest day in history for London Underground, which smashed through a record it had set just three weeks earlier. The tube network carried 4.725m passengers on Friday the 28 November, according to figures released by Transport for London (TfL). It beat the last record, set on 14 November, where 4.576m journeys [...]