Five of the best | Stuck in London? Here are five apps to get you moving again April 30, 2014 Cycle Hire This app was made to accompany the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme – commonly known as Boris Bikes. It uses an in-app journey planner to help you devise cycle friendly routes, search for docking stations by postcode or a London venue, and manage your cycle hire account. iOS; 69p Citymapper Available for London, Paris, [...]
Letters to the Editor – 01/05 – Tube strikes, Best of Twitter April 30, 2014 Tube strikes [Re: As Tube strikes cause transport chaos, should such union action be restricted?, yesterday] It is time to break the threats of militant union bosses. The GLA Conservatives have long made the case for banning strike action on the Tube. In return, unions should gain the right to independent mediation. Under a process [...]
Misery strikes again April 29, 2014 LONDONERS face another day of chaos today as the RMT union continues its strike action. One in three stations was forced to close yesterday, leaving long queues outside other stations and bus stops. Yet Transport for London said half of all Tube services ran as planned during the day, adding that it managed to run [...]
Problems remain but the British economy is growing again April 29, 2014 ANY discussion of the latest economic growth statistics must always be prefaced by a health warning. These are early estimates which are often revised, sometimes drastically. Citigroup calculates that between1999 and 2010, the year on year growth in British GDP was revised up by 0.5 per cent on average, more than in any other G7 [...]
How tech can offer Tube strike relief April 29, 2014 New “sharing economy” apps could help commuters survive future union action MANY are extolling the virtues of the “sharing economy” – where people rent out underutilised assets from each other through the internet. Despite concerns over regulation and security (sharing companies Lyft and Uber have both recently faced lawsuits), collaborative consumption is catching on. Forbes [...]
Half of all Tube trains are running as normal despite the strike April 29, 2014 Half of all scheduled Tube services are running this lunchtime despite the strike action by the RMT union, Transport for London has said. Two-third of Underground stations are open, and there were 7,961 buses operating on the city streets this morning – the highest number ever, says TfL. Boris Bike hires are up [...]
Is this the laziest place in England? April 29, 2014 The Department for Transport today released figures on how many people in England are walking or cycling, raising an important question – what's the laziest place in England? The answer on this metric is East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, where only 76.7 per cent of people surveyed answered positively. This means, astonishingly, that nearly a [...]
HS2 on track with MPs’ vote April 28, 2014 CONSERVATIVE rebels against the planned High Speed 2 (HS2) railway route were crushed in a parliamentary vote last night. The government has Labour’s backing for the £42.6bn project and won the vote by 452 MPs to 41. “London and the South East are increasingly full…while cities in the north want to grow,” said transport secretary [...]
Tube strike disruption starts this morning after talks with union failed April 28, 2014 LONDONERS are this morning facing the first full day of disruption on the Tube, following the RMT union’s decision to strike for 48 hours. London Underground workers began walkouts at 9pm last night, and Transport for London said services will not get back to normal until Thursday morning. A second wave of strike action is [...]
HS2 backers have completely failed to make a convincing case April 28, 2014 YESTERDAY saw the House of Commons give the green light to HS2 at second reading, with the bill now heading into Committee stage. And as the debate has twisted and turned over the years, so the justification for this huge taxpayer-funded rail project has mutated. At first, the reduction in journey times was considered the [...]