Transport for London looks for £3.5bn of commercial revenues June 2, 2014 TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has begun searching for a new sponsor of the city’s bicycle hire scheme, hoping to bring in more money and a long-term partner following Barclays’ departure. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has written to 200 of TfL’s biggest advertisers to gauge interest in sponsoring the bicycles, which were launched on [...]
Row over Uber app heading to the High Court May 29, 2014 TRANSPORT for London has asked the High Court to endorse its view that the Uber car booking service complies with laws on taximeters. The Licenced Taxi Drivers Association, which has criticised the app for unfairly competing with London’s black cabs, said the decision does not affect its plans to hold protests over Uber’s tactics on [...]
Serco awarded train contract May 28, 2014 SERCO, the scandal-hit outsourcing firm, has been awarded a 15-year contract to operate the Caledonian Sleeper service train from London to Scotland. The FTSE 100 firm, which was accused of overcharging on a previous and unrelated government contract, will earn up to £800m in revenue over the contract period, of which £180m will be in [...]
Serco awarded Caledonian Sleeper franchise May 28, 2014 International service company Serco, has been chosen to manage a 15-year franchise for the Caledonian Sleeper service, which is set to be run separately from the ScotRail franchise. Serco was selected by Transport for Scotland which aims to transform the service with over £100m being invested in new rolling stock. It is hoped that the [...]
Tube traffic rises by a third in a decade to nearly 1.3bn journeys May 27, 2014 IF THE Tube carriage feels a bit more crowded than it used to be, it’s no wonder: the London Underground carried passengers on a whopping 1.265bn journeys in the last financial year, meaning the Tube is now taking a third more passengers than it was a decade ago. Compared to the previous year, journey numbers [...]
US durable goods orders beat expectations with 0.8pc rise May 27, 2014 Durable goods orders in the US unexpectedly rose 0.8 per cent in April, after rising 2.5 per cent in March. The consensus was for a 0.5 per cent fall. Rising sales of defence aircraft and other transport equipment helped drive the unexpected boost in orders. Defence capital goods orders jumped 39 per cent in the [...]
Arriva accelerates across Europe May 27, 2014 BUS AND rail company Arriva has revealed a double-digit rise in revenues as it vies for more transport contracts in Britain and across the rest of Europe. Arriva, owned by Germany’s state railway since 2010, said turnover rose 12.5 per cent to €4.18bn (£3.39bn) last year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) [...]
Govia wins rail contract that’ll bring 10,000 more seats during rush hour May 23, 2014 The busiest rail routes in London and the South East are to get three new state-of-the-art train fleets. Govia Thameslink Railway has bagged a seven-year government contract, which includes building 1,400 electric carriages. This’ll increase capacity by over 50 per cent, supplying 10,000 extra seats every weekday into central London during the rush hour by [...]
Focus on… Ladbroke Grove: Feeling the love for Ladbroke Grove May 22, 2014 IT MAY be a small area, but Ladbroke Grove in west London is making a big impact on the property market. The area just north of Kensington and south of Paddington is a bustling collection of tree-lined streets packed with boutique shops, independent restaurants and Portobello Road Market. “It’s set itself apart from nearby areas [...]
Leeds company unveils greener red London bus May 21, 2014 A LEEDS bus builder yesterday unveiled what it hopes will be the next double-decker bus to drive on London’s streets. Optare said its MetroDecker model weighs less than 10 tonnes, compared to over 12 tonnes for the newest Routemaster – making it “extremely fuel-efficient”. “We have worked hard to assess and evaluate every part of [...]