Crossrail 2 gathers steam with King’s Road and Dalston plan June 9, 2014 CROSSRAIL 2, the proposed London railway once known as the Chelsea-Hackney line, could end up stopping at neither of its namesake stations. Transport for London has started consulting on several possibilities for the route linking the south west and the north east of the capital. The options include a stop at Dalston Junction instead of [...]
Uber protests: RMT union backs taxi cab strike June 9, 2014 The RMT transport union has lent its support to a planned day of protest by licensed taxi drivers, who aim to clog central London streets tomorrow in protest at car hire apps such as Uber. The union said it will fly a “Cabbies against Boris” banner during the protests, due to start in Trafalgar Square [...]
Betfair and the case of the UK’s first squidlock June 3, 2014 WHY DID the Octopus cross the road? It didn’t. The truck it was on stopped smack bang in the middle of Oxford Street at rush hour. Arf, arf. London came to a standstill yesterday when a truck, transporting an eight-legged prop for a Betfair advert choked in the epicentre of London’s rush hour, causing much bemusement [...]
Guess which is the UK’s most congested city? (It’s not London) June 3, 2014 According to new stats compiled by TomTom, the most congested city in the UK isn’t London, it’s Belfast. London comes in a close second, but Belfast outstrips the capital, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow – all cities with far higher populations. It’s home to just 286,000 people, and 480,000 in the metropolitan area, but traffic delays [...]
A lorry has broken down in Oxford Circus. It’s carrying this massive octopus June 3, 2014 We can't help but think that there will be some very confused commuters in London this morning. It appears to be made out of polysterene, but do take care folks, these creatures can run on their tentacles, and have nine brains. Oh, and good luck explaining how it made you late to the boss. Unsurprisingly, [...]
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 [...]