A global game: why Heathrow Express is investing in sevens May 5, 2014 THE aim of Heathrow Express’s investment in sevens rugby is simple: to get more people to travel on our train between London Paddington and the airport. Our customers, 70 per cent of whom are business travellers, come from 120 different countries. Our challenge is to let those people know about us before they arrive at [...]
Commuters face another week of tube strikes May 1, 2014 STRIKES on the London Underground next week, starting on Monday evening and lasting until Thursday, are still set to go ahead as talks between Transport for London (TfL) and the RMT transport union continue today. “Should next week’s strike go ahead there is likely to be disruption but we will do everything we can to [...]
The super-duper Uber app April 30, 2014 Alex Dymoke on the minicab app that helped Londoners through the strikes THIS is my second day on Uber. I went for my test day and they said I was ready to start right away,” Omar my minicab driver tells me excitedly. He is polite and chatty, reminiscing about the days before sat-nav and waxing [...]
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 [...]