BORIS POISED TO TAKE CONTROL OF COMMUTER TRAINS April 29, 2012 BORIS Johnson is set to gain control of suburban rail services after the transport secretary Justine Greening gave City A.M. the strongest indication yet that she is willing to hand him control of key commuter routes if he is re-elected on Thursday. Under the proposals Transport for London (TfL) would have direct control over certain [...]
Boris warns of fuel strike emergency March 29, 2012 BORIS Johnson has warned the government is not taking the escalating fuel crisis seriously enough, City A.M. has learned, and has instructed London officials to start planning for an emergency. In a letter to communities secretary Eric Pickles, seen by City A.M., the Mayor of London said the UK was facing a “potential fuel emergency” [...]
Nifty fifties set to go under the hammer for children’s charities September 16, 2012 TAKE note. Fans of the industrial revolution can pick up collectible copies of the current £50 note featuring James Watt and Matthew Boulton at a special charity auction organised by the Bank of England on 26 September. The auction will be run by Spink and proceeds go to Kids Company and the British Association for [...]
Boris wants to control every railway in London February 6, 2012 BORIS Johnson has made a bid to control every rail service in London as part of an ambitious plan to simplify ticket structures and improve reliability and service frequency. Johnson said the current “Byzantine fares-setting policy” will be abolished and that his plan could save up to £100m over 20 years by removing the need [...]
East London cable car due for launch by the end of the month June 17, 2012 BRITAIN’S first cable car spanning the Thames is set to open to the public in time for the Olympic games, Transport for London confirmed today. The £50m project has been subject to safety tests in recent weeks but TfL said it was on course to open on 28 June, a month ahead of the Games. [...]
How Olympic organisers can get shot of the West End ghost town August 1, 2012 WE’VE scared them off. Somewhere between Boris Johnson’s ominous ode to overcrowding, and TfL’s weird posters of diligent Londoners in their underwear, planning routes to work, the city’s attempts to keep moving during the Games have frightened droves of tourists into barely venturing out of the confines of the Olympic Park. If organisers don’t act [...]
Ken makes a pledge of new Tramlink route April 15, 2012 KEN Livingstone has today promised to extend the Croydon Tramlink if elected mayor of London on 3 May. Labour’s Livingstone, who has made cutting travel costs a cornerstone of his manifesto, said the “sheer size of the surpluses at Transport for London” will make the extension possible if he returns to City Hall. He claimed [...]
Opening up the Oyster card beats charging ahead with TfL’s expensive alternative December 5, 2011 LAST week the London Assembly Transport Committee (LATC) released its report on the future of ticketing in the capital. No big deal, you might think – if you assume the Oyster card seems to function rather well. The heart of the problem is that Oyster is not only far too expensive, but has become so [...]
Tube to get wi-fi before Games January 23, 2012 London Underground passengers will be able to use wi-fi at 120 stations in time for the Olympics, a Transport for London boss has said. TfL oversaw a successful trial at Charing Cross last year, but there were fears of delays after telecoms firm Huawei pulled out of a deal to provide the network. But a [...]
Upgrades for road, rail and IT take shape March 21, 2012 THE COALITION’S multi-billion pound plans for sweeping infrastructure upgrades are starting to take shape, with £2bn of pension involvement revealed yesterday and new plans to upgrade London’s transport and technology networks. George Osborne said British pension funds have pledged the first £2bn towards a new Pension Infrastructure Platform, first trailed in autumn, with more firms [...]