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 [...]
Boris promises £35m fund for London firms April 9, 2012 BORIS Johnson will today announce plans for a new £35m fund for London that would provide low-cost loans to the capital’s small and medium–sized businesses, City A.M. can reveal. “The fund would provide average loans of around £100,000 for each company, and if successful in attracting other funds, could drive growth for around 500 companies,” [...]
Boris promises £35m fund for London firms April 9, 2012 BORIS Johnson will today announce plans for a new £35m fund for London that would provide low-cost loans to the capital’s small and medium–sized businesses, City A.M. can reveal. “The fund would provide average loans of around £100,000 for each company, and if successful in attracting other funds, could drive growth for around 500 companies,” [...]
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 [...]
Boris is being dragged down by coalition’s many mistakes April 23, 2012 IF Boris Johnson loses the London mayoral election next week, he will have just two men to blame: David Cameron and George Osborne. Yesterday’s latest poll showing the London candidates in a statistical dead heat – Boris on 51 per cent including second preferences, and Ken Livingstone on 49 per cent – can only be [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Canary Wharf station gets an arty screen March 1, 2012 CANARY Wharf station just got a whole lot more interesting. No longer just a place for commuters to rush through en route to work, it is – for the next year at least – home to a series of video art installations commissioned by Art on the Underground. The opening series of Canary Wharf Screen [...]
FACT CHECKER | WITH JAMES WATERSON February 8, 2012 “BORIS Johnson has admitted cutting 1,700 police officers. If I am elected, I will reverse his cuts,” pledges Labour’s mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone. Crime is a key issue for swing voters and Ken’s team hope to portray Boris as weak on policing. But how would Ken fund the extra police? And where does the figure [...]
HERE’S ONE THEY DIDN’T PREPARE EARLIER: GAMES SHOW STALLS January 30, 2012 BE PREPARED – such an important quality. Especially when you are planning a large-scale sporting event that will bring widespread chaos – sorry, a million extra economy-boosting visitors – to the capital. But panic not, because the organisers of the London Olympics have got it all under control with an £8.8m strategy to help the [...]