Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Wednesday, 03 September 2014

BBC News

• Glasgow bus gate fines top £800,000A controversial new restriction on cars in Glasgow earns the city council at least £800,000 in just two months.
• Aston Martin appoints new chiefUK luxury carmaker Aston Martin hires senior Nissan executive Andy Palmer as its new chief executive.
• Boris Island airport plan 'not dead'Mayor of London Boris Johnson says plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary, dubbed
• Uber banned across Germany by courtA court says the UberPop service must stop transporting passengers in Germany, but the American company refuses to suspend work.

Financial Times

• Uber drives in to European tech backlashUS taxi hailing service has so far ignored attempts to curb its expansion but a national ban in Germany is its biggest challenge yet
• Call for decision on new airport runwayAs the Airports Commission grinds towards a conclusion, its findings still face a fog of political disagreement that has throttled airport expansion
• Lib Dems oppose UK airport expansionThe announcement will come after Sir Howard Davies rules out ‘Boris Island’, a four-runway airport in the Thames Estuary championed by London’s mayor
• Uber hit with Germany banFrankfurt court grants injunction following a challenge brought by the German taxi industry for non-compliance with passenger transport laws

The Guardian

• Boris Johnson attacks 'myopic' Airports Commission as estuary plan is rejectedPanel set up to decide on additional runways in the south-east rules out mayor's plan for hub in the Thames estuary
• Children spend 50% more time on school drive than in their parents' dayResearch shows schoolchildren now spend an average of 26 hours a year being driven to school, compared with 18 in 1995
• Estuary airport rejected: for Boris Johnson, this is personalThe London mayor sees a new estuary airport as representing everything that’s great about London, Britain...and Boris Johnson
• Unusual renewables: bacon-powered motorbikes and cars run on chocolateFrom batteries powered by sweat to a 3D printed wind turbine - some wacky and wonderful innovations in renewable energyAccording to the food company, Hormel, it takes one pound of bacon grease to produce one gallon of fuel (4.5 litres), which can cover between 75 and 100 miles on a motorbike. The Minnesota-based business has recently collaborated with a biodiesel firm to build the worlds first motorbike fuelled by pig grease, Driven by Bacon. Its creators say that its environmentally conscious and has the added bonus of emitting bacon-scented fumes.Using animal grease and fat as fuel isnt anyt...
• Car sharing service Uber banned in GermanyCompany could face 250,000 fine per ride after Taxi Deutschland sues app-makers for violating transport lawsThe online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court.The ruling that the app violates the country's Passenger Transportation Act applies nationwide, according to legal experts. The temporary ban remains in place until a full hearing takes place, and Uber could face a 250,000 (£198,000) fine per ride. Continue reading...
• Will Self on Crossrail: Projects don't get much grander - or more phallicOur man goes deep (underground) with Crossrails cock-a-hoop chairman to see if all the hype surrounding Londons new underground railway is meritedFar be it from me to come over all Freudian, but there has to be latent significance in the manifestation of a group of men boring through the ground inside a giant, phallic-shaped machine with a womans name. And not just one group of men: were talking eight, for eight phallic-shaped machines, all of which bear womens names.True, to be fair to the Crossrail project, there are women working these big drilling dicks as well the evening before I visite...

The Herald

• City cycles have been used for 20,000 bike ridesGLASGOW'S rental bicycles have been hired out 20,000 times since they were installed in June, though their use has lost a little pace since the end of the Commonwealth Games.

The Independent

• Boris Island rejected: Mayor lashes out as his London airport plan is rejected Boris Johnson launched an intemperate and scathing attack on the Government's 'irrelevant' and 'myopic'� Airports Commission, after it firmly rejected his cherished plan for a £90bn Heathrow replacement to be built in the Thames Estuary.

The Telegraph

• A new platform for trainspottersAs the National Railway Museum launches its first trainspotting season, Joe Shute reports that the hobby is back in fashion
• Autonomous braking 'biggest safety improvement since seat belt'Autonomous braking systems could prevent 17,000 deaths and injuries every year if made compulsory

Mail Online

• Boris Johnson hits out at report rejecting plan for Boris Island airport Boris Johnson claimed the aviation debate had been set back by half a century after his four-runway plan for the Thames Estuary was rejected by report author Sir Howard Davies.
• I won't give up on island airport dream says Boris: London mayor causes dismay among Tory ranks by saying he will fight any expansion of Heathrow  Vowing to fight any expansion of Heathrow, the mayor of London said his Thames estuary vision was not dead despite it being ditched from an official shortlist.

This is Money

• Land Rover joins the space race with a new compact seven-seater 4X4 Land Rover has announced a competition to put four potential customers into space with Sir Richard’s Virgin Galactic space project.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Leeds Bradford Airport's new Dublin service to open up transatlantic travel A NEW air link to Ireland designed to boost transatlantic travel has been announced at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• Wrexham pupils left stranded on first day back as school bus drivers turn them awayCouncil enforces 'no bus pass, no travel' policy, but angry parents hit out saying they weren't warned.

London Evening Standard

• Smartphone taxi app Uber banned in Germany Smartphone taxi app Uber has been banned in Germany following a fight with the country’s taxi drivers.
• Mayor in row with aviation chief after 'Boris Island' airport plans are rejected A blazing row erupted between Boris Johnson and Britain’s aviation chief Sir Howard Davies today after the Mayor’s plans for a Thames Estuary airport were sunk.
• Boris Johnson caught out in question on constituency Tube ticket cost Boris Johnson gaffed today when quizzed on live radio about Uxbridge, the West London suburb he hopes to represent as an MP.

Manchester Evening News

• Living near a Metrolink station could add over £8k to the value of your homeUsing government and Land Registry statistics, researchers at Nationwide found that buyers in Manchester will pay an average of 4.6 per cent more for a home that is within 500 metres of a tram stop

Blackpool Gazette

• £1m road safety pot to improve highwaysAn investment of £1m by Lancashire County Council will help to improve road safety in a raft of new schemes in the next two years.

Doncaster Free Press

• Aircraft which crash landed at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport had similar problems two years agoThe LinksAir aircraft that crash landed at Robin Hood Airport last month had a similar problem before, according to an air accident report.

East Anglian Daily Times

• ‘Boris Island’ airport rejection a ‘huge missed opportunity’ for Essex - Bernard JenkinThe spurning of the “Boris Island” Thames Estuary airport plan is a “huge missed opportunity” for Essex, Bernard Jenkin has said, as he fired a warning shot that it was not the end of the story.

North Wales Live

• Labour and Tory MPs unite for change to HS2 route There are fears present plan is bad for region
• Jaguar Land Rover unveils new Halewood model Land Rover Discovery Sport in 'out of this world' launch

Other Regional Press

• 'No plans to stop services' at Crowle railway station TRAIN bosses insist there are no immediate plans to close Crowle railway station following concerns raised in the town.
• £1m Lancashire plan to cut road accidents at blackspotsHighways chiefs have unveiled a £1m plan aimed at slashing accidents at some of the county’s worse blackspots.

Aviation Industry

• Airlines forced to share passenger data in anti-terror crackdownDavid Cameron announces new measures to help intelligence agencies
• Amsterdam Schiphol launches free wifiAirport rolls out complimentary 24hr unlimited access wifi

Other News Sources

• Boris Johnson: airport boss guided by Whitehall - videoSpeaking after his airport plan was rejected, Boris Johnson tells Channel 4 News that Sir Howard Davies of the commission had been
• London Stansted outlines growth potential and benefits of existing runwayLondon Stansted Airport has launched a consultation on its draft Sustainable Development Plan (SDP) that sets out how the airport will develop to make use of the existing capacity of its single runway.
• Uber banned in GermanyTaxi app firm vows to continue service despite court injunction