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

Saturday, 06 December 2014

BBC News

• Bakerloo Line extension plans consultation endsTransport for London's consultation on Bakerloo line extension ends on Sunday.
• 13 towns 'could lose bus services'Local bus services in cities and towns across Northern Ireland could be cut drastically if draft budget proposals are agreed.
• Rail fares to rise by 2.2% next yearAverage rail fares will rise by 2.2% from 2 January, the rail industry has said, marking the lowest rise for five years.
• Malaysia Airlines chooses new chiefMalaysia Airlines has chosen Aer Lingus chief Christoph Mueller to be its chief executive-designate.
• Rail fares to rise by 2.2% next yearAverage rail fares will rise by 2.2% from 2 January, the rail industry has said, marking the lowest rise for five years.
• Trains may be run by not-for-profit firm, Hart saysA not-for-profit firm, and not private operators, could run Welsh train services from 2018, Transport Minister Edwina Hart has said.

Financial Times

• UK rail fares to rise 2.2%Average figure includes regulated and unregulated ticket prices
• Brussels puts €3.3bn into unified airspaceInitiative aims to cut flying costs and carbon emissions as part of single sky concept
• MAS hires turnround specialist as CEONational flag carrier turns to Mueller in strategy to recover from year of disasters
• Rail passenger groups slam 2.2% fare riseLowest increase for five years but many season tickets have risen by 20% during this parliament

The Guardian

• The bike that kids won't grow out of (well, for a while at least)Another year, another kid’s bike? Not any more. The LittleBig extendable bike seeks to solve the age-old problem for children that love to cycle – that they just won’t stop growingThe first bike that was ever truly mine was a jaunty red-and-white single-speed with stabilisers, waiting for me on Christmas morning when I was four. My parents still laugh when they recall how I ran straight past it, mesmerised by the presents under the tree, and then did a double-take worthy of Louis de Funès as I spotted it sitting under the mantelpiece.Two years later my Christmas present was a shiny ...
• Black cabs: is it the end of the road?Minicab mobile apps such as Uber are threatening to drive traditional taxis off the streets but, say Britain’s cabbies, it’s about more than simply getting people from A to BOne night a couple of years ago, on a black cab ride from Putney to Kentish Town, the driver told me he’d become a priest. Not an actual priest in a black frock, but certainly the sort who took confessions. Szymon (originally Polish) had been driving a cab for 27 years, always at night. He was nearing retirement age and though he’d made enough money from property development to mean he didn’t have to keep working any more,...

The Herald

• Call for rethink at troubled bus firmWORKERS at the country??s only publicly owned bus company have called for a rethink over the reinstatement of its chief executive after an investigation into his conduct.
• Wheelchairs in spotlight at new transport exhibitionA TRANSPORT museum better known for its exhibitions on trains, trams and buses is now putting the humble wheelchair in the spotlight.
• Payout for France rail Holocaust deporteesHundreds of Americans and others deported by France's state rail company SNCF during the Nazi occupation will be entitled to compensation under a new US-French agreement.

The Telegraph

• Rail fares hike: Thousands more commuters face £5,000 season ticketsSeason ticket holders face annual cost of rail travel rising to more than £5,000 as industry body Rail Delivery Group announces train fare rises for next year
• New Forest road safety campaign donkey killed by carThe foal's mother, Doll, is said to be mourning the loss of Jo-Jo and had to be

Mail Online

• Passengers vent their fury as more rail season tickets crash through the £5,000 barrier with increase in excess of most annual pay rises British rail commuters face above-inflation fare rises in the New Year – with many season tickets crashing through the £5,000 barrier at a rate exceeding most annual pay rises.

Network Rail

• Challow bridge is reopened to the publicThe A417 bridge over the railway at Challow has reopened to the public today, Friday 5 December, after work to prepare it for electrification was completed on time.

Bolton News

• 'Unacceptable' rise in rail fares for Bolton commuters in new year RAIL fares are set to increase for commuters across Bolton in the new year.
• HS2 is 'goldmine for Bolton businesses' RICH pickings will be up for grabs for local companies bidding for work on the forthcoming HS2 link – Europe’s largest infrastructure project.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Motorists warned of five overnight closures of northbound M606 motorway DRIVERS who use the motorway network to get into Bradford are being warned of disruption due to upcoming roadworks.

London Evening Standard

• Rail fare hikes: Commuters will pay more than £5,000 for train travel Thousands more London commuters are to pay more than £5,000 for their annual season ticket after a 2.5 per cent hike in regulated fares for 2015 was announced today.
• HS2 'will mean longer queues at Euston' Londoners will face longer queues for the Tube at Euston station as it struggles to cope with a surge of passengers from Britain’s new high-speed rail line, a transport boss warned today.
• Evening Standard Comment: Rising rail fares - a real burden on London Commuters have known since September that rail fares would rise in the new year: the Chancellor announced then that regulated fares would go up by 2.5 per cent, July’s Retail Prices Index inflation rate. Today’s detail on the January 2 rises for unregulated, off-peak fares completes the picture: the average rise across all fares is 2.2 per cent. The hike is a real-terms freeze but it will still hurt. Some annual season tickets, such as from Ashford International, will break the £5,000 barrier for the first time. Milton Keynes Central comes close to that, at £4,888 (up £116), while one from Br...

Manchester Evening News

• Metrolink bosses warn children that no tram ticket could equal no job in the futureMore than a thousand children are visited by Metrolink operators - as this year marks first youth fare dodging prosecutions

Nottingham Evening Post

• Future of TransportWHILE Nottingham faces a number of economic challenges, it is able to confront them at a time when it is also armed with strengths other cities do not have.
• Nottingham Post published Julian Bentley: Tram track cycle accidents need sortingAfter a number of tram track-related cycle accidents, cycle instructor Julian Bentley from Ruddington says the tracks are more dangerous than they should be.Several of my cycle-to-work routes criss-cross the ongoing tramworks in Nottingham. If you cycle or walk in our city, you too have probably encountered the tramworks at various times. For me, the last two to three years of tramworks have provided: a needless 1.5 mile dog-leg diversion taking in a rat-run road (for 18 months); several...

The York Press

• MP calls on Ministers to keep rail HQ in York YORK Outer MP Julian Sturdy has called in the Commons for the Government to do more to keep the East Coast Mainline's headquarters in York.

Wales Online

• Rail passengers in South Wales face increases of up to 4.8% in ticket prices next monthMany local fares may increase by more than 2.5% in January - with some passengers facing a near 5% rise in the cost of a train ticket

Yorkshire Post

• Petrol retailers urged to cut prices on forecourts after world oil prices tumbleThere is scope to reduce petrol prices by more than 7p a litre and diesel by nearly 6p, according to the RAC.

Doncaster Free Press

• Gearing up for another fantastic cycle festivalDoncaster Cycle Festival will return again next year - and organisers say it will be bigger and better than ever.

Western Daily Press

• Fury from commuters, passenger groups and transport unions over rail fare rise Commuters, passenger groups and transport unions have voiced anger at the “scandal of Britain’s great rail fares rip off” after it was announced fares will rise by an average of 2.2% from January 2.

Other Regional Press

• Night buses must be saved says MPA LOCAL MP is calling on transport bosses to postpone the scrapping of a night bus service to Manchester until the guided busway opens.
• As the number of rail passengers goes up in Huddersfield, so will the cost of a train ticket - read about January price hikes hereTrain fares to site by 2.2% average from January
• Thameslink trains upgraded to provide better access for disabled passengersTrains are being upgraded to give disabled passengers access to the Bedford to Brighton, Wimbledon and Sutton rail route.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Price comparison signs for motorway fuel to be trialledThe Department for Transport (DfT) will begin a trial of signs that will allow motorists to compare the price of fuel at motorway service stations. The scheme, which was announced as part of the chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on December 3rd, will be piloted with signs at five service stations on the M5 between Bristol and Exeter, starting in early 2015. If the trial is successful, the signs are expected to be installed around the country by the end of 2015. An Office of Fair Trading report in 2013 found that fuel prices were significantly higher at motorway service sta...

Railnews

• 2015 rail fare rises to be 'average of 2.2%' The average rail fare rise in January will be 2.2 per cent, the Rail Delivery Group has said. The RDG's figure has been released as the details of individual fares become available from train operators today. However, one English operator has announced a partial freeze. Southeastern said its 'super off peak' fares will not rise in the New Year and will be extended to more routes, including its High Speed services to St Pancras International. Meanwhile campaigners remain critical, pointing out that fares have risen in real terms over the past decade.
• Welsh 'not for profit' railway moves nearer The Welsh transport minister Edwina Hart has signalled the Welsh Government's intention of examining the possibility of setting up a 'not for profit' company to succeed the present Arriva Trains Wales franchise. As a first step, the Welsh Government is setting up a subsidiary company which will be responsible for the management of several key transport projects.

Aviation Industry

• GAATS+ goes live at Prestwick as part of NATS, NAV CANADA joint initiativeThe Gander Automated Air Traffic System (GAATS+) has been implemented at the Prestwick Center in Scotland to complement the system already implemented across the North Atlantic at the Gander Control Center in Newfoundland. read more
• Easyjet boss McCall earns £7.7m pay packageAirline’s annual accounts show bumper pay packet for CEO
• Alitalia appoints new management teamAll appointments are effective from January 1 2015

Other News Sources

• Boris faces up to London's air quality crisis with £330m green spree 2,400 hybrid buses, zero-emission taxis and 10,000 street trees will all be coming to London as part of new plans announced by Boris Johnson in a bid to tackle the capital's air pollution problems.