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

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

BBC News

• Sheringham launches pedal powered taxis Two eco-friendly pedal powered taxis will be working in Sheringham this summer after being licensed by North Norfolk District Council.
• New £20m road and rail bridgeA £20m road and rail bridge will replace a narrow wooden toll bridge at Penrhyndeudraeth in Gwynedd.
• Safer school buses law promisedSafer school transport heads a smaller set of policies unveiled for the last months of the Welsh assembly government.
• Bus company 'refuses man help'A second wheelchair user claims he was refused help by a Manchester First bus driver.
• Canal closure plan due to droughtNearly half of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal could close as the north west struggles with its worst drought since 1929.

Financial Times

• Flybe-Air France tie-up raises speculationThe deal, which allows both airlines access to new routes, could be a precursor to a merger or an attempt to strengthen Flybe's appeal ahead of a potential IPO, say analysts
• BA board faces volley of attacks at AGMShareholders and staff hit out at Willie Walsh and executives for their handling of the cabin crew dispute

The Herald

• MSP attacks Government over cost of travel advice The Scottish Government has been accused of insulting people’s intelligence by sending advisers to their houses to explain the concept of public transport. Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw questioned the value of the £15 million being spent on the Government’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places initiative “to hector the public out of their cars” .

The Independent

• Ryanair guilty of misleading ads Ryanair has been reprimanded for misleading customers with low-fare offers.

The Telegraph

• Push up cost of air travel to cut demand, say engineers The price of air travel should be increased to cut demand for flights according to the country's leading engineers.
• BA runs into turbulence as cabin crew protest British Airways annual meeting was dominated by the striking cabin crew whose industrial action has cost the company almost £150m this year.

Daily Express

• Stormy British Airways meeting reveals merger planBRITISH Airways is eyeing the possibility of a tie-up with a no-frills airline once its merger with Spanish group Iberia is completed later this year.

Network Rail

• FEWER RAIL REPLACEMENT BUSES DURING IMPROVEMENT WORKS AFTER CHESTERFIELD STATION UPGRADE
• NETWORK RAIL STEPS UP TO SUPPORT BRITISH BUSINESS
• READING RAILWAY MILESTONE SIGNALS PROGRESS ON STATION REDEVELOPMENTSignalling preparatory work now 40% complete. Remaining work to be undertaken at Christmas.

Birmingham Mail

• New electric car for West Midlands Police THIS is the electric car that is taking ’charge’ in the fight against crime.

Daily Post (North Wales)

• New £20m bridge to be built at Penrhyndeudraeth A NEW £20m road and rail bridge will be built to replace Pont Briwet near Penrhyndeudraeth.

Edinburgh Evening News

• Compensation claims treble for tram contractors to £50k in yearTHE amount of compensation paid out for damage and injury to Capital residents and businesses caused by work on the city's tram project has trebled in the past year.

London Evening Standard

• Tube passengers should prepare for years of eye-watering fare rises Tube upgrades are now vulnerable to deep cuts. With the transport department facing 25-40 per cent spending reductions, it is hard to see how Underground funding can be exempt from the axe.
• Cuts to Tube will cost economy £66billion, warn 50 City bosseMore than 50 leading City figures today urged the Government to protect the Tube from devastating cuts. They warned Transport Secretary Philip Hammond that London's continued growth and prosperity would be put at risk unless investment was protected. In a letter to the minister, they argued that a modernised Underground network would boost the British economy by £66.5 billion.

Manchester Evening News

• Minister minds the gap over transport cash Transport minister Theresa Villiers has promised to redress the investment gap between Greater Manchester and London. But she remained tight-lipped on the £560m funding axe which looms over the region™s transport plans.

Yorkshire Evening Post

• Wakefield: 'Worst' station's £300,000 revampWork is complete on a £300,000 scheme to improve security at a rail station once dubbed the 'worst in Britain.'
• Ryanair rapped over 'misleading' advertsRyanair has once again been reprimanded for misleading customers with low fare offers, a watchdog reported today.

Other Regional Press

• County council gives schemes the go-ahead ABOUT £42m of funding for transport, schools and community projects will be given the go ahead following the first phase of a County Hall spending review.
• School bus fares set at £1 per journeyA deal on pay-as you-go school bus fares has finally been struck between East Dunbarton-shire Council and Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT).
• Police to travel free on Aberdeen busesPOLICE officers in the Aberdeen area are being offered free bus travel, it was revealed today.

Campaign for Better Transport

• Government must heed message that we need to support bus services12 July: The Department for Transport will this week submit their bid to the Treasury for what they want to fund over the next three years. There are plenty of powerful lobbies arguing for billions to be spent on building new roads, but the voice of bus users must be heard. read more

Aviation Industry

• Eureka! Heathrow Rewards World Duty Free Staff for Innovative Thinking World Duty Free has been awarded first place in Heathrow™s Eureka! 2010 retail innovation incentive scheme. Launched this year the award recognises innovative thinking from the airports' business partners which positively impacts the passengers' experience at Heathrow...
• Appeals court upholds Bush DOT's ˜peak pricing™ rule A US federal appeals court yesterday upheld the Dept. of Transportation's 2008 rule allowing airports to charge higher landing fees during "peak" periods, with the presiding judge telling objecting airlines that congestion pricing's "creativity should be welcomed on its merits, not spurned for its novelty."
• Air France, Flybe sign wide-ranging cooperation pact Air France and Flybe yesterday concluded an extensive commercial agreement under which Air France will market and add its AF code to 45 Flybe routes between the UK and France and 17 UK domestic routes through Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton. In turn, Flybe will market and add its code to five AF routes between France and the UK as well as to seven new domestic French routes and 11 international routes.
• Airline merger talks between THY, Serbia™s Jat intensify The governments of Serbia and Turkey have pledged to speed up talks that could result in indebted Serbian flag carrier Jat Airways merging with Turkish Airlines. During a news conference, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said, “We are ready for steps that will make that cooperation possible. I am promising to do my best [to provide] the people of Serbia with links to every corner of the world through our two companies.”

Other News Sources

• Edinburgh Airport boss: Public not asked 'as turkeys don't vote for Christmas' THE boss of Edinburgh Airport has admitted that the controversial new drop off charges will be unpopular with passengers.
• Edinburgh airport: Critics fear it's just the start of fees for 'extras' OPPONENTS of Edinburgh airport's proposed £1 drop-off fee fear it may represent the thin end of the wedge.
• RMT welcomes cross-party support for campaign against tube station job cutsTUBE UNION RMT has welcomed the tabling of a motion at tomorrow's London Mayor's Question Time, in the names of Labour's Val Shawcross and the Lib Dem's Caroline Pidgeon, calling on Boris Johnson to review plans to axe 800 station staff jobs and to close or slash the opening times of 245 ticket offices.
• RMT takes legal action and demands Government intervention as Jarvis collapse leaves workers with nothing while banks are paid off in fullRAIL UNION RMT today demanded Government intervention to ensure that former Jarvis workers get £28 million in wages that are owed to them following the collapse of the company and after the administrators report suggested that the workforce are unlikely to get a penny while the Jarvis bankers are getting paid back in full.