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

Sunday, 26 May 2019

BBC News

• Charity Sustrans calls for city workplace parking taxSustrans Cymru says councils could tax firms for staff spaces to raise money for public transport.
• Ayrshire rail disruption after lorry strikes bridgeThe collision between Barassie and Troon means trains between Glasgow and Ayr have been stopping at Kilwinning.

The Guardian

• FirstGroup’s uncomfortable rail journey isn’t over yetAs it prepares to announce annual results, the transport group is resisting pressure from its biggest investor to quit the sector

The Telegraph

• Thomas Cook launches last-ditch survival plan that would see it turn into a holiday comparison website [subscription]Thomas Cook is attempting to woo long-suffering investors with a radical plan to transform itself into an online holiday market place.
• Private energy firm backed by former National Grid boss Steve Holliday opens £120m fund to invest in electric buses [Subscription]A battery start-up backed by former National Grid boss Steve Holliday is launching a £120m fund to accelerate the roll out of electric vehicles.
• FirstGroup told to ditch 'incremental steps' or face 'severe backlash' amid growing investor support for US activist [Subscription]nder siege rail and bus operator FirstGroup must take more concrete steps towards a break-up or face widespread support for a boardroom coup, rebel investors have warned.

Times Online

• Tesla boss Elon Musk is running out of road now is rivals have woken up [Subscription]The owner of Tesla may be left on the pavement as the automotive giants rev up their ranges of electric vehicles
• Beryl bikes boss Emily Brooke wants City workers to get into the saddle [subscription]Workers in the City are being encouraged to get on their bikes, with the launch of a trial dockless cycle-hire scheme.
• National Grid has blown a fuse on electric cars - Letters [subscription]I noted your article (“Drivers plugging into an electric future will need a lot of chargers”, May 12) on the problems with the proposed electrification of the country’s cars and vans. Unfortunately, the problems are much worse than you made them out to be, and they are exacerbated by institutionalised lying by National Grid.
• Michael O'Leary settles in for a last hurrah at the Ryanair Group [subscription]Ryanair’s no-nonsense boss is strapped in for a bumpy ride as he targets bumper profits over the next five years. His reward? Just the €98m
• Liverpool HS2 link axed, says mayor Steve Rotheram [subscription]Ministers are looking to save billions on the plan put forward for road and rail transport in the north of England by axing Liverpool’s new railway line to HS2.
• FirstGroup braced for huge writedown [subscription]Besieged transport giant FirstGroup is expected to write off millions of pounds on its South Western Railway franchise as it struggles with sluggish growth.
• Park Scottish levy scheme now, it’s a non-starter [subscription]At the risk of sounding like a poor girl’s Jeremy Clarkson, the newly proposed workplace parking levy, whereby tens of thousands of Scots may end up having to pay hundreds of pounds a year extra to get to their place of work, is third-form economics.

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• IDEO: New cycleway between Shipley and Bradford is officially openedTWO unicyclists were some of the first users of the newly opened cycleway between Shipley and Bradford after the ribbon was cut in a ceremony this morning. Shipley to Bradford cycleway Cyclists using newly opened Shipley to Bradford cycleway Volume 90% Unicycles on Shipley to Bradford cycleway Unicyclists try out the newly opened cycleway between Shipley and Bradford Volume 90%

Peterborough Telegraph

• New Peterborough and Cambridgeshire transport plan set for consultationResidents will be asked to have their say on a new Local Transport Plan for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. The plan from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority - the county’s mayoral body - will provide the context for key projects such as the dualling of the A47 and the ongoing work to reform the bus network

Sunderland Echo

• First holiday flights in five years set off from Durham Tees Valley Airport as mayor hails 'incredible' responseThe first holiday flights to leave Durham Tees Valley Airport in five years have set off, loaded with tourists looking forward to fun in the sun.

Other Regional Press

• Hillingdon among group of five neighbours fighting airport expansionTRANSPORT Minister Jesse Norman says the costs of £625,000 from legal challenges to Heathrow expansion will be recovered from the unsuccessful claimants. These include the London boroughs of Hillingdon, Wandsworth, Richmond and Windsor & Maidenhead. The Mayor of London will also be liable for a portion. Executive Director of Back Heathrow, Parmjit Dhanda, said: “This is embarrassing for local council leaders, who have played fast and loose with taxpayers’ money and lost it all.”
• Overcrowded trains have Hereford commuters fumingRAIL commuters from Hereford are suffering from fewer carriages on the route to Birmingham and feel safety is being compromised because of overcrowding.
• Fight congestion charge and bring in free public transport, says ex-Coventry MP NellistCOVENTRY council should fight an unfair congestion charge for motorists and bring in free public transport instead, says former city MP Dave Nellist.
• Major review into county's public transport revealedCOUNTY highways chiefs have vowed to launch their biggest review of public transport in in a bid to help local residents avoid the ‘scourge’ of loneliness and social isolation.
• Poor public transport 'contributing to climate change'The actions of bus and train companies are contributing to climate change, a Labour councillor has claimed.

Forbes

• The World's Most Expensive Cities For Public Transport [Infographic]Deutsche Bank has released its 8th annual survey of global prices and living standards from various countries and cities around the world. Part of the research focused on the cost of public transportation in 55 major cities around the world where there are huge disparities in the price of a monthly ticket.

Transport Network

• Wales to join Europe's rail elite, while Halton Curve reopensThe Welsh Government has announced that a formal planning application for its £100m Global Centre of Rail Excellence is due for submission in early 2020.