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Thursday, 02 January 2020

Cogitamus

• 🚄 ⛴ 🚛 🚗 Happy New Year ! 🚋 🚲 ✈️ 🚌The team at Cogitamus Limited would like to wish all our TransportInfo readers a very happy and prosperous 2020.

BBC News

• Cardiff Airport posts £18.5m pre-tax lossCardiff Airport has posted a pre-tax loss of £18.5m, nearly three times higher than the previous year.
• Plans to expand Lancashire tram network consideredA Lancashire tram network could be expanded by rejuvenating dormant railway lines.
• Crossrail boss says managers 'have a grip' on projectThe boss of London's Crossrail project has insisted managers "do have a grip" on the delayed project.
• Scotland 'open for business' in pioneering driverless vehiclesScotland is "open for business" to develop driverless vehicles, says cabinet secretary Michael Matheson.
• Barcelona's car-free smart city experimentSuperblocks is a radical plan to reclaim the streets from the noise and pollution of traffic.
• Rail fares to go up across ScotlandThe average rise will be 2.4% - slightly less than the UK average of 2.7%.
• ScotRail racks up £10m loss amid contract woesThe company that runs Scotland's rail services reports losses of £10m after its contract is ended early.
• Crossrail boss says managers 'have a grip' on projectThe route is already two years late and more than £2bn over budget.
• Plane crash fatalities fell more than 50% in 2019The high-profile Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March accounted for more than half of those deaths.
• Rail fares rise by 2.7%, hitting millions of commutersMany passengers are facing an increase of more than £100 for annual season tickets.

Financial Times

• Breathless: British cities struggle with air qualityLocal councils hampered by lack of funds and poor national leadership
• Johnson urged to completely overhaul HS2 projectWarning at ‘watershed moment’ comes as prime minister is set to act on latest official report

The Guardian

• Northern rail to be stripped of franchise, says Grant ShappsTransport secretary says he has started process after year of chaos and cancellations
• Sadiq Khan pledges free London travel for disabled people's carersMayor launches re-election bid with promise of companion pass on city's transport networkSadiq Khan has kickstarted his bid for a second term as London mayor by pledging free travel on the city's transport for anyone accompanying a disabled person.The promise came on the same day as rail passengers nationally were hit with annual fare increases, this year averaging 2.7%.
• Call for rethink on rail fares after latest above-inflation increaseCampaigners demand overhaul of system and fairer way to calculate future fares Campaigners have called on the government to rethink rail fares as commuters return to work facing another 2.8% rise in the cost of their travel.The latest above-inflation increase will add more than £100 to many season tickets, and follows months of misery on some of the country’s biggest commuter rail networks, affecting passengers in the north of England, the Midlands and London. Continue reading...

The Independent

• Northern Rail to be stripped of its franchise‘I simply will not put up with that,’ said transport secretary Grant Shapps
• Rail fares rise despite strikes and widespread cancellations for long-suffering commutersIncrease of 2.7 per cent for most train travellers, but North Wales passengers see fares fall

The Telegraph

• Season tickets to increase by up to £200 for strike-hit South Western Railways passengers, watchdog figures reveal

Times Online

• Less than one in ten car buyers consider electric [subscription]AA Ireland has said that the government needs to introduce more incentives to encourage people to buy electric cars.
• Rail price rises: Flexi-fares to ease pain of commuters [subscription]Flexible commuter fares are to be introduced on some of the busiest rail lines as the average cost of an annual season ticket passes £3,000 for the first time.
• Edinburgh car commuters targeted as council mulls congestion charge [subscription]Drivers face being charged to drive in Edinburgh under a renewed proposal to bring in a congestion charge
• Times letters: Cheaper alternatives to a high speed railway [subscription]Sir, Those responsible for the increasingly expensive HS2 project (“HS2 a bottomless pit for taxpayers’ cash, says adviser”, Dec 30) seem to be obsessed with the need to get from A to B as quickly as possible.
• Eight nations have stakes in British trains [subscription]Three fifths of train journeys in Britain are made with companies wholly or partly owned by foreign operators.
• York wants private cars banned in three years [subscription]York is preparing to become the first city in the UK to ban private cars under the toughest measures yet seen to combat congestion and pollution.

Reuters News

• Britain's zero-carbon power outstrips fossil fuels in 2019Britain, the birthplace of coal power, produced more electricity from zero-carbon sources such as wind, solar and nuclear than from fossil fuel plants for the first time in 2019, National Grid said on Wednesday.

i News

• British Airways pledges to offset carbon emissions for all UK domestic flights - but what is offsetting and does it work?There are critics of off-setting who see it used as a means of exonerating frequent offenders

Mail Online

• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps plans to trial a system of 'flexible' season ticketsTransport Secretary Grant Shapps will announce plans to trial a system of 'flexible' season tickets offering discounts to part-time workers travelling only three or four days a week.

The Mirror

• Rail fares rose twice as fast as wages over past 10 years as prices go up againIn the decade since 2009, fares for commuters have risen by 46% but the average weekly wage has only risen 23%. It comes as commuters returning to work today have been hit with a 2.7% rail fares rise.

Sky News

• Rail passengers face 'another decade of misery' as fares jump 2.7%Rail fare increases have been described as "outstripping people's incomes" after the average cost of tickets rose by 2.7% from today.

Birmingham Mail

• How to reduce impact of rail fare increase in January 2020 as passengers face ticket 'misery'Train companies sell cheaper off-peak tickets which can be used on quieter services
• The real reason rail fares rise every January revealed as train passengers face ticket increaseOffice of Rail and Road figures show that between January 1995 - around the time the network was privatised - and January 2019, average fares increased in real terms by 21%

Bolton News

• Bolton bus fares, what next?A BUS operator has pegged its bus fares on two key routes out of Bolton..

Liverpool Echo

• Rail replacement bus doom for Merseyrail stations in JanuaryThe changes could also impact Merseyside football matches

London Evening Standard

• Rail fares increase: Passengers 'face a decade of misery' of future rises claim campaignersSome long-distance commuters see journey cost for the year rise by £100 from Thursday

Northern Echo

• Arriva adds route to replace axed service in east DurhamA BUS company is introducing new routes in County Durham to replace services previously run by another operator.
• Work started on temporary Metro depotA NEW temporary Metro train depot is starting to take shape, with the first new tracks put in place.

Sheffield Star

• Transport in the North 'no longer acceptable' Northern Rail boss admits - after Meadowhall service is cancelledRail transport in the North is “no longer acceptable”, according to the managing director of the Northern Rail franchise

The York Press

• Should non-essential traffic be banned within the city walls? COUNCILLORS voted in favour of a plan to look at banning private car journeys from the city centre by 2023.
• Pacer train joins National Railway Museum collection YORK'S National Railway Museum has welcomed a diesel Pacer train to its collection.

Blackpool Gazette

• Transport Secretary promises end of troubled Northern rail franchise as fares rise by 2.7 per centStruggling rail operator Northern looks set to be heading for the end of the line after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed action will be taken over continuing cancellations, delays and overcrowded trains.

Carlisle News & Star

• Fresh round of rail upgrades on west coast mainlineRAIL users in the county have been warned of further disruption on the west coast mainline and to check before travelling this week.
• Transport chiefs hit out at Northern Rail cancellationsTRANSPORT chiefs have blasted rail operator Northern after dozens of trains were cancelled in the county and beyond between Christmas Eve and December 27.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Exemption allows old carriages to stay on line with Greater Anglia - until MarchGreater Anglia is one of nine rail operators from across the country that has had to apply to the government for an exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act because some carriages are not compliant with new rules.

Lancashire Telegraph

• Colne to Skipton rail link campaign updateTHE Skipton – East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP) will hold an open meeting later this month.

Other Regional Press

• South Western Railways passengers facing rail fare rises after a month of strikes by RMT union membersHAMPSHIRE rail users are demanding government action on the eve of huge fare rises and after suffering a month of strikes.
• Greens join call for 'woeful' rail service to be overhauled as fares go upKirklees councillor slams train firms' failure to do 'pretty basic stuff'

Other News Sources

• British train services under foreign ownership more than doubles in decadeThe proportion of Britain's train services under foreign ownership more than doubled during the past decade, with 8 other nations holding a stake in the country's railway.