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

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

BBC News

• Coronavirus: Falkirk bus builder Alexander Dennis to cut 650 jobsThe Falkirk-based firm has confirmed a quarter of its 2,300 employees are at risk of redundancy.
• Earlier lockdown 'would likely have saved' bus driversThirty-four bus workers have died in London with Covid-19, including 29 bus drivers.
• 'Fix your bike' vouchers launch, as doctors to prescribe bikes on NHSThe prime minister says GPs in areas with poor health will be encouraged to prescribe cycling.

Financial Times

• Ryanair has a few tricks left to see it through quarantineMagic Mike’s carrier is less exposed than most; Ascential counts cost of non-essential travel

The Guardian

• 'E-highways' could slash UK road freight emissions, says studySystem of overhead cables and adapted lorries could pay for itself within 15 years
• UK busmaker Alexander Dennis to cut 650 jobsThe busmaker Alexander Dennis is cutting 650 jobs in the latest blow to the UK automotive industry as it reels from the coronavirus pandemic.
• Residents to get new decision-making powers in cycling 'revolution'Measures include watchdog to ensure quality and safety of walking and cycling routesCycling ambitions for England move up a gear with No 10 plansResidents will get powers to banish through-traffic from local streets and councils will be prevented from building substandard cycle lanes under what Downing Street has billed as a revolution for cycling and walking in England.The plans will see the creation of a watchdog to ensure new cycle and walking routes are up to standard, intended to act as a transport equivalent of the schools inspectorate, Ofsted. Continue reading...

The Independent

• Boris Johnson pledges cycle lessons for everyone and thousands of miles of new bike lanesProjects consisting 'mostly of paint' will not get funding, ministers say

The Telegraph

• Tuesday morning news briefing: Plan to cut Spanish quarantine to 10 daysYour morning guide: Arrivals from high-risk countries to be tested within eight days and MI6 'interfered' with 'licence to kill' case

Times Online

• Coronavirus in Scotland: Hundreds of jobs to go at bus builder Alexander Dennis [subscription]One of Scotland’s largest manufacturing businesses is to axe about a quarter of its workforce. Up to 650 jobs could go at Alexander Dennis, the bus builder, as demand for its vehicles and repair services has dropped during the pandemic.
• Petrol has peaked as half of drivers consider switching to an electric car [subscription]The UK may have reached “peak petrol”, with sales of combustion engine cars falling as motorists shift to electric vehicles, according to research.
• Ryanair lands well short of passenger targets [Subscription]Ryanair has reduced the number of passengers it expects to carry this year to 60 million, only 40 per cent of the number who flew with it last year, and said it may cut its outlook further.
• Call to convert slow lanes into e-highways for lorries [Subscription]Slow lanes on motorways should be transformed into “e-highways” for electric lorries that would reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by up to 5 per cent, a government-backed study has found.
• Grant Shapps flies home from Spain and into coronavirus quarantine [Subscription]Grants Shapps, the transport secretary, will return to the UK tomorrow from his holiday in Spain in the wake of the introduction of blanket quarantine restrictions.
• Taxpayer-funded electric bikes to get more cyclists on roads [Subscription]Electric bikes will be cheaper under a new subsidy to encourage older people and commuters to get out on the road.
• All travel is now a risk, coronavirus holidaymakers are told [subscription]Holidaymakers were warned yesterday that “no travel is risk-free” as concern grew that the quarantining of arrivals from Spain will be extended to other countries.

Mail Online

• Doctors to prescribe bicycles as part of £2billion drive to tackle obesityBicycles will be prescribed by doctors for patients and all Britons will be offered free training on how to ride in a £2billion drive to get fat Britain 'on its bike'.
• Grant Shapps ends Spanish family holiday to fly back to UKThe Transport Secretary said it was right he 'get back to work in the UK as soon as possible' to manage the fallout of the government's decision to revoke the air corridor with Spain.

The Mirror

• Cyclists to be handed £50 vouchers to fix bikes in Government cycling driveBoris Johnson will announces plans to boost cycling as part of efforts to get Brits to slim down to reduce their risk of coronavirus

This is Money

• Travel stocks hit by holiday chaos: £1.5bn wiped offInvestors took flight from airlines and tour operators after the Government removed Spain from the quarantine-free list with just a few hours' notice. And thousands have cancelled trips.

Sky News

• Cyclists to get bike repair vouchers under anti-obesity strategyCycling fanatic Boris Johnson is promising £50 repair vouchers as part of his coronavirus crusade to persuade people to get on their bike.

Birmingham Post

• Business group pushes for more funding for East Coast rail lineNorth East England Chamber of Commerce rues missed opportunity in last week's rail funding package

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Andrew Stephenson says 'active travel' key focus of plansTHE Transport Minister has explained
• ‘Increase cycling by 2,000 per cent to tackle climate emergency' AMBITIOUS plans of how West Yorkshire can tackle climate change include increasing the amount of bike journeys by 2,000 per cent in the next 18 years.

London Evening Standard

• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to return home from Spain after air bridge scrappedTransport Secretary Grant Shapps is returning home early from his family holiday in Spain after the Government scrapped the country's so-called air bridge.
• Doctors to prescribe bikes on NHS under plan to boost active travelBicycles are to be made available on the NHS as part of the Government's

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Free £50 bike repair scheme launches and here's how to make a claimHalfords teams up on Government's new Fix Your Bike Voucher Scheme and explains how it will operate

Yorkshire Post

• Synectics wins contract to keep bus passengers safe in IrelandSynectics plc ,the security and surveillance systems firm, has secured contracts for the Irish Republic's National Transport Authority (NTA) with a total value of more than £1.0 million.

East Anglian Daily Times

• Rail link from Ipswich to Cambridge set for boost as part of east-west routeHopes of upgrading the rail line between Ipswich and Cambridge by the end of the decade have moved ahead – with the hope that some trains could run from Suffolk as far as Oxford.

New Civil Engineer

• Rail minister ‘keen’ to push on with Heathrow southern rail linkRail minister Chris Heaton-Harris is “keen to move forward at pace” with a southern rail link to Heathrow.

Rail Technology Magazine

• Network Rail Scotland completes £1m of rail works Network Rail have delivered more than £1m of work to renew track and refurbish a key junction on Scotland’s Railway in Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire. Between Saturday July 17th and Monday July 20th, engineers worked to renew 1.5km of track through Milliken Park station in Johnstone...

Other News Sources

• Invest in bus travel to drive green recovery, study urgesPublic transport 'essential' to driving economic activity, study argues, as bus operator First Group pledges zero emission fleet by 2035
• Green light for £1.9m Huddersfield stations schemeA scheme to re-pave pedestrian routes between Huddersfield's bus and train stations will also see changes for motorists and taxi users.
• Brighton seafront parking to make way for bike lane PARKING spaces along the seafront will make way for bike lanes as part of a new wave of car bans and cycleways.
• Transport Secretary Shapps cuts short Spanish holidayEven the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was caught out by the last minute change of rules.

EIN News Subscription

• Spain quarantine: 'No travel is risk free' during coronavirus pandemic, No 10 warns … confirmed that ministers - including transport secretary Grant Shapps, who … July 2020 People visit Columbia Road Flower Market, London, … of their colleagues. Several roads were closed and the … There are fears more European holidays could be thrown into …