Breaking News
Transport for London facing £2bn a year funding gap, warns report
Transport for London (TfL) is facing a funding gap of up to £2bn every year as a result of Covid-19, The post Transport for London facing £2bn a year funding gap, warns report
Vere: ‘Non-essential services cloud bespoke coach support bid’
Transport Minister Baroness Vere has revealed that the coach industry’s provision of services that are viewed by the government as “non-essential” is the reason why the sector has not received a bespoke support package despite multiple requests.
Friday, 15 January 2021
BBC News
- Residents win battle to reopen Deganwy railway footpathResidents have won a 10-year battle to reopen a section of coastal footpath crossing a rail line in a north Wales town.
- Covid-19: Funding for taxi drivers ineligible for first grantStormont will also provide further assistance for all drivers who lost business from 1 October 2020.
- Network Rail sorry for disability 'distress' over lift closuresWheelchair users had to drag themselves up steps or use a stair-climber during refurbishment work.
- TikTok level crossing stunt 'staggeringly stupid'Police and rail bosses condemn a social media post featuring a car parked on a level crossing.
- E-scooter gifts should be returned to shops, Met officer saysA senior Met Police officer says the devices are
- Coronavirus: 'Wall to wall with people' on London undergroundFootage shows a large crowd of people waiting to board a Tube train at Canning Town station.
Financial Times
- Delta: cleared for take-offAirline will almost certainly avoid bankruptcy, thanks to allies in Washington and Wall Street
- Several US airlines to ban packing guns on flights to WashingtonCompanies and federal regulators take greater precautions after US Capitol assault
The Telegraph
- Rail networks to reduce services to avoid running ‘ghost trains’ [subscription]Operators will focus trains on morning and evening peak travel times to ensure a reliable service for key workers
- Ministers will be sent to boot camp as part of Boris Johnson’s radical plans to shake up Whitehall [subscription]... Other key areas of training will include training for current and future leaders, for which Sandhurst is highly regarded for, as well as focusing on building and assessing knowledge in specific policy areas, such as health, education or transport.
- Forget HS2 - fix Britain's potholes instead to help repair the economy [subscription]British roads are getting worse, but diverting cash from costly infrastructure projects to pay for repairs could have a dual benefit
Times Online
- Rush for bikes helps Halfords gain speed [subscription]Sales at Halfords shifted up a gear in the last quarter of 2020 as the bikes-to-car parts retailer rode a lockdown cycling boom.
- Dover chaos feared as France demands 72-hour Covid tests [subscription]France is demanding that lorry drivers have PCR tests which can take 72 hours to produce a result, causing concern in government that it will lead to chaos at the border.
City AM
- Transport for London facing £2bn a year funding gap, warns reportTransport for London (TfL) is facing a funding gap of up to £2bn every year as a result of Covid-19, The post Transport for London facing £2bn a year funding gap, warns report
The Mirror
- Airline bans guns as Biden inauguration rehearsal halted amid 'security concern'Airlines have upped restrictions on-board flights to Washington amid fears of further unrest from Donald Trump fanatics at Joe Biden's inauguration, with a rehearsal postponed after alleged threats
Birmingham Post
- Care home entrepreneur invests in high-end road bike designersIan Watson, of Hadrian Healthcare, has backed Gateshead's Vielo Sports, which has designed a new road bike for serious cyclists
- New £16million rail station for Exeter's Marsh Barton to begin within weeksThe rail station was due to open in 2016 but has been beset by delays and spiralling costs
- HS2 joins Ladder for Greater Birmingham apprenticeship driveHigh-speed rail project becomes an employer partner of our apprenticeship campaign
Bristol Live
- Bristol taxi firm offers free rides to vaccinations for the elderlyIt's for those who don't have another means of transport
- Drivers to be charged to enter city centre Clean Air ZoneMayor Marvin Rees revealed the plan in a Facebook Live
London Evening Standard
- Wizz Air flies in for 500 billion euro bond dealBUDGET airline Wizz Air today tapped up the bond markets for e500 million (£450m), taking advantage of low borrowing costs to bolster its balance sheet.
- Number of London transport staff dying with Covid-19 increases to 60The number of London transport staff dying with Covid has increased to 60, including 46 bus workers, it was revealed today.
Manchester Evening News
- 'It looks like levelling down' - Government slashes northern transport budget and shelves London-style contactless rail ticketingIt means plans to bring northern rail passengers in line with their London counterparts are scuppered, at least for now.
Newcastle Evening Chronicle
- Transport leaders launch battle against plan to downgrade HS2 and Northern Powerhouse rail networksTransport for the North has rejected proposals to axe the North East leg for the High Speed Two rail scheme
Plymouth Herald
- Plymouth London Tube-style underground ambitions announced in major new report on future of UK travelTwo South West cities - chiefly Plymouth and Bristol - have been identified as ideal locations for the slick transport network
Other Regional Press
- Sheffield mayor Dan Jarvis says HS2 must go ahead in YorkshireTransport chiefs have criticised proposals by Government advisers to scrap the Yorkshire leg of HS2.
- Community railway plan for Bridport It's been almost half a century since trains ran from Bridport, and the branch line from West Bay to Maiden Newton is now only a memory.
Train Operators
- East Midlands Railways unveils newly designed seats for state-of-the-art Aurora fleetPassengers travelling on East Midlands Railway’s (EMR) Aurora trains will be able to sit back and relax thanks to unique seats specifically designed for the company’s new fleet.
British Trams Online
- Ice on the overhead causes Edinburgh Trams delaysIce on the overhead is an issue which often affects tram services over the winter months but in order to counter this most tram companies send out special “ice breaker” trams overnight to ensure that a normal service can run. But still occasionally these don’t do the job and services are affected, and that was the case for Edinburgh Trams on Tuesday 12th January.
Coach and Bus Week
- First looks at positives from a difficult year“2020 has been a year to remember for us all,” FirstGroup told CBW, reflecting on the strides the company made over the past 12 months, “and despite the pandemic there are moments for our industry to celebrate, recognising our agility in the face of adversity. Over the past 12 months everyone at First Bus has worked extremely hard to deliver wide-ranging projects and innovations which have allowed us to continue our customer first-approach and invest in becoming the green bus operator of choice.
- Social media vital for survivalClubs and other organisations catering for classic buses, coaches and other vehicles must embrace social media – or face dire consequences.
- Bus manufacturers await national strategyIn November, having just bailed out Transport for London, the UK Government announced a Ten Point Plan for a ‘green recovery.’ Prominent among the proposals was increased support for buses, which have been severely impacted by lockdowns, social distancing and declines in ridership. Here, Roger Brereton, Head of Sales at steering system specialist, Pailton Engineering, reflects on a challenging year for buses
New Civil Engineer
- Stansted Airport expansion is ‘incompatible’ with climate commitmentsThe proposed expansion of Stansted Airport is “incompatible” with the UK’s climate commitments, Aviation Environment Federation director Tim Johnson told the public inquiry into the proposal yesterday.
- Northern transport revolution ‘threatened’ by TfN budget cutsGovernment pledges to “level up” the UK by investing in Northern transport schemes are “threatened” by the government’s decision to slash central funding to Transport for the North (TfN).
- Hammersmith Bridge will remain shut as Motts and WSP dispute Aecom plan to reopenHammersmith Bridge will remain shut after engineers from Mott MacDonald and WSP ruled that it is not safe to reopen until stabilisation work has been carried out.
- Forth rail tunnel plan considered technically viableTunnelling specialists have welcomed proposals to build a new rail tunnel crossing below the Firth of Forth in Scotland as part of plans put forward by the Scottish Green Party to improve the rail network and deliver on carbon net zero transport promises.
Route One (Bus and Coach)
- Coventry and Oxford set to be UK’s first all-electric bus citiesTransport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that Coventry and Oxford are developing proposals to become the first parts of the UK to run all-electric bus services.
- NXWM wants ‘500 ZE buses by 2022 Commonwealth Games’National Express West Midlands (NXWM) wants to operate at least 500 zero-emission buses by the time the Commonwealth Games come to Birmingham in July 2022. The aspiration was outlined by Managing Director David Bradford when addressing the Confederation of Passenger Transport Bus and Coach Conference on 12 January.
- Vere: ‘Non-essential services cloud bespoke coach support bid’Transport Minister Baroness Vere has revealed that the coach industry’s provision of services that are viewed by the government as “non-essential” is the reason why the sector has not received a bespoke support package despite multiple requests.
- York independent operators adopt Passenger myTrip appThree independent bus operators serving York – Connexionsbuses, Reliance Motor Services and York Pullman – have adopted the Passenger myTrip app. It allows their customers to make cashless, contact-free payments and track their buses in real time.
- Coach operator survey: Caution is the watchword for 2021A survey of coach operator businesses carried out by routeone in late 2020 has demonstrated that while the immediate outlook for the industry remains very difficult, some operators are seeing modest cause for optimism in a post-coronavirus COVID-19 world.
- Stagecoach works with GreenRoad to prevent bridge strikesStagecoach is working with GreenRoad on a £4m national rollout of bridge strike prevention technology. It will capture 8,000 coaches and buses by the summer and is an enhancement of the group’s existing relationship with GreenRoad, whose core safety system is already fitted to those vehicles.
- National Express coach holidays arm sees 185% bookings riseNational Express has seen “a 185% increase” in bookings through its package coach holidays division for spring and summer 2021 compared to pre-coronavirus COVID-19 figures for 2020.
- Doug Claringbold named First West of England MDDoug Claringbold has been appointed Managing Director of First West of England. He will join the business in February, and after a handover period he will succeed James Freeman, who is to retire on 31 March.
RMT
- RMT calls for Grant Shapps to intervene in Hitachi disputeRMT calls for Grant Shapps to intervene as it declares dispute with rail firm Hitachi and reveals scandal that UK taxpayers are paying for Japanese company to fire UK rail workers.
Other News Sources
- Independents DayTowns and cities across England tend to be dominated by services operated by bus companies owned by one of the big groups. However, there are still some locations where the independent operator still has a large presence and one of those is Milton Keynes. Richard Sharman looks at the local bus scene, and how changes might be on the horizon
- Stagecoach's new bridge technology following Winchester bus crash IT WAS a Stagecoach bus full of school children that smashed into a bridge near Winchester, tearing off the roof.
- Gatwick Airport: 1,100 jobs lost as Norwegian axes long-haul network Short-haul flights across the European network will continue to operate
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