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

Wednesday, 27 April 2022

BBC News

• Tesla profits soar as customers pay moreElon Musk's Tesla has raised prices for its electric cars as it faces higher costs.
• P&O Ferries: European Causeway ferry faces Larne inspection after power lossThe European Causeway, which can carry 410 passengers, spent hours adrift off the coast of Larne on Tuesday.
• Will Low Traffic Neighbourhoods drive London's elections?London's Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods attract support and vitriol, but will they decide the election?
• Ferguson shipyard boss says ferry costs should not increaseThe new Ferguson boss says the overdue and overbudget CalMac ferries will be finished next year.
• Cost of living crisis: Changes to childcare and MOT rules considered to help budgetsReducing the cost of looking after children was among the suggestions posed by ministers at a cabinet meeting.

Financial Times

• UK Passport Office and driving licence agency threatened with privatisationPrime minister Boris Johnson says some public bodies have fallen victim to ‘mañana’ culture
• Heathrow says travel surge is a ‘bubble’ that will burstUK’s busiest airport diverges from rest of industry with pessimistic long-term view
• Can Boris Johnson level up by improving bus services? The prime minister is overhauling Thatcher's deregulated system but local transport bodies say more money is needed
• Don’t let Heathrow puncture the travel ‘bubble’ prematurelyCynics view downbeat outlook as posturing ahead of aviation regulator’s price cap decision

The Guardian

• ‘I know they’re exciting – but calm down!’ Britain’s love-hate affair with the e-scooterThere are more than 750,000 private e-scooters in the UK, most of them being used illegally. Why have they become so popular – and so disliked?
• Bus firm blames WFH for axing century-old service to BirminghamDismayed commuters who rely on service linking Bromsgrove and Birmingham say move is premature A 108-year-old bus service linking Bromsgrove and Birmingham is to be axed because so many people are now working from home, a transport boss has said.

The Independent

• Nationalise trains and slash fares, says Andy BurnhamA standard fare of £369.40 for a 377-mile return journey from Manchester to London and back looks absurd. At almost £1 per mile (and £1.50 per minute), it seems intended to deter people from making the 126-minute rail journey on Avanti West Coast.

The Telegraph

• Scots exam chief was at helm of transport body that oversaw ill-fated ferries deal [subscription]David Middleton under pressure to explain missing paper trail over Ferguson Marine debacle during his time at Transport Scotland

Times Online

• National Express on road to recovery [subscription]Revenues at the transport group National Express returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first three months of the year on the back of its seventh successive quarter of improvement.
• P&O ferry staff mutiny after ship is left adrift [subscription]Agency workers employed by P&O Ferries are refusing to work on a ship that lost power and drifted in the Irish Sea for two hours yesterday, The Times understands.
• Relax MoT rules to ease crisis in cost of living, minister suggests [subscription]Requiring MoTs only every other year, cutting taxes and scrapping green levies were among ideas suggested at a cabinet meeting yesterday to help with the cost of living.

City AM

• Tesla shares plunge following Musk’s Twitter takeoverTesla’s shares plunged 11 per cent today less than a day after chief executive Elon Musk snatched Twitter for $44bn. Twitter’s takeover wiped off $97bn off of Tesla’s valuation after Musk secured a $12.5bn loan against his share in the automotive giant, the Financial Times reported. The extravagant entrepreneur said he will fund the acquisition [...] The post Tesla shares plunge following Musk’s Twitter takeover appeared first on CityAM.

Birmingham Post

• Bentley creates 100 jobs to help drive fully electric plans by 2030Applications are open for the first 50 vacancies
• North East aiming to attract more cruise ships to boost economyPort of Tyne, Newcastle International Airport and the NewcastleGateshead Initiative are working together on the Cruise North East England project

Liverpool Echo

• OPINIONLiverpool City Region's public transport revolution must speed upOn February 24, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram laid out radical plans to bring the region's buses back under public control for the first time since the 1980s. This was the kind of policy so many had hoped to see when the devolved city region first elected a Metro Mayor in 2017.

The Press and Journal (Aberdeen)

• Transport is ‘essential’ to bolster night time economy in AberdeenAberdeen’s night time economy manager has called for transport links to be improved to aid recruitment problems. Ewan Mclean, Scotland’s only night time economy manager, said today that getting people home after a night out, or working at night was essential to help keep the city moving.

The York Press

• MPs unite to back York's rail HQ bidMPs from across York and North Yorkshire have called on the Government to locate Great British Rail HQ in York.

Wolverhampton Express and Star

• National Express revenue back to 2019 levelNational Express Group, which operates bus services in the West Midlands, saw revenue return to 2019 levels in the first three months of this year.

Other Regional Press

• Port of Poole welcomes MS Deutschland cruise shipA MASSIVE cruise ship, carrying more than 600 people, has become the first passenger vessel to visit Poole Harbour this year.
• Electric bus maker to create 130 jobs at new Warwick hubSwitch Mobility is opening a new training centre in Heathcote Way as part of a huge investment programme

New Civil Engineer

• Rail industry outlines six key innovation ‘asks’ for governmentThe Railway Industry Association (RIA) has published a new rail innovation strategy calling for the sector to be more radical and overcome barriers to innovation, ahead of the transition to Great British Railways (GBR).

Other News Sources

• Stagecoach and partners begin testing UK’s first full-sized autonomous busBacked by the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the autonomous bus has begun live testing on Scotland’s roads, in preparation for the launch of the CAVForth pilot service in late Summer 2022.
• Maersk Sees Possible Contraction in Global Container MarketDisruptions in global trade flows are set to persist into the second part of the year, longer than previously expected, Danish transport giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S predicted.