London Public Transport
Specific information on public transportation in London
Gatwick Express to stay in business
The Gatwick Express train service between London’s Victoria Station and Gatwick Airport is to remain in operation, a year after the Department of Transport said the route would be cut.
The rational then was to provide more capacity on commuter routes between London and Brighton which use the same stretch of track. Now the government say the Gatwick Express will go beyond the airport to Brighton at peak times, doubling the number of express trains from London to Brighton.
Date: April 4th, 2007 |
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Congestion charge for Heathrow?
There was a story in The Sunday Times yesterday that could be bad news for anyone using Heathrow Airport in the future. According to the article the Department of Transport(DfT) has plans for the airport and its surrounding area to be the next congestion charge zone for cars.
Its being driven by the DfT trying to meet stupid EU pollution directives along with the government saying one thing and doing another,
Date: April 2nd, 2007 |
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Trans-Atlantic flights could be about to get cheaper
The European Union and the United States have reached agreement on the Open Skies airline policy that will open up routes across the Atlantic to competition from all airlines. The agreement which got the unanimous backing of the 25 EU transport ministers means that any EU based airline can fly from any airport in the EU to any airport in the US and vice versa for US airlines.
Unfortunately for the European airlines the EU negotiators seem to have been out manoeuvred as usual by their US counterparts.
Date: March 22nd, 2007 |
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Transport information for disabled travellers in London
Travelling around London on public transport is not the easiest activity for disabled people, especially if they want to use the Underground where most of the stations are decades old and not designed with wheelchair or disabled users in mind.
Transport for London(TfL) with help from disability organization Scope have produced a guide for disabled public transport users in London called Getting around London, detailing the accessibility on public transport for people with restricted mobility.
Date: March 16th, 2007 |
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New Oyster card for London visitors
Transport for London have announced a new partnership with Gatwick Express for the train company to sell Oyster cards through their outlets. They’ll be selling a new branded card called Oyster Card for Visitors at their Gatwick Express ticket offices and on board trains from Gatwick to Victoria station.
The card will be preloaded with ‘pay as you go’ which means when you touch in and touch out on buses and Tubes you’ll be charged the lowest fare posssible.
Date: March 6th, 2007 |
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British Airways top airline for lost luggage
Not a good day publicity wise for British Airways after they were named the worst of 24 major European airlines for losing passengers baggage in 2006 in a report from the Air Transport Users Council(AUC). In their press release the AUC says, ‘According to the airlines’ own data, the major European network airlines mishandled over 5.6 million bags in 2006. This figure, however, relates only to the twenty-four airlines that are members of the Association of European Airlines.’
Airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet are not members and don’t release data on how much luggage goes missing from their flights.
Date: April 4th, 2007 |
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Strikes and big paydays on London Transport
A couple of stories today illustrate the crazy world of London tranpsort. First the RMT union has voted for another strike, this time by its Tube engineers, which the union says will paralyse the Underground system. Thoughtfully they’ve timed it for the school Easter holidays when thousands of parents will be trying to bring their kids into town to see the sights of London. Has there ever been a group of workers with more grievances than those that work on the London Underground.
Date: March 28th, 2007 |
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London’s oldest cabbie gives it up after 70 years
London’s oldest black cab driver has finally decided enough is enough and given up his taxi licence after 70 years. Alfred Collins is 92 years old and has been a London cabbie since 1937. He actually picked up his last fare two years ago but still kept the cab licence until now, it has to be renewed every three years.
It must have been a hell of a lot easier driving in London when Alfred started, even in the 1970s and early 80s there was probably one car to every two households, nowadays its more like each house has two or three car owners living there and the roads are just not designed for that volume of traffic.
Date: March 22nd, 2007 |
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Lighting up at London stations to end
You can just imagine a lot of pent up and frustrated passengers standing around at some of London’s busiest train stations after 1 July this year. That’s the day the law changes to make smoking in enclosed public spaces illegal and train company Southeastern have decided to include all their open air train platforms as part of the ban from the same date.
Southeastern runs trains in South London, Kent and East Sussex, over 1,700 a day with about 1,400 coming into London. They have 182 stations that will be effected by their ban and they handle more than 120,000 commuters a day who come into London.
Date: March 14th, 2007 |
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Canvassing opinion on London sports events
If you’ve been to a sporting event in London and the journey there or back has a been a bit of a nightmare the London Assembly wants to hear your story and what you think could be done to improve it.
They’re particularly interested if you’ve been to a major event at one of London’s football stadiums, Lords or Oval cricket grounds, Wimbledon tennis or rugby stadiums like Twickenham,
Date: March 2nd, 2007 |
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