Nearly a third was wiped off the value of shares in FirstGroup today after the operator announced a big fall in operating profits and cancelled dividends for shareholders. The share price fell to 155.6p in reaction to the annual results to the end of March and the decision to withhold dividends. Instead, chief executive Tim O'Toole, in a presentation entitled 'Returning to Strength,' announced a rights issue in a bid to raise £615m "to remove balance sheet constraints". Cash...

Sydney is Australia’s largest and most densely populated city, with a population of 4.6 million. The city’s central business district (CBD) covers an area of approximately 2 square miles, is bounded on two sides by water and contains 32 million square metres of floor space. More than 180,000 people live in the city of Sydney, sharing the space with about 20,000 businesses. Every day approximately 400,000 people arrive to work in this area, and another 500,000 travel to the city for...

Ben Still (pictured) has been appointed interim director general of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive following the departure of David Brown to Merseytravel (LTT 11 Mar). David Young, SYPTE’s director of customer experience, will serve as interim deputy director general. The arrangements are expected to operate for about 11 months until details of the planned Combined Authority are finalised. Still will retain his position as chief executive of the Sheffield City Region. He...

Brazilian cities are celebrated for their excellent bus services and São Paulo is no exception. The city has a complex surface transit network and, over the years, the various reserved bus lanes that have been installed have greatly improved bus speeds and reliability. However, solutions need to evolve to cope with increasing demand: the M’Boi Mirim bus corridor was built in 2003 and, ten years later, it remains the only way to get from the southwest districts of São Paulo...

The last spending review gave local transport spending outside London a good hiding. Local transport lacked political clout and there were built-in funding commitments that applied to London and national rail; and the evidence base for the benefits of local transport spending also had too many gaps. Worse for the big regional conurbations was that, by accident or design, a significant shift has also taken place within local transport spending as decision after decision on funding formulas has...

National Express is bidding for regional rail opportunities in Germany worth €900 million a year after the group’s profits shrunk due to problems in the UK. As National Express blamed an 18% decline in profits on the removal of concessionary fares for coaches and rail franchising delays, it pointed to its “international strength” (LTT 11 Mar). National Express chief executive Dean Finch cited two recently-won German rail contracts as a sign of its presence in non-UK...

New Chairman and Chief Executive of Veolia Transdev Jean-Marc Janaillac has made a series of changes following the project for Caisse des Dépôts to increase its holding and Veolia Environment to scale down its stake. Janaillac has replaced both Jérôme Gallot as Chief Executive and Antoine Frérot as Chairman. Frérot remains a director, as does Antoine Gosset-Grainville on behalf of Caisse des Dépôts, a French state-owned investment bank....

Cape Town’s first easy access bus - the Optare Solo SR - has been introduced for residents living on the MyCiTi route from Civic Centre to Walmer Estate and Salt River on Table Mountain. Joining residents and students at the Cape Peninsula University are previously excluded groups such as the blind and mobility impaired. The route provides connections to the Cape Town and Salt River railheads as well as the City and other MyCiTi routes from Civic Centre station. It created an operating...

The potential use of existing public transport electricity supply infrastructure for future multimodal electric urban mobility schemes has been considered at an event organised by UITP, The International Association of Public Transport in Brussels. The move towards more electric mobility in urban areas will require major investment in the supporting electric grid and charging infrastructure, and existing systems used by trams, metros and railways could potentially be leveraged for wider...

IIn quitting London bus operations, UK-based transport group First has made good on its promise to raise £100m through disposal of non-core operations, with the surprise sale of practically all its London bus operations to two foreign groups for £80m. But it raises some interesting questions about the difference in approach to tendered markets between UK groups and those from the rest of the world. First is to sell eight of its London bus garages – five with 494 vehicles in...

Could Germany be on the brink of war, facing invasion by Britain, Poland and France? We’re talking coaches, and it’s an intriguing possibility brought on by the recent liberalisation of Germany’s long-distance public transport market, and the arrival of Britain’s National Express Group. Until a few months ago, state railway operator Deutsche Bahn held a monopoly over long distance transport in Germany. Wherever DB operated a long-distance rail corridor, no competition...

The Cycling Commissioner for London, Andrew Gilligan, has acknowledged that some Cycle Superhighway sections are “little more than blue paint” and they need to be upgraded or diverted to provide adequate facilities. Gilligan, speaking to LTT at the Cycle City Expo, echoed the criticism made of the superhighways by cyclists when they were first introduced. He acknowledged: “Not all the cycle infrastructure that’s been put in has been met with satisfaction from cyclists. A...

Local authorities in the North East of England are drawing up plans for a Combined Authority that will lead to the demise of the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority. A governance review is currently underway covering Durham, Northumberland and the five Tyne and Wear conurbation authorities: Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. The CA would comprise the leaders of the seven authorities and take decisions on transport, economic development, and...