The UK’s first Mobility as a Service (MaaS) trial is to be relaunched with new products. Finnish firm MaaS Global launched its Whim offering in the West Midlands conurbation last spring. For £349 a month Whim Unlimited provided unlimited use of public transport in the conurbation, unlimited car hire from Enterprise, and unlimited taxis within a three mile radius of Birmingham city centre. Whim Everyday, at £99 a month, offered unlimited public transport in the conurbation and preferential rates for car hire. A third option was Whim pay-as-you-go. The £99 and £349 products have now disappeared from Whim’s website. Chris Perry, MaaS Global’s head of partnerships UK, told LTT that changes were being made based on learning from the... continue
The DfT has invited local authorities in England to prepare bids to two funding streams for major road improvements. The Government has earmarked £3.5bn over the first five years of the new National Roads Fund, commencing in April... continue
The DfT’s ability to handle its normal workload in the coming months could be severely constrained by headquarters staff being put into Brexit-related operational roles, such as dealing with lorries at Dover. Sky News reported that a quarter of DfT HQ staff could be affected. The Government... continue
Stagecoach has introduced electric buses on the park-and-ride route in Guildford, Surrey. The nine vehicles... continue
THE DFT has amended the new Major Road Network (MRN) in response to consultation feedback. Many respondents called for additional roads to be added to the network. A smaller number called for roads to be deleted. The DfT said it could not satisfy all requests. “Sub-national... continue
England’s sub-national transport bodies (STBs) will... continue
Regulations governing freight could be waived to allow trials of urban freight innovations and alternative fuels. The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) floats the idea of creating “regulatory sandboxes”?in its interim report on freight. The Chancellor Philip Hammond asked the NIC... continue
The committee on Climate Change (CCC) is exploring the options to deliver zero emission heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). The £50,000 project will study four technologies: • Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen refuelling stations • Battery electric vehicles with “extremely... continue
Lorry platoons are a stepping stone to deploying driverless lorries on parts of the road network, and it is the latter development that will deliver huge benefits for freight operations, the Freight Transport Association has told the National Infrastructure Commission’s freight... continue
Kent County Council has released more details of contingency... continue
The DfT has procured additional ferry services for roll-on/roll-off freight in the event of a no-deal Brexit on 29 March. The services would relieve pressure on the Short Straits routes (Dover and Eurotunnel), which could become congested by increased border checks. Contracts have been awarded... continue
Staff at Kent County Council may be asked to work from home whenever possible for three to six months in the event of a no-deal Brexit, to reduce pressure on the county’s road network. The council’s information and communications technology (ICT) team is exploring how to... continue
Charges on the Dartford Crossings should be scrapped, according to the AA, after figures suggested that a record number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) will be issued for non-payment in 2018. Since toll booths were removed in favour of free-flow tolling in December 2014, millions of drivers... continue
All new cycle routes in London will have to satisfy six... continue
Local authorities and healthcare commissioning groups should designate physical activity champions at a senior level, who would work across the transport, leisure and... continue
Slough’s public bike hire scheme is operating under new management, which will reduce costs to the council. The Berkshire town’s bike hire scheme was launched in 2013 but has failed to attract users in the numbers anticipated. Slough Borough Council paid social and environmental... continue
Transport for the West Midlands has become the first transport... continue
A trial taxibus feeder service for main bus routes in north Bristol has been withdrawn following the end of a trial period. Launched last spring, the taxibuses connected the Henleaze residential area to bus routes operated by First West of England on the Gloucester Road (LTT 13... continue
The Government should fund a pilot programme of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) applications across the country to learn about its potential, the House of Commons transport committee has said. The MPs voice concern that the Government “does not yet seem to have recognised the full extent... continue
Many taxi and private hire drivers in Birmingham may retire rather than invest in vehicles that comply with new licensing conditions associated with the city’s charging clean air zone (CAZ), the council believes. New taxi... continue
Birmingham City Council hopes a complex system of exemptions and mitigation measures will placate opponents of its proposed charging clean air... continue
Transport for London has refused to release details of how it will be compensated by HS2 Ltd for disruption to bus services during construction of the high-speed railway. During the petitioning process for the High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Act 2017, TfL reached an agreement with the UK... continue
Further cuts to bus routes in inner and central London may be necessary to reduce unsustainable levels of subsidy,... continue
A feasibility study into installing electric vehicle charging equipment at 60 bus garages in London has been completed by Transport for London and electricity distribution network operator UK Power Networks. TfL says the work will inform proposals to electrify more of the capital’s bus... continue
London’s bus contracts should be rewritten to place safety at the heart of operations, says trade union the GMB. Its comments came after data collated by Transport for London showed that eight people were killed and 719 seriously injured in accidents involving buses in the capital in... continue
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