Local Transport Today Christmas Quiz

2011: a year to remember? Let’s see how good your memory is!

January

1. Which city’s premier street was described by consultants as “a big bus station”?

2. The prospect of what being turned off in the West Midlands was prompting residents to “cheer to the heavens”, according to a councillor?

A.    Streetlights

B.    Traffic lights

C.    Speed cameras

February

3. Which member of the cabinet did Campaign for Better Transport chief executive Stephen Joseph say he’d give a minus score to if judging their performance?

4. What did Nexus call its new public transport smartcard?

A.    Snap

B.    Crackle

C.    Pop

March

5. “It really is like having a nail in your shoe, dealing with these characters.”

Who was Doncaster Council’s outspoken mayor Peter Davies referring to?

A.    South Yorkshire PTE

B.    The DfT

C.    The town’s bus operators

D.    His fellow councillors

6. The DfT released its new organisational chart, revealing a division with the acronym DASH. But what did it stand for?

April

7. “I’m a big supporter of Jeremy Clarkson because I’m a petrolhead as well,” Kent County Council leader Paul Carter told LTT.

But which of Kent’s recent transport investments did Carter say Clarkson had been wrong to criticise?

8. What were switched on again in Oxfordshire?

9. And what did LTT columnist John Dales start doing for the very first time?

May

10. A local resident in Cambridgeshire launched a legal challenge against the county over what?

A.    Road maintenance

B.    Bus service cuts

C.    Air pollution

D.    Traffic calming

11. What did the DfT announce it was scrapping?

A.    Carbon dioxide reduction targets

B.    Traffic reduction targets

C.    Rail passenger growth targets

D.    Road safety targets

June

12. What famous UK transport consultant was “snapped up” by the Aussies?

13. Which university marked the closure of its MSc in transport planning course?

14. “I’m getting worried. He’s too good at his job. If he goes on like this they’ll take him away.” Who was Times columnist Matthew Parris referring to?

15. LTT hit the big time as The Independent ran a lengthy article based on one of Phil Goodwin’s columns. But what was it about?

A.    Olympic Lanes

B.    The New Realism

C.    Peak Car

D.    Smarter Choices

July

16. Which major transport infrastructure project did we report having an good benefit:cost ratio… but only if the hundreds of millions of pounds that have already been spent on it were ignored?

17. The Government’s trial of suspending tolls on the Dartford Crossing during episodes of severe congestion came in for criticism after the discovery of how long queues had to be before drivers could cross for free. Was it:

A.    120 yards

B.    1.2 miles

C.    12 miles

D.    120 miles

18. Transport secretary Philip Hammond appeared on LTT’s front page cutting the ribbon to open a major new trunk road scheme in Surrey. But which one was it?

August

19. “Our view is that the transport modelling tools that were used are not sufficiently developed and robust enough to provide the scientific evidence to support the current proposals, business case, nor the cost-benefit analysis.”

Oh dear, but the modelling of which high-profile transport project were some of the country’s top transport modellers criticising?

20. Transport academic Peter Headicar got a nasty shock when doing a door-to-door travel survey on commuting habits – but which face opened the door in response to Headicar’s knock?

A.    Former transport secretary Andrew Adonis

B.    Motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson

C.    TfL commissioner Peter Hendy

D.    LTT editor Andrew Forster

September

21. Which transport minister did we report getting into “a bit of a pickle” after signing a letter saying there “never has been nor ever will be a ‘war against motorists’” only to then tell a local paper that new requirements to publish speed camera data represented “the next stage in stopping the war against the motorist”?

22. “Uncomfortable fact number one, is that the railway is already a rich man’s toy, the whole railway.”

Who said that?

23. What odds was Ladbrokes offering on the London-West Midands high-speed rail route being built?

A.    3/1 on

B.    10/1

C.    50/1

D.    100/1

24. Which well-known transport activist was refused entry to the United States?

October

25. The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation; the Local Government Technical Advisers Group (TAG); the Campaign for Better Transport; the Confederation of Passenger Transport; Go-Ahead; Living Streets; Mouchel; Phil Jones Associates; PTEG; Stagecoach; SKM Colin Buchanan; the Town & Country Planning Association; and Transport for Quality of Life. They all came together to voice concern about which Government policy document?

A.    The draft National Planning Policy Framework

B.    The traffic signs review

C.    The draft aviation framework

D.    The shared space guidance

26. What did the Competition Commission do a U-turn on in its provisional remedies to boost competition in Britain’s local bus markets?

November

27. Which transport investment did Labour drop its support for?

28. Swansea Council reported spending £3,000 removing something from a matchday park-and-ride site? What was it?

A.    Chewing gum

B.    Crisp packets

C.    Human excrement

D.    Broken glass

December

29. Which transport policy did Chancellor George Osborne announce the Coalition Government was dropping?

30. Where was it announced that the UK’s first electric vehicle showroom will open in mid-2012?

A.    Park Lane, London

B.    Brighton

C.    Guildford

D.    Oldham

Scroll down for the answers...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

January
1. Edinburgh
2. C – Speed cameras

February
3. Communities and Local Government secretary Eric Pickles
4. C – Pop

March
5. C – the town’s bus operators
6. DASH = DAngerous goods, Smart ticketing and High speed 2

April
7. The Ashford shared space scheme
8. Speed cameras
9. Tweeting

May
10. B – Bus service cuts
11. D – Road safety targets

June
12. Colin Buchanan, bought by SKM
13. Oxford Brookes University
14. Transport secretary Philip Hammond
15. C – Peak Car

July
16. The Edinburgh tram
17. C – 12 miles
18. The A3 Hindhead tunnel

August
19. High Speed 2
20. D – LTT editor Andrew Forster

September
21. Mike Penning
22. Transport secretary Philip Hammond
23. A – 3/1 on
24. Anti-airport expansion campaigner John Stewart

October
25. A – the Draft National Planning Policy Framework
26. Bus franchising

November
27. A third runway at Heathrow
28. C – Human excrement

December
29. Opposition to new runway capacity in the South East
30. D – Oldham

SCORES:
0-9 The Sun needs a new transport correspondent, send them your CV
10-19 Ask your boss for a pay rise
20-25 You’re destined to become chief executive of a global transport consultancy
26-30 You could be the next transport secretary. Hang on a minute, is your name Justine?