Public bodies and transport operators must do more to enable people with mental health conditions to make journeys, states a new report. An online survey by the UCL’s Centre for Transport Studies revealed the main barriers for people mental health issues. Of the 385 respondents, 90% have anxiety issues, 71% suffer from panic attacks, 68% have depression while 51% have difficulty communicating and 45% have memory loss. The survey was supported by a range of organisations including Sustrans

The Landor LINKS Annual Survey of Mobility as a Service is now in its third year. Whatever sector of transport you work in, MaaS is now having an impact either as a planner, providing public transport, bike share, car hire, leasing, payments, operational support, TRANStech. We'd like to hear from you, so please complete the survey to gauge how MaaS – and our hopes and fears for it – are developing. Take part in the survey today Last year we had more interest from the automotive se

Oxfordshire County Council has published cost estimates for 12 priority transport projects to support the huge housing and employment growth proposed for the county.  The total estimated cost of the projects is £1.610bn with the  most expensive being the  £570m Didcot to Oxford rail capacity improvement. Major works to increase the capacity of Oxford rail station and replace the Botley Road bridge immediately south of the station have a price tag of £291m. The

Shropshire Council has reduced planned cuts to its bus support budget following a public consultation.   Shropshire currently spends £1,809,955 on supporting conventional bus services and £258,456 on Shrewsbury park-and-ride services, which operate into the town from three sites to the north, west and south.  The council’s 2019/20 budget included a proposed reduction to the budgets of £405,000 and £50,000 respectively. Following a public consultation, ho

The ownership structure of Britain’s bus industry is set for a  huge shake-up as FirstGroup prepares to separate its UK Bus operations from the rest of its business empire. First’s 18 operating companies provide thousands of services a day across the country, from Aberdeen to Cornwall and Swansea to Norfolk. The operator is a major provider of services in cities such as Aberdeen, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Stoke, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton, Swansea, Sheffield, Leeds, Br

Transport for London has launched a demand responsive bus trial in the London Borough of Sutton. A second trial is due to be launched in Ealing later this year.  The 12-month GoSutton project sees the minibuses, with capacity for 14 passengers, operate on-demand over an area rather than a specific route. It is being operated by Go-Ahead and app-based ViaVan. Go-Ahead already operates the similar service, PickMeUp, in Oxford (LTT 12 Apr). ViaVan is the European joint venture between US-bas

The Welsh Government has still not concluded funding negotiations for Cardiff’s long-delayed bus station and does not know when the facility will open. Construction has yet to begin at the site near Cardiff Central railway station, more than a year after the Welsh Government announced it would take the leasehold on the site and reduce Cardiff Council’s financial exposure by £15m to £20m.  In April 2018, the Government said the new bus station was scheduled to open

On 4 June Chris Rand from the Smarter Cambridge Transport lobbying group used an opinion column in the Cambridge Independent newspaper to promote the idea of a light rail system for the city. “People use buses because they have to,” he began. “They use rail because they want to. Compare the spread of people from all walks of life that you see on the London Underground or city tram networks anywhere to that on any bus service.  “And that’s why I'm still waiting

As a wheelchair user living just outside Edinburgh in Midlothian who makes about 24-28 journeys a week on Lothian Buses, buses are very important to me. The introduction of the low floor bus over the past 15 years or so has radically transformed my travel options for the better. But as wheelchair access to buses has once again become contentious locally (more on this later) I thought it might be timely to share my reflections on the practical experience of being a regular bus wheelchair passenge

Arriva has launched its app-based demand responsive transport service ArrivaClick in Leicestershire, with funding from a Section 106 agreement for a major housing development.  Arriva Click operates across an area of 29 square kilometres with a population of 70,000 west of Leicester, stretching from Leicester Forest East in the north to Enderby in the south, and including Leicester city centre and the Meridian Business Park. The service operates 6am to 11pm. ArrivaClick already operates i

The Welsh Government has agreed to part-fund a Pembrokeshire bus route under its TrawsCymru banner, and says  funding could be available for routes tendered by other councils. The new T11 service began on Tuesday, replacing two previous services tendered by Pembrokeshire County Council. The Government meets 50 per cent of the cost, enabling daytime frequency to increase to hourly, six days a week. The service, branded TrawsCymru Connect, uses four vehicles and links Haverfordwest to Fishg

When did your connection with buses begin? RD: I was a bus enthusiast from as far back as I remember but the defining moment was in 1971 when I was attached to City of Cardiff Transport as part of my degree course. They were great and let me do lots of things, including a service revision. On start day, I watched a full bus leave and thought “I did that”. The spotter’s ‘anorak’ came away to reveal the bus chief’s suit beneath and I knew where my career lay fr

Borders Buses is introducing new buses on the X62 Edinburgh to Peebles route with capacity for four bikes. Three Enviro400 double deckers have been custom-designed and built by Falkirk-based bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis. Their introduction coincides with Borders Buses offering contactless ticketing across its full network.

The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has suggested that a national bus operator of last resort could be established in Wales, to step in where there is no viable commercial market for bus operations. In its recent Improving public transport White Paper, the Welsh Government proposed giving local authorities powers to establish new municipal bus companies (LTT 14 Dec 18).  The powers are aimed at rural areas where tenders attract little or no interest from commercial operators. In

Transport for London expects the capital’s bus patronage to fall 2.6 per cent this year as the bus operating subsidy rises 12.8 per cent to a record £722m.   TfL’s central budget forecast is for 2.155 billion bus passenger journeys in 2019/20, down from a forecast 2.213 billion in 2018/19.  This would continue the steady decline seen in recent years: patronage fell from 2.314 billion in 2015/16 to 2.262 billion in 2016/17, and to 2.247 billion in 2017/18. “Th

The opening of Newport’s rebuilt bus station in 2015 has failed to boost passenger numbers, according to Newport Transport, the city’s dominant bus operator. The central bus station was rebuilt by Newport City Council, which owns Newport Transport. In the company’s annual report for 2017/18, filed last month, company secretary David Jenkins said on behalf of the board: “Disappointingly the opening of a new central bus station in Newport in December 2015 has failed to pro

The Scottish Government is considering a request from bus operators for additional funding  to cover a shortfall of at least £6.4m in the budget for concessionary fares reimbursement in 2018/19.   Transport secretary Michael Matheson met with representatives of the Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland last week to discuss the matter.  Matheson had earlier revealed to the Scottish Parliament’s rural economy and connectivity committee that the demand for reimb

Greater Manchester Combined Authority is to fund free bus travel for 16-18 year olds.  The Opportunity Pass, championed by the conurbation’s Labour mayor Andy Burnham, will initially be implemented as a one-year pilot on 1 September. Young people will pay a £10 administration fee for the smart card pass that could also give discounted access to sporting, cultural and leisure venues. Eamonn Boylan, chief executive of GMCA, said talks with bus operators were continuing about the

Nottingham City Council says its fleet of electric buses will largely remain deployed, despite cutbacks to the Link bus network on which they are used. Nottingham City Council owns 58 electric buses, the £15.1m cost of the fleet having been funded by the DfT’s Green Bus Fund and the council’s workplace parking levy. The fleet comprises 13 BYD saloon single deckers and 45 Optare Solo and Versa midibuses. The vehicles are deployed on the council’s Link network of supporte

On 24 March The Manchester Evening News published a lengthy analysis of the allegedly parlous state of the bus network in the Greater Manchester conurbation, describing it in the article’s headline as “patchy, expensive and nonsensical”. “The choice between walking a long or risky route in the dark, getting a taxi, being late or not going out at all will ring true for thousands of Greater Manchester bus passengers,” the paper said after detailing the travails suffe

Swindon Borough Council is to bid to the Government’s £675m Future High Street fund for cash to turn a dual carriageway road between the rail station and town centre into a ‘bus boulevard’.  The council wants £25m to help turn Fleming Way into a bus interchange, which would allow the nearby “tired, poor quality” existing bus station to be redeveloped as part of the larger mixed use Kimmerfields development. Swindon says the proposal would “c

We’re seeing these developments on the ground now, changing the way people travel. Sometimes it’s trial on a small scale with local introductions of new services across a limited area. The flexible on demand driven bus service in launched by Arriva started in an area of Sittingbourne just 4 miles wide and 6 miles long. A single bus route converted by TransDev to ‘pay for how far you travel’ measured by Bluetooth beacons. One Royal Mail depot trialling electric cargo trike

Two new sections of motorway bus lane opened in Belfast this week, offering predicted peak time journey time savings of up to 15 minutes for passengers compared with car travel. Belfast already has hard shoulder bus lanes on two sections of the M1 in the southern suburbs and one on the M2 in a north-western suburb.  The new M2 bus lane runs from Junction 2 to J1B at Duncrue, close to the city centre. The new M1 lane is further out than the existing lanes, extending bus priority from Lisbu

A multi-operator bus ticket covering Portsmouth, Southampton and the south of Hampshire is used for about 0.27 per cent of bus trips and is always likely to be a “niche” product, according to its promoter. Consultants have meanwhile warned that contactless ticketing could be a threat to the ticket’s long-term viability.  Solent Go was launched in 2014 and is managed by local authority joint transport committee Solent Transport and the South Hampshire Bus Operators Associa

Councils in southeast Wales have criticised the Welsh Government’s plan to introduce new bus powers of enhanced partnerships and franchising, saying existing bus powers are adequate.  The Government’s Improving public transport White Paper (LTT 14 Dec 18) proposes giving Welsh councils enhanced partnership and franchising powers that English authorities already have access to via the Bus Services Act 2017. A Public Transport Bill is expected to be published by the Welsh Governm

The removal of a large roundabout in Waltham Forest, north-east London, marks the final phase of the borough’s Mini Holland programme. Waltham Forest was one of three outer London boroughs – along with Kingston upon Thames and Enfield – to receive funding from the then Mayor of London Boris Johnson in 2014 to create cyclist and pedestrian friendly routes. A new T-junction, with signalled crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, and bus interchange (pictured above) has replaced

Road traffic in Scotland grew 3.3 per cent to a new record in 2017, according to Transport Scotland’s annual compendium of transport statistics. The growth was more than double the 1.3 per cent recorded in Great Britain as a whole.   An estimated 48.0 billion vehicle kilometres were driven on Scotland’s roads in 2017, up 36 per cent on the 35.2 billion in 1993, the first year that estimates were made for all roads. Estimated traffic levels on local authority roads in 2017 were

Two non-executive directors have been recruited externally to replace two councillors on the board of troubled municipal operator Cardiff Bus. The appointments come as questions are raised about the influence of the Unite trade union on the board of the company, which has employee costs of 69 per cent, much higher than other operators.  Cardiff Bus has registered the withdrawal of eight routes, along with night operations on four other routes, at the end of this month as it tries to return

The outcome of a hearing into a community transport provider’s use of Section 19 and Section 22 permits will hinge on whether the services provided are “exclusively” non-commercial. The decision by Welsh traffic commissioner Nick Jones will be of interest to community transport organisations and bus operators around Britain eager for greater clarity on how the permits can and cannot be used. At the end of the one-day hearing this week, Jones reserved judgment on Accessible Ca

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has approved next year’s budget for its bus reform work, which is exploring the case for franchising.   The combined authority last year approved a 2018/19 budget of £11.5m for the work, which is being led by Transport for Greater Manchester. However, a TfGM spokeswoman told LTT this week that the likely outturn expenditure  in 2018/19 is likely to be just  circa £6m. “The pace at which we can progress has largely

Last year, MTR Corporation signalled its clear intention to develop opportunities under its Rail + Property model with the appointment of John Robinson, a speaker at the Rail Stations and Property Summit on February 27, as Head of Property for the European business. MTR Europe already runs rail services in Sweden through MTR Nordic, and has set the tone of its ambition by launching MYHeadsapp this week, a new travel app that sends personalised public transport updates to travellers in Stockholm

Lancashire County Council has deferred a decision on raising bus station charges to allow further talks with operators.     The council’s cabinet was to have considered the plans this month but the paper was withdrawn at the last minute. A council spokesman told LTT: “We deferred this item while we look again at these proposals. Our aim is to make the charges the same for all county council-owned bus stations in Lancashire, rather than the current system where these vary.&

On 3 Februay The Guardian’s economics editor, Larry Elliott, indirectly criticised the Government’s planned HS2 high-speed rail project by suggesting that the money earmarked for the scheme could be far more productively spent improving the country’s bus infrastructure. “Britain has a productivity problem,” he began. “And a lot of it has to do with buses. Public transport really matters.” Taking the city of Birmingham as an example, Elliott observed th

Government funding for England’s mandatory concessionary travel scheme for older and disabled people has been cut by more than 60 per cent since 2011/12, according to the North East Joint Transport Committee. The estimate follows a review of the Government’s provisional local government finance settlement for 2019/20.  “It is clear that Government funding for transport services is continuing to be cut once again, with cuts partly being offset by council tax income,&rdquo

Plans have been unveiled for two schemes in Crawley, West Sussex, designed to create better links between the town’s rail and bus stations and improve pedestrian, cycling and bus access and facilities.  The £5.3m Station Gateway project aims to provide a better public space and transport connectivity and improved town centre facilities while the £8.3m Eastern Gateway scheme is designed to deliver better public space and connectivity to support development opportunities at

A new national planning framework is urgently needed to place public transport, rather than car-based “low density sprawl”, at the heart of policy for new developments, says a new report by the Urban Transport Group. This would enable the “agglomeration” of economies – where firms benefit from close proximity to each other – and meet housing demand without making congestion and air quality worse, according to The Place To

Sheffield City Region has today announced plans to appoint its first Active Travel Commissioner. The post will cover all aspects of active travel schemes to be delivered across the region, as part of Sheffield City Region’s bid for a share of the government's Transforming Cities Fund. Earlier this month, Sheffield City Region submitted six active travel and public transport schemes to the government for co

Major improvements to Greater Manchester’s transport networks will play a vital role in supporting the conurbation’s spatial development over the next 20 years, according to the area’s new draft spatial plan. The revised draft Greater Manchester Spatial Framework includes two major ‘development corridors’ to improve the north of the conurbation’s socio-economic fortunes. These will require hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in roads and public trans

New roads, bus rapid transit corridors, tram-trains, and light rail extensions all feature in the list of projects to be developed over the next five years to support Greater Manchester’s growth.   Transport for Greater Manchester’s draft delivery plan for 2020-2025 says business cases will be prepared for projects including:  • extending the Atherton branch of the Leigh-Salford-Manchester busway westwards to Wigan • a new road linking the M61 to the new A49 li

A new transport interchange has opened at Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside, featuring a new subway, stairs, lifts, ticket office and improve passenger waiting facilities.  The £18.95m scheme, funded by the Local Growth Fund and Merseytravel, also provides step free access to and between the platforms via the new subway and lifts, a bus interchange adjacent to the new ticket office, and a dedicated drop-off and pick-up area. Parking capacity has increased from 80 to 400 spaces with th

Further cuts to bus routes  in inner and central London may be necessary to reduce unsustainable levels of subsidy, Transport for London has said. TfL’s new business plan forecasts that the operating deficit on the capital’s bus services will rise from £638m in 2017/18 to  £723m in 2020/21.  “This will be the highest annual bus subsidy in our history and represents an increase of more than 25 per cent since 2015/16,” it says, blaming the rise

Scotland’s first Low Emission Zone has been introduced in central Glasgow, initially applying only to local service buses.  The scheme, introduced on 31 December, requires operators to ensure that 20 per cent of their daily bus trips into the area are made by Euro VI vehicles (or equivalent via retrofit).  The city’s main bus station (Buchanan Bus Station), and designated/specific access roads to it, will be exempt to allow low frequency services operated by non-compliant

The new draft local transport plan for the West of England area (Bristol and surroundings) features transport investments costing at least five times more than those in the area’s spatial plan, even though the documents cover the same geography and time horizon. A public examination is currently underway into a statutory joint spatial plan covering the four unitary authorities of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Once adopted, the plan will p

Councils should develop and maintain routes that give priority to pedestrians, cyclists and those using public transport over motorised vehicles, NICE [the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] has stated in a draft quality standard published today. The body calls on planners to develop policies and initiatives to ensure “safe, convenient, inclusive access” for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport passengers with priority over motorised vehicles such as cars, mot

The Government’s plan for an expressway road between Oxford and Cambridge could undermine the benefits of the East West Rail project to connect the two cities, the England’s Economic Heartland (EEH) alliance of local authorities has warned.  EEH programme director Martin Tugwell voiced concerns at the Local Transport Summit in Hertfordshire, organised by Landor Links and Local Transport Today.  He told LTT this week that members of the EEH’s strategic transport foru

Procurement of bus stop furniture on an all-Wales basis would reduce costs and improve facilities for passengers, says the Welsh Government’s White Paper on public transport. It says the quality of stops is a key influence on the public’s perception of bus service quality but varies between, and within, the areas of the local authorities currently responsible for procurement. Drawbacks of this variability include a lack of coherent branding for existing and potential users and reduc

Transport spending in Bristol and the surrounding area would have to more than double over the next 17 years to deliver a new transport plan prepared by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and the area’s four unitary authorities. The most expensive part of the £10bn estimated cost of the plan is a rail-based mass transit system, requiring underground running in places and with a price tag of £3bn-£5bn. David Carter, the West of England Combined Authority&rsquo

Transport for London this week put back the date for achieving an operating surplus by a year, to 2022/23, blaming the delayed opening of the Elizabeth line (Crossrail) and a  decline in bus passenger numbers.   The new business plan assumes that the delay to Crossrail opening will have a net operating impact (income and cost) of £600m over the next three years – £200m in 2019/20,  £300m in 2020/21, and £100m in 2021/22. The major impact is delayed p

The public will be able to try out a driverless bus service in Scotland and two on-demand services in London, after the projects received a share of a £25m Government grant.  The projects are the winners in the fourth round of the Government’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Intelligent Mobility Fund. ‘Project CAV Forth’ will see an autonomous bus service operate between the Ferrytoll park-and-ride site in Fife and Edinburgh Park’s train and tram interchang

The news that the small but rich European state of Luxembourg is planning to make all public transport free to use in 2019 generated a brief media debate concerning whether this is a good idea and whether we in the UK could or should follow suit. Particularly enthusiastic about the concept was Guardian leader writer Susanna Rustin. “Hooray for free buses – this is how we create a greener, cleaner world,” she said on 7 December. “What’s not to like about Luxembourg&r

More than 300 Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) warning signs are being installed across central London to warn drivers at entry points to the zone. The signs are in the same locations as Congestion Charge signs, and on a number of key approach routes. TfL said it has sent more than 2.5 million emails and contacted registered Congestion Charge users whose vehicles do not meet the ULEZ standards, to remind them the new zone begins on 8 April 2019. TfL is also contacting other drivers it identifies

A four-route bus rapid transit network for Cambridgeshire could be delivered over the next seven years, under plans of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP).  The network, dubbed CAM, would feature surface routes and  a tunnelled section in the inner city and city centre. A map shows  routes radiating from Cambridge to serve Cambourne to the west, Waterbeach to the north, Newmarket Road and Mildenhall to the east, and t

Transport for London was already facing unprecedented financial challenges before the news came this summer that the opening of the central tunnel section of the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) between Paddington and Abbey Wood would be delayed from December until next autumn, and that additional cash was needed to complete the project.  A combination of the ending of the Government’s revenue grant, which had been worth £876m four years ago, the fares freeze imposed by mayor Sadiq K

Bus operator Stagecoach says the outside lanes of motorways in Strathclyde should be reserved for buses and coaches. Transport Scotland’s current Managed Motorways study is considering the possibility of dedicating the hard shoulder of the M8 in Glasgow to buses (LTT 26 Oct). This, however, would see buses interrupted at each junction by other traffic crossing their path to join or leave the motorway. Robert Andrew, managing director of Stagecoach Scotland, told LTT: “We see potent

Nottingham city Council has outlined how it plans to introduce contactless ticketing on buses and trams, with daily and weekly fare capping, from 2020.   Councillors were briefed this week about the £3.4m project, part-funded by a £2.4m grant from the DfT’s National Productivity Investment Fund.  Bus operator Nottingham City Transport (NCT), as the operator with the largest market share, will act as lead contractor, receiving £1.364m for a back office system.

Improving cycling and walking infrastructure can increase spending in shops by up to 30%, according to a report published today by Transport for London (TfL). The research found that people walking, cycling and using public transport spend 40% more each month than car drivers. Some 45% of high street visits are for “social and community reasons” while improving streets for cycling and walking led to a 216% increase in “people stopping, sitting and socialising”, said the

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is drawing up plans to reorganise transport delivery arrangements in the area. A reorganisation is seen as necessary to support Conservative mayor James Palmer’s ambitions for a number of big transport investments, including the bus-based CAM system (see opposite) and road and rail improvements. Combined authority transport director Chris Twigg said a review of the area’s client-side transport capabilities by consultant Arup ha

Transport Scotland has published its first Scotland-specific forecasts of road, bus and rail demand. The forecasts present a ‘primary forecast’, which represents “what is considered to be the most probable future based on what we currently know”. Assumptions on future population, economic growth and fuel prices were also combined to create ‘high’ and ‘low’ alternative growth scenarios for road traffic.  The primary road traffic forecasts for

Locational information about many bus stops in a dataset used by journey planning apps is inaccurate to some degree, according to a public transport app and website company. Journey planning apps such as Traveline, Citymapper and Google Maps all take data from NaPTAN (the National Public Transport Access Nodes) dataset. NaPTAN identifies all 400,000+ public transport points including bus stops, coach stations, railway stations, taxi ranks and ferry terminals. Public transport app and website b

The City of London Corporation has backed Transport for London’s plan to reduce bus services in the Square Mile. The changes are part of a wider shake-up that will cut bus mileage in inner and central London by nine per cent. Bus numbers in the Square Mile will be cut by 5 per cent. The City says this will reduce congestion and improve air quality and road safety.  The number of buses crossing London Bridge will reduce by 11.5 an hour in each direction, and the number using Bishopsg

Brighton & Hove Buses are working with Sussex Police, Brighton & Hove City Council and community groups to tackle hate crime with a poster campaign - #NoHateHere. Anti-hate crime posters went up on all buses in Brighton & Hove on13 October – the start of National Hate Crime Awareness Week - encouraging people to report incidents.

Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham addressed a full house at Smarter Travel LIVE! hosted by Merseytravel and Liverpool City Region and organised by Landor LINKS. They said that radical change is needed across the North if mayors are to be allowed to deliver for their regions. “The economic growth of our city region is asking questions of the transport system it can’t answer,” said Burnham. More than 500 people attended t

Leicestershire County Council will cut £400,000 from its budget for supporting bus services while allocating the same amount to mitigating the impacts of HS2 construction in the county. The council spends about £2.3m a year on supporting passenger transport, and says some services receive £17 of subsidy per passenger journey. Last week the cabinet agreed to adopt a draft Passenger Transport Policy and Strategy (PTPS), which will save about £400,000 a year, as required un

Bus operators are claiming that their revenues have been undermined by Merseytravel’s youth ticket, which is not conditional on showing proof of age. Merseytravel denies there is a significant problem with misuse and says it wants its MyTicket product to be easily available, without forms to complete. MyTicket was introduced in 2014 for young people aged five to 15. In 2015, the upper age limit was increased to 18. My-Ticket currently costs £2.20 for a day’s unlimited bus trav

Passenger demand on Belfast’s new Glider bus corridors has increased so rapidly that Translink introduced a peak express service this week, using double decker buses to supplement the Glider articulated vehicles. Glider operates east to west via the city centre and along a spur route to the Titanic Quarter, following an investment of £90m. Preparatory works included installation of bus lanes.  Since Glider services began in early September, about 30,000 additional passengers p

A transport revolution appears to be underway in the West Midlands, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is major part of the picture. The long talked about ‘Sprint’ routes are finally happening. Changes to governance, with a new combined authority, a Metro mayor and a need for better transport connections ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, seem to have focused minds. Plans  for a whole network of Sprint routes are now on the table.  Sprint gets off to slow start

Bus operators are fighting hard to retain and grow their share of the local travel market, and they are investing heavily in a new generation of apps and on-bus services to help them deliver this aspiration. This is the new reality for bus operators, according to Jonathan Raper, CEO of TransportAPI. For the past decade, Raper has been at the forefront of a movement to develop journey data platforms. “We have now reached the point where real-time apps can give bus travel the edge over other

The 6th Annual Smarter Travel LIVE! Conference, hosted by Merseytravel & Liverpool City Region (LCR) on October 16 and 17, attracted more than 600 delegates from across the UK and beyond. Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region, and Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Mayor, both gave keynotes, stressing their commitment to ongoing devolution and the delivery of a fully integrated, accessible and clean transport network linking key towns and cities across the North (see news pages)

Wigan’s new bus station will open more than two months ahead of schedule, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has announced. Bus services will start using the station on 28 October. The £15.7m project, on the site of the old bus station on Hallgate, was delivered by TfGM and contractor VINCI. It features a fully enclosed concourse, step-free access, covered cycle parking and improved pedestrian links to the town centre. Mark Aldred, chair of the TfGM, said that local apprentices

Corethree bills itself as the “world’s leading mobile ticket provider”. It issued its 50 millionth m-ticket in February this year – sold through apps developed for transport operators large and small across the UK. Corethree’s customers include a wide range of operators and authorities including First Bus, Arriva, Santander Cycles, Translink, Lothian Buses, My Get Me There (Transport for Greater Manchester), McGills Buses and Go Ahead. But, on 3 September, everythi

A segregated rapid transit through green belt land is the favoured public transport option for south-east of Cambridge after on-street bus lanes were ruled to be inconsistent with the long-term plan for a new form of public transport, Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro.  The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), a joint committee of councils responsible for the area’s City Deal, has been exploring options for public transport priority in the A1307 corridor, which is home to a number of m

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s plan for a new rapid transit system funded by land value capture have been called into question in the final report of the Cambridge & Peterborough Independent Economic Review. The review, chaired by the economist Dame Kate Barker, was commissioned by James Palmer, the elected mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Palmer is championing plans for a rapid transit network for the county. Consultant Steer

A scrutiny committee of Leicester City Council has recommended that the council pursue a new partnership with bus operators, rather than franchising. The council’s economic development, transport and tourism scrutiny commission has held an inquiry into the powers of the Bus Services Act 2017.  The commission concludes that, through a “strong formal partnership”, the council can encourage operators to deliver better vehicles, better information, and new ticketing initiati

Belfast’s £90m bus rapid transit project – Glider – has been fully launched with the introduction of new articulated vehicles last week.   Glider comprises two routes. The G1 operates cross-city between east and west Belfast and the G2 operates between Belfast city centre and the Titanic Quarter. The routes follow a loop around the city centre. Routes operate approximately every seven to eight minutes throughout the day. New bus lanes have been created in the city

The Scottish Government’s bus reforms will do little to arrest the recent sharp decline in passenger numbers seen in the west of Scotland, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has told the Scottish Parliament.  The Transport (Scotland) Bill includes a number of new bus powers including Bus Service Improvement Partnerships, franchising, and the explicit ability for councils to operate local bus services directly or via an arm’s-length company (LTT 22 Jun). But SPT says the Bil

Go-Ahead Group has reported a fell in profitability on its regional bus operations for the year ending 30 June.  Group revenues were £3.46bn, down from £3.48bn in 2017. Profit before tax was £145.7m, up from £136.8m.  UK Bus operating profit pre-exceptional items rose from £90.7m to £91.4m. The contribution from the regional bus business dropped from £47.1m last year to £45.8m, with the profit margin falling from 12.5 per cent to 11.9 p

A traffic ban trial at Bank Junction is to be made permanent, the City of London Corporation has announced today. The ‘Bank on Safety’ scheme, which restricts the junction to buses and cyclists only between 7am and 7pm, has been in operation since May 2017. This marks the first phase of plans to totally re-design the junction by 2021, which could result in the removal of all motorised traffic.  The corporation’s Court of Common Council made the final decision after month

Chariot, Ford’s ride-sharing shuttle service, launched its first European routes tailored for companies and campuses in London. Chariot uses Ford Transit vans in a minibus mode to provide a ride-sharing service that connects commuters living and working in areas underserved by public transport with nearby transit hubs. The Chariot service was launched in London earlier this year with four routes designed to complement the city’s existing public transport system. The new Chariot ro

Scores of bus stops in Edinburgh could be at risk of closure as the council tries to speed up bus journey times.  Councillors last week approved a review of the city’s 2,500 bus stops with the aim of locating them at a “desired spacing” of 400 metres.   In a report to the council’s transport and environment committee, Paul Lawrence, Edinburgh’s executive director of place, said average speeds on municipally-owned Lothian Buses’ network had dropped

The West Midlands traffic commissioner has fined Diamond Bus for failing to meet the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s punctuality targets. Nick Denton called the operator to a public inquiry after monitoring about 1,440 Diamond Bus services in Redditch and Kidderminster last year by Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) officers found about 21 per cent were outside the Commissioners’ one minute early and five minutes late window for timekeeping. Denton had also received customer

Remember the first day at sustainable transport boot camp? That’s right: we marched up and down, shouting “Bus good! Car bad!” until we were hoarse. On day two we genuflected before the (now ubiquitous) image from Münster in Germany that shows the relative amounts of road space taken up by the same number of people travelling by bus, car or bicycle.  The evil of the car was so obvious; our response so visceral. At our passing-out parade, we swore we would give our all

The DfT is grappling with a range of complex points raised in response to its consultation on reforms to community transport.  The reforms aim to bring England, Scotland and Wales into compliance with EU regulation 1071/2009. Community transport organisations will have to hold a public service vehicle licence to operate commercial services. Non-commercial services can be exempted, as can services operated by undertakings for which transport is not the main purpose, and short distance servi

A 20mph speed limit will be introduced on all Transport for London roads within the central London congestion charging zone, London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced.  The proposal features in the ‘Vision Zero’ road safety action plan published by the mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Service.  The plan envisages no deaths on the capital’s roads by 2041. Interim targets are for 65 per cent fewer people killed or seriously injured in 2022 against a 2005-09 bas

Thousands of motorists are still flouting a traffic ban that was introduced three years ago in the London Borough of Waltham Forest as part of the Mini Holland programme. More than 9,000 fines have been issued to motorists contravening the traffic ban on Orford Road in the Walthamstow Village area. The scheme was introduced in 2015 as part of the Mini-Holland programme, with three outer London boroughs – Waltham Forest, Enfield and Kingston upon Thames – receiving around £100m

Speed limits on all red routes in London's congestion charging zone will drop to 20mph by May 2020, as part of plans to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s road network by 2041.  The Vision Zero action plan – published today by the Mayor of London, Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) – also states that by 2024 speed limits will be cut in most of London’s town centres and other high risk locations. Overall, TfL is

Now in its 3rd year, the Awards will showcase the ways in whiich people's lives are being improved through cost-effective, clean and integrated transport provision across towns and cities. These awards celebrate both the positive impact that smarter travel projects can deliver, and the professionals who lead them. Whoever you are, whatever your project or service, everyone has a chance of winning a Smarter Travel Award. You don’t have to have the biggest budgets, the sexiest product or th

According to recent statistics produced by the Department for Transport, bus service use in England is in decline. Although bus use per person has increased significantly in London over the last 25 years (+52%), it has fallen by 40 per cent in many other English metropolitan areas. Along with London, Liverpool City Region is a proud exception to the rule. As a result of the introduction of a range of customer-focused improvements, including on board Wi-fi and USB charging points, the number of f

ArrivaClick is an on-demand minibus service that takes multiple passengers heading in the same direction and books them on a shared vehicle, with the aim of tackling air quality issues and congestion. Enabling people to move out of private cars with the offer of convenient and comfortable shared journeys is a key driver for the project. ArrivaClick in Liverpool will become operational later in the summer. There are no fixed routes, with journeys determined by where passengers want to go wit

Painting a picture of the changing use of our transport system is not easy. A picture composed only of averages or aggregate change amounts to clumsy brush strokes. The finer detail in the picture comes from the artist’s ability to reflect the diversity of components of change – the distributions from which the averages arise. The Department for Transport's latest statistical release, 'Road Traffic Estimates: Great Britain 2017'  attempts to paint a picture, including fine

Bus stops in the constituency of Welsh transport secretary Ken Skates still display timetables printed one or two years before dominant local operator GHA Coaches went bankrupt in July 2016. None of the 11 bus stops surveyed by LTT in Skates’ Clwyd South constituency displayed current service times. The most recent poster was dated April 2015. Others were from May 2014. Display cases were empty at several stops. Electronic passenger information screens were present at most of the stops b

Passenger numbers on almost all forms of public transport in London are down in the first two months of 2018/19 compared with the same period last year, according to Transport for London. The data for 1 April to 26 May shows 614 million journeys, compared with 625 million in the period 1 April to 27 May 2017. Data for individual modes shows (with the previous year’s figures in brackets):  • Bus use down 2.5 per cent at circa 346 million (cf. 354 million) • London Undergr

You wait ages for a consultation about bus information and then two come along at once. The DfT has just published proposals that will require operators to broadcast audio-visual information about services to help passengers with visual and/or hearing impairments, and for making data such as fares, routes and timetables ‘open’ so that they can be used in apps and other digital products.   The consultation on audio-visual information applies to the whole of Britain, and sets out

The decision by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to devote all six of his questions to Prime Minister Theresa May during the showpiece PMQs session of Parliament on 4 July to the subject of buses raised more than a few eyebrows amongst political journalists. The Guardian, for example, described Corbyn’s choice of subject matter as something “few people would have expected”, whilst The Daily Telegraph suggested that the Labour leader’s decision was “unusual”.

At first glance, bus stations might seem an unlikely saviour in the battle to save our town centres. Yet that’s precisely what forward-thinking councils are pinning their hopes on as they seek to stop the inexorable shift from the high street to out-of-town developments.  Bus stations are symbolic of the decline of our town and city centres. These transport hubs have all too often fallen into a state of neglect that mirrors the depressed, dilapidated areas in which they are located.

The government must start to lay the foundations now for the altered streetscape of 2050 when all cars and vans will be electric as well as mostly autonomous, argues the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) in a new report. The first National Infrastructure Assessment, published this week, sets out a long-term strategy for the UK’s economic infrastructure from 2020 to 2050. Electric vehicles will soon have the same range and be cheaper to buy and maintain than fossil fuel vehicles, t

A once notorious gyratory road system has been transformed into Aldgate Square, one of the largest public spaces in the City of London, featuring safer routes for cyclists and pedestrians. The six-year, £23m project is now complete, with the square being opened by Charles Bowman, the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The square, which is near Aldgate Underground station, has undergone a host of changes. The one-way gyratory system has been replaced with two-way traffic. Also, new cycling

The government has stated its aim of making all cars and vans on the UK’s roads zero emission by 2050. The sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans will end by 2040, as set out in the government’s Air quality plan. “By then, we expect the majority of new cars and vans sold to be 100% zero. By 2050 we want almost every car and van to be zero emission,” says the Road to Zero strategy. The government previously stated in its

Plans have been drawn up to transform Stockport’s bus station into a transport interchange. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is working with Stockport Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to develop the £1bn investment plan. The proposals include: A fully accessible, covered passenger concourse in the interchange with seated waiting areas Better and easier routes to the town centre for pedestrians. with improved links to the rail station, Merseyway

Brighton and Hove City Council is to tighten the emission standard for its bus-only low emission zone (LEZ) in the city centre.    The existing LEZ, enforced by a traffic regulation condition (TRC), covers North Street and Western Road, and covers about 95 per cent of bus movements in the city.  Buses are required to meet the Euro V standard by January 2020, although low frequency bus routes are exempt (those entering the zone fewer than 25 times a week).  The council expe

Lincolnshire’s bus market is too fragile to support the new partnership powers in the Bus Services Act 2017, according to the county council. The legislation contains three  new regulatory models, each giving local authorities progressively more influence: advanced quality partnership schemes (AQPS), enhanced partnerships (EPs), and franchising. The franchising powers are only automatically available to mayoral combined authorities. But Richard Wills, Lincolnshire’s executive

All local authorities in Scotland will be given the power to implement bus franchising, under powers contained in the Scottish Government’s new Transport (Scotland) Bill. The Bill also includes powers for the creation and enforcement of low emission zones, ticketing schemes, and parking.   The draft legislation is split into six parts, and the buses section (part two) contains a wide range of new powers, including a new form of partnership – Bus Service Improvement Partnerships

Go-Ahead Group subsidiary Go North East has acquired East Yorkshire Motor Services, Britain’s largest family-owned bus company, for an undisclosed sum.  Hull-based EYMS has been operated for the last three decades by the Shipp family, under the leadership of Peter Shipp, 74,  who is executive chairman and majority shareholder. He passed  his managing director’s position to son David Shipp last October.  Shipp senior this week told the Hull Daily Mail: “We

The announcement of First’s annual results on 31 May  launched an avalanche of press articles, due to the large loss and resignation of chief executive officer Tim O’Toole (‘FirstGroup’s chief steps down as annual results disappoint’ LTT 08 Jun). I frequently find myself at odds with the usual financial analysts when results are reported as often what I think is good news they think as bad news, and vice versa. In this case my initial look at the numbers led m

Work is to start next week on building a new transport interchange at Ashton Bus Station in Greater Manchester. The new interchange – to be delivered by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Tameside Council – will feature a covered concourse, with seated waiting areas, as well as electronic information screens. It will have shops, fully accessible toilets, baby-changing provision and enhanced passenger security including CCTV. There will also be improved taxi facilities. Dur

To mark Clean Air Day 0n 21 June, free travel is being offered on Manchester’s Metrolink light rail service for commuters travelling before 7am and after 7pm. The move, by Metrolink owner Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), is part of a drive to encourage people to think about changing travel habits to improve air quality. TfGM wants employers to consider flexible start and end times for their staff so they can take advantage of the free travel offer. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy

Anna Delveccio, who started her transport engineering career as a teenager, has received the top honour at the 2018 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards.  Launched 11 years ago, the awards programme celebrates women transforming transport and logistics in the UK. The winners included women working for transport organisations including Heathrow Airport, Royal Mail, Merseytravel and Transport for London.  The Woman of the Year Award was presented to Anna Delvecchio, Comme

Westminster City Council has withdrawn its support for the Mayor of London’s proposals to pedestrianise the western section of Oxford Street. Mayor Sadiq Khan wanted to see the section from Oxford Circus to Orchard Street, near the flagship Selfridges store, pedestrianised.  This would have coincided with the opening of the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) between Paddington and Abbey Wood next year, with improved pedestrian access at Bond Street station. However, the council has now stat

A trial taxi feeder for bus services has been launched in north Bristol.  Bus operator First West of England has teamed up with Bristol-based technology start-up Esoterix Systems to deliver the taxi service, branded MyFirstMile. CityFox is providing the taxi service under a hackney taxi licence using eight-seater cabs. The trial service, which will run to the end of September, operates from 06:00-10:30 for outbound trips, and 15:00-20:00 for return trips  on weekdays, excluding bank

A bus operator that uses the easyCoach and easyBus brand is suing Shropshire Council in the High Court. The news comes as the company expands its operations with a new route between Shrewsbury and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Shrewsbury-based TSL Ltd has the rights to use the easyBus and easyCoach brands of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s easyGroup outside London. It operates several commercial and tendered local bus routes, including one under contract to Shropshire Council. Director Andre

Greater Manchester’s bus network could be split into five to ten large franchises, complemented by as many as 25 smaller ones, under proposals being studied by Labour mayor Andy Burnham. Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) detailed thinking on how a bus franchising system would work is set out in a questionnaire that has just been sent  to 35 local, national and international bus operators. No decision has yet been made to move to a franchising system and talks about an

Police have fined a community transport operator for operating a local authority schools transport contract with a Section 19 permit. The fines have been cited as an example of the “confusion” caused by the DfT’s proposed reforms to community transport regulations. DANSA Integrated Community Transport, based in Neath, South Wales, has been fined £600 after a South Wales Police officer noticed two DANSA vehicles operating under Section 19 permits, while conducting a spot

National Express’s dominance of the West Midlands conurbation’s bus market may be at risk as Transport for the West Midlands begins a global search for an operator(s) of the proposed Sprint bus rapid transit (BRT) network.  TfWM has launched a market sounding exercise for Sprint, saying it wants “to engage with operators who can offer or partner with BRT experience, and help the West Midlands realise the vision of Sprint as part of an integrated transport system”.&n

No services will be provided at least initially on one of the core parts of the Bristol area’s Metrobus network because the councils have been unable to find an operator willing to run the route without subsidy.   Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset councils have spent £230m on the Metrobus project, including £113.9m from the DfT. A core part of the investment was construction of the three-mile South Bristol Link road connecting the A370 at Long Ashton with

Councillors in Middlesbrough are calling on the Tees Valley Combined Authority to introduce bus franchising.  The recommendation features in a report of Middlesbrough’s economic development and scrutiny panel, chaired by Labour member Matthew Storey, and presented to the council’s executive last week.  Middlesbrough is run by Labour elected mayor Dave Budd and the town’s MP is Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, who is a champion of franchising. Labour th

After the Labour Party had launched a policy providing free bus travel for people under 25 in areas that adopt bus franchising or municipal bus operations (LTT 13 Apr), Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee observed on 12 April that: “It’s a good idea, but still a lot less generous than many older people’s free travel passes. Outside London over-65s get bus concessions; in London the over-60s get not just free buses but free tubes as well, even for high earners still in work. &ldqu

All regular readers of LTT will know that I am a vehement opponent of the current legal regime governing buses. Nevertheless I cannot support either of the proposals that appear on page 5 of the current issue (‘Corbyn pledges free bus travel for under-25s in franchise areas’, ‘Make bus travel free for all’ LTT13 Apr). Free bus travel for under-25s would create enormous capacity problems here in Nottingham and in other university cities where students would switch from wa

Senior citizens and the disabled will see their free off-peak bus travel concession in England maintained for the foreseeable future following amendments to the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, the Department for Transport has confirmed. The scheme, which was introduced in 2007, ensures that bus passengers aged over 65 or with a disability are entitled to travel free of charge on any off-peak local service throughout England. Some 10m people use the concessionary scheme. Buses Min

New biofuel targets are designed to double the use of renewable fuels in the UK transport sector within the next 15 years, cutting the sector’s reliance on imported diesel fuel. Changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) compel owners of transport fuel who supply at least 450,000 litres a year or more, to make sure that the mix between fuel types is at least 12.4% biofuel by 2032. Currently the industry, which supplies fuel to transport companies such as haulage firms and

The first of three ‘Metrobus’ bus rapid transit routes will launch in Bristol on 29 May, following a £230m infrastructure investment by three councils – Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset – and the DfT.  To ensure fast services, Metrobus will be the first commercial services outside London to operate ‘buy before you board’ ticketing, with drivers unable to sell tickets.  First West of England will run two of the routes and, in

A Labour Government would fund free bus travel for under 25 year olds – but only in parts of England that adopt bus franchising or take on the public ownership of bus services. Labour said the policy would be funded using money ring-fenced from Vehicle Excise Duty. The Conservative Government has already promised to ring-fence all VED revenues in England for a new National Roads Fund from April 2020. Labour’s free bus travel policy would only be available in areas where the local a

Government company Transport for Wales will operate Cardiff’s new bus station in another sign of the organisation’s growing ambitions.  The convoluted saga of the bus station’s delivery may now be drawing to a close, with the Welsh Government deciding to take the leasehold on the site.  The previous bus station, immediately north of Cardiff Central railway station, was closed in summer 2015 because the BBC wanted the site for its new Welsh headquarters. Cardiff Coun

FirstGroup is to sub-contract the operation of one of the three new Metrobus routes in the Bristol area to a community transport operator. Bristol Community Transport (BCT) was this week named as the operator of the M1 Metrobus route, connecting Cribbs Causeway to Hengrove Park via the University of the West of England and Bristol city centre. BCT will operate the route under contract to First West of England, which will operate the other two Metrobus routes directly: the M2 (Long Ashton park-

My last two pieces were reflections on different aspects of the process of creating better streets. This time, I want to turn my attention to the matter of how to assess whether or not a street has actually been made better. In fact, I’ll be writing about how we might assess the qualities of any street, whether or not it has recently been subject to a ‘betterment initiative’ (and if no-one’s ever used that phrase before, I’m claiming it). One prompt for my doing th

The student of ‘how not to do public transport planning’ continues to have a sure-fire test case in Bristol’s Temple Meads station, the city’s intercity and local rail focus that is bursting at the seams. While taxis jam the forecourt and taxi queues lengthen, it’s rather hard to spot any city bus, though they do exist (a handful of routes terminate way down the station approach road).  The problem is a lack of any masterplan for this essential transport hub.

Andrew Sherrington (pictured) has been appointed managing director of Swansea-based bus operator First Cymru. He succeeds Justin Davies, who has become a full-time vicar (LTT 02 Feb). Sherrington is currently operations director at First West of England, covering the Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Wells and Westbury areas.

Extra police patrols and increased CCTV is being deployed in Greater Manchester in response to a spate of crimes on the Rochdale via Oldham Metrolink line. Mayor for Policing and Crime Bev Hughes, said: “The Greater Manchester Travelsafe Partnership (TSP) is bolstering its team including police community support officers (PCSOs), TravelSafe officers, inspectors and sergeants.

Bus operators are to be given until the end of 2022 to achieve full compliance with Scotland’s first Low Emission Zone in Glasgow. Cars, vans, and lorries will all be brought within the zone’s coverage from that date as well. Phase one of the LEZ will commence on 31 December this year, applying to buses only. The zone will cover the central area, including the existing city centre Air Quality Management Area. The city’s main bus station, Buchanan Street, and access roads to it

Prices for the UK’s first Mobility as a Service (MaaS) subscription packages have been announced, ahead of their launch in the West Midlands conurbation next week.  Finnish firm MaaS Global is offering two subscription packages for its Whim-branded MaaS, which the company says is the world’s only monthly mobility product. The products aim to persuade the public to give up car ownership.   Chris Perry, the UK lead for MaaS Global, this week outlined the packages – Wh

Grants totalling £48m for ultra-low emission buses are being offered to councils and bus operators to help them roll out new, cleaner fleets.  The fund, which covers the next three years, will pay for “hundreds” of new ultra-low emission buses and the infrastructure to support them, says the DfT. This follows a previous scheme, where 13 organisations received more than £30m, enabling them to put more than 300 low-emission buses on the road by 2019.  Any bus w

Transport for London is cutting its operating costs at a faster rate than the decline in its operating income, and on course to make a larger operating surplus than budgeted for in 2017/18. Performance in 2017/18 up to 3 February was reported to this week’s meeting of TfL’s board. Passenger income is £87m (2 per cent) below budget, at £3.956bn versus £4.043bn. Other operating income is £55m (8 per cent) below budget, at £616m versus £671m. Total

Bus passenger journeys fell across Great Britain in 2017, according to statistics published by the DfT.  The number of passengers carried in England fell 1.8 per cent, a reduction of about 79 million journeys. Passenger journeys outside London fell 4.3 per cent and there was a 0.6 per cent fall in the capital.  Patronage in Scotland fell 2.1 per cent and in Wales 4.1 per cent.  The local bus fares index increased by an average of 3 per cent in England in 2017, with a 1 per cent

These are interesting times for the transport sector. Advances in technology have resulted in the launch of lots of new initiatives in recent months including dockless bike hire schemes and pre-bookable shared services such as the Chariot bus routes in London. Most of these are in urban areas and there seems to have been little discussion so far of the role that innovative transport services could play in rural areas. Perhaps that is because there is an assumption that all rural households have

Talk about transport with any of the new metropolitan mayors and one of the hottest topics for debate will probably be bus franchising. It seems that, ever since Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Government deregulated the buses, there have been calls for some form of re-regulation. Let’s not forget that transport ministers at the time were happy to provide the climate for a free-for-all, as long as it didn’t include the streets of London. Since then, local authorities have looked wist

Tottenham Court Road is set to become more cyclist and pedestrian friendly, with all motor vehicles except buses banned from using the thoroughfare between 8am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday. The restrictions are due to be in place by early 2020, said the London Borough of Camden. The first phase of the £35m scheme begins in March, with initial works to include: new granite paving on New Oxford Street by Centre Point; the removal of pedestrian barriers and traffic light poles from Tottenham

A growing number of workers in the UK would rather be based in lively urban centres than business parks on the outskirts even when there is ample parking, according to a new report from the Urban Transport Group. “More people in more key sectors of the economy do not wish to be ‘buried alive’ in a business park on the outskirts (however good the car parking) and their skills are in sufficient demand that they can choose the employers that provide them with a more interesting a

Plans for a West London Orbital rail line - connecting Hounslow, Hendon and Cricklewood - feature in the Mayor of London’s Transport Strategy. Mayor Sadiq Khan’s transport vision for the next 25 years was presented today to the London Assembly ahead of its final publication next month. The proposed West London Orbital Line, linking up London Overground services, would run via Brent Cross, Old Oak

The Campaign for Better Transport has announced it is looking to appoint a new chief executive office to replace Stephen Joseph, who will be stepping down at the end of Autumn. Joseph was appointed executive director of Transport 2000 in 1988, the same year Michael Palin was appointed President, and received an OBE in 1996 for services to transport and the environment. Transport 2000 changed its name to Campaign for Better Transport in 2007. During his 30-year tenure with the charity, Joseph

Following its trial of bus services in London last year, travel app Citymapper has finally launched what it terms ‘The Responsive Network: a  solution for dynamic shared transportation in cities’. The service is live in London, and is know as ‘Smart Ride’, and is already available via the apps. Writing in a post on medium, Citymapper declares that they ‘design a network, not a route’. ‘Unlike traditional buses that are tied to a route, our veh

Following entrance to multiple markets in the United States, Chariot  is launching its daily commuter shuttle service in London, to 'make getting around the city easier'. Chariot London is the latest of Ford’s European initiatives, accelerating the development of its smart mobility technologies. Throughout 2018, Ford will be trialling a 20-strong fleet of plug-in hybrid Transit Custom vans in the UK capital as part of the “Cleaner Air for London" initiative supported by Tra

Transport for Greater Manchester plans to spend £11.5m next year exploring the case for franchising bus services.  The funding will be used to: • prepare a business case of a  franchising scheme alongside other realistic options for improving bus services • obtain a report from an independent auditor on the assessment  • carry out a public consultation on the assessment of franchising  • publish a report on the outcome of the consultation 

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is to receive £3m of government funding to help reduce harmful emissions on the region’s bus fleet. The award, from the national Clean Bus Technology Fund, will enable bus operators to retrofit vehicles to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). TfGM said it would work with bus operators to target the areas of highest NO2. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, welcomed the funding award, but argued that the government needed

The UK’s new bus and coach market fell in every quarter of 2017, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Following a period of strong growth in 2015 and 2016, last year saw registrations decline by -12.7% to 7,666. Double-deck demand saw the biggest fall across the year, declining -17.1% with 1,598 units registered. Single-decks and minibuses also experienced declines, down -8.2% and -13.2% respectively. Air quality modelling will be a

Guidance on how to make new developments bus-friendly has been published by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT).  Buses in urban developments includes advice on matters such as street design, bus priority, traffic calming, and the location of bus stops. Its principal author is independent transport and planning consultant Tim Pharoah.  Streets used by buses “should be direct and without severe curves or frequent turns to minimise operating distances

The Bus Services Act 2017 features three regulatory frameworks, each giving English local transport authorities outside London progressively more influence over the market: advanced quality partnerships, enhanced partnerships and franchising. Guidance on enhanced partnerships and franchising were published last November (LTT08 Dec 17), and the Department has now released guidance on the last of the three, advanced quality partnership schemes (AQPS).  Although AQPSs are the weakest of the A

The Welsh Government wants Transport for Wales to become the owner or operator of Wales’ bus and rail networks. At the National Assembly for Wales last week, transport secretary Ken Skates reiterated the Government’s view that Transport for Wales (TfW), wholly owned by the Government, should eventually resemble Transport for London.  “The Government’s economic action plan commits that Transport for Wales will work with the Welsh Government’s new regional team

Plans for a bus-based, and ultimately autonomous, rapid transit system serving Cambridge and its surroundings are to be developed by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.  The CA board, chaired by elected mayor James Palmer, this week approved a new £600,000 study into a system dubbed Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM). The decision follows a review of three different mass transit technologies by consultant Steer Davies Gleave.  SDG examined: • light rail

Pembrokeshire County Council in south-west Wales has started to operate two more local bus routes into Pembroke Dock from the surrounding countryside, after commercial bus operators showed no interest in the work.  Services 360 and 361 were operated by Silcox Coaches for many years before the company closed in 2016. They were then taken up by a coach company based near Pontypridd, approximately 80 miles to the east, but this operator recently said it required considerably higher subsidy to

A central London borough and the capital’s passenger watchdog have voiced concern about Transport for London’s plan to cut bus mileage in the capital by six per cent by 2019/20. The draft mayor’s transport strategy says services will be cut in inner and central London, with resources shifted to outer London, “where the potential for mode shift to buses is greatest, and to areas of housing growth where demand is forecast to rise the most”. TfL’s business plan,

The achievements of women working in the transport and logistics centre will be recognised by the FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards. Currently in its eleventh year, the awards are designed to showcase the role women play in the future of transport and logistics. Maxine Benson

Buses could be removed from some of Oxford city centre’s busiest streets under proposals to make the centre more pedestrian and cycle-friendly. Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have invited comments on options suggested in a movement and public realm study by consultants Phil Jones Associates and ITP. Their work is intended to inform the city council’s next local plan and the county council’s update to the Oxford transport strategy. The consultants have revi

The Bus Services Act 2017 enshrines open data provision for the bus industry in law – but what this means in practical terms for local authorities and the industry has yet to be set out. The legislation aims to help passengers find timetables, fares and routes through the release of open data. However, the Open Data Institute believes bus operators have a patchy appreciation of, engagement with and awareness of open data – many still don’t know what it is, how it differs from o

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has revealed that for the first time since modern records began London was entering the third week of January without having breached legal limits for toxic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution. The London Mayor’s Office has claimed that the introduction of Low Emission Bus Zones in the capital has contributed to improvements in air quality at the start of 2018. Legal limits set a maximum of 18 hours of ‘very high’ pollution levels –

Proposals to improve the transport interchange in Bradford city centre have been approved by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Investment Committee.  Phase 1 of the project – to carry out short to medium terms works – would include a new pedestrianised station frontage, improved station concourses, better inter-modal links and re-location of taxi and drop-off facilities.  The £5.65m scheme would be funded by the West Yorkshire plus Transport Fund, although the a

England’s mandatory concessionary fares scheme for bus travel represents low or at best medium value for money, according to a DfT assessment.   A conventional cost:benefit analysis of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) produced a benefit:cost ratio of 1.16:1, which represents low value for money in the DfT’s classification system. The BCR rose to 1.40 in a sensitivity test that considered more benefits, and the DfT says that the inclusion of  other n

Transport for London has cut its expectations of public transport fare revenues over the next five years by £1.6bn.  The organisation’s new business plan to 2022/23, published just before Christmas, features markedly lower fare revenue projections than those in the business plan to 2021/22 published in December 2016.  The December 2016 plan projected fares revenues of £4.877bn in 2017/18. The new plan forecasts revenues for the year of £4.638bn – £

The developer behind plans for residential tower blocks and an expanded shopping centre in Walthamstow, north-east London, said it will pay £1.5m towards the extension of the Tube station.  Last week Waltham Forest’s planning committee approved Capital & Regional’s application for the shopping centre, which would extend onto a third of the existing town square. Outline permission was granted for up to 502 homes in four tower blocks of between 12 and 29 storeys. Capit

Transport operators and councils must implement a range of measures to help people with mental impairments to travel, says a new report for the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC). As well as improving wellbeing and encouraging independence, the measures would benefit the economy, argues the report. People with mental impairments make fewer journeys than the rest of the population due to anxiety and lack of confidence. Reasons include: not being eligible to travel concessi

Enhanced partnerships Enhanced partnerships (EPs) are a new more powerful form of partnership working between councils and bus operators.  Before beginning the process of preparing one, local authorities must hold informal talks about the idea with operators.  An EP is a “negotiation between the authority and operators” in which “neither side has overall control.” Although the authority ‘makes the EP’ they cannot do so without the consent of a def

The City of London Corporation has reported positive early results from the daytime ban on general traffic through Bank Junction, with accidents down and faster bus journeys. The experimental traffic ban   was introduced on 22 May. It applies to cars, vans, HGVs and taxis, and operates from 7am to 7pm Monday-Friday. The City has compared reported average road accident casualties for the period 22 May to end of September for the five years before implementation (2012-2016) with the figures

Councils should not feel compelled to cancel contracts with community transport organisations (CTOs) as a result of the DfT’s new interpretation of  licensing requirements, the Department has said. The advice note sent to councils this month addresses their  concerns about the implications of the original DfT letter sent at the end of July (LTT04 Aug).   In the July letter, the DfT announced a re-interpretation of EUregulations that will mean CTOs can no longer undertake c

For five weekends in the run-up to Christmas Brighton & Hove Buses is offering free bus journeys to up to three children under the age of 16 or Bus ID holders who are accompanied by an adult The bus company hopes the offer will help reduce congestion caused by cars at such a busy time of year for shopping. Brighton & Hove Buses managing director Martin Harris said: “We want to help people to leave their cars at home and opt for public transport in order to reduce congestion on o

The regulatory environment for road transport needs to be overhauled to make it fit for emerging forms of mobility products and services, Michael Hurwitz, Transport for London’s director of transport innovation, has told the London Assembly’s transport committee inquiry into future transport.    Said Hurwitz: “The regulations were set in the 1970s and the 1990s, and the world of transport in those days was crudely speaking as follows: you had a car or you took a priv

Transport for London is consulting on plans to ban all end-to-end vehicular traffic – including bicycles – from a section of Oxford Street, central London’s main shopping street.  The proposals cover Oxford Street West (OSW) – the section of the street from Orchard Streetto Oxford Circus – and surrounding streets.  Currently, only buses, taxis, and delivery vehicles can use Oxford Street between 07.00 and 19.00, Monday to Saturday. Under the plans, all

Automated pods are being tested between Cambridge Station and Trumpington park & ride to look at the feasibility of launching a driverless bus system.  The £250,000 project, funded by Innovate UK, is being delivered in partnership with Connecting Cambridgeshire and the Smart Cambridge Programme. The automonous PodZero vehicle has been developed by Coventry-based RDM Group. The trial aims to pave the way for 10-seater driverless buses on a guided busway after 8pm, filling the cur

The UK Government has revealed that it has taken no enforcement action against bus operators for failure to comply with the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR). The Department for Transport gives the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency £100,000 a year specifically to enforce the PSVAR, but the DVSA claims it has found no evidence of non-compliance. Compliance has been mandatory since 1 January 2015 for buses up to 7.5 tonnes, January 2016 for larger single deckers an

Local authorities will face longer-term repercussions if they award bus contracts solely on price, one of Britain’s traffic commissioners has warned.  Nick Jones was appointed traffic commissioner for Wales a year ago, after the UK and Welsh governments agreed terms for a full-time commissioner. Previously Wales was an adjunct of the West Midlands traffic area, where Jones was commissioner. In his first annual report to the Welsh Government, he reveals that he asked all 22 Welsh unit

More than £400m extra each year could be spent by councils on improving local roads if government funding mirrored rising income in fuel and motoring taxes, claims the Local Government Association (LGA). The LGA's call comes ahead of the Autumn Budget statement, which takes place on 22 November. The LGA statement picks up themes from its recent report, A country in a jam: tackling congestion in our towns and cities. Council leaders are calling for the government to implement a full

A project that will see the introduction of fully electric buses in London won the top award at the 2017 Low Carbon Champions Awards, organised by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP). Transport for London, bus manufacturer BYD and bus operator Go-Ahead London jointly won the Grand Prix award for a partnership that is delivering vehicles, operational capacity and infrastructure to begin running London’s first two all-electric bus routes (507 and 521). Waterloo bus garage has been

Brighton & Hove Buses has made its bus guide easier to read for customers with sight impairments. The bus company has produced large print A3-sized of Bus Times, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The bus company commissioned Able and Willing, 70% of whose workforce has some kind of disability, to print the larger scale version. Graham Outlon, head of Brighton & Hove Guide Dogs, said: “Some of our members told Brighton & Hove Buses that Bus Times is a really use

The Transport Committee has launched an inquiry into the licensing arrangements for community transport minibuses and the broader sustainability of the community transport sector. Community transport provides services to vulnerable and potentially isolated people. Service operators range from small community groups with a single vehicle to large community transport organisations (CTOs), whose sole purpose is the provision of transport services, often delivered through competitively tendered con

Smarter Travel LIVE! 2017 offers an expertly-crafted overview of need-to know people, initiatives, products and services – all in one place Resources are squeezed, time is precious and expectations upon local authorities and transport professionals increase.  The travelling public assumes that everything about their travel experience can, and should be, improved through the smart (and positive) implementation of technological innovation.  But is it really that easy? The t

As traffic levels hit a record high, there is a pressing need to manage congestion by diverting people from single occupancy cars to public and shared transport. However, with bus passenger levels falling across the country, persuading people to share journeys through conventional personal travel plans does not appear to be having a widespread impact.  So, how can the bus industry adopt disruptive approaches to change its business model and grow passenger numbers? The next generation Ove

Glasgow City Council has sparked anger among bus operators by deciding to focus its Low Emission Zone (LEZ) exclusively on buses initially. One operator is talking to lawyers about a possible legal challenge, while another wants to see the data on which the decision was based. At the end of last month, the council approved in principle a blueprint for establishing Scotland’s first LEZ in the city by the end of 2018. It believes that bus-only measures can be introduced quicker than restric

The Department for Transport has this week published its Summary Report on the Impacts of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF), which indicates that the Fund successfully supported projects that reduced car use, increased walking and cycling levels, boosted bus patronage, supported local economies and cut carbon emissions. Published figures suggest that LSTF investments 'achieved high value for money', says the report. In 2011, the Department launched the £540 million LSTF to i

More than 300 delegates attended Healthy Streets at Walthamstow Assembly Hall last week to explore the connections between public health and transport strategies. The event, organised by Landor LINKS and hosted by Waltham Forest Council, brought together council officers, urban designers, public health specialists, transport planners, consultants, academics, equipment developers, innovators and campaigners. The programme encompassed health-led street design, re-allocation of road space, behavio

Detailed plans for two segregated Cycle Superhighways stretching out to the west and south-east of the capital have been unveiled by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The 6km CS9 would link Kensington Olympia to Brentford while the 4km CS4 would run from Tower Bridge to Greenwich.  Transport for London (TfL) estimate that CS9 would cost around £70m, which would include extending the route to Hounslow, while CS4 would cost up to £55m and, subject to the results of consultations, construc

The Welsh Government has released passenger usage statistics for its trial of free weekend travel on TrawsCymru bus services. In a press release hailing the pilot scheme’s “fast start”, the Government said: “When compared with data from the previous year, increases of well over 100% have been recorded across the network, with the T4 service between Newtown and Cardiff currently boasting the greatest increase.”  Asked by LTT for clarification, a spokesman said

A new model of partnership working lies at the heart of proposed legislative reforms to the bus industry published for consultation by Transport Scotland.  Service improvement partnerships (SIPs) would replace  statutory quality partnership powers and feature three important differences: • no requirement for the transport authority to invest in infrastructure (it could instead implement policies on parking, for example)  • the inclusion of a wider range of features, i

Meerkats can now be seen travelling around the streets of Crawley, on the side of a bus. The bus was redesigned by Metrobus to celebrate of Tilgate Nature Centre’s conservation work with endangered species. The West Sussex nature centre is home to more than 500 animals. The marketing team at Metrobus worked with Tilgate Nature Centre manager Simon Woodward to come up with the design and provide animal facts in the interior coving panels.   Nick Hill, Metrobus head of commercial, Nic

The North East Combined Authority and local bus operators have entered into a partnership to offer young people discounted bus fares. Those aged under 19 are now eligible to discounted fares on all Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach Services in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland, and County Durham. Prior to these changes the eligibility for young person’s discounts had varied widely between the different bus companies. Go North East has been offering a £1 single for all those aged

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has indicated support for Welsh councils having the option to  form municipal bus companies, on the grounds that this would increase competition. While the Bus Services Bill 2017 prohibits local authorities in England from establishing new municipals, the Welsh Government proposes to repeal Section 66 of the Transport Act 1985, saying this prevents certain councils from running bus undertakings. Responding to the Welsh Government’s consult

Transport for the West Midlands (TfWM) has abandoned plans to introduce extra-long buses on its proposed Sprintbus rapid transit routes.   TfWM had been seeking special derogation from the DfT to use 24-metre articulated vehicles on the first Sprint route along the A456 Hagley Road between Birmingham city centre and Quinton, to the west of the city (LTT27 Nov 15).  Buses in the UK are typically no more than 12 metres long, though articulated buses are 18 metres. The European General

Step-entrance minibuses are still being used on scheduled public services in some parts of England, more than two years after the deadline for phasing out such vehicles.  To get round the rules some operators have simply reclassified the vehicles as “coaches”, which are currently exempt from the accessibility regulations, by declaring that standing passengers are not permitted on board. The Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) apply to vehicles with a

Bus passenger journeys and revenues in London are running ahead of budget in 2017/18, according to figures released by Transport for London.  Passenger journeys up to 22 July were 711 million, 3.3% above the forecast of 688 million. Fare income was £452m, 2.3% above  the £442m forecast. TfL attributes the better performance to “increased bus speeds and improved bus reliability”. London Underground patronage and revenues are below expectations. Patronage is 42

Harry Blundred, one of the pioneering figures of bus deregulation in the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 75.  In 1986 Blundred led a management buy-out of Devon General – the first part of the National Bus Company to be privatised. Deregulation followed later that year and Blundred pioneered high frequency minibus services in and around Exeter and Torbay. He went on to form Thames Transit in Oxford and in 1994 was awarded an OBE for services to the bus industry. Noel Newson,

“We’re happies not hippies,“ is the message driving through the streets of Brighton on the side of a bus. The bright geometric colours sported by the latest of Brighton & Hove Buses’ special edition buses are a celebration the south coast resort’s bohemian lifestyle. The artwork has been designed by artists Art+Believe, who previously painted the Old Steine Bus shelter in front of Brighton Pavilion for the bus company. Brighton & Hove Buses marketing manag

The London Assembly has appointed Arthur Leathley as the new chairman of London TravelWatch, the statutory watchdog for the capital’s transport users.  Leathley has senior level experience as a communications director in the private sector and Whitehall. In particular, he spent nine years at Virgin Trains, followed by stints as communications director at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and as director of cross-government communications for bo

Brighton & Hove Buses has teamed up with a local art gallery to take air quality data and transforms it into a visual spectacle that enables people to see the state of the air they breathe. Mephitic Air will run at the ONCA Gallery from 16 September to 1 October as 

Air quality in the Spanish city of Barcelona deteriorates by as much as 48% during public transport strikes, researchers have found. The study found that alterations in public transport could trigger a rise in the number of private vehicle trips, which in turn increases air pollution levels.

With less than six weeks to go before Smarter Travel LIVE! on 19 and 20 October, this year’s Smarter Travel LIVE! event is bringing together the widest ever range of key players to spark dialogue and debate. The convergence of digital technology with the travel and transport sector is catalysing the most radical and sophisticated possibilities in decades, and Smarter Travel LIVE! is the place to be for those who need to be engaged in what is happening across the UK and beyond. Such rapid

Traveller information must get much more reliable and available before Mobility as a Service (MaaS) can become a reality, a group of transport experts has warned. The ITS (UK) Public Transport Interest Group in London says out that only a quarter of bus companies have their timetable organised electronically, rather than on paper, making dynamic travel solutions almost impossible. The group said that more complete real-time information is required from local authorities and t

Up to 90 bus stops in south Birmingham could be closed in a trial designed to speed up bus journeys. Councillors on West Midlands Combined Authority’s transport delivery committee will be asked to approve the six-month trial affecting five bus corridors next week.  A report to the committee by Danny Gouveia, Transport for the West Midlands’ bus scheme development manager, says ad hoc requests from passengers and local councillors, and changing land-uses mean that some parts of

The government is to invest £11m in green bus technology across England and Wales. Local authorities and bus companies in Bristol, York, Brighton, Surrey, Denbighshire and Wiltshire have been awarded the funding under the government’s Low Emission Bus Scheme. The funding will enable them to buy 153 new electric and gas buses, and to also install stations to fuel or charge them. Transport minister Paul Maynard said: “Low emission buses are an important part of our plans t

Brighton & Hove Buses has decorated one of its vehicles with cartoons of dogs. The month-long publicity campaign sees pictures of different breeds of dog looking out the windows of a bendy bus. The images are designed to let passengers know that pet dogs as well as assistance dogs are welcome on their buses. The vinyl wrap is based on a design by local artis

A Joint venture led by Abellio has won the contract to operate the West Midlands rail franchise. West Midlands Trains Ltd is a joint venture of Abellio (70.1%), East Japan Railway Company (14.45%), and Mitsui & Co Ltd (14.45%). The current franchise, called London Midland, is held by Govia, which was also shortlisted for the new contract.  The Abellio JVwill take over on 10 December with a contract running to March 2026.  The franchise covers local services in the West Midlands

The Welsh Government’s proposals to introduce bus franchising and other industry reforms overlook the shortage of funding to support services and improve infrastructure, operators and local government have said. The Government recently consulted on a package of industry reforms, including amended arrangements for planning and delivery of services and integrated ticketing (LTT-17 Mar). Statutory quality standards for services and bus stops were proposed. Bus Partnership Improvement Schemes

Cambridgeshire County Council is preparing legal action against its guided busway contractor for repairs that are likely to cost more than £35m. The Cambridgeshire guided busway between St Ives  and Cambridge was built by BAM Nuttall and opened in 2011. Busway services have proved popular with passengers but the concrete track has been blighted with problems. A report to councillors last November identified three key defects:   • Vertical and horizontal steps have dev

The cost of building the Bristol MetroBus rapid transit system (RTS) has risen to around £230m, Bristol City Council has revealed. The scheme was initially budgeted to cost £190m in 2015, but costs have risen in the interim. Most recently they have increased by £10m from the £220m estimate put on the project in November 2016, a report to the council’s cabinet reveals. The report cites contractor cost overruns, design changes and problems of contaminated land dispo

Registrations of new buses and coaches fell -15.3% in the second quarter of 2017, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). A total of 2,105 units were registered in the period, with demand falling for the second time this year following five consecutive quarterly rises in registrations. This decline also follows a particularly strong Q2 2016, when the market grew by more than a quarter (26.9%) on the previous year. Although double-decks dec

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has introduced a new smartcard for use on the city’s tram and bus services. The ‘get me there’ travel card is the latest phase in the phased introduction of smartcard technology by the authority. TfGM has been working with

Work has begun on the redevelopment of Wigan Bus Station, which is being delivered by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The first stage of the £15.7m project includes the demolition of the old bus station on Hallgate, which will pave the way for main contractor

With roads close to saturation point and trains becoming overcrowded, transport providers and innovators must work together to develop new solutions, believes Stephen Hart at Innovate UK. “Congestion is getting worse, with growing frustration leading to more road rage,” he says. “There’s no longer a rush hour, there’s a rush five hours.” Current systems used to manage roads and rail services need to be better integrated to be effective, says Hart, head of co

The number of trips made by people in England continued to fall last year and is now 13% lower than 2002, according to the National Travel Survey.  People made on average 774 trips in 2016, excluding short walks (defined as being less than a mile in length). In 2002 the average was 886.   Average distance travelled, excluding short walks, was 6,396 miles in 2016 – 10% below the 7,104 miles recorded in 2002. The 2016 figure was 3% lower than 2015.   The average annual mile

Stagecoach has published guidance for local authorities and  developers on how to make new housing developments bus-friendly.   The guidance, written by Nick Small, Stagecoach’s head of strategic development and the built environment (south), comes amid continuing concern that new housing developments are being designed and built with buses as an afterthought. Problems include spine roads that are too narrow, particularly if cars are allowed to park on-street.  Stagecoach

Plans have been published to reconfigure the busy Fiveways junction in Croydon, south London, with the aim of making it safer for all road users.  Transport for London (TfL) and Croydon Council say the proposed improvements would help to reduce delays and congestion. They point out that the Fiveways area is often busy, with motorists and bus users experiencing congestion at peak times, especially on weekends when large numbers of visitors go to and from the retail parks along Purley Way.

A clean alternative to fossil fuel made chiefly from formic acid, which is found in stinging nettles and certain species of ant, is being tested in the Netherlands.  Formic acid is simple carboxylic acid (HCOOH), which is manufactured for use in textiles and leather processing and as a livestock feed preservative. Students from Eindhoven University of Technology, know as Team FAST, have designed a system that allows a bus to be powered by formic acid. It comprises an electric bus hooked u

Cambridge could become a centre for driverless public transport systems according to two reports released this week, which have the backing of local authorities and the city’s research community. One report discusses the Affordable Very Rapid Transit (AVRT) concept developed by Professor John Miles of the University of Cambridge’s department of civil engineering.  The other looks at the potential for autonomous vehicles to operate on the Cambridgeshire busway. The reports were

The Welsh Government’s trial of free long-distance bus travel commences this weekend, with all passengers entitled to travel without charge on the seven Government-funded TrawsCymru routes.  Ministers have agreed a budget of up to £1m for the trial this financial year. The Government is not expecting substantial compensation claims from operators that compete with TrawsCymru, saying it expects the trial to increase bus patronage overall. The initiative was announced as a 12-mo

Actions to cut vehicular traffic must feature prominently in the next local implementation plans (LIPs) prepared by London boroughs, says draft guidance just issued by Transport for London. The LIPs must support London mayor Sadiq Khan’s draft transport strategy, the central objective of which is to reduce the share of passenger trips by car/taxi/private hire vehicle in the capital from 36% today to just 20% in 2041, with the share by foot, cycle and public transport rising from 64 to 80%

A £94m programme to bring all of London’s buses up to Euro VI emission standards, will commence this autumn. Transport for London’s programme will see enhanced selective catalytic reduction (SCR) equipment installed to the exhaust systems in up to 4,920 vehicles. This should ensure that all the capital’s buses are Euro VI compliant by September 2020. A first phase of the programme covering 1,150 retrofits has been approved, with fitment due to commence in September and

A complete ban on traffic travelling along Oxford Street will deliver far greater public realm benefits than partial traffic removal, according to Transport for London. London mayor Sadiq Khan has made improving the street’s public realm a priority for his mayoral term. Before the election he pledged to pedestrianise the street but this is now regarded as impossible to deliver, partly because of a need to maintain north-south vehicular movement across the east-west street.  TfL and

New software designed to reduce congestion, encourage active travel, improve the passenger experience and help transport operators run more efficient services is being showcased by a programme to support startups. The programme was developed by Nitrous - a company that encourages collaboration between startups and the public sector to help create smart cities - and supported by Transport for London (TfL).   Several hundred applications were received and these were whittled down to a short

Transport for London (TfL) has unveiled its plans to upgrade the streets of Nine Elms in south London to support regeneration in the area and make it better to use for pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers. The 2.5km stretch of Nine Elms Lane and Battersea Park Road would be redesigned.

Planning guidance has been published for the redevelopment of Oxford’s railway station, a project that will provide more capacity for trains and remodelled interchange facilities.  Oxford station is already a bottleneck with only two through platforms to serve the Great Western services to/from London Paddington and the Cross Country services between the North/Midlands and Reading/South Coast. Since December, Chiltern services from London Marylebone have  operated into the north

The illustrations in London mayor Sadiq Khan’s new draft transport strategy don’t contain many cars but that’s not surprising: the mayor wants to cut the share of passenger trips made by car/taxi/private hire vehicles from 36% in 2015 to 20% in 2041, with the share made by walking, cycling and public transport rising from 64% to 80%. “The success of London’s future transport system relies upon reducing Londoners’ dependency on cars in favour of increased walki

Sixteen London bus routes carried more than ten million passengers a year in 2015/16, according to figures released by Transport for London. The busiest route was the 25  connecting Oxford Circus with Hainault in east London. It carried almost 20 million passengers a year (see table).   TfL has supplied the London Assembly’s transport committee with patronage figures for every route in the capital. Bus patronage in the capital has fallen since 2015/16.

Some London bus routes have lost almost 20% of their patronage because of a dramatic fall in speeds caused by the installation of cycle superhighways, other roadworks and traffic growth, Transport for London has told the London Assembly.  TfL has supplied the assembly transport committee with a summary of route level data for speed and patronage. In a cover letter, Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing director – surface transport, told committee chair Caroline Pidgeon: “As conge

In January the Scottish transport minister Humza Yousaf announced that there would be a consultation on the future of Scotland’s concessionary travel scheme. The current scheme, which was set up in 2006, has faced criticism on the grounds of escalating cost – £207.8m in 2016/17 – and also from bus operators, who have seen reimbursement levels fall in recent years to a new low of 56.9% of the standard adult fare. However, the review is also timely in providing an opportun

Diesel buses will remain the mainstay of urban fleets for the foreseeable future, so the Government must fund a retrofit programme if it wants to cut bus nitrogen dioxide emissions, operators have told the Government.  Responding to the Government’s draft air quality plan, National Express West Midlands  (NXWM) says diesel bus engines must not be “unfairly demonised”, adding that emissions from its Euro VI engined vehicles are actually lower than from some of its hyb

Welsh bus operators say they have still not been told how they will be compensated for the impacts of a year-long trial of free weekend travel on the Welsh Government’s TrawsCymru bus routes, which is expected to begin early next month. The trial stems from an announcement by First Minister Carwyn Jones at the Welsh Labour conference in March. The Welsh Government has confirmed to bus operators that it will pay compensation for consequential revenue losses. However, industry body CPT Cymr

Local authorities are challenging the analysis underpinning the Government’s revised draft air quality plan, and questioning whether there is evidence to justify implementing charging Clean Air Zones. The tensions are revealed in responses to the draft plan consultation, which closed last week. A number of councils have raised concerns about the modelling of nitrogen dioxide concentrations undertaken by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).  Councils are po

Women working in passenger transport are among the winners in the 2017 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards, which took place at the Marriot Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square last night. The awards programme was first launched to raise awareness of the varied opportunities within transport and logistics, while creating visible role models to inspire and encourage more women to pursue a career in the industry. Maxin

A ‘TravelBot’ that ‘chats’ to customers and offers real-time travel information has been launched by Transport for London (TfL).  The tool, which is powered by artificial intelligence, communicates with customers using Messenger (Facebook's instant messaging service) and tells them when their bus is due to arrive, and provides service updates and Tube maps. The new technology makes it easier for customers to get information on the Messenger platform in a way that i

Cambridgeshire County Council is commissioning a study of bus improvements in a corridor where Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s new elected mayor wants a light rail line. A comparative study of bus and light rail is also to be commissioned.  Cambridgeshire’s tender notice for the Cambourne to Cambridge better bus journeys market research study says: “We would like to create better bus journeys by improving the existing, or creating new bus infrastructure, and where possi

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham marked this week’s Clean Air Day by urging citizens to follow his lead: “My job takes me all over Greater Manchester and I aim to walk and take public transport where I can. At least one day a week, I’ve pledged to use public transport to get to my office in central Manchester and I hope as many people as possible will make a pledge too.” Some will surely ask why Burnham has to commute into central Manchester by car on the other four.

Brighton & Hove Buses and the Pride LGBT festival have worked together to launch the Diversity Bus, which is the latest incarnation of the Pride Festival Bus. The bus carries the message #moreincommon, which was set up in the aftermath of MP Jo Cox’s murder a year ago. It aims to demonstrate how much more people have in common than that which divides them. The Diversity Bus will be available for partners in the city for community events where the messages on the bus can be of some val

A Green Transport Act would be one of five environmental Acts tabled by the Liberal Democrats if they win power. The party says the acts are needed “to incorporate existing EU environmental protections, maintain product standards such as for energy efficiency, and establish a framework for continual improvement”.  There would also be a Zero-Carbon Britain Act, which would set new legally binding targets to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2040 and to zero by 2050.&

A traffic ban at Bank Junction in the City of London comes into force today. Only buses and cycles will be allowed to use the junction from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday under the experimental traffic order imposed by the City of London Corporation. This marks the first phase of plans to totally re-design the junction by 2021, which could result in the removal of all motorised traffic. The 18-month trial will cut the number of casualties and improve air quality, without impacting on traffic flow

Women working in the highways and passenger transport sector are among the 33 finalists in the 2017 FTA everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards. The finalists include women working in the bus, coach, retail supply chain and shipping sectors.  The awards were created 10 years ago to highlight women excelling in their careers, creating visible role models to inspire a next generation of talent to follow in their footsteps. This year the awards have a new format, celebrating both suc

Transport for London is procuring a framework for the supply of hydrogen fuel cell buses, which could also be used to supply vehicles to Aberdeen, Dundee and Birmingham, and cities elsewhere in the EU.  The framework will support the EU-funded JIVE (Joint Initiative for Hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) project that aims to create a market for hydrogen fuel cell buses. Fuel cell buses convert hydrogen gas (stored on board) into electricity using a fuel cell. The only tailpipe emissions they

The future of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) looks uncertain following the local elections that have seen the SNP become the largest party on Glasgow City Council. The Nationalist’s manifesto for the local election pledged to create a new body, Transport for Glasgow, that would “implement a new integrated transport strategy for the city”.  The party has also pledged to end SPT’s role of operating the Glasgow Subway, the underground railway that lies en

Liverpool City Region Labour’s Steve Rotheram has promised to “re-regulate the buses” and says the area will “only buy clean  buses from 2020”. A campaign to promote walking and cycling will be run with health leaders. Rotheram, the former MP for Liverpool Walton, wants to explore improving the existing freight-only rail link to the Port of Liverpool through north Liverpool, including the possibility of passenger services to communities in Fairfield,

Greater Manchester Labour’s Andy Burnham has pledged new powers over bus fares, routes, frequencies and ticketing. His manifesto does not, however, specifically mention bus franchising. On active travel, the former MP for Leigh promises a “new network” of dedicated cycleways, an “iconic” bike hire scheme, and the appointment of an active travel commissioner. 

Labour is promising to build Crossrail 2 in London and a ‘Crossrail of the North’ connecting the north of England’s big cities if it wins the General Election on 8 June. The party also proposes to give legal protection to bus routes of “critical community value”.  The proposals are contained in a draft version of the party’s election manifesto that was leaked this week.  Labour says it would capitalise on low interest rates to invest over £2

Journey planner app Citymapper says it is launching its own bus service in London to help it develop demand-responsive bus services. Citymapper said its app has allowed it to "learn a lot about how people are moving around," and claimed it is able to see that "existing public transit routes don't always serve people best, nor evolve quickly enough to accommodate changes in the city". It declared as it launched the bus in central London near its offices yesterday that in the era of smartphones "

Fitting emission reduction equipment to older buses and a bus scrappage scheme would be more cost effective ways of improving air quality than a scrappage scheme for diesel cars, according to a report prepared for bus lobby group Greener Journeys.  The bus industry is anxious  that the sector is not damaged by the Government’s new air quality plan, which is expected to propose the introduction of charging Clean Air Zones (CAZs) across a larger number of towns and cities than the

Fare-paying bus passengers using services provided by the two main operators on Merseyside – Stagecoach and Arriva – have grown 9.7% in the last two years, according to Merseytravel.  The performance is close to the target set in the Liverpool City Region Bus Alliance for a 10% increase in fare paying passengers by the end of 2017/18 for the area covered by the five Metropolitan districts (Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens) (LTT 29 Apr 16). Halton is part of the

Candidates to become the elected mayors leading six combined authorities (CAs) in England have set out their plans to improve local transport networks. Inaugural mayoral elections are taking place on 4 May for CAs covering the West Midlands; Greater Manchester; Liverpool City Region; Tees Valley; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; and the West of England (Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset).  Local elections are also being held in: 35 English councils (27 coun

The Welsh Government’s decision to include infrastructure and information standards in its recently published discussion document on bus services policy  is to be welcomed (‘Welsh Government puts bus franchising on the agenda’ LTT 17 Mar). Too often the humble bus stop is overlooked in terms of schemes to improve local bus services and the wider public transport network. Whilst there are many areas in England where local authorities and/or operators are very proactive in

Derby City Council has joined Nottingham City Council in prohibiting free concessionary travel on a bus route between the two cities. The councils say the limited stop nature of the service and higher fare charged for adult passengers indicate that there is an “amenity element” to the fare, meaning it can be exempted from the statutory concessionary scheme. Trentbarton’s Red Arrow service runs between Derby and Nottingham with just one intermediate stop, at the Queen’s M

Transport for London is inviting suppliers of safety equipment to explain how their products could be used to improve 11 features of bus safety.  TfL plans to implement a bus safety standard for new vehicles entering service at the end of 2018. To inform the standard, a  contractor will soon be appointed to test selected measures put forward by equipment suppliers.  Eleven features have been identified for inclusion in a first phase of the standard, drawing on  TRL analysis

Major legislative reforms to bus service delivery in England outside London will be passed into law within the coming days when the Bus Services Act receives Royal Assent.  The Bus Services Bill received its third reading in the House of Commons last week, the final stage in its Parliamentary process before becoming an Act.  The Bill introduces a range of new powers, including allowing mayoral combined authorities to introduce bus franchising. Other types of authority will have to ap

Bristol City Council has explained where transport functions will be held when the new mayoral West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is formed after the election in May. The combined authority will cover the three unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath & North East Somerset.  The councils will retain their highway and traffic authority functions. The powers assigned to WECA are Parts 4 and 5 of the Transport Act 1985 and Part 2 of the Transport Act 2000. &

App-based private hire company Uber complements urban public transport and can help reduce private car trips in cities, a senior company official said last week.  The message was given by Fred Jones, Uber’s head of cities in the UK and Ireland, delivering the latest in the University of West of England’s Bristol Distinguished Address Series.  Uber’s website now lists 20 operating areas in the UK and there is emerging evidence that  its operations may pose a thr

Transport for London has dropped plans to grow the capital’s bus patronage and is instead planning for demand to fall 2.3% next year. TfL’s five-year business plan published last December said that, to achieve its financial milestones, public transport use would have to increase in the short-run, “primarily by attracting customers back to the bus service” (LTT 16 Dec 16).  The plan projected that bus patronage would rise 1.4% in 2017/18 to 2.310 billion, and reach

Autonomous minibuses could be trialled on the Cambridgeshire guided busway.  Smart Cambridge, a partnership of public and private sector organisations, has commissioned the University of Cambridge’s engineering department to study the “potential application of autonomous vehicles on the busway”, Aaron Blowers, project manager for the Greater Cambridge City Deal, told councillors this month. Driverless minibuses would  connect academic, medical and business campuses

The Welsh Government is seeking views on a major programme of bus industry reforms, including bus franchising powers for local authorities and statutory guidance on the quality of bus services and local authority-provided bus infrastructure.  Other changes could see legal restrictions on local authorities setting up bus companies removed; operators required to consult local authorities on service changes; and statutory quality partnerships replaced by a new model of Bus Partnership Improve

Transport for London is exploring how autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology can be applied to buses in a way that ensures bus passengers aren’t injured by the vehicle coming to an abrupt halt. AEB technology can prevent crashes occurring by automatically applying the brake to the vehicle if the driver fails to respond to a hazard situation. AEB systems use lasers for low speed (city) driving and cameras/radars for higher speed (interurban) conditions.  Jane Lupson, TfL&rsquo

Lancashire county Council may repay hundreds of penalty charge notices issued to drivers who entered a remodelled bus-only street in Preston. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal ruled that drivers faced difficulties seeing the restriction sign because they were having to be vigilant for pedestrians crossing the street. The case concerns Fishergate in Preston, the busy east-west shopping street close to the city’s railway station. Major public realm improvements were made to the street in 2014, r

Cornwall Council has revealed the core bus routes that could form the backbone of a replanned network. Consultant WSP | PB is reviewing the bus network as part of the council’s One Public Transport Scheme for Cornwall project, which will maximise integration opportunities between bus, rail and ferries.   Glyn Williams, Cornwall’s transport and technology manager, told councillors: “The network is initially being developed with no immediate reference to the existing netwo

Getting more people to switch to active travel modes will not only ease pressure on the NHS by improving the health and wellbeing of the nation but could also boost the economy. This was a recurring theme at the Sustainable Transport and Health event held in Bristol last week. The two-day event, organised by Landor LINKS and hosted by Bristol City Council, brought together health and transport practitioners from local government, government agencies, consultancies, academia and campaign groups.

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has approved a revised list of public transport investments forming a £1.25bn ‘HS2 Connectivity Package’. The Combined Authority’s original package featured 20 public transport projects with an estimated cost of £938m. This included extensions to the  Midland Metro, six heavy rail schemes, and 12 Sprint bus rapid transit routes.  An officer working group has now completed a review of the programme. The revised pack

Ministers were this week accused of putting a hurdle in the way of mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) introducing bus franchising. The Bus Services Bill will give MCAs the power to introduce bus franchising without requiring the DfT’s consent. But the draft statutory guidance on the Bill released last month says that authorities must demonstrate there is a “compelling case” for moving away from the current deregulated environment to a franchising model.  Introducing the

Andy Burnham has promised to “re-regulate” Greater Manchester’s bus network if he becomes the conurbation’s first directly elected mayor. But he stopped short of committing to use the franchising powers of the Bus Services Bill. The Labour candidate in the 4 May election has pledged to end the “free-for-all” of buses on the conurbation’s road network.  In a campaign video highlighting the conurbation’s poor air quality, he said: “For 3

Life used to be simple in the transport world. People generally owned cars, used public transport or walked and cycled. OK, I am guilty of opening with what is probably a false premise, but stick with me for now. As the boundaries between private and public transport blur through the emergence of shared models and new forms of ownership, maybe the discussion could shift to private and public spaces of travel. Put another way, if the future means that we summon pods to whisk us to our destination

Strong support for the Government’s Bus Services Bill was put forward by business consultant Stephanie Elsy in the ‘public leaders network’ section of The Guardian on 2 March. “If you live or work in London this Bill won’t apply to you because you don’t need it,” she began. “Sadiq Khan has all the powers he needs to manage transport services in London and buses in the capital are a great success. This Bill would give those same powers to city regio

The City of London Corporation wants Transport for London to cut the number of bus routes in the City, saying many vehicles are running only a quarter full even in the morning peak. Thirty-six bus routes cross the City’s boundaries and more than 60 buses an hour pass down some of the City’s streets each hour.  The City set out its views in evidence to the London Assembly transport committee’s inquiry into the bus network. Christopher Hayward, chairman of the Corporation&

The launch by Stagecoach South East of high-frequency minibus services in Ashford, Kent, from 11 February (LTT 03 Feb), marks a striking revival of a concept widely used in the 1980s and 1990s. Large increases in frequency using smaller vehicles provided a much more attractive service, by reducing roadside waiting times and providing a schedule more likely to suit users’ activities. Costs were reduced by better fuel consumption and lower maintenance costs. Speeds tended to be higher (due t

The City and County of Swansea Council plans to remodel a major city centre street after the previous remodelling, ten years ago, was judged a failure.  The remodelling of the east-west Kingsway in 2006 was part of a larger £11m project to prepare Swansea for the introduction in 2009 of the ‘Metro’ cross-city bus service operated by FirstGroup using its ‘ftr’ articulated buses.  Two-way bus lanes were installed on the southern carriageway, leaving the no

The DfT is consulting on the first tranche of regulations and guidance associated with the Bus Services Bill.  The 151-page document features draft regulations on:  • Advanced Quality Partnership Schemes;  • Franchising: service permits and transitional provisions; • Franchising and enhanced partnerships: TUPE, pensions and information from operators; • Enhanced partnerships: the operator objection mechanism; • Information on varied or cancelled serv

The City of Cardiff Council is to remove recently installed  signage on a shared pedestrian/cycle path that sees the cycle route end at every bus stop.  The authority installed the signs in Birchgrove last year as part of its remodelling of Caerphilly Road to include bus lanes. On the approach to each bus stop an ‘End of Route’ sign appears for cyclists, followed by a shared space sign a few metres beyond. In one erroneous arrangement, northbound cyclists encounter ‘

“How do you attract the best talent to help improve public transport?” Mohamed Mezghani, the deputy secretary general of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), asked in The Guardian on 6 February.  “Faced with fierce competition from more ‘glamorous’ industries such as airlines, car manufacturers, financial services and tech startups, public transport has sometimes struggled to be seen as the place for a great career. “Public transpor

Transport for the West Midlands (TfWM) has appointed consultants to prepare a roadmap for the introduction of contactless ticketing across all public transport in the conurbation. PA Consulting Group will set a vision; review available back office facilities (including Transport for London’s); estimate the costs and benefits of contactless; and develop a delivery timeline.  TfWM wants the system to have a capping facility, whereby the user would be charged the cheapest fare based on

Council leaders in the Sheffield City Region have approved a 5% cut in the levy paid to the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in 2017/18. Further cuts of 2.5% a year are planned for 2018/19-2020/21. The PTE’s levy in 2017/18 will fall by about £3m, from £60.5m to £57.4m.  It is then expected to fall to £56m in 2018/19, £54.6m in 2019/20, and £53.5m in 2020/21. Adult concessionary fares reimbursement to bus operators will be cut by &po

Stagecoach is to introduce high frequency minibus operations in the Kent town of Ashford later this month, in echoes of the minibus revolution that followed bus deregulation in 1986.  Thirty Mercedes 17-seater minibuses will go into service on 12 February on town routes B and C. Branded ‘Little and Often’, the north-south cross-town route B will operate up to every six minutes during the daytime Mondays to Saturdays, with services up to every 15 minutes in evenings and on Sunda

Low cost measures to reduce car use, such as personalised travel plans, car sharing, and free trials of public transport, may not be as effective as previous studies have claimed, according to research commissioned by the DfT. The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) worked with Heathrow’s Commuter Team to test a range of ‘smarter choice’ behaviour change interventions with Heathrow Airport’s 76,000 employees, who are employed by 350 different companies. BIT is a social purpo

When it comes to the Government’s Bus Services Bill, Peter Shipp uses some of the straight-talking his adopted home of Yorkshire is famed for. “I suppose my overall thought is why on earth do we need it in the first place? We’ve got enough to contend with, with what’s going on with concessionary travel reimbursement, congestion and all the rest of it. You could say we need a Buses Bill like a hole in the head.” In his office overlooking Hull’s Anlaby Road, Sh

Stagnant transport patronage can only be increased if commute times are decreased, according to a U.S magazine highlighting how transport users' "average commute times are 1.9 times greater than for those driving". Governing, a platform and magazine for state and local government leaders, compiled recent Census survey data for 25 metro areas and reported that "college towns are about the only areas where public transportation commute times mirror those for auto commuters". Driving takes less th

The UK’s bus manufacturers must have been overjoyed when, as London mayor, Boris Johnson banished the bendybuses from London’s streets, and the removal of these fast-to-load, efficient people movers – effectively trams on rubber tyres – had to be replaced by the double deckers made almost exclusively by the UK’s bus manufacturers. Slightly less pleased were the banks and leasing companies left saddled with near-new buses and only a few places to re-use them. The rec

A House of Lords amendment to the Bus Services Bill giving all local transport authorities in England the power to introduce bus franchising looks set to be overturned by the Government. The original Bill proposed that franchise powers would only be available to mayoral combined authorities. For other areas a two-stage procedure would apply. In stage one the Government would make regulations allowing a particular category of authority to implement franchising – for instance a combined aut

The Freight Transport Association’s annual awards for women working in transport and logistics is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The FTA everywoman awards were launched in 2007 to champion the sector’s female achievers. The 2017 FTA everywoman awards will explore the future of transport and logistics, including challenges facing the sector such as an increase in consumer expectations due to the rise of e-commerce logistics. This year’s award have a new form

Nine public transport operators serving 25 European cities have now published a strategy for electric buses for 2020 and have plans to deploy 2,500 of the buses by that date. Europe, while behind the mass-deployment of electric buses in China, now has 1,300 electric buses on order, with the U.K leading the way in terms of take-up so far, followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland and Germany, according to the report, published as part of the Zero Emission Urban Bus System p

FirstGroup is to take over park-and-ride bus services in Ipswich from current incumbent, municipally-owned Ipswich Buses. The existing cross-city service 800 connects the London Road park-and-ride site in the south-west of the city with the  Martlesham facility in the east. The service operates to a 12-minute daytime frequency and carries about 500,000 passengers a year.  Suffolk County Council has traditionally supported the service with about £700,000 a year but this was cut

A major public-private investment in the Leeds bus network is close to being finalised, which could kick the idea of bus franchising into the long grass.  Bus improvements are central to a proposed £270m investment  in the city’s public transport drawn up by Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and operators. Three new rail stations are also proposed. The programme is part-funded by a £173.5m DfT grant originally earmarked for a trolleybus system,

Buses and taxis are to be banned from a busy shopping street in Oxford city centre on safety grounds.  Oxfordshire’s cabinet has approved plans for an experimental traffic regulation order (TRO) to close Queen Street to buses and taxis in time for the opening of the adjacent Westgate shopping centre this autumn. The future of cycling in the street is also to be reviewed.  Queen Street is already busy with pedestrians and footfall is expected to grow dramatically when Westgate o

Bus lanes in Coventry will be suspended under an experimental scheme that the council says should ease congestion and improve air quality.  Coventry has 22 bus lanes totalling about 8km (five miles) in length. They operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Council leader George Duggins pledged to suspend the lanes earlier this year.  Many of the lanes were implemented in 2004/05 as part of the £41.5m Primelines project led by Centro, the then West Midlands Passenger Tra

Transport for London has launched a consultation on changes to bus services in central London that would reduce bus numbers on Oxford Street by about 40%.  There have long been calls to reduce the volume of buses on central London’s main shopping street. TfL says this can now be delivered because of improvements to other forms of public transport serving the street.  Frequencies on the Victoria and Northern Underground lines  have both been increased. TfL says passenger nu

If you’ve heard anyone talk about making real-time bus information available to the masses, then you may well have heard the phrase “we’ve done London” more than once. But now the DfT has rather brazenly joined the ranks of global tech giants and bedroom-bound geeks in this claim.  The aspiration in the Bus Services Bill to open up real-time performance and fares data for the industry outside London is based on a worthy but somewhat clumsy aspiration to ensure the i

Transport for London aims to break-even on its day-to-day operations in 2021/22 by growing public transport passenger volumes, delivering a £4bn programme of efficiencies, and increasing commercial revenues from advertising, consultancy, and property.  TfL’s net cost of operations, taking into account capital renewals and financing costs, is forecast to show a deficit of £793m this year (2016/17).  The organisation’s financial projections are set out in the ne

No more pure diesel double-deck buses will be added to London’s fleet from 2018, that all new single-decks for central London will be zero-emission, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has revealed. A new hydrogen-powered double-decker will be trialled on London’s roads next year.  Sadiq Khan unveiled the vehicle, built by UK bus manufacturer Wrightbus, during an international zero-emission bus conference at City Hall. The

The damaging effect of air pollution could be mitigated by the better design of roads and changes in driver behaviour, suggests the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The organisation, which provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care, has just published draft guidelines on Air pollutio

Local authorities in the Bristol area are having to find more than £12m to cover the increased costs of the MetroBus programme.  The midpoint forecast outturn cost of MetroBus has risen from £203.4m to £215.9m. Most of the increase has occurred on the North Fringe to Hengrove part of the project – this has risen from £101.8m to £113.3m. Officers told the West of England’s joint transport executive committee: “A number of risks have materialis

Greater Manchester’s busway is proving popular with the public, with growing patronage and “exceptional” levels of customer satisfaction, councillors have heard.  About 47,000 passengers a week now use the Leigh/Atherton-Manchester busway, which was opened by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) in April.  TfGM says services in the morning peak are often full by the time they reach the end of the 4.5-mile guideway section at Ellenbrook. Buses then continue into M

 “Alstom is a French multinational company operating worldwide in rail transport markets,” the company’s Wikipedia entry says. So imagine our surprise when we stumbled across an article in The Guardian advocating significant investment to expand the rail network in Scotland that was quite blatantly sponsored by… Alstom. The company name and its logo were displayed highly prominently at the start of the article. Is no one at The Guardian familiar with the phrase &lsq

The City of London Corporation is exploring a package of demand management measures to cut vehicular traffic levels.  A report to next week’s planning and transportation committee suggests tolls on the  Thames bridges entering the City; a higher congestion charge; changes to traffic signal settings; and freight consolidation centres to reduce goods traffic. The idea of placing tolls on bridges looks likely to be quickly dropped. The Corporation’s streets and walkways sub-

Transport forms an interesting element of the responsibilities of local authorities in Britain. Unlike education, or waste, or fire services, for example, councils, by and large, have direct control over very little of the actual transport activity either by being in charge of its provision, or specifying the behaviours of those involved as suppliers or customers.  They do provide some of the roads and traffic management, but only parts of the parking, and cannot directly influence the ind

The London bus network incorporates many Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) attributes; such as ‘turn up and go’ services, off-board ticketing, real-time information, accessible and high-quality vehicles and stops, distinct branding and some bus priority. For example, one-third of traffic signals in London give priority to buses over other traffic and, at certain locations, buses benefit from segregation from other traffic. However, providing bus priority in London can be a challenge given the

The Leigh to Ellenbrook guided busway is, alongside key changes within Manchester city centre and along Oxford Road, a flagship element of Transport for Greater Manchester’s ‘bus priority package’. The £122m scheme is the largest single investment in Greater Manchester’s bus network in decades, and sees more than 25 miles of routes either created from scratch or vastly improved. A combination of brand new infrastructure and an overhaul of existing bus measures ensur

The Government is planning to pass the Bus Services Bill in 2017. The Bill aims to create conditions to:  Grow bus passenger numbers Tackle air quality hot spots Improve bus services for passengers Enable a thriving and innovative commercial bus sector Help cities and regions unlock opportunity and grow their economy The Bill aims to achieve this by: Strengthening arrangements for partnership working in the sector, by introducing ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ Introducing

What is it all about? The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has developed its own BRT Standard. The first version was issued in 2012, with the latest update coming in 2014. This document is the centrepiece of a global effort by leaders in bus transportation design to establish a common definition of BRT, and to ensure that BRT systems deliver uniform benefits. What makes a bus system a BRT system? Can a few short bus lanes and a few metres of bus priority constitute B

The Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first South American city to host the modern games, famously faced challenges in the run-up to the event, but the city overcame most of them and ended up with good stories to tell in the future. In advance of the games, the length of mass transit systems in Rio, mostly Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems were more than double what had been promised for the Olympics, from 76 to 156km (47 to 97 miles). The downtown Light Rail System (LRT) was not part of the