London bus users now have an alternative to topping up their Oyster card or having the right change with the introduction of MasterCard PayPass technology using contactless bank cards. From December, they have been able to pay with a contactless MasterCard or Maestro card, charged the same fare as Oyster for pay-as-you-go tickets, rather than the more expensive cash fare. Marion King who heads MasterCard’s UK & Ireland operation said, “travellers can now pay for their travel usi

Trains, metros, buses and trams are more than a transport mode. They provide a very significant social environment too. The quality of the experience people have when travelling - space, comfort, temperature and personal security - are some of the key issues determining willingness to use public transport, particularly amongst women. Recent incidents suggest that there could be new problems emerging here. Rape and murder, as happened to a young women on a bus in Delhi might be an extreme inciden

Public address and voice alarm specialist ATEÏS-Group have switched their UK activities away from ATEÏS UK to a new partner and distributor Fuzion. The new Walton on Thames based agents are professionals in audio distribution and system design including after-sales service and support, with almost 20 years of experience in the professional audio field. Fuzion’s drafting and rack-building facilities enable them to provide service from the drawing board to final commissioning. AT

The digital revolution has unlocked a rush of new information systems that offer diverse ways of putting both encyclopaedic and highly specific rail and bus service information in front of users. But by their very diversity and variety such messages risk being overlooked in the resultant potential ‘information overload’. Sometimes, a single simple overriding ‘alert’ or ‘announcement’ needs to get through above the rest. The basic means to do this - the publi

Gareth Llewllyn has been appointed director of safety and sustainable development at Network Rail. He previously had senior safety roles with National Grid, Anglo American, and the Renewable Fuels Agency. Network Rail’s chief executive David Higgins said Llewllyn was joining at a time of great change “when we need to make a further significant improvement to the safety culture of the business. His enormous experience across sectors and across the globe will be invaluable in deliver

GreenRoad’s 360 fleet driver performance and safety management system has been enhanced to allow speeding and engine idling analysis as well as extended data integration. The new functions will improve the system’s ability to cut fuel costs and reduce accidents, said Glenn Pereira, director of product marketing at GreenRoad. The speed performance feature means that drivers are made aware in real time if they are speeding. An in-vehicle device monitors the movement of the vehicle to

Nexus has launched an interactive teaching pack to warn children across Tyne & Wear about the dangers of trespassing onto rail lines. Nexus, which owns and manages Metro, will be using the package during visits to more than 200 schools over the coming year. The package — devised by Nexus youth liaison officer Rebecca Ditchburn working with design agency Graphic Ad — allows youths to use a touch screen smart or ‘white board’. “The interactive nature of the software

Automatic ticket gates are being installed at five Glasgow stations in a bid to combat fare evasion and anti-social behaviour. ScotRail estimate that the gates will save around £2m a year in lost revenue. The gates are being supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems. “Cubic was the successful supplier — they met all criteria in terms of functionality, design, price and programme,” said ScotRail’s project manager Kirsty Watson. The gates have been installed at Charin

An independent report commissioned by Network Rail has cleared former chief executive Iain Coucher of allegations claiming he had taken illicit payments and rejected claims that the company had used offshore accounts and cash payments to discourage departing employees from talking publicly about the reasons for leaving or taking legal action. The report also said: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the TSSA (Transport and Salaried Staff Association) introduced a series of increasing

21st Century has been awarded two contracts, totalling £7.2m, by Keolis Sverige AB to supply CCTV systems, related maintenance and depot infrastructure for 1,475 buses. The Swedish firm operates under the ‘Busslink’ trading name in Stockholm. The first contract is for the installation of CCTV on 507 buses and related infrastructure, which will be installed this year, is worth more than £2.4m. This includes on-going maintenance revenue of around £100,000 a year for

Bus operator Arriva has reported how its on-board CCTV system proved that two accident claims made by motorists were fraudulent. Thanks to the evidence captured on the system, supplied and fitted by 21st Century, the bus operator saved £14,000 and was also awarded court costs of more than £7,500. In the first case, a female motorist falsely claimed that an Arriva bus had collided with her car while overtaking another vehicle in four lanes of traffic. But the CCTV footage showed that

Women are the ‘great unseen’ in transport decision- making. Yet they make up the majority of bus users in Britain, and account for 46% of rail travellers. They are hugely under-represented in management, in many ‘front-line’ jobs such as drivers, and in policy and planning roles. Over the years a small number of determined campaigners and academics have produced plenty of evidence that women are losing out in transport provision and service delivery because their perspect

In preparation for the Olympics, BTP has recruited two Malinois (Belgian Shepherd dogs) to its Explosives Search Dog (ESD) section. Their arrival brings to eight the number of passive detection dogs. This will increase to 10 by the time of the Games. The dogs can work in a static position or on the move as they pass through crowds, to monitor the environment and luggage as well as detecting a wide range of explosives. Their effectiveness was tested in trials carried out in 2006 with the Departme

A unique policing environment, the transport system has a unique set of needs. To meet them, an independent body, British Transport Police (BTP), monitors the tracks, trains and stations, and provides a vital service to rail and other operators, their staff and passengers in making the system secure and safe. Chief Constable Andy Trotter has been at its helm for for the past 18 months, and for five years prior to that was BTP’s Deputy Chief. “We are a normal police force now operati

Why is he on the list? The traffic commissioner is one of the bus industry’s regulators. They are responsible for ensuring that services are safe and reliable. What kind of year has he had? Balancing the need to secure the fundamental guarantee of the independent role that traffic commissioners perform in the unique context of their regulatory and judicial functions as a tribunal is an issue which Brown believes has been addressed robustly during 2009-10. What’s coming up in 2011

German state rail operator Deutsche Bahn is to conduct a trial run later this month that could pave the way for a future direct rail service between London and Frankfurt. The move follows the signing of an agreement between DB and the owner of High Speed 1 rail route, plus planned changes to safety regulations in the Channel Tunnel. If the test run is a success, DB says that it is planning to commence services to London in 2013 with a Frankfurt route that would also call at Cologne and possibly

Arriva won a Company Driver Safety Award at the annual Fleet Safety Awards presented by the road safety charity Brake earlier this summer. The award is in recognition of the use of a new system that reduces accidents, costs and carbon. The judges were impressed to hear that after installing 21st Century’s ‘EcoManager’ system to its North West fleet, Arriva saw a 62% reduction in accidents in the first year.  And following the early success of the system in reducing acci

Fun and games on London Overground were recently reported by the Going Underground blog when passengers on one particular service were treated to every single prerecorded public address announcement.   Captured on the YouTube website, the dulcet tones of Emma Hignett, over a period of several minutes, announce gems that include: “The emergency evacuation stairs of this train have been deployed... please calmly evacuate the train”; “If there is a doctor or nurse onbo

Whilst on the subject of China, the Longxiang Public Bus Company in Changsha, Hunan province has launched a new 'drive safely' campaign - by hanging big bowls of water above the driving positions of its buses. “Passengers often complain that sudden braking and bad driving makes them really uncomfortable,” said a spokesman. “Hanging bowls of water in the driver's cab will discourage them from making any jolting starts, sudden braking or bad turns.” Forget sophisticated t

Only when it is safe and practical to do so. Most travellers simply want to get from A to B safely, with the minimum of fuss and expense, in the shortest time possible. Even though providing a driver, guard or other member of staff on a train is a means to an end rather than an end in itself, passengers’ perception and sensitivities are important and there will be work to do to assure passengers that driverless systems can be safely used. Automatically-driven trains have been around f

Full metro automation is not new. There are 57 such lines in 32 cities and 13 airports, some in operation for three decades now. Driverless metros have unbeatable safety records and can halve operation costs compared to conventional driving. Turning legacy systems into driverless represents a much greater engineering and organisational challenge. Paris and Nürnberg show it is possible. Other cities will follow. And the Tube? In any case, it could only be gradual. An investment strategy to

Under normal circumstances I would be tempted to dismiss the idea of driverless trains on the Tube as some kind of a joke, cooked up by anti-union fantasists, but in the current climate of cuts and attacks on public services we are taking it very seriously. People only have to look at the footage of the carnage down the Tube after the 7/7 bombings, and the brave and critical role played by train operators and platform staff in dealing with that emergency situation, to see why these crew are so

Neither. We are concerned that it’ll cost far too much, both in terms of initial costs and operating costs. The open platform concerns us: it belongs to a bygone era. It led to more personal injuries for passengers, and that’s where nostalgia runs out in our view. Of course London TravelWatch did contribute to the development of the bus. Our Bus Design Panel submitted a series of comments about staircase design, handrails and better identification of priority seating which we hope

The multi-billion pound Crossrail scheme has been something of a political hot potato during the election campaign with the Lib Dems not even mentioning the scheme in their manifesto and the Tories lambasted for only supporting the plans rather than confirming funding. Luckily though one cross-London rail scheme quietly opened last month in London’s Hyde Park. As part of the Science Museum’s Centenary Icons exhibition, a replica of Stephenson’s Rocket, famous for being the fir

Leaves on the line. The wrong kind of snow. Ash in the air. 2010 has brought a new fable to the lexicon of great transport service disruptions and their reasons. And as with all the others, the debate goes on about the justification for the consequential chaos and the response to it. For nearly a week the only things flying were the accusations. It all seemed so simple at the start. Skies closed by dangerous substances that made aviation impossible but situations of this kind are seldom as abso

London’s St Pancras station could see new international destinations on its departure board with planned changes to safety requirements that could make it easier for continental operators to commence services in the future. Eurostar is the only rail operator to operate services directly from the capital to the continent, in part due to onerous safety requirements for passenger train operation through the Channel Tunnel. The present regulations demand, amongst other requirements, that all

Rail passengers worried about their safety want abusive and rowdy passengers stopped from catching the train and more visible police and staff readily available for help. The majority of passengers are generally satisfied with their personal security at the station (64%) and on the train (73%), but of those passengers not satisfied, the anti-social behaviour of others was their primary worry. Watchdog Passenger Focus has asked passengers what they are most annoyed by when it comes to anti-soci

The Rail Safety and Standards Board has published its annual rail safety report for 2009 that reveals further improvements in safety on Britain’s railways during last year.  Overview of Safety Performance 2009 reveals that during 2009 there were no passenger or workforce fatalities in train accidents - the fourth year in the last five with no such fatalities - and passenger fatalities at stations equalled 2008 at five, which was the lowest passenger fatality total ever recorded.

The recent cold weather has caught much of the country, like the MetOffice it would seem, by surprise. However, it also showed how managers, and even more junior employees, in the bus industry are dedicated to customer service and are ready to work hard to keep the wheels turning in very difficult circumstances. Social networking has helped a lot in opening up new channels of communication. Many operators, including Go Ahead subsidiaries Bluestar and Metrobus who have had a significant presence

It is hard to remember how badly the noughties started. The front carriage of the 0806 from Paddington was engulfed in flames, with a Daily Mail headline ‘140 Feared Dead’. A year later, half of all train services in Britain were cancelled as we looked for gauge corner cracking. Train operators didn’t know how to order trains, suppliers couldn’t deliver them; when you opened the box, you wept. John Prescott launched his surreally idiotic Ten Year Plan: everything fixed, t

Mind That Elf Bus passengers in Manchester got a little surprise over the Christmas season when a flock (is that the right term we wonder?) of elves descended on bus stations in the city as part of a safety awareness campaign. The elves, in full costume, gave passengers gifts of candy canes as well as leaflets reminding them to take extra care when using bus stations. “Our safety campaign is a fun, friendly, eye-catching way to get the message across to travellers of all ages, and we hop

Trainspotters A bunch of German railway enthusiasts are facing jail after building their own locomotive and testing it on a temporarily closed section of line. Police in Erfurt where altered to the presence of the six-seater train, constructed out of garden furniture and engine parts and powered by a washing machine motor, after local residents reported the escapade. With a police helicopter tailing the train, the hapless enthusiasts were only stopped after police erected a barrier across the

The Office of Rail Regulation today outlined a series of initiatives aimed at reducing the risks of accidents at level crossings. Level crossing misuse poses a safety risk to those travelling by rail, road and foot. ORR is also clear that safety at level crossings needs to be continuously improved. To help the rail industry best mitigate risks, the regulator has set out its short, medium and long-term work, including: Continued support of the Law Commissions’ work to update level c

21st Century Technology Solutions, the UK’s leading supplier of WiFi CCTV systems for the passenger transport sector, has secured a three year contract to supply transport group Go Ahead with its bus vehicle and depot CCTV requirements along with the management of Go Ahead’s railway station platform CCTV installations. Dave Lynch, Go Ahead’s group technology & procurement director said that an innovative and functional mobile CCTV technology is crucial for any forward thin

It happened before my eyes one bright autumnal morning in London about 10 years ago. I had read about it, colleagues had told me about it, but I doubted that I would ever see it for my own eyes. As I stepped out of a Barclays Bank on the Edgware Road a number 52 bus was coming up the road, away from Marble Arch. The bank entrance was at the apex between the main road and a little cul de sac. Parked in the cul de sac was an old, battered, white van. As the bus approached, so it moved forward and

Transport for London has announced that a consortium made up of Serco and BIXI, the publicly-owned operator of Montreal’s public cycle rental scheme, has been awarded the £140m six-year contract to design, build and operate London’s cycle hire scheme. Of course the London scheme will be one of the factors, aside from the removal of bendy buses from the capital’s streets of course, on which the current tenure of mayor Boris Johnson will be judged. He will no doubt be dema

A bill is to be presented to Westminster calling for the law to be toughened on school bus safety. Gordon's Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce said he has the backing of politicians from other parties for Wednesday's move. They argue it should be illegal for vehicles to overtake a stationary school bus, and also want more safety training and warnings... Click here to open the original BBC news story in a new window

I have had a thing about good grammar since it was drummed into me by my teacher father when I was a rising five. So when is a “criterion” a “criteria”? Answer - never. When is Network Rail’s Licence a “license”? Answer - it isn’t except when the infrastructure operator is “licensing” a third party to undertake repairs. The most irritating example of deteriorating grammar is the commonly used “practise” when “practice&

The “Our People” section of the CSR reports could have been the dullest of all: vocational training, driver retention, ethnic diversity – yawn, yawn - but it isn’t. You have to read between the lines. If you do, you will see how five groups in their different ways are struggling to create added value from the one distinguishing thing they do: manage people. Their business is to organise large numbers of people, in small groups or alone, doing fairly simple things consiste

Merseyrail Electrics has become the first fully secure rail network in the UK. All 66 stations have now been awarded the “secure station” status after visits by the British Transport Police on behalf of the Department for Transport in association with Crime Concern. The last three stations which have now achieved secure status are Sandhills, Little Sutton and Overpool. Councillor Mark Dowd, chair of Merseytravel and a Member of the TravelSafe Board, said: “This is a unique ac

Passengers who smoke, drink or cause a nuisance on the railways will face on-the-spot fines under new police powers announced by Transport Minister Andrew Adonis on Friday Currently the British Transport Police can warn or arrest anti-social passengers - but new penalties, to be introduced in the new year, subject to Parliamentary approval, will give them the option of issuing a £50 fine. The scheme is intended to free up police time from dealing with low-level anti-social behaviour and

For years transport operators have been despairing at punters putting their feet on the seats of buses and trains. Last week TRiP (Transport Recycling in Partnership) sent Transit a release about a new range of shoes made from recycled seating moquette. However, one of the attached images (above) seemed a little off message. Luckily TRiP seemed to see the error of its ways as the image was quickly (and mysteriously) dropped from its website. Did someone trip up?

Northern has 471 stations across its network and most of them are unstaffed. Many are in urban areas and face the sort of problems of anti-social behaviour common across much of the rail network. Even rural stations are not immune to vandalism and graffiti. This presents us with major difficulties but also opportunities. We are looking to ‘re-invent’ the small station to bring it much closer to the community it serves. Getting the community positively involved is critical to that, to

Stagecoach-owned East Midlands Trains believes that revenue lost from ticketless travel at its main regional stations is at least 10% and could be significantly higher. Managing director Tim Shoveller told Transit that surveys at Sheffield had consistently shown total revenue lost by operators using the station was “well into double digits” with one exercise indicating losses as high as 30%. He added that at Nottingham and Derby lost revenue was also 10%-plus.  Shoveller sai

THE AXIS 209FD-R, Axis’s network camera specifically designed for use in transportation applications, has been installed by Axis partner PC-1 and Secure-IT on behalf of EST Buses based near Bridgend, South  Wales. PC-1 was approached to partner Secure-IT and installed a solution comprising three AXIS 209FD-R network cameras per bus operating on public routes between Cardiff and Llandow.  As part of the solution one camera is installed looking out through the front windscreen t

C2C, the British Transport Police and Network Rail took to the sky this month in a bid to tackle the rising problem of cable theft on the nation’s railway. Company representatives took flight in the Network Rail helicopter, which is kitted out with state-of-the-art crime fighting camera equipment. The camera includes a high powered zoom lens, a recording ability and infrared facilities, making it capable of identifying people attempting to hide. They flew along the entire c2c route a

More stations should join the Secure Stations Scheme. This was the message from transport secretary Ruth Kelly at an awards event for tackling crime at UK rail stations. 573 stations across the UK are accredited under the government’s Secure Stations Scheme which was launched in 1998.  It aims to encourage improvements to security standards at overground and underground rail stations, in order to reduce crime, and covers measures from staff training to CCTV, lighting and informatio

A NUMBER OF people with public transport connections have been awarded New Year honours. Topping the list is Network Rail chairman Ian McAllister who has been awarded a knighthood in recognition of his services to the transport industry. Already holding a CBE, he is a former chair and managing director of motor giant Ford’s UK operations, and is also chairman of the Carbon Trust. McAllister also holds a senior non-executive directorship of drinks group Scottish & Newcastle. The

I was searching around for something to write about to kick-start the year - the trouble is that there is so much which is not good happening at the moment that it is difficult to know where to start - and then a letter to a national newspaper caught my eye. It was entitled ‘addressing the problems of behaviour and lack of discipline in our schools’ (Daily Telegraph, January 5), and it started me thinking about FirstGroup’s Yellow School Bus Commission, and all that goes wit

Travel west Midlands plans to  change it partnership working arrangements with the police because gateway checks are creating the impression that its bus services are plagued by anti social behaviour. The Safer Travel partnership between TWM, West Midlands Police and Centro has won awards for its efforts to deter and detect crime, vandalism and graffiti on buses. However, Neil Barker, the newly appointed  business unit director for National Express Group’s bus and coach intere

I was going to write glowingly supporting the government’s proposals to improve bus service punctuality in the Draft Local Transport Bill, and then events, my dear, events overtook. So I thought I would write instead of a day in the life of a typical bus operator working in a rural idyll. It serves to remind those of us thinking on higher plains these days - such as the draft bill - what our depot managers have to contend with in their everyday lives - whilst shouldering responsibility for

Network Rail’s directors have been forced to defer their bonuses after an outcry over their handling of payments to maintenance workers. The row was provoked after Network Rail announced that 119 staff involved in the maintenance of the infrastructure at Grayrigg  would have their bonuses deferred until after the investigation into the February’s fatal crash has been completed. The RMT union immediately accused the company of making the workers scapegoats and announced th

The inquest into the seven deaths caused by the Potters Bar derailment in 2002 will examine whether there is any link between that incident and last month’s derailment at Grayrigg on February 23, in which one woman died. Mr Justice Sullivan, who is conducting the Potters Bar inquest, said apparent similarities in the points failures which caused both crashes could not be ignored. At a pre-inquest hearing Sullivan considered it was his duty to decide whether the Grayrigg crash shed any l

CONTROVERSIAL?GREATER Manchester bus operator UK?North and associated firm GM?Buses have had their combined 74-vehicle fleet forced off the road by north west traffic commissioner Beverly Bell. It follows a series of safety related incidents and questions over the training of their foreign driving staff and Bell  said she was suspending their licences to “ensure road safety during the festive period”. It is UK?North’s latest incursion with both the traffic commissioner&

NATIONAL?EXPRESS has suspended the operation of Neoplan Skyliners on its network of express coach services following last weeks crash on a motorway junction near Heathrow Airport. The operator says it will not allow the vehicles to re-enter service until additional checks to the 12-vehicle fleet have been completed. Two people were killed and several seriously injured in the crash which happened on a slip road between the M4 and M25 motorways. The vehicle, operated by Plymouth-based Trathe

C2C is hoping that new station security blockades with Essex Police will help it halve ticketless travel from 3% to 1.5%. The initiative will extend the successful Operation Effective which started last year and involved c2c and the police mounting joint operations at stations in areas with high local crime rates to check for fraudulent travel, known criminals and people carrying weapons, drugs and stolen goods. The idea was suggested by the police who suspected that a large amount of cri

transport secretary Douglas Alexander has announced that the British Transport Police will be retained as a national specialist force for the railway. The decision was made after the review of the BTP launched by former transport secretary Alistair Darling last autumn concluded that the force’s specialist knowledge of the operation of the railway is an important asset. “I have therefore decided not to make any structural changes to the way in which the policing of the railways