Category Archives: Transport policy

Motability: is it true that the disability scheme is taking UK taxpayers for a ride?

Posted on by

Understanding the rightwing backlash over the government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get cars

  • This article is an extract from our First Edition newsletter. Sign up here

Motability really ought to be a boring subject: a government scheme helping people with serious disabilities get a car by using a portion of their benefits to pay for the lease. But over the past week, anyone who had never heard of Motability would have got a more lurid impression.

First reported in the Daily Mail, and then in a string of follow-up stories, Motability was portrayed not as a useful mechanism for helping people with disabilities but an outrageous example of con artists milking the taxpayer.

Continue reading...

Ministers may siphon off stalled £950m fund for motorway chargers

Posted on by

Talks to take place with operators about the scheme, announced in 2020, which has failed to make any grants

Ministers are considering diverting money from a £950m scheme to install rapid chargers for electric cars on the UK’s motorways, announced five years ago, after it failed to make a single grant.

Much of the cash allocated to the rapid charging fund (RCF) could be redirected to investments in other charging schemes, or to support the transition to electric vehicles more broadly, although decisions have yet to be made, according to a person close to discussions in government.

Continue reading...

Service at Heathrow airport returns to normal two days after forced closure

Posted on by

More than a thousand flights were cancelled on Friday after a fire at an electrical substation caused a power cut

Heathrow airport has returned to normal business two days after it was forced to close when a fire at an electrical substation caused a power cut.

Europe’s busiest airport had more than 1,000 flights cancelled on Friday after the fire at the substation in Hayes, west London.

Continue reading...

Taxi firms crowdfund legal battle with Uber over VAT on fares in UK

Posted on by

Minicab drivers say Uber’s bid to apply tax to all rides would put many out of business and leave people stranded

Two British taxi companies have launched a crowdfunding drive for the last leg of a lengthy legal battle with Uber that could result in higher cab fares.

Uber will seek, at a supreme court hearing in July, a ruling on contractual models that affect whether VAT applies to private-hire companies outside London, which it has argued would level the playing field across the UK.

Continue reading...

HS2 ‘a casebook example of how not to run a major project’, MPs say

Posted on by

Scathing committee report lambasts DfT and HS2 for failing to work together effectively

HS2 has become “a casebook example of how not to run a major project”, according to the latest scathing report on the high-speed rail line from MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC).

The PAC lambasted the Department for Transport (DfT) and HS2 Ltd for failing to work together effectively, and told them not to waste the opportunity to get a grip on costs during the project’s latest “reset”.

Continue reading...

UK-wide parking app may be out of road after government funding withdrawn

Posted on by

Five-year-old platform intended to make drivers’ lives easier will only be supported until the end of March

It was hailed as “the future of UK parking”, intended to remove one of the bugbears of modern life: the need to sign up to a plethora of different apps in order to park your car.

But a big question mark now hangs over the future of the National Parking Platform (NPP), a government-funded scheme designed to make drivers’ lives easier by letting them use one app of their choice to pay for all their parking.

Continue reading...

St Pancras and Channel tunnel plan rail routes to Germany and Switzerland

Posted on by

Partnership comes as London station looks at ways to almost triple passenger numbers

St Pancras railway station in London and the Channel tunnel operator have agreed to work together to open up more trains from Britain to France, and routes to Germany and Switzerland.

The agreement is the latest sign of growing momentum for new passenger rail links from England across the Channel, after Great Britain’s only international station announced plans to triple the number of people who can travel through every hour.

Continue reading...

‘How patronising’: rail bosses face anger over plan to hide train departure times

Posted on by

New scheme, aimed at reducing platform dashes, will see schedules deleted from boards three minutes before departure

Rail bosses have been accused of patronising passengers by hiding trains’ departure information minutes before they are due to leave in a bid to tackle last-moment platform dashes.

Under the scheme, which is being trialled at King’s Cross, the final call for long-distance trains will be made four minutes before departure. Train details will be deleted from departure boards three minutes before they leave.

Continue reading...

Labour pledges to make Sunday trains as reliable as weekday services

Posted on by

Government plans to renationalise railways will establish new public body to improve the network

Sunday train services will be as reliable as those on weekdays under plans to renationalise the railways, the new transport secretary will claim in a keynote speech on Monday.

Issuing a series of pledges on which the government will be judged by millions of passengers – as well as its political opponents – Heidi Alexander will cite the creation of a network “where Sunday services are as ­reliable as Monday’s” as one of her key priorities.

Continue reading...

Bus services cut disproportionately in deprived areas of England, study finds

Posted on by

Most deprived areas suffer ten-fold bigger reduction, which in turn exacerbates deprivation

People living in deprived areas of England have suffered disproportionately larger cuts to bus services, according research by a leading thinktank.

The analysis by IPPR North found that cuts to services in England had been felt the most in “left-behind neighbourhoods”.

Continue reading...

South Western Railway to become first train operator nationalised under Labour

Posted on by

As part of a comprehensive programme of renationalisation, the service will come under public ownership in May

South Western Railway will be the first train operator nationalised under the Labour government, ministers have announced.

One of the UK’s biggest commuter services, which operates out of London Waterloo, it will be taken into public hands in May.

Continue reading...

‘People-first’ transport in English towns could be integrated by apps

Posted on by

Louise Haigh plans to focus on poorer areas, healthy methods and ability to ‘tap in and tap out seamlessly’

Transport across towns and cities could become integrated using dedicated apps, with investment focused on poorer areas and healthier methods, as part of what ministers are calling a “people-first” revolution in local travel.

Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, described the plans in a speech in Leeds as “a revolution to wrestle back power over transport”. She said powers would be heavily devolved to mayors and councils across England, who would be encouraged to devise their own priorities.

Continue reading...

Starmer steps into cabinet row over P&O to rescue global summit in London

Posted on by

The PM has backed transport secretary Louise Haigh after she called ferry firm a ‘rogue operator’, threatening investment summit

Keir Starmer expressed his full confidence on Saturday in the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, after an explosive cabinet row cast fresh doubt over his Downing Street operation and threatened to overshadow a key international investment summit in London.

Government sources said the prime minister and Haigh had spoken and made up on Saturday after Starmer appeared to rebuke her on Friday for branding P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” in a statement and then calling for customers to boycott the company in a subsequent media interview.

Continue reading...

New UK laws to stop repeat of P&O mass sackings scandal go before parliament

Posted on by

Labour clamps down on poor working conditions at sea with laws on collective dismissal and minimum wage on cross-Channel ferries

Laws to ensure that the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal can never recur will be laid before parliament this week as Labour clamps downs on poor working conditions at sea, with cruise and cargo ships also in its sights.

The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.

Continue reading...

Traffic to be banned from London’s Oxford Street under Sadiq Khan plan

Posted on by

Mayor to be given power to overrule Westminster council, which blocked previous plan amid concerns over rerouting buses

Traffic will be banned from London’s Oxford Street under plans announced by the mayor, Sadiq Khan, using new powers from Labour to push through long-thwarted pedestrianisation of the capital’s famous shopping strip.

Khan said urgent action was needed so that the mile-long street could “once again become the leading retail destination in the world.”

Continue reading...

‘There’s something in the air’: UK airport expansion gears up for takeoff

Posted on by

Lobbyists are increasingly confident about expansion plans as concerns for the economy start to deepen

The younger, tormented minister mulling his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow’s third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground.

But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet which, many in aviation hope, may usher in bigger airports and more flights – as well as enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms.

Continue reading...

TfL to refund drivers wrongly issued with Ulez fines after cameras vandalised

Posted on by

Two cameras in Chingford were twisted around to face roads outside the low-emission zone boundary

Transport for London (TfL) has said it will refund drivers wrongly issued with ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) charges because of vandalised enforcement cameras.

The transport body confirmed two cameras in Chingford, north-east London, “became misaligned” for a short period and many fines were issued incorrectly. It is understood the cameras were twisted the wrong way so that they were facing roads outside the Ulez boundary.

Continue reading...

London City airport expansion given green light by ministers

Posted on by

Climate campaigners criticise decision to allow capacity to increase from 6.5m to 9m passengers a year

Ministers have approved London City airport’s application to expand, in a decision that has disappointed climate campaigners.

The airport submitted a proposal to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers a year by putting on more weekend and early morning flights. Local campaigners and Newham council opposed the move, arguing the air and noise pollution would affect people living nearby and that it could potentially increase carbon emissions.

Continue reading...

Rachel Reeves to delay some of Tories’ ‘unfunded’ road and hospital projects

Posted on by

Chancellor attempts to plug £20bn hole in spending but will commit to above-inflation public sector pay rise

Rachel Reeves is to delay a number of “unfunded” road and hospital projects on Monday as part of the Treasury’s anticipated plans to plug an apparent £20bn hole in spending left by the Conservatives, while committing to an above-inflation public sector pay rise.

The chancellor is expected to argue she has inherited capital projects that are “unfunded with unfeasible timelines” as part of her Treasury audit report to the Commons. The audit will be seen as an indication of the government’s early commitments and priorities.

Continue reading...

EU biometric checks for foreign travellers delayed again

Posted on by

Digital border system that will require fingerprint and facial scans postponed until November

The date for the introduction of the EU’s new entry-exit system has been pushed back again until November, allaying fears of long queues at the border during the October half-term holidays.

The launch of the new biometric checks for foreign travellers, including Britons, entering the EU, has been delayed from 6 October until at least 10 November, with many smaller airports yet to have facilities in place.

Continue reading...