Category Archives: Transport policy

MPs call for tougher penalties on drivers using mobile phones

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Committee says ban on hands-free use should be considered amid rise in road deaths

Tougher restrictions on drivers using mobile phones, including extending the ban to hands-free devices, should be considered, MPs have said.

The transport select committee said using any type of mobile phone while driving had potentially catastrophic consequences. The MPs called for more severe penalties “commensurate with the risks”, as road deaths linked to phone use have risen steadily over the past decade.

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Passengers incensed: Vienna adds perfumed trains to €1 a day travel

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Austrian capital follows success of cheap season ticket with another sweet deal for commuters

The rush-hour subway train glides into the station, the doors snap open and passengers move forward to board. As they enter the crowded carriage, they are met not with a musty mix of human odours, but with the subtle aroma of citrus fruit.

A select few trains on Vienna’s U-bahn are trialling perfumed carriages following complaints that the city’s subway system was unpleasant during the summer, despite widespread air conditioning.

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Stonehenge £2bn road tunnel project funding uncertain, MPs warn

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Public accounts committee says plan at mercy of spending review delayed by Brexit

A £2bn project to open a road tunnel beneath the Stonehenge world heritage site in 2026 is being put at risk by uncertainty over how it will be financed, MPs have warned.

Ministers have claimed the scheme is affordable, deliverable and will improve Stonehenge by taking the sight and sound of lorries and cars away from the ancient monument and reducing traffic congestion.

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Northern’s Pacer trains to run into 2020 despite retirement pledge

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Rail firm privately backtracks on vow to MPs that fleet would be retired by end of year

Northern rail promised MPs last week its fleet of hated “buses-on-rails” would be retired by the end of the year, but it has emerged the firm had already privately warned the transport secretary it might have to keep some of them in service well into 2020.

Rob Warnes, the rail firm’s network planning director, told the all-party parliamentary group (AAPG) on rail in the north that all of its antiquated fleet of Pacers would be gone by the end of the year, according to Ian Mearns, the Labour MP who chairs the AAPG.

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Dublin disappoints: what happened to city cycling’s great hope?

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In 2013 the Irish capital was ranked among the world’s top 20 bike-friendly cities, but only a small part of the promised cycle network was ever built

One sunny May afternoon in Dublin, as the Spice Girls prepared to kick off their Spice World 2019 tour at Croke Park stadium, the coaches bringing their fans unwittingly sparked another reunion – the city’s cycle activists.

It had been two years since the direct action group I Bike Dublin had mobilised to protect cycle tracks from car parking – uniting around twice a week under the hashtag #freethecyclelane – but as police officers directed coach drivers to park in the bike lane by Dublin Bay, blocking the track, the protesters were back.

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‘Climate emergency’ edict in UK to shape decision on Heathrow expansion review

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Britain’s net zero by 2050 goal may have impact on whether existing policies are reassessed

Britain’s move to “net zero” carbon and the declaration of a climate emergency in parliament will be “given careful consideration” in deciding whether to grant a review of Heathrow airport’s expansion, the government has said.

The new approach falls well short of any commitment to review Heathrow’s expansion, but means the decision on whether to grant campaigners’ request for a review will include the net zero target and the climate emergency among its criteria.

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London prepares for launch of ultra-low emissions zone

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Almost 1,000 people a year in London are hospitalised with asthma caused by pollution

London is preparing to enforce “world-leading” vehicle pollution restrictions from Monday as the capital attempts to clean up the toxic air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.

The ultra-low emission zone, or Ulez, will launch at one minute past midnight, imposing a £12.50-a-day charge to drive into central London in all but the cleanest cars and vans.

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Mind the gender pay gap: Berlin women to get public transport discount

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Gender-specific “Frauenticket” will be 21% cheaper than usual and available on 18 March in stunt to flag German pay gap

Women travelling on Berlin’s metro, buses or trams will pay 21% less than men next Monday in a stunt to boost the visibility of Germany’s gaping gender pay gap.

The city’s public transport operator, BVG, said its “Frauenticket” will be available on 18 March only, to mark Equal Pay Day in Germany. Under the slogan “Mind the pay gap”, it said its cut-price ticket was intended to flag the 21% difference between men and women’s average earnings, one of the biggest gender pay gaps in Europe.

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Grayling reaches £33m settlement over Brexit ferry fiasco court case

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Transport secretary agrees deal with Eurotunnel, which was suing government

The government has settled a high court case over the Brexit ferry fiasco after reaching an agreement worth up to £33m with Eurotunnel, which was suing it following the award of a contract to a company with no ships.

The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said in a statement: “The agreement with Eurotunnel secures the government’s additional freight capacity, helping ensure that the NHS has essential medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”

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No-deal Brexit ‘could disrupt London commuter trains’

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Buildup of freight at Channel tunnel might affect services into capital, operator warns

Rail passengers commuting into London could have services disrupted by freight trains if a no-deal Brexit causes logjams at the Channel tunnel, it has emerged.

Go-Ahead, the company behind the rail operator Southeastern, said it was working with the government to try to ensure commuters were not affected.

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CCTV could be made mandatory in taxis in England and Wales

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Licensing law proposals also include more rigorous regime on driver background checks

Taxis and minicab drivers in England and Wales could be forced to install CCTV in their vehicles under government proposals to tighten up licensing laws.

Local authorities might also have to conduct enhanced criminal record and background checks on every driver.

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Sack Grayling over the Brexit ferry fiasco, demand MPs

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Cross-party calls for transport secretary’s dismissal follow collapse of £13.8m contract to Seaborne Freight

Theresa May faced cross-party calls to sack her transport secretary, Chris Grayling, last night, after the calamitous collapse of a no-deal Brexit ferry contract handed to a company with no ships.

Senior Tories said the prime minister had turned “a blind eye” to Grayling’s decision to award the £13.8m contract to Seaborne Freight to run ferries between Ramsgate and Ostend, despite widespread derision and accusations that it had been awarded illegally.

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Zombie clunkers: has your local bus been resurrected in Guatemala?

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Phased out vehicles often end up back in use in developing countries – a form of dumping with serious environmental consequences

In a sparsely furnished office overlooking dozens of buses at the Zone 21 depot in Guatemala City, Jorge Castro flips through photographs on his mobile phone. He settles on one.

“There’s the bus when I bought it in Maryland,” he says proudly. It is a blue and white bus emblazoned with the words “Ride On”, the name of Montgomery County’s public transit system.

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‘Like LA with minarets’: how concrete and cars came to rule Tehran

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The next 15 megacities #3: With nearly 10 million people doing daily battle with some of the world’s highest levels of congestion and air pollution, headscarves should be the least of the authorities’ worries …

Tehran’s traffic jams have spawned a curious social phenomenon. The affluent car-driving youth of the northern districts have turned gridlock into a way of meeting members of the opposite sex.

Known as “dor-dor” (“turn-turn” in Farsi), separate groups of young men and women drive around, pulling up alongside each other in congested traffic so they can flirt and pass phone numbers through the window. The cars are either all-girl or all-boy to avoid censorship by the Islamic morality police. If the police do show up they can make a (slow) getaway.

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How an emerging African megacity cut commutes by two hours a day

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The next 15 megacities #2: Could Dar es Salaam’s experiment with Africa’s first ‘gold standard’ bus rapid transit system offer an alternative to a future dependent on private cars?

The next 15 megacities #1: Baghdad at 10 million

Dusk falls in Dar es Salaam, and for hundreds of thousands of people in this African megacity-to-be the daily chaos and frustration of the journey home begins.

People cram themselves into dalla dalla minibuses, some even climbing through the windows once the entrance is blocked. Others hang out of the doors, but the Kilwa Road heading south towards Mbagala slum is jammed and these diesel-belchers are going nowhere fast.

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No-deal Brexit rehearsal tests traffic congestion in Kent

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Road haulage body dismisses trial involving 79 lorry drivers as ‘window dressing’

The Department for Transport is carrying out a live trial of an emergency traffic congestion system to be used in Dover in the event of a no-deal Brexit, with 79 lorry drivers participating.

The trucks started their journey north of the port, at the disused Manston airport near Ramsgate, at 7am on Monday and were due to make their way to Dover.

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UK trains ‘are packed to near double capacity’

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Some major routes to be 208% over capacity by 2022, shows data compiled by Labour

Overcrowding on trains is at the highest level for years, according to official data compiled by Labour showing some major routes are to be 208% of capacity by 2022.

A study of government figures found the most overcrowded services were on average 187% of capacity in 2017, an increase of 25% since 2011.

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