Category Archives: Road transport

Dieselgate: millions of ‘extremely’ polluting cars still on Europe’s roads, says report

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The research group that first exposed the scandal say ‘it’s not over’ and that governments must act

Thirteen million diesel cars producing “extreme” levels of toxic air pollution are still on the roads in Europe and the UK, according to a report, seven years after the Dieselgate scandal first exploded.

The non-profit research group, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), revealed in 2015 that many diesel cars were highly polluting, emitting far more nitrogen oxides on the road than in official testing. The scandal led to a more rigorous test being introduced in the EU in 2019.

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Australian drivers facing heavy new fines for parking in electric vehicle charging spots

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Experts liken act known as ‘ICEing’ to parking at a fuel bowser, and say high penalties are necessary to encourage EV uptake

Drivers could be fined as much as $3,200 for parking in spaces for electric vehicles as part of little-known penalties introduced in four states and territories.

The fines, some of them added to road rules late last year, range from $3,200 in the Australian Capital Territory to $369 in Victoria.

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UK weather: Tuesday night could be coldest of year so far, Met Office warns

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Temperatures could plummet to -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas with snow cutting off some rural areas

Tuesday night could be the coldest this year so far, the Met Office has warned, with fears that Arctic air could cut off some rural communities and cause power and transport chaos.

Temperatures could fall as low as -15c in some sheltered Scottish areas, with locations that have seen snowfall especially vulnerable.

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Carbon emissions from global SUV fleet outweighs most countries

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Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts

The continued global rise in the sale of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.

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Row growing after third historic rail bridge filled in with concrete

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National Highways faces third intervention by a local authority over infilling, after burying Congham bridge in Norfolk in tonnes of concrete

A controversial practice by the government’s roads agency of burying historic railway bridges in concrete has been dealt a fresh blow after a third council intervened over another infilled structure.

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council has told National Highways it must apply for retrospective planning permission if it wants to retain hundreds of tonnes of aggregate and concrete it used to submerge Congham bridge, a few miles east of King’s Lynn.

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Almost one in 10 local bus services axed over last year in Great Britain

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Exclusive: cuts come despite government’s levelling up promise to improve transport connectivity

Almost one in 10 local bus services were axed in Great Britain in the last year despite government promises to improve local transport connectivity being a key pillar of its levelling up agenda.

The reductions – equivalent to more than 1,000 registered routes – follow the publication of a national bus strategy for England in 2021, aimed at improving routes and service frequencies. The figures suggest the “bus back better” strategy, conceived under the then prime minister Boris Johnson, has failed to halt the decline in local bus services.

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Dob in ‘dodgy’ taxi drivers this New Year’s Eve, minister urges Sydney residents

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Passengers should use a 24-hour hotline to report cabbies who refuse to turn on meters, David Elliott says

Passengers should dob in “dodgy” cabbies who don’t use their meters for rides over the holiday period, the New South Wales transport minister says.

David Elliott sent a warning shot over the unethical practice of taxi drivers negotiating prices for passengers in a hurry without turning on their meter.

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Thai police offer cash prizes for videos of worst road violations

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Effort to reduce new year collisions has been criticised for encouraging drivers to film others or stage violations

Thai police are taking an alternative approach to their annual road safety campaign by offering cash prizes of 10,000 baht (£240) for the best – or worst – videos of traffic violations.

About 22,000 people die each year in Thailand in road traffic accidents, one of the worst death rates in the world. The week over the new year, known locally as the “seven dangerous days”, has the biggest spike as people speed around the country.

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Photos permitted as evidence of parking offences, Bavarian court rules

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Ansbach court rules in favour of two cycling activists who had been fined €100 for breaching data protection regulation

People who notify the police of parked cars blocking pavements and bike paths will in future be able to submit photographs as evidence of offences, a court in Bavaria has ruled.

An administrative court in Ansbach has ruled in favour of two cycling activists who had been fined €100 (£87) each for breaching data protection regulation for photographing apparently illegally parked cars and emailing the images to the police.

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UK drivers for Bolt ride-hailing app pursue worker benefits claim

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Lawyers acting for more than 1,600 drivers say they have been wrongly classed as self-employed

More than 1,600 UK drivers working for the ride-hailing app Bolt are seeking compensation for missed holiday and minimum wage payments as they argue they have been wrongly classed as self-employed contractors.

Lawyers for the drivers have written to the government-backed workplace conciliation service Acas, in the first stage of lodging the claim against Bolt.

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EU biometric entry system could multiply delays at Dover

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Additional requirements would be time-consuming and threaten capacity, Dover port boss says

Post-Brexit Channel border delays could multiply from next May, with a five-person vehicle being held for up to 10 minutes if the EU goes ahead with a planned biometric entry system, the Port of Dover has said.

The entry-exit system (EES), which is due to start in May 2023, will require all non-EU nationals to register their fingerprints and be photographed before entering the bloc.

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No 46 to Le Manoir: Raymond Blanc funds local bus service to restaurant

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Hourly bus serves local villages and brings staff – and sometimes customers – to Michelin-starred restaurant

With rural buses in long-term decline and a funding crisis putting more routes in peril, a surprising service has appeared on the English transport menu: the No 46 bus to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

Raymond Blanc’s celebrated restaurant and hotel in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside may not appear classic bus territory. The Michelin-starred establishment’s seven-course dinner with matching wines starts at £350 a head, rising to just over £1,000 if you want to drink the good stuff.

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Dover ferry passengers advised to arrive early amid fears of summer-long disruption

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Cross-Channel ferry passengers told to arrive in good time for border checks after weekend of delays

Cross-Channel ferry passengers were being told to arrive in good time at Dover as queues built at the Port of Dover amid fears the severe disruption of recent days could return to Kent throughout the summer.

The ferry operator DFDS told passengers there were queues of about an hour for French border checks on Monday morning and to “allow a minimum of 120 minutes before your departure to complete all controls”.

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France rejects blame for Dover gridlock, saying it is ‘not responsible for Brexit’

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Travellers told to allow three to four hours to pass through security and French border checks at port

French authorities have hit back at claims by the Port of Dover that French border control staff were to blame for a second day of hours-long delays, saying: “France is not responsible for Brexit.”

It came after the port blamed delays on insufficient border staff at police aux frontières.

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Warning Dover port chaos could spill into weekend as queues last six hours

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Kent port apologises for delays and blames French border control as summer getaway kicks off

Holidaymakers have been warned chaos that triggered six-hour queues at Dover could spill into the weekend, after the port declared a “critical incident” that it blamed on “woefully inadequate” French border control staffing.

The Kent port apologised to travellers facing long waits to cross the Channel on an extremely busy day for travel across the UK, as schools across England and Wales break up for the holidays.

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The Uber files: how the leak prompted outrage across the world

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From Europe to India and the US, the revelations have fuelled anger from across the spectrum, from the drivers to politicians

The release of the Uber files has prompted a frenzy of reaction around the world, piling pressure on senior politicians, fuelling calls for a crackdown on corporate lobbying and drawing outrage from groups including traditional taxi drivers.

The fuse was lit with the publication of revelations from a trove of more than 124,000 documents about Uber spanning from 2013 to 2017, leaked to the Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and international media.

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More than 100 bus routes in England face cuts and cancellations

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Falling passenger numbers, rising costs and the forthcoming end of emergency government funding blamed for services being reduced or terminated

At least 135 bus routes across England have been lined up for cutbacks or closures this summer as councils and bus operators grapple with falling passenger numbers, staff shortages and funding constraints.

Changes to services include reduced frequency, fewer stops and some routes being cancelled. Among the proposed cuts, some of which have already been implemented, are 16 routes in London, 25 in Liverpool and about 40 across the north-east.

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Taipei cools tempers by cutting traffic light wait time for summer

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More than 770 crossings will have countdowns shorted by up to a minute and a half

Authorities in Taipei have shortened waiting times at traffic lights for the summer, fearing that pedestrians could become ill if they are forced to stand in the tropical heat for too long.

The announcement on Friday will see more than 770 intersections in the Taiwanese capital cut waiting times by as much as one and a half minutes. On average, the signal countdowns are being cut by 30 seconds each. The new times will run between 9am and 4.30pm until September.

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Melbourne’s ‘pause’ on new bike lanes sparks outrage on World Bicycle Day

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Advocates and key councillor hope the halt is short-lived, but transport union criticises existing lanes

Cycling advocates are holding out hope that a halt on new bike lanes in Melbourne CBD announced Friday will be short-lived, warning of the risks posed by gaps in the network.

The Melbourne lord mayor, Sally Capp, said Friday there would be a “pause” on the construction of dedicated cycling lanes in the CBD. The City of Melbourne council said it would instead prioritise upgrading cycling infrastructure on arterial roads.

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