Total mobility – brave new world
I don’t go to that many general transport conferences these days as I fear I will feel like I’ve heard too much of it too many times before. So it was a pleasure to go to an LSE Cities evening event last week on electric mobility. A get together of an eclectic and international mix […]
Hammond's world of numbers
Philip Hammond is the equivalent of a particularly able finance director, parachuted in to take over what he sees as a failing company – a company perilously close to administration. He’s no romantic like his equally able predecessor, Lord Adonis, but he is just as focussed. You know where you are with Hammond. Mainly because […]
A perfect storm?
A storm brewing for the city regions outside London? It’s not just the indifferent weather that’s been casting shadows over the long summer days. At the back of many minds is uncertainty and concern over just how bad it’s going to be once the spending review kicks in from the Autumn onwards. And for local […]
Confessions of a Network Rail Public Member
I confess I’m one of the 100 plus members of Network Rail. Technically, between us, we own the railway infrastructure. Though we are not personally liable for it! Broadly speaking we have the power to sack the Board of Network Rail – but they can also sack us! When Network Rail was first created I […]
Beneath the city streets – a visit to Down Street tube station/bunker
Prior to the last quarterly Director Generals meeting our hosts Transport for London kindly arranged for a visit to the disused Down Street tube station on the Piccadilly Line in Mayfair. Subsequently it acted as Command Centre bunker for the rail network in WW2 and was also used by Churchill and his war cabinet. Here […]
Putting a TIGER in the tank
The US isn’t famous for its public transport provision especially after the motor industry did its level best to eliminate some of the excellent mass transit systems that American cities used to enjoy. A Los Angeles streetcar – operation ended in 1963[/caption] But despite the tragic destruction of the trolleys and streetcar lines that used […]
If Dehli can do it…
The world’s largest CNG bus service When you step out into the chaos of a central Delhi street – with its dilapidated looking buses, battered taxis and auto-rickshaws fighting for space, it is hard to believe that Delhi has carried out one of the largest experiments in the greening of urban transport anywhere in the […]