Public Transport fare rises for 2015 is a worldwide problem

As you are probably aware, TFL raise their fares in London every year but this issue is not just restricted to London, it's a worldwide problem.

Out of interest, I decided to look at transport fare hikes around the world to see if the same problem occurs in other countries. I have gathered together various links so that the reader can see for themselves.

Three years since the New Routemaster commenced operation on route 38

It’s been three years now since the New Routemaster first entered in to public service on 27^th February 2012, on Route 38.

On 27^th February 2012, the first prototype entered in to service was the LT2 (LT61BHT), starting their first journey at lunch time. It attracted many people to come and view the bus but

The private operating companies of Transport for London

Transport for London operate many services to enable people to travel around Greater London, but not all of their services are operated by Transport for London themselves. The only service which is owned and operated by Transport for London is the London Underground.

Not many people realise that most of the TFL services are operated by private companies which TFL contracted out.

In this article I will show the main services which are being operated by private companies, I'll name their parent companies and give a brief history of the company.

Shenfield Metro Service to be operated under the brand of TFL Rail

In one of TFL’s latest press releases titled ‘Crossrail – Moving to the Operating Railway’ they revealed the branding for the Shenfield branch which TFL is beginning operation on, on 31^st May 2015.

#TFL #BusStrike for February 2015

UPDATE: TFL have stated on their website that the planned strikes which were to take place on the 13th and the 16th of February have now been postphoned.

Unite members voted for another strike which will affect the majority of London Transports Bus services. The planned strikes will be taking place on 5^th February, 13^th February and 16^th February 2015.

TFL have issued this press release:

Transport for London (TfL) is advising bus passengers to check the TfL website for the latest information ahead of planned strike action by members of the Unite union, who work for London's bus companies, which is due to affect bus services on Thursday 5 February.

The strike - the result of a dispute between Unite and the bus companies over driver pay and conditions - will affect services from around 4am on Thursday 5 February and also night bus services operating on the Thursday night into Friday morning. Bus services during the day on Friday 6 February should operate as normal.

The tale of the 'open boarding buses' (Bendy Bus and New Routemaster)

Same route, same destination, different bus types, different capacity

In this article I'm going to look at the differences between two open boarding buses such as the bendy bus and the New Routemaster.

Brief History of the Bendy Bus

Open Boarding buses officially started with articulated buses on 2^nd June 2002 on Red Arrow Routes 507 and 521. Shortly after, the first main routes to convert fully to articulated buses were routes 436 and 453, early in 2003.

The final route which was converted to articulated buses was route 29, back in early 2006, which makes it the twelfth route. 

Route 453 was the only route to have change operators from Stagecoach London to Go Ahead London with new Citaro buses whilst the remaining number of Stagecoach Citaros moved to Route 25 and various other routes.

As of 2008, there were approximately 416 Mercedes Benz Citario Artics operating on 12 London Bus routes with a total daytime Peak Vehicle Requirement of 356 bendy buses.

Video: Buses, Trucks and traffic at Romford, North Street Roundabout

On 29th January 2015, I have captured footage of the traffic at North Street Roundabout in Romford, Essex Greater London.

So there is nothing much to say but to show you the video.

New cost for individual extra 200 New Routemaster buses now revealed

"New Routemasters, East Belfast storage yard, 16 August 2014" by Rossographer. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
 

Since TFL ordered the extra 200 New Routemasters, their latest board paper shows that it costs £349,500 per bus, a saving of £5,000 on their current plan. Multiplying the new price of £349,500 by 200 gives a total of £69,900,000.

Video: London Bus stop real time Countdown system

This video demonstrates the real time countdown system at selected bus stops in London.
There are 2,500 bus stops which use the countdown system which provides reliable times showing passengers how long they have to wait until their bus turns up.

The countdown system uses the feeds from the iBus which in turn uses GPS tracking to find the location of the bus and calculate how long before the bus arrives at your bus stop.