TFL has just set out
their new budget and business plan to improve London Transport services over
the coming years.
From TFL press release
Transport
for London's (TfL's) proposed Budget 2016/17 and Business Plan has been
published, setting out a wide range of further improvements to the transport
network in the coming years.
The
document shows how investment in the public transport network will continue to
deliver significant improvements for customers.
These include:
·
The
continuing construction of Crossrail,
which will revolutionise travel across London when it opens as the Elizabeth line in 2018.
·
The
huge transformation of London Underground currently underway, with major
stations being rebuilt, the Northern and
Metropolitan lines being extended, and the Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City
lines being modernised with a new signalling system to run more services.
·
Preparations
for the introduction of 24 hour weekend
'Night Tube' services on key lines.
·
Doubling
the station accessibility fund from £75
million to £150 million, making more stations step-free and ensuring the
Mayor's target of 50 per cent of rail
and Tube stations being made step-free by 2018 is on-track.
·
Electrification of the
Gospel Oak to Barking London Overground line and work to extend
London Overground to Barking riverside, alongside station improvements at
stations taken over from West Anglia last year.
In
addition, TfL is progressing the priorities set out in the GLA Budget published
in February 2016.
These include:
·
Doubling
TfL's Growth Fund from £300 million to
£600 million to help unlock further growth and regeneration across London.
·
£250 million towards two new
Overground stations at Old Oak Common providing connections to the planned Old
Oak Common HS2, Crossrail and national rail stations and regeneration to the
local area.
·
£100 million towards a potential
extension of the tram network to Sutton if the remaining funding shortfall can
be addressed by reducing the scheme's cost or increasing the local contribution
from development.
·
Establishing
a £20 million road safety technology
fund to develop new road safety and autonomous vehicle technologies in London
and help meet the target of reducing the most serious road casualties by 50 per
cent.
·
Further
major improvements are also planned on the Capital's roads as part of a £4
billion Road Modernisation Plan. This is seeing major roads and junctions
transformed and made safer, with assets renewed and new safety and
'congestion-busting' technology introduced. The road network is being made
safer for all road users, with new bus safety programmes and nearly £1 billion
of planned investment in making cycling safer.
This range of roads
improvements includes:
·
The
completion of eight Cycle Superhighway Routes by summer 2016, comprising more
than 60km of new cycling infrastructure.
·
The
completion of improvement work at Elephant & Castle, including a newly
created peninsular public space.
·
The
introduction of vital safety improvements at Bow Interchange.
·
Work
scheduled to begin on a further five Quietway cycle routes, in addition to the
two currently under construction.
·
The
completion of further 'mini-Holland' cycling infrastructure projects in Waltham
Forest, Enfield Town and Kingston upon Thames.
·
A
range of measures to improve air quality, including the creation of an Ultra
Low Emission Zone are being progressed. The National Infrastructure Commission
has now also given its full support to Crossrail 2, showing that it is
absolutely vital to meeting the needs of London's population, which is expected
to grow from 8.6 million today to 10 million in 2030. We are also working with
the Government on transferring all inner London rail services to TfL, opening
up huge opportunities to improve services on those routes.
TfL
is also planning the modernisation of
the deep-level Tube lines, with a 'New Tube for London' set to bring
air-conditioned journeys to the Piccadilly,
Bakerloo, central and Waterloo & City lines. The extension of the Bakerloo line would help meet the anticipated
growth in south London, and the building of new river crossings and the
creation of new road tunnels will help reduce congestion and support thousands
of new homes and jobs.
TfL's
draft Budget 2016/17 and Business Plan will be considered by the TfL Board on
17 March.
Let’s take a quick
look at the document which you can view here as this document contains interesting
information on the investments for London Transport.
The first pie chart
shows the source of income for TFL.
Second pie chart shows
that the majority of the income is spent on running the service.
Little bit of history
here, back in November 1996, London Transport stated in their press release that their fares were relatively
high because they don’t receive an operating subsidy. I do believe it’s the
popularity of the One Day Travelcard which enables people to travel more
efficiently.
The document also
gives a brief mention about the New Routemaster project.
New Routemaster buses
More than 600 of the
new buses
are in service and we are on track to reach
1,000 by 2017. The newest models are
also fitted with the latest Euro VI engine, which results in fewer oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and
particulate matter emissions.
The
New Routemasters can operate in electric
only mode when the battery is fully charged, particularly at low speeds when caught in traffic. This helps
reduce emissions in more congested parts of the Capital.
We
are committed to working with the bus
manufacturers to ensure that even more
environmentally friendly vehicle technology is made available for London in
the near future.
Interesting stuff!
Still no update though on the Short New Routemaster but hopefully we will see
more buses in the near future which feature designs based on the New
Routemaster, such as the Enviro400H City.
Also I'd like to
apologise for the previous article as I was bit vague on the New
Routemaster recalls and not all 468 New Routemasters can be recalled because
thankfully Wrightbus have their own repair and refurbishment centre in
Orpington. In reality though, I believe the NRM’s will be repaired at their bus
garages without any disruption.
I'm looking forward to
seeing the future of London Transport. Once 1,000 of the New Routemasters are
rolled out, hopefully we will see an increase of zero emission buses to help
combat pollution and Climate Change. The investments in the document are very
interesting to read.
As always, you can
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and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
