Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 3, 2022 15:25:50 GMT
Some media outlets are reporting that TfL have apparently failed to find a title sponsor for the cross Thames cable car and it will be down to Sadiq Khan as mayor whether to continue the service, but at a loss to London tax payers. This is true, but it's less Covid related and more to do with the fact that the current sponsorship arrangement is close to expiry. |
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Post by aslefshrugged on Mar 3, 2022 16:19:02 GMT
Maybe the Mayor can sell it to somewhere that actually needs a cable car. After all the DfT did ask him to find new ways of generating revenue
Individual's name replaced with role - Tom
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Mar 3, 2022 22:31:30 GMT
The Dangleway was never a serious public transport proposition, just like the Garden Bridge.
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Post by alpinejohn on Mar 25, 2022 15:24:26 GMT
Heathrow Terminal 4 is reported to be reopening on Sunday. I assume this will see the Piccadilly service pattern revert to [ast operations round the loop.
Hopefully someone in TFL saw this coming and has made sure that all affected drivers have retained appropriate route familiarisation to use the T4 platforms. I don't think this will be an issue for Elizabeth Line services to Heathrow as they have been operating some empty services into T4 for a while.
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Dstock7080
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Post by Dstock7080 on Mar 25, 2022 16:11:05 GMT
Heathrow Terminal 4 is reported to be reopening on Sunday. I assume this will see the Piccadilly service pattern revert to [ast operations round the loop. Hopefully someone in TFL saw this coming and has made sure that all affected drivers have retained appropriate route familiarisation to use the T4 platforms. Nothing reported to TfL. Piccadilly trains have been running the scheduled services around the T4 loop since the station closed in 2020, drivers are fully trained. |
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Post by alpinejohn on Mar 25, 2022 16:39:57 GMT
Aggh - Crossed lines following a conversation with a T4 contractor. The public will not be using the terminal this weekend although hundreds of contract staff are now on site every day recommissioning the Terminal in time for extensive use over the summer.
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Post by xplaistow on Mar 25, 2022 17:45:49 GMT
With the most recent TfL Rail timetable featuring 2tph to T5 and 2tph to T2&3 which run empty to T4 to reverse, it should be a simple enough task to redesignate the latter as in-service all the way to T4 when it reopens. However, I would imagine that the initially promised 4tph to T4 will have to wait until after through running into the Crossrail core commences.
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Mar 26, 2022 22:15:26 GMT
YouTuber Tom Scott made a video about [an airport] terminal reopening:
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Mar 26, 2022 23:05:25 GMT
YouTuber Tom Scott made a video about the terminal reopening The video is about a different terminal (Gatwick South) but the process will likely be comparable |
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rincew1nd
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Post by rincew1nd on Mar 26, 2022 23:14:52 GMT
The video is about a different terminal (Gatwick South) but the process will likely be comparable Meh, they both start with London. I do trains not planes. |
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Post by spsmiler on Mar 27, 2022 22:36:07 GMT
The video is about a different terminal (Gatwick South) but the process will likely be comparable Meh, they both start with London. I do trains not planes. Also, they are both easily reached by train! |
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Post by sawb on Apr 8, 2022 14:37:35 GMT
It's being reported today that the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern lines (West end branch only) are to resume Night Tube service later this year, but I've not seen any official dates yet
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Post by t697 on Apr 8, 2022 17:11:40 GMT
Now here's an observation that might be covid relevant.
At Harrow this morning about 0825 there were southbound semi-fasts in both platforms 5 and 6. Pre-pandemic there would be a cross platform rush to whichever train had the green signal irrespective of how crowded it already was. Today the rush was across to the second to depart which was quite a bit emptier.
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Dstock7080
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Post by Dstock7080 on Apr 8, 2022 17:16:39 GMT
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on May 11, 2022 10:20:07 GMT
Has TfL's advice changed? I've just seen summertime removing the please keep apart stickers at Devons Road
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Post by jimbo on May 27, 2022 0:51:51 GMT
The latest map shows: Heathrow Terminal 4 opening June 2022. Any details? Is that along with South Kensington?
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Dstock7080
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Post by Dstock7080 on May 27, 2022 2:25:02 GMT
The latest map shows: Heathrow Terminal 4 opening June 2022. Any details? Is that along with South Kensington? Reopening Tuesday 14 June |
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Post by jimbo on Jun 25, 2022 1:28:31 GMT
TfL Funding Update - "We have today (24 June) agreed with the Government that our existing funding agreement will be extended until 13 July 2022 so these discussions can be resumed." The original terms of the Funding Package were announced on 25 February 2022. link Why can't a longer term agreement be reached in those four months, rather than limping along for another few weeks? This seems to keep happening when the deal is up for renewal! |
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Post by Chris L on Jun 25, 2022 9:21:15 GMT
TfL Funding Update - "We have today (24 June) agreed with the Government that our existing funding agreement will be extended until 13 July 2022 so these discussions can be resumed." The original terms of the Funding Package were announced on 25 February 2022. link Why can't a longer term agreement be reached in those four months, rather than limping along for another few weeks? This seems to keep happening when the deal is up for renewal! A deal requires both parties to compromise. It's not happening. |
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Post by phil on Jun 25, 2022 10:15:10 GMT
TfL Funding Update - "We have today (24 June) agreed with the Government that our existing funding agreement will be extended until 13 July 2022 so these discussions can be resumed." The original terms of the Funding Package were announced on 25 February 2022. link Why can't a longer term agreement be reached in those four months, rather than limping along for another few weeks? This seems to keep happening when the deal is up for renewal!
Because the Westminster Government keep trying to impose conditions that TfL cannot, or will not deliver (be it for sound technical reasons or due to the trade unions implacable hostility).
However, the Westminster Government know that forcing TfL to effectively go bankrupt and have to start shutting down large sections of the transport network (The law does not permit local Government to carry on running up debts without there being a way of paying them back being in place first) is not really a viable option due to the Political fallout - but at the same time they are determined not to back down on the ideologically driven 'modernisation' / 'reforms' they want TfL to enact.
Hence short term funding deals are done to keep up the pressure on TfL (and the Mayor) - who then can't plan for the long term all the time they are living on hand to mouth funding. This is then spun for political effect by both parties as the other side being unreasonable...
Its a bit of a disgrace really - and is ultimately more about party politics than anything practical because if left alone to negotiate freely I'm sure TfL and the DfT could come up with a suitable long term deal with compromises on both sides.
Regrettably however, given the attitude of the governing party at Westminster (and their actions in blocking the solving of disputes in the wider rail industry, particularly where it gives them a chance to 'take on' / 'break the power of' trade unions) I can see this pattern of last minute short term funding deals continuing for a while yet - as I suspect its going to need a change of Administration at Westminster (or City Hall) to take politics out of the equation and thus allow compromises to be made.
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Post by jimbo on Jun 29, 2022 7:20:56 GMT
TfL Commissioner Andy Byford video of public board meeting of the recent London TravelWatch Board here at link He complains of having to run TfL now with only two weeks of funding, and the need for long-term capital funding. He makes the case that it is crazy buying high tech trains for the Piccadilly Line without buying high tech signalling to take advantage of that, e.g. auto-driving as on other lines. He also makes the case for buying a further build of these trains to replace the 50-year old trains on the Bakerloo Line, but does not mention the need for similar signalling there!. |
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Post by brigham on Jun 29, 2022 7:50:41 GMT
One of the advantages of the short-term funding is the absence of opportunity to commit to long-term, high cost capital projects.
London is already over-served as far as passenger transport is concerned. Funding needs to be based on operating an adequate service on the system as it stands, on a cost-effective basis. Repairs and renewals are the thing, not multi-billion pound 'new tube'schemes with ever-decreasing flexibility as the costs spiral upwards.
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Post by jimbo on Jul 29, 2022 1:40:46 GMT
The recent Night Tube press release says “Weekday ridership on the Tube network has grown to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and weekend ridership is now regularly above 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.” link Looks on the face of it that demand is higher at weekends! But these are % of different base figures. I wonder how weekend demand really now compares to weekdays. Is there still a case for peak services? Perhaps different Mon & Friday service to mid-week? |
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Post by trt on Jul 29, 2022 10:45:54 GMT
It was certainly packed yesterday evening. And that was around 7-8pm, past the peak of peak in my experience.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 29, 2022 13:30:41 GMT
It was certainly packed yesterday evening. And that was around 7-8pm, past the peak of peak in my experience. That might have been because of the train strike on some (all?) mainline routes. |
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Colin
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Post by Colin on Jul 29, 2022 13:34:09 GMT
I wonder how weekend demand really now compares to weekdays. Is there still a case for peak services? Perhaps different Mon & Friday service to mid-week? Take my line, the District, for example.... It is clear that people who are able to work from home mainly live at the west end of the line. The east end of the line never went quiet during the weekday peak periods and I'm willing to bet the east end of the District is now pretty close to its pre-pandemic numbers during the weekday peaks. The west end of the line has certainly picked up but it's still noticeably down on pre-pandemic numbers. Between the peaks and late evening on weekdays it is much quieter than it was pre-pandemic. Weekends are definitely performing strongly - in fact they picked up earlier and at a quicker pace than the weekdays have. The train of thought here (pun unintended) is that those people working from home are more likely to want to venture out at the weekends. More generally we've had a two year period of being denied access to leisure and people are now wanting to play catch up. Also, foreign visitors have picked up fairly well which adds to the leisure group. Other lines may be performing differently depending on their demographics but I'd suggest the two headline points that can be applied combine wide are weekday peak travel continues to be affected by a change in working patterns (particularly the ability to work from home) and leisure travel demand is strong at the weekends. |
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Post by trt on Jul 29, 2022 15:17:41 GMT
It was certainly packed yesterday evening. And that was around 7-8pm, past the peak of peak in my experience. That might have been because of the train strike on some (all?) mainline routes. A lot of it at the north-western end was down to a line side fire shutting the WCML & Watson. But I couldn't find a reason for the heavy footfall in the core section between London Bridge and Baker Street. |
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Dstock7080
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Post by Dstock7080 on Aug 30, 2022 16:04:40 GMT
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Post by sawb on Aug 30, 2022 16:14:45 GMT
Some sources are suggesting a change to the legislation which set up is required to allow for any pension reforms. If this is the case, would the Bill be drafted by Government or submitted by TfL as a Private Bill?
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Post by trt on Aug 30, 2022 17:30:49 GMT
Hm. No mention of a recommitment to reducing general costs (i.e. reducing staffing levels) in this statement. Does this agreement replace the earlier one (which I understood was operational expenditure)? Or is it in addition to and only covers capital expenditure? If the latter then HMG are going after the TfL pensions with a vengeance.
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