Boris demands TfL agree to Driverless Trains

And you could raise the pavements at bus stops so that people don't have to step up and down so far.

And make them electric so that there's less pollution.

And maybe articulate them so that one unit could carry more people for greater efficiency.

Then you could make sure people get their tickets checked before boarding to speed things up.

Perhaps sink them and then put a solid tarmacked surface on top for other forms of transport thus better utilising space.


Yeah, I reckon you're onto a winner, there.

Not just east of Bow, there's "parallel running" on the West end of the Central Line

ATO, driverless and unstaffed are three different things.
With ATO there is always a driver supervising, ready to intervene at any moment should it be necessary.
With driverless there is always a member of staff on board able to take control if required, although not necessarily position at the front of the train
With unstaffed there is not guaranteed to be a staff member on board the train, any intervention required relies on remote monitoring.

Crossrail and Thameslink core will be ATO.

And GoA 4 is why we will need drivers (whatever they call them) on most of LU for a very long time.

Up to GoA 3 is relatively easy, but with a system as old and complicated as LU, handling every possible exception condition (even enumerating every possible exception condition) is a mammoth undertaking.

For the DLR there are very small gaps between stations (for the most part) and in tunnels there are continuous walkways. I'm not sure the reason for the tunnel walkways had really made sense until I started reading this forum.

While the plural of data isn't anecdote having commuted on it regularly until March this year, when it was busy the Train Captains generally took the "driver's seat" or stayed in the nearby vestibule and were very good at moving through the trains.

Yes, because now, s/he's in the cab at the front.

Many might think that's a very sensible arrangement.

<< Also the DLR has Passenger Service Agents (PSA), they stopped using the title "Train Captain" in the 1990s >>
Quite correct, but there haven't been any firemen on BR/NR since 1968, yet ASLEF still have the F in their title 52 years on!

There aren't any Locomotive Engineers in ASLEF, either.
Britain has a long list of eminent Locomotive Engineers, going right back to Hackworth and the Stephensons, none of whom, as far as I am aware, have been card-carrying members of ASLEF.

A Grand Sounding Title for a working-man's job, probably. Very popular with corporate bodies.
"My old man's a Waste Management Logistics Operative..."

My old man's a FURCTO, he wears a FURCTO's hat.

ETA: (Credit for thinking up the 'My Old Man' connection goes to brigham.)

So it sounds like a logical progression from an existing position, with the politicians trying to gain credit, as usual.

The feasibility exploration will just tell them exactly what the PM was told when he was mayor: It is possible, but only if you are prepared to spend a massive amount of money in the short and medium term on infrastructure, staffing and regulatory approvals and have a fight with the unions, will not arrive within the next five years and will not, even in the long term, save a significant amount of money.

Either it will be quietly dropped or it will be demanded that TfL deliver it without any money being allocated to do so.

Is it?

Boris said "So what I will be saying to the London transport authority is let’s take advantage of this technological leap forward, let’s not be the prisoners of the unions any more, let’s go to driverless trains".

Converting to GoA3 would have no benefits whatsoever, the trains would still need a member of staff on board, they would have to be trained to the same level as Train Operators, they would expect to be paid the same as TOps and would undoubtedly join (or already be a member of) a union.

The DLR is GoA3 and when RMT went on strike nothing moved for 48 hours apart from a single train staffed by a manager providing a shuttle service between Canning Town and Custom House for ExCeL so when Boris says he wants to "not be the prisoners of the unions" he must be thinking of GoA4

Or rather its more likely Boris thinks the DLR is GoA4 and didn't even notice that RMT went on strike even though he was Mayor at the time.

Also worth noting that he's used the "technological leap forward" schtick before, in 2013 when he announced he was closing ticket offices he excused himself by claiming that technological advances had meant that things had changed since he pledged that they would all remain open in 2008.  The technological advance was Oyster Card, the reason why Ken intended to close ticket offices on the first place(although he wanted more station staff not less).

I suspect whoever wrote the "terms of reference" doesn't know the difference either