Boris bike extension still leaves big question
Boris Johnson has announced plans to extend the cycle hire scheme westwards as well as eastwards, and confirmed that Barclays will continue supporting the scheme till 2018. I love the idea of what is essentially free cycle hire - for those with a credit card - in central London, but I remain unsure as to what the thinking behind it is. What, in other words, is the strategy behind the ...
Rail 675: Vertical integration own goal from unions
It has long been apparent that most of the difficulties of the railway since privatisation stem from the crass and uninformed decision to separate the infrastructure from operations. A recent column in Transport Times by the veteran transport writer (even more veteran than myself) Adam Raphael highlights the culprit: step forward Steve Robson, a Treasury mandarin at the time of privatisation who as Raphael puts it, ‘persuaded ministers in the ...
IEA report mixes the good, the bad and the ugly
There are good reasons and bad reasons to oppose - or indeed support - HS2. The report by the right wing Institute of Economic Affairs published yesterday is a mix of both.
It is excellent on debunking the business case. which it tears asunder, quite rightly. It shows quite clearly that the fundamental arguments for HS2 are based on very flimsy foundations. I do not buy, however, the notion that HS2 ...
Rail 674: Rail regulation needs sharpening up
A new broom has arrived at the Office of Rail Regulation and not before time. Richard Price, a very energetic and go-getting young man has replaced the remarkably ineffective and inept Bill Emery who seemed to find the job of chief executive well beyond his capabilities and yet survived six years at the helm.
Price’s background certainly suggests a high flyer destined for the top. He spent four years at the ...
Rail 673: How Airtrack was derailed
On the one occasion I have had tea with Philip Hammond – an event unlikely to be repeated, I suspect - I was rather taken aback when he had a rant about level crossings. As I mentioned at the time, he was particularly exercised about the fact that trains always had priority even when they had few carriages and there were lots of fuming and fume-emitting motorists waiting for the ...
