The concept of ‘driverless’ trains has long been presented by Boris Johnson as an implicitly way of suggesting that Tube trains could be operated without any staff on board. The inference we are to take is that the unions therefore would no longer have the power to bring the service to a halt through industrial […]

‘I’m delighted Tube strikes have been called off. It is obvious, though, that these strikes never had to happen. The decision to close all ticket offices, together with the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs, was an aggressive act pushed forward by a mayor who refuses to engage with a workforce that keeps London moving. Let’s […]

The clever bit of spin by Transport for London did not really work. Conflating the announcement of 24 hour tube services on some routes on fridays and saturdays - a measure which remains to be negotiated with the unions - with the closure of all ticket offices did not disguise the fact that overall it […]

I just met with a group campaigning in Kennington over the issue of the Northern Line Extension designed to serve Nine Elms and Battersea, particularly the Battersea Power Station development. On the face of it, an extension to London’s Tube system is to be welcomed, but this project seems to have been devised in completely […]

Peter Hendy the Transport Commissioner has rather surprisingly found himself on the front page of The Sun and in the Evening Standard for an affair with a call girl. This is clearly a deeply humiliating and regrettable event for him, but, as the Standard story stresses - and in any case is pretty obvious for […]

This ridiculous new bus for London has now got beyond a joke. Johnson has just announced that two more routes are to be taken over by the NB4L - New Bus for London - and they will have conductors. All the conductors do is ensure people get on and off safely when buses are not […]

Islington Tribune July 26 2013 by PETER GRUNER TRANSPORT campaigner and writer Christian Wolmar flopped into a seat on the top of a 38 bus in Essex Road on one of the hottest days of the year and gasped: “Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out on a Boris bus…” Mr Wolmar, who lives in Holloway, […]

Capital ‘should model transport on Copenhagen’ Wednesday 26 June 2013 THE Scottish capital should model itself after Copenhagen by restricting car access into the city centre and enlarging cycle lanes, a leading transport commentator has said. Christian Wolmar, a transport writer and campaigner, who is running as a candidate for London Mayor in the 2016 […]