Mayor's Question Time: July 2008

A few interesting items from the most recent Mayor's Question Time:

• Trains on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be lengthened to three cars by 2010. Electrification of the line is too expensive.
  
• Bus roofs are being painted white to help keep them cool.
  
• Boris likes Greenwich Waterfront Transit.
  
• This list of South London transport improvements includes things like Greenwich Waterfront Transport but conspicuously not Cross River Tram. Nail, coffin, etc.
  
• Croydon's tram system will be getting deep cleaned and refurbished, as well as a new livery and new seat moquettes.
  
• The first three bus routes to be unbendied will be the 38, 507 and 521, with "appropriate" capacity to be provided by the double deckers (note not "the same" capacity).
  
• The DLR is set to go back to normal  on August 25 (at least on the Lewisham route) , rather than there being a different set of closures.
  
• The redeveloped King's Cross may include a new footbridge to allow continued access from York Way.
  
• The Mayor has met with Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly to ask for money for the East London Line phase 2 extension.
  

Another East London Line bus disappears

London Underground are thinning out the East London Line replacement bus service again:

From Saturday 19 July 2008, bus service ELS, between Whitechapel and Shoreditch (Bethnal Green Road) will be permanently withdrawn. Route ELW will be extended to serve Shoreditch on Sunday mornings and during Monday to Friday peak hours.

From Monday 21 July the ELC frequency will be reduced to every 10 minutes in peak times.

Member Dstock7080 on the District Dave forum reports the ELW will also be downgraded from double to single deckers.

The cuts are probably due to the small number of people using the services (which is puzzling, given they do not collect fares). ELS is the oldest of the routes, having started in June 2006 when Shoreditch tube station closed, and I've never seen anyone on it. The ELC runs between Canada Water and New Cross, and likewise seems to be poorly patronised.

This follows the withdrawal of route ELP in February, probably because it was duplicated by the more frequent Route 381, which became the official replacement bus. Tube ticket acceptance on the 381 has now been extended to Surrey Quays, along the route of the ELC.

(there's a map of the new routes on the last page of the brochure linked above)

First bendy buses withdrawn next year

The Guardian is reporting that Boris will replace bendy buses with good old-fashioned double deckers as soon when the contracts come up for renewal between next year and 2015. This will start with three routes next year, including the 38 (Victoria-Angel-Dalston-Hackney-Clapton), which coincidentally or not was one of the only routes converted directly from Routemaster to bendy.

Boris Watch has an excellent list of bendy bus routes and contracts, and surmises the other two routes to go next year will be two out of the 12, 25, 73, 507 and 521. Routes are presumed to be staying bendy until at least their contract renewal date, which for the 436 and 453 is after the next Mayoral election.

Boris proposing giant buses?

Boris Johnson has launched his A New Bus For London competition. There are two elements - a "just for fun" public competition and a more serious competition for designers, which includes outline specifications.

The bus is required to be a double decker and articulation is specifically banned. It'll have an open-rear platform plus at least one other door, each with Oyster readers. There's no stated requirement for either of them to be supervised, making it potentially as much of a free-for-all as bendy buses. However, a second crew member is a requirement of the design.

The big surprise is the maximum length allowed - 13.5m, roughly the same as the giant Skyliner coaches used by The Oxford Tube and National Express. A Routemaster is about 8 metres, an ordinary modern double decker 10 metres and a bendy bus 18 metres.

In contrast, the minimum passenger capacity is only 72 (including standees), about the same as a normal double decker. A Skyliner has 81 seats, and a bendy bus can carry well over a hundred.

Mayor's Question Time

Since coming to power, Boris Johnson has taken part in two Mayor's Question time sessions. You can read his written answers here and here. Lots of predictable non-answers to awkward questions, but a few interesting things come up:

• The East London Line phase 2 extension does not have funding. If it does get it, the target opening date is December 2011.
• London-wide Oyster PAYG on National Rail is now officially pencilled in for mid-2009 (the January 2009 date has seemed unlikely for some time).
• London Overground carried 29% more passengers in its first 5 months than Silverlink did in the equivalent period a year before.
• Feasibility studies for the Oxford Street Tram will not be going ahead. This answer is notably more negative than that given to the other tram schemes (which are merely "under review"), so don't expect it to happen in the foreseeable future.
• On Cross River Tram, Boris notes "the Government’s 2007 spending review allocation of funds to TfL to 2017 did not provide for the implementation of CRT". It's looking like time to cross that one off the list as well.
• A North London Line extension to Kingston is officially off the table (if it was ever on it).
• Not transport-related, but I think question 1052 (in the second document) may be some sort of secret of code.

I've also listened to some of the webcast of the June 18th meeting. About an hour in there's a long discussion of the Routemaster/bendy bus replacement project, which Boris sounds very keen on pushing ahead with.

During the discussion an assembly member points out that the first wave of bendy bus contracts comes up for renewal next year, which will put the Mayor in a very awkward position. He could renew them (can't do that), replace them with double deckers (not enough capacity) or replace them with lots of double deckers (increasing congestion). An issue to watch, certainly.

Mayor reviewing tram schemes and bus shelter projects

Architects' Journal has a slightly scare-mongering story about the status of the Oxford Street Tram and bus shelter redesign projects:

Boris Johnson has poured cold water on the proposals after he asked for a pan-London review of all the tram schemes currently on the drawing board.

Meanwhile, the TfL-run contest to find a new design to replace London's 12,500 bus shelters – hailed by Design for London boss Peter Bishop 'as the chance to design a new icon' – has failed to come up with a winner.

I don't think it's even news that Boris Johnson is conducting a review of the tram and transit schemes he's inherited (West End Tram, Cross River Tram, East London Transit and Greenwich Waterfront Transit), but I'm surprised to learn Westminster Council is against the West End Tram scheme.

Ken: No new bendy bus routes

Ken Livingstone has declared there are no plans to convert further routes to bendy buses. As Boris Johnson supports scrapping them completely, regardless of who wins, London's traditional long boarding times and slow journeys have been saved for future generations / London has been spared further soulless road-hogging fire-breathing death traps. (delete as applicable)

Board Papers: March 2008

TfL held an "open session" board meeting today. While I couldn't stay long enough to hear anything interesting, I did manage to snag an early copy of the board papers.

[ Update: The PDF is now online ]

Notes:

Tube

• Installation of Automatic Train Operation equipment to the Jubilee Line fleet is expected to be complete in October. The associated new signalling system (and possibly ATO) is down as coming into use in March 2009, starting from the east end.
• Severe delays on the Jubilee Line on February 5 and 6 were caused by a loose earth strap on one particular train causing shorts. It was installed as part of the ATO modifications.
• The last refurbished District Line train is due back in July 2008.
• The Shepherd's Bush Central Line project is now directly managed by TfL directly rather than Metronet, which may explain the sudden change of plan last December.
• A "Euston Interchange" project is mentioned, probably meaning linking up Euston Square. Initial design and "optioneering" (which shockingly is a real word) will happen in July.
• Acton Town and Hendon Central will shortly become step-free.
• Planning to provide step-free access is underway for: Green Park, Waterloo (Northern and Bakerloo), Baker Street, North Acton, Tower Hill, Paddington, Southfields, Finsbury Park and Vauxhall.
• The new signalling system on the Victoria Line will come be used in service from January 2009 (and as I understand it, has to occur at exactly the same time as the first new train).
• Kensington Olympia will be gated in October.
• The "London Underground extensions" section in the budget is conspicuously blank.

DLR

• A pilot test of a DLR ticket machine with (gasp!) Oyster starts in June.
• The board voted last month to apply for powers for the Dagenham Dock DLR extensions.

London Overground

• Crime on London Overground is down 40% and revenues are up 17% over the same period last year.
• LOROL's new integrated control room is yet to open, but should improve information provision.
• Five of London Overground's electric train fleet have "received the fleet refreshment package" and other improvement schemes are in the works.
• "Manufacture" of the first new train for London Overground began on 11 February 2008, 35 days late ("production" began last September). Testing of it is pencilled in for 23 June 2008.
• The apparent upping of the London Overground train order to 54 Electrostars (216 carriages) is mentioned again.

• "Discussions continued" regarding Thameslink and East London Line phase 2.
• One part of the East London Line construction schedule has been extended by 13 days to allow Crossrail-protection works to be done at Whitechapel so that the line can stay open during Crossrail construction.
• The ELL Operational Building Complex will be "available for use by employee" from December.

• Unlike the last two months, the possible takeover of Southern isn't mentioned anywhere.

Buses, Trams, Oyster

• A new lower level extension opened at Hammersmith bus station on February 16
• Oyster PAYG will be rolled out on a "TOC by TOC" basis if possible this year, "in advance of a wider rollout in 2009". That appears to be a backing off of the January 2009 date for all train operating companies.
• Visitor Oyster Cards are selling well on National Express coaches, particularly airport services.
• All buses will have iBus (i.e. talk) by February 2009.
• Bus priority schemes for "flagship routes" 53, 207 and 253 are planned, and bus 38 on Shaftesbury Avenue.
• Preferred routes for the Cross River Tram and Crystal Palace extension won't be chosen until next January.

The Millennium Busway

The latest Smoke has a write-up of London's only subaquatic bus route, the 108 (Stratford-North Greenwich-Lewisham), and by my reckoning one of very few that pass the same point 3 times during their run. Anyway, the article briefly mentions the Millennium Busway, built to speed passengers from Charlton station to the Dome. Having no recollection of what this engineering marvel amounts to and finding little online, I decided to take a look while I was in East London yesterday.

The answer: not much. Here it is on a map. Very nearly three quarters of a mile of, well, bus lane, stretching all the way from North Greenwich station to North Greenwich Odeon.

The northern half runs adjacent to one of the Dome's gridlocked access roads and has no stops - the only building it passes is this isolated pub with a terrace of houses behind it.

The southern half runs around the back of Greenwich Millennium Village (where there are two lonely stops), then terminates at a junction with Bugsby's Way (pictured). Buses cross from here into the retail park with that Millennium eco-Sainsbury's. Then it's out onto normal streets.

Under the "Millennium Transit" plans it was intended that buses on the route would be guided electronically, following a buried cable, but the technology was abandoned before public service commenced, partly because of safety concerns. The busway is now used by ordinary buses to get passengers to North Greenwich station slightly quicker, but one day will be part of Greenwich Waterfront Transit, and far in the future that could be converted to trams, finally fulfilling the busway's destiny.

TfL Intelligent Transport Systems

Tfl did several presentations at this year's ITS World Congress, and have posted some of the documents. Of interest:

• Bus priority using GPS: "TfL plan to extend bus priority to most of the traffic signals in London."
• Locating London's 19,000 bus stops Surprisingly difficult.
• Bus lane enforcement "Bus mounted cameras are installed at the front of the bus in order to capture images of the rear number plates of vehicles either driving or stopped in the bus lane. There are 1,045 bus mounted cameras in operation in London today."

TfL soliciting new bus shelter designs

Design Week reports that TfL are looking for a new design for bus shelters, as the current design is apparently 20 years old. CCTV and public address systems are mentioned. I can't dig up the full OJEU notice, but here's a tantalising glimpse of TFL's eTendering system.

Thames Gateway Bridge in doubt

Yesterday the mayor released this statement:

Any delay to the Thames Gateway Bridge is a blow to east London and south east London in particular.[...]The re-opening of the public inquiry will delay bringing the benefits of the Thames Gateway Bridge to an area that sorely needs them.

Yes, they put out a press release starting with the word "any", and published it before the thing it relates to was even news.

The context is the decision by Hazel Blears to re-open the public enquiry, following the publication of the inspector's report. The inspector concluded the bridge would do more harm than good in Bexley and that TfL did inadequate traffic modelling in general. Blears also reports receiving a large amount of correspondence since the original enquiry closed, which she thinks needs to be considered publicly.

If you aren't familiar with it, the Thames Gateway Bridge is a proposed road bridge across the Thames just east of City Airport. It would feature six lanes including two for public transport, linking the proposed East London Transit and Greenwich Waterfront Transit schemes.

Eliminating request Bus Stops

TfL want to do away with the distinction between Request and Compulsory bus stops, apparently because neither drivers nor passengers pay much attention to it. The aim appears to be to reflect current prevailing practice, where passengers ring the bell regardless of whether they need to or not, and compulsory stops are skipped when no one is waiting and no one has rung the bell. The only anomaly is that drivers will be required to stop anywhere people are waiting, regardless of whether the bus is hailed or not, which Diamond Geezer is quite angry about.

TfL's PDF with a few more details is here.