On his first day as the group’s new chief executive, Matthew Gregory says that £430m pension deficit would have to be accounted for in any disposals FirstGroup’s new chief executive, Matthew Gregory, has indicated that breaking up the company remains a possibility. Presenting the group’s half year financial results on his first day...
Alexander Dennis is building buses for Edinburgh again. January will see the first of 42 new high capacity double deckers enter service in the city The 13.4-metre vehicles are capable of carrying up to 134 passengers A lone piper emerged from behind the curtain on the shop floor at Alexander Dennis’s factory in...
Should CPT abandon its steady National Trust-style lobbying and move towards a more vigorous and confrontational approach? The excellent work done by Claire Haigh for Greener Journeys has demonstrated very clearly the huge economic significance of the bus All change. This version of the Confederation of Passenger Transport terminates here. At least, it...
The culture of working nine-to-five, five days a week at the same desk in the same building is in retreat, and transport must adapt A WeWork office in central London My 25 years in the transport industry have been based on assumptions about the need for the mass movement of people, and goods,...
Campaigners point to new research and urge government not to overlook the benefits of buses when allocating £2.4bn Transforming Cities Fund The report cites the ‘Fastway’ project in Crawley as an example of a project that has improved journey times and reliability and caused a decline in car use With the government having...
Half a century after Barbara Castle’s landmark 1968 Transport Act received Royal Assent, it’s a good time to examine her legacy Barbara Castle served as minister for transport from December 1965 until April 1968 Barbara Castle was the first woman to be secretary of state for transport, but was she also the best...
Chancellor Philip Hammond earmarked £28.8bn for new and upgraded roads in last week’s budget. It’s a policy with many flaws The budget earmarked almost £30bn for new and upgraded roads So roads, roads and lots more roads. In his budget speech, Philip Hammond did not quite evoke the idea from John Major’s government...
Crossrail is delayed, but this is not surprising give the complexity of the project – but when it arrives we will all be impressed There’s been a lot of fuss about the delay and the extra cost of Crossrail in recent weeks, but overall the project has escaped the sort of negative publicity...
Welcome to the International Bus Review 2018. Returning for a second year, this publication from Passenger Transport has been produced to coincide with the Euro Bus Expo 2018 show at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, between October 30 and November 1.From Bucharest to Belfast, it features contributions from a variety of organisations involved in planning, supply...
Falkirk-based bus builder Alexander Dennis Limited has agreed a contract with German capital’s public transport provider to supply up to 430 buses A visualisation of one of the new Enviro500 double deckers for Berlin The UK’s biggest bus builder, Alexander Dennis, has won a landmark deal to supply up to 430 tri-axle double...
‘Either the industry steps up to the plate and does it collectively or we wait to have it thrust upon us,’ Network Rail chief tells meeting in Parliament Andrew Haines Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines has called on train operators to work with him ahead of the rail review to develop more...
Ferry operator argues that vehicle capacity issues on its vessels mean that it is in favour of tourists being encouraged to use connecting buses instead Caledonian MacBrayne operates ferry links between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne has argued that fewer tourists should take cars...
How can we move buses up the agenda?