In Brief: 1/4/2020
Network Rail has installed vinyl stickers on the floor around Manchester Piccadilly station Driver CPC rules relaxed The Department for Transport has announced a temporary relaxation on Driver CPC rules. This means that drivers whose Driver CPC card expires in the period from March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 can continue driving. Most...
Welsh bus support hinges on free NHS travel
Combined support of £69m for bus operator hardship fund NHS staff will receive free travel on buses throughout Wales in return for hardship funding from the Welsh Government over the next three months. Transport for Wales will receive additional funding support and a hardship fund has been set up to help bus companies as...
Passenger Transport: Covid-19 statement
COVID-19 STATEMENT Magazine will be temporarily suspended, but we will be online Subscribers will see their subscriptions extended accordingly We will return in a strong position At this difficult time our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues across the UK and around the world. We are especially mindful of the hugely important efforts...
Will office culture be a thing of the past?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT I’m going to break the habit of a lifetime and on this occasion will refrain from any grumbling. The situation we face today is too serious and any grumbling from me, no...
Shapps – bus rescue package is days away
Shapps tells MPs that bus sector is next in line for help, and writes letter to CPT boss Graham Vidler Shapps said that the plight of smaller bus operators was a particular concern Transport secretary Grant Shapps told MPs this week that buses would be the next sector to have a specific deal...
Emergency support for the Scottish bus industry
Concessionary travel reimbursement and Bus Service Operator Grant payments to be maintained at the levels forecasted prior to the impact of COVID-19 The Scottish Government has announced that it will provide bus operators with additional financial assistance to maintain essential services. This is intended to offset the impact that reduced demand is having...
Bus companies offer free travel to NHS staff
Edwards Coaches and Warrington’s Own Buses offer support to healthcare workers during period of “uncertainty and angst” Two bus operators are offering free travel to NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic. South Wales-based Edwards Coaches has been offering free travel on its local bus services to NHS staff since March 23. The services...
FirstGroup and Stagecoach updates
Groups reveal precipitous declines in passenger volumes resulting from the response to Covid-19 Passenger transport groups FirstGroup and Stagecoach have this morning published new figures revealing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their businesses. Both groups warned investors that they are not yet able to predict how it will effect their financial...
Rail franchise agreements suspended
Train operating companies will continue to run services day-to-day for “a small predetermined management fee” The Department for Transport announced this morning that it will temporarily suspend normal franchise agreements and transfer all revenue and cost risk to the government for a limited period, initially six months. Britain’s train operating companies will continue...
Bus operators urge action to prevent job losses
Britain’s bus operators today warn that tens of thousands of jobs could go within weeks unless the government agrees an immediate £1bn rescue package Ministers are being urged to get behind the industry now or risk the decimation of a national bus network that is getting critical sector employees to work during the...
Lost passenger income could reach £3bn
Government measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus are already impacting on demand for public transport – with predictions that passenger volumes could reduce by three-quarters The coronavirus pandemic could deprive the UK’s passenger transport sector of around £3bn of revenues in the next three months. Amid government advice to only make essential...
How will coronavirus change transport?