1.
Victoria, London
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Victoria is a small district in the City of Westminster in central London, named after Victoria Street and Victoria Station and therefore, indirectly, after Queen Victoria. The name is used to describe streets adjoining or nearly adjoining, including Victoria Street, Buckingham Palace Road, Wilton Road, Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria consists predominantly of commercial property and private and social housing, with retail uses along the main streets. Victoria Coach Station,900 yards southwest of the station, provides road-coach services to long-distance UK. Victoria Street runs on an east–west axis from Victoria station to Broad Sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, Cardinal Place, across the street from Westminster Cathedral, opened in 2006 and contains a selection of restaurants, banks and shops, including a Marks and Spencer store. Further along the street, there is a large House of Fraser department store opposite Westminster City Hall, the area formed part of the parish of St George Hanover Square. Long before Cardinal Place opposite the cathedral came into being there was a brewery based at the western end of Victoria Street. From the early 17th century it started off as a small brewhouse with properties that once were part of St Jamess Palace and this then substantially grew and then was bought and owned by Watney & Co. They built lodgings around the brewery as well as amenities for their staff to use, by the end of the 19th century they were employing a sizeable number of staff. Part of a slum, dubbed Devils Acre by Charles Dickens, was demolished to construct Victoria Street, Victoria Station was built in 1861. According to his biography Norman Wisdom slept near the statue of Marshal Foch by the bus station at the end of the street when his parents split up at the age of 9. Before going into comedy he worked as a boy in the then grand Artillery Mansions on Victoria Street which was then a grand hotel. In the 1980s it went into decay and became a squat - and in the 1990s was gutted, refurbished, Victoria Palace Theatre has been in its present site since 1832. It was originally known as Moys Music Hall but after Victoria station was built it got demolished and it was demolished again in 1911 due to modernisation. It was most famous for a statue of Anna Pavlova which was above it. In 1939 this was removed and lost, a replica has recently been added and it is also known as the home of the Crazy Gang and the Black and White Minstrels. It has hosted countless famous in the yearly Royal Variety Show, most of the year it hosts musicals its latest being Billy Elliott. Little Ben - a small 20 ft version of Big Ben stands in a roundabout outside the Victoria Palace was first erected in 1891 removed in 1963. It was erected with sponsorship from Elf Aquitaine Ltd as a gift of Anglo-French friendship, the Apollo Victoria on Wilton Road was designed as a super cinema in the art deco style in the 1930 and opened as the New Victoria
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Transport for London
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Transport for London is a local government body responsible for the transport system in Greater London, England. Its head office is in Windsor House in the City of Westminster, the underlying services are provided by a mixture of wholly owned subsidiary companies, by private sector franchisees and by licensees. In 2015-16, TfL had a budget of £11.5 billion, the rest comes from government funding, borrowing, other income and Crossrail funding. On 21 January 2016, it was announced that the responsibility for franchising all of Londons inner suburban services would be transferred from the DfT to TfL. This transfer will take place as current franchises fall due for renewal, TfL was created in 2000 as part of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It gained most of its functions from its predecessor London Regional Transport in 2000, the first Commissioner of TfL was Bob Kiley. The first Chair was then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, and the first Deputy Chair was Dave Wetzel, Livingstone and Wetzel remained in office until the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor in 2008. Johnson took over as Chairman, and in February 2009 fellow-Conservative Daniel Moylan was appointed as his Deputy, TfL did not take over responsibility for the London Underground until 2003, after the controversial Public-private partnership contract for maintenance had been agreed. Management of the Public Carriage Office had previously been a function of the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London Group Archives holds business records for TfL and its predecessor bodies and transport companies. Some early records are held on behalf of TfL Group Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives. After the bombings on the underground and bus systems on 7 July 2005 and they helped survivors out, removed bodies, and got the transport system up and running, to get the millions of commuters back out of London at the end of the work day. Those mentioned include Peter Hendy, who was at the time Head of Surface Transport division, and Tim OToole, head of the Underground division, carrying open containers of alcohol was also banned on public transport operated by TfL. The Mayor of London and TfL announced the ban with the intention of providing a safer, there were Last Round on the Underground parties on the night before the ban came into force. Passengers refusing to observe the ban may be refused travel and asked to leave the premises, the Greater London Authority reported in 2011 that assaults on London Underground staff had fallen by 15% since the introduction of the ban. In an effort to reduce sexual offences and increase reporting, TfL—in conjunction with the British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police Service, TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London, a position held by Sadiq Khan since May 2016. The Commissioner of Transport for London reports to the Board and leads a management team with individual functional responsibilities, the body is organised in three main directorates and corporate services, each with responsibility for different aspects and modes of transport. This network is sub-divided into three service units, BCV, Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines. JNP, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, SSL, Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines
4.
London Victoria station
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Victoria station is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster. It is near to Victoria Street, which along with the area and it is in Travelcard Zone 1. From the main lines, trains can connect to the Catford Loop Line, Dartford Loop Line, Southern operates the majority of commuter and regional services to south London, Sussex and parts of east Surrey, while Southeastern operates trains to south east London and Kent. Gatwick Express trains run direct from Victoria to Gatwick Airport, the Underground station is on the Circle and District lines between Sloane Square and St. Jamess Park, and the Victoria line between Pimlico and Green Park. With over 81 million passenger entries and exits in 2015/16, Victoria is the second-busiest station in London after Waterloo, combined with the Underground Station and interchanges in the national rail station, London Victoria handled about 170 million passengers in the 2015/2016 period. It is one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail, the area around the station is an important interchange for other forms of transport, a local bus station is in the forecourt and Victoria Coach Station is nearby. Victoria Station came about in a fashion to help address this problem for the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. It consisted of two adjacent main line railway stations which, from the viewpoint of passengers, were unconnected, the London and Brighton Railway terminus at London Bridge provided reasonable access to the City of London but was most inconvenient for travellers to and from Westminster. As early as 1842 John Urpeth Rastrick had proposed that the railway should build a branch to serve the West End, but his proposal came to nothing. During the summer of 1857 a scheme for an independent Grosvenor Basin Terminus in the West End of London, the station was originally referred to as the Grosvenor Terminus but later renamed Victoria as it was sited at the end of Victoria Street. Three other railway companies were seeking a terminus in Westminster, the Great Western, the London & North Western. The first two already had access to Battersea through their joint ownership of the West London Line with the LB&SCR. The new line followed part of the route of the Grosvenor Canal with Victoria station on the canal basin. It required the construction of a new bridge over the Thames, originally known as Victoria Bridge and it was of mixed gauge to cater for GWR trains. The LB&SCR had hoped to amalgamate with the VS&PR, and introduced a Parliamentary Bill to allow it to do so in 1860 and this was opposed by the GWR and LC&DR and rejected. By way of compromise the LB&SCR was permitted to lease Victoria station from the VS&PR, Victoria station proved to be unexpectedly popular for both the main companies, and by 1862 there were frequent delays due to congestion at Stewarts Lane Junction. In March 1863 the LB&SCR and the LC&DR jointly funded a new route into Victoria, avoiding Stewarts Lane. The work was completed during 1867/8, the LB&SCR side of Victoria station opened on 1 October 1860, the temporary terminus in Battersea having closed the day before
5.
National Rail
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The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage, liveries and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was also used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger, Bliss, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now also possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO. Heathrow Express and Eurostar are also not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
6.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
7.
Bus station
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A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot also refers to a bus station, a bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop. It may be intended as a station for a number of routes. Bus station platforms may be assigned to fixed bus lines, or variable in combination with a passenger information system. The latter requires fewer platforms, but does not supply the passenger the comfort of knowing the platform well in advance, the largest underground bus station in Europe is Kamppi Centre of Helsinki, Finland completed in 2006. The terminal cost 100 million Euro to complete and took 3 years to design, today, the bus terminal, which covers 25,000 square meters, is the busiest bus terminal in Finland. Every day, the terminal has around 700 bus departures, transporting some 170,000 passengers, Bus depot Bus stop Bus terminus Intermodal passenger transport Railway station Ticket
8.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
9.
City of Westminster
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The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough which also holds city status. It occupies much of the area of Greater London including most of the West End. It is to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and it was created with the 1965 establishment of Greater London. Upon creation, Westminster was awarded city status, which had previously held by the smaller Metropolitan Borough of Westminster. Aside from a number of parks and open spaces, the population density of the district is high. Many sites commonly associated with London are in the borough, including St. Jamess Palace, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, much of the borough is residential, and in 2008 it was estimated to have a population of 236,000. The local authority is Westminster City Council, the current Westminster coat of arms were given to the city by an official grant on September 2,1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had an identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington. The original arms had a portcullis as the charge, which now forms the crest. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England, in the mid-11th Century king Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct, Westminster briefly became a city in 1540 when Henry VIII created the short-lived Diocese of Westminster. Following the dissolution of Westminster Abbey, a court of burgesses was formed in 1585 to govern the Westminster area, Jamess, Strand, Westminster, Pimlico, Belgravia, and Hyde Park. The Westminster Metropolitan Borough was itself the result of an amalgamation which took place in 1900. Sir John Hunt O. B. E was the First Town Clerk of the City of Westminster, the boundaries of the City of Westminster today, as well as those of the other London boroughs, have remained more or less unchanged since the Act of 1963. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place on Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street and Old Palace Yard, five people - three pedestrians, one police officer, and the attacker - died as a result of the incident. More than 50 people were injured, an investigation is ongoing by the Metropolitan Police. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors, Westminster City Council is currently composed of 44 Conservative Party members and 16 Labour Party members
10.
Coach transport in the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom has a number of intercity coach services. Coach services generally travel further than, and do not stop as frequently as bus services and it is common, but not universal, for coach travel to require advance purchase of tickets, whereas on buses tickets are mostly bought on board. The distinction is not absolute, and some services, especially in Scotland. Coach usage in the United Kingdom is a fraction of that of rail. The first motor coaches were acquired by operators of those vehicles, for example. Standerwick of Blackpool acquired their first motor charabanc in 1911 and Royal Blue of Bournemouth acquired their first motor charabanc in 1913, motor coaches were initially used only for excursions. In 1919 Royal Blue took advantage of a strike to run a coach service from Bournemouth to London. The service was so successful that it expanded rapidly, the first scheduled motorcoach service to carry passengers from both ends and to and from intermediate points was the Greyhound Motors service between London and Bristol, started on 11 February 1925. The coach industry expanded rapidly in the 1920s, a period of intense competition, several bus companies, including Midland Red, Crosville and Red & White, started coach services. By 1930, no fewer than 18 companies were running coaches between Oxford and London, for example, the original Royal Blue service from Bournemouth to London grew from twice a week during 1920 to twice daily during 1921. The Road Traffic Act 1930 introduced a system of regulation of passenger road transport. It also imposed a limit of 30 mph for coaches whilst removing any speed limit for private cars. The act caused considerable disruption and it received criticism - In 1931 the commissioner refused to sanction coaches operating into central London, no one envisaged its use to deprive the public of reasonable service. Control is one thing, prohibition is another, following the 1930 Act coach operators bought, or reached agreement with competitors to share services and pool revenues. Many of the independent companies were bought by the two bus groups, the Tilling Group and British Electric Traction. In 1932, a group of coach operators opened Victoria Coach Station in London, in 1934 six coach operators formed the Associated Motorways consortium, and other co-operative arrangements were made. Coach operators were required to suspend services from 1942 to conserve fuel, the 1950s and early 1960s were prosperous times for the industry, before foreign holidays became commonplace and car ownership spread. The Beeching cuts of the network in the early 1960s generated more traffic for coach operators
11.
Intercity bus service
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Intercity bus services may be operated by government agencies or private industry, for profit and not for profit. Intercity coach travel can serve areas or countries with no train services, Intercity bus services are of prime importance in lightly populated rural areas that often have little or no public transportation. Intercity bus services are one of four common transport methods between cities, not all of which are available in all places, the others are by airliner, train, and private automobile. The first intercity scheduled transport service was called the stagecoach and originated in the 17th century, crude coaches were being built from the 16th century in England, but without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time. By the mid 17th century, a basic infrastructure was being put in place. The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith and this was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool by the mid 17th century, the coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century. Shakespeares first plays were staged at coaching inns such as The George Inn, the speed of travel remained constant until the mid-18th century. Robert Hooke helped in the construction of some of the first spring-suspended coaches in the 1660s and spoked wheels with iron rim brakes were introduced, in 1754, a Manchester-based company began a new service called the Flying Coach. It was advertised with the following announcement - However incredible it may appear, this coach will arrive in London in four days. A similar service was begun from Liverpool three years later, using coaches with steel spring suspension and this coach took an unprecedented three days to reach London with an average speed of eight miles per hour. Even more dramatic improvements to coach speed were made by John Palmer at the British Post Office and his experimental coach left Bristol at 4 pm on 2 August 1784 and arrived in London just 16 hours later. The golden age of the stagecoach was during the Regency period, the era saw great improvements in the design of the coaches, notably by John Besant in 1792 and 1795. His coach had a greatly improved turning capacity and braking system, obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle. Each wheel had two steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs attached to the axles. Steady improvements in construction were also made at this time, most importantly the widespread implementation of Macadam roads up. Coaches in this period travelled at around 12 miles per hour and greatly increased the level of mobility in the country, both for people and for mail
12.
Green Line Coaches
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Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. Green Line has its origin in the network of coach services established by the London General Omnibus Company in the 1920s and 1930s. After World War II, the network was part of London Transport Executive/London Transport Board and these services were largely started in response to the emergence of numerous small independent operators, often running single routes. As well as services operated by LGOC, some were run by subsidiary companies East Surrey Traction & Autocar Services. The Green Line livery and fleetname was rapidly rolled out across the existing express services, New services rapidly followed, with the number of routes increasing to 27 by October 1931 and the number of coaches to 275. Green Line also began to some of its independent competitors. The laying over of coaches in central London began to create congestion, in order to relieve this, some routes were linked to form cross-London services, and a short-lived coach station was opened in Poland Street, Soho at the end of 1930. On 1 July 1933 Green Line passed to the new London Passenger Transport Board, various vehicles of numerous different types were inherited, and much effort was made in replacing these with a standardised fleet of vehicles from late 1936. Poland Street coach station was closed, and almost all routes were linked to cross London, Services were suspended during World War II resuming in February 1946. More services were added, and the routes were given numbers in the 700 series, ridership increased to a peak of 36 million passenger journeys a year between 1957 and 1960. Patronage continued to decline, partly as a result of increasing car use and quicker parallel rail services, the Transport Act 1980 deregulated coach services, and Green Line was able to expand services beyond its traditional area, to Cambridge, Oxford, Northampton and Brighton. Green Line also became a National Express operator, in 1986 London Country was divided into four operating companies to prepare for privatisation. They were sold separately, and ownership of the Green Line network became fragmented, the airport services passed to Jetlink and are now operated by National Express. The orbital route 726 was taken over by London Regional Transport in a reduced form, by the mid-1990s Arriva had become the owner of most of the London Country successor companies, and became the owner of the Green Line brand. It licensed the brand to other operators, First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, New Enterprise Coaches, following closure of their Bracknell depot in 2015, First Berkshire services were revised and routes 700 &701 were discontinued
13.
London Buses
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London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London that manages bus services within Greater London. Contracts are normally for five years, with two-year extensions available if performance criteria is met, operators provide staff to drive the buses, provide the buses to operate and also adhere to set TfL guidelines. Operators are then in return paid per mile that each bus runs, London Buses publishes a variety of bus maps. Some are traditional street maps of London marked with bus numbers, in 2002, TfL introduced the first spider maps. The arachnoid form of bus routes radiating from a centre earned them the nickname spider maps, the maps are displayed at most major bus stops, and can be downloaded in PDF format via the Internet from the TfL website. The legal identity of London Buses is London Bus Services Limited, East Thames Buses was the trading name of another wholly owned subsidiary of TfL called, rather confusingly, London Buses Limited. The operating units were sold off in 1994/95, and their purchasers make up the majority of companies awarded bus operating tenders from the current London Buses, after 1994/95, the LBL company lay dormant, passing from LRT to TfL. It was resurrected when East Thames Buses was formed, separated by a wall from LBSL. The local bus network in London is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, over 8000 scheduled buses operate on over 700 different routes. Over the year this network carries over 1.8 billion passenger journeys, Buses in the London Buses network accept Travelcards, Oyster card products and contactless debit and credit cards. Cash fares have not been available since 6 July 2014, single journey fares used to be charged in relation to length of journey, but are now charged as single flat fares for any length of journey. Alternatively, weekly and monthly passes may also be purchased and loaded onto an Oyster card, passengers using contactless payment cards are charged the same fares as on Oyster pay as you go. Unlike Oyster cards, contactless cards also have a 7-day fare cap though it only operates on a Monday-Sunday basis. Under 11s can travel free on London buses and trams at any time unaccompanied by an adult, children aged 11 to 15 travel free on buses with an 11–15 Oyster photocard, without an Oyster card or Travelcard, they have to pay the full adult fare. Visitors can have a special discount added to an ordinary Oyster card at TfLs Travel Information Centres, there are also concessions for London residents aged 16 to 18. The Freedom Pass scheme allows Greater London residents over state pension age, people who have concessionary bus passes issued by English local authorities travel free on TfL bus services at any time. Each company has its own operating code, and every bus garage in London has its own garage code, however, London Buses in fact maintains a close control over both the age and specification of the vehicles. These have been known to tear and get dirty quickly, however there have been improvements with LED Backlights and the SmartBlind system installed on newer vehicles
14.
Art Deco
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Art Deco, sometimes simply referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. It took its name, short for Arts Decorators, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925 and it combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. It featured rare and expensive materials such as ebony and ivory, the Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York were the most visible monuments of the new style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel and plastic, a more sleek form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s, it featured curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. Art Deco became one of the first truly international architectural styles, with examples found in European cities, the style came to an end with the beginning of World War II. Deco was replaced as the dominant global style by the functional and unadorned styles of modernism. The term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858, in 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de lOpéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile, jewelry and glass designers and it took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. The term Art déco was then used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major book on the style. Hillier noted that the term was already being used by art dealers and cites The Times, in 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was closely connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, the term arts décoratifs had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture, textiles, and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, a similar movement developed in Italy. The first international exhibition devoted entirely to the arts, the Esposizione international dArte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration, Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, and later in the Salon dautomne. French nationalism also played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts, in 1911 the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912
15.
Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
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Wallis, Gilbert and Partners was a British architectural partnership responsible for the design of many Art Deco buildings in the UK in the 1920s and 1930s. It was established by Thomas Wallis in 1914, Wallis had previously served with Sir Frank Baines in the Office of Works. Although the identity of Gilbert has not been established, later partners included Frederick Button, Douglas Wallis, Agbolahan Adesegun, notable buildings include the Hoover Factory and the Firestone Tyre Factory. The firm also designed country houses, for instance, Limber and Ripley Grange at Loughton for Charles Frederick Clark. The Old Vinyl Factory, Hayes,1907 Caribonum Factory, Leyton, London,1918, general Electrical Company Witton Works, Electric Avenue, Birmingham 1920, Grade II listed. The Solex Factory, Marylebone Road, London,1925, the Shannon Factory, Kingston, London,1928. Firestone Tyre Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, pyrene Building, Great West Road, Brentford, 1929-1930 Tower and extension to the Alaska factory, Bermondsey, London 1930s. Albion Motor Car Company Ltd Works, Scotstoun, Glasgow 1930, daimler Hire Garage,9 Herbrand Street, London 1931. British Bemberg Factory, Doncaster, Yorkshire,1931, Hoover Factory, Western Avenue, Perivale 1931-1938. Coty Cosmetics Factory, Great West Road, Brentford,1932, simmonds Aerocessories, later Beechams Pharmaceuticals Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, 1936-1942. Richard Klinger Factory, Sidcup, London,1937, a Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Form and fancy, factories and factory buildings by Wallis, Gilbert, Wallis, Gilbert & Partners - London Historians
16.
National Bus Company (UK)
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The National Bus Company was a nationalised bus company that operated in England and Wales between 1969 and 1988. NBC did not run itself, but was the owner of a number of regional subsidiary bus operating companies. Following the Labour Party victory at the 1966 general election, Barbara Castle was appointed Minister for Transport, Castle immediately ordered a review of public transport, with a view to formulating a new transport policy. Among the issues to be tackled were the ownership and operation of bus services, the state owned a considerable proportion of scheduled bus operators outside the major cities, having obtained the Tilling Group companies in 1948 as a byproduct of nationalising the railways. The Tilling Group was subsequently placed under the ownership of the nationalised Transport Holding Company, London Transport was also nationalised in 1948 and others voluntarily aquiesced, such as Red & White in 1950. When the Labour Party suddenly lost power to the Conservatives in 1951, however, in November 1967 British Electric Traction unexpectedly offered to sell its bus operations to the government. BET, who had been the major private bus operating group. The deal meant that the state or municipal bus operators now operated some 90% of scheduled bus services in England, instead of forming the regional authorities, the government published a white paper proposing the merger of the THC and BET organisations into a single National Bus Company. The recommendations of the paper formed part of the Transport Act 1968. The 1968 Act also reorganised the already nationalised bus operation in Scotland, the National Bus Company was formed on 1 January 1969. Buses were operated by locally managed subsidiary companies, with their own fleetnames and liveries, in the early years of the company, there was some rationalisation, generally leading to the amalgamation of operators into larger units and the transfer of areas between them. One was the merging of Aldershot & District with Thames Valley on 1 January 1972, another example was the transfer of the land-locked Trowbridge operations from Western National to Bristol Omnibus in 1970. Following the appointment of Fred Wood as chairman in 1972, NBC introduced corporate images, henceforward its coaches were branded as National Travel and painted in unrelieved white, with the NBC logo and the NATIONAL name in alternate red & blue letters. The services were rebranded as National Express soon afterwards, the addition of blue and white stripes appeared in 1978. The coaches were managed by a few areas and included travel agent booking offices based at major bus stations, a hub and spoke system operated with the main hub at Cheltenham. Around the same time the company launched a number of UK holiday services under the banner National Holidays. This brand and its travel agent booking offices existed until the mid-1990s when the coach holiday division closed, although NBC operated throughout England and Wales, it was not a monopoly. The NBC inherited from the Transport Holding Company 75% shareholdings in chassis manufacturer Bristol Commercial Vehicles, in 1969 NBC formed a joint venture with British Leyland, by means of which British Leyland became a 50% owner of the NBCs manufacturing companies
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Grosvenor Group
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The Grosvenor Group is a British property corporation with offices in 18 cities operated on behalf of its owners, the Duke of Westminster and his family. The history of the Grosvenor Estate begins in 1677 with the marriage of the heiress Mary Davies to Sir Thomas Grosvenor, a few generations later, in the 1820s, their focus moved south—to what is now Belgravia—developing Eaton Square, Chester Square and other famous addresses. Later in the 19th century, the area of Pimlico was developed, many of the streets within the estate are named after the Grosvenor family and its connections. The Grosvenor family became established in England before the 15th century, on the manor of Eaton in Cheshire, many of its early members sat as Member of Parliament for Chester. In 1874 Hugh Grosvenor was created Duke of Westminster, other titles held by the Duke are, Marquess of Westminster, Earl Grosvenor, Viscount Belgrave, the Mayfair portion of the estate includes Peabody social housing around Brown Hart Gardens. International expansion began in the 1950s, in Canada and later in the United States—hence businesses in the Americas, in the 1960s the businesses expanded into Australia and, in the 1990s, into Asia Pacific. Also in the 1990s, Grosvenor expanded into Continental Europe, where most current activity relates to Grosvenors fund management business and this was formally established in 2005 and now encompasses the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe
18.
Listed building
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A listed building or listed structure, in the United Kingdom, is one that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The statutory bodies maintaining the list are Historic England in England, Cadw in Wales, Historic Scotland in Scotland, however, the preferred term in Ireland is protected structure. In England and Wales, an amenity society must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. Owners of listed buildings are, in circumstances, compelled to repair and maintain them. When alterations are permitted, or when listed buildings are repaired or maintained, slightly different systems operate in each area of the United Kingdom, though the basic principles of the listing remain the same. It was the damage to caused by German bombing during World War II that prompted the first listing of buildings that were deemed to be of particular architectural merit. The listings were used as a means of determining whether a building should be rebuilt if it was damaged by bombing. Listing was first introduced into Northern Ireland under the Planning Order 1972, the listing process has since developed slightly differently in each part of the UK. In the UK, the process of protecting the historic environment is called ‘designation’. A heritage asset is a part of the environment that is valued because of its historic. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. However, buildings that are not formally listed but still judged as being of heritage interest are still regarded as being a consideration in the planning process. Almost anything can be listed – it does not have to be a building, Buildings and structures of special historic interest come in a wide variety of forms and types, ranging from telephone boxes and road signs, to castles. Historic England has created twenty broad categories of structures, and published selection guides for each one to aid with assessing buildings and these include historical overviews and describe the special considerations for listing each category. Both Historic Scotland and Cadw produce guidance for owners, in England, to have a building considered for listing or delisting, the process is to apply to the secretary of state, this can be done by submitting an application form online to Historic England. The applicant does not need to be the owner of the building to apply for it to be listed, full information including application form guidance notes are on the Historic England website. Historic England assesses buildings put forward for listing or delisting and provides advice to the Secretary of State on the architectural, the Secretary of State, who may seek additional advice from others, then decides whether or not to list or delist the building. In England and Wales the authority for listing is granted to the Secretary of State by the Planning Act 1990, Listed buildings in danger of decay are listed on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register
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English Heritage
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English Heritage is a registered charity that manages the National Heritage Collection. This comprises over 400 of Englands historic buildings, monuments and sites spanning more than 5,000 years of history, within its portfolio are Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle and the best preserved parts of Hadrians Wall. English Heritage also manages the London Blue Plaques scheme, which links influential historical figures to particular buildings and it was created to combine the roles of existing bodies that had emerged from a long period of state involvement in heritage protection. The British government gave the new charity an £80 million grant to establish it as an independent trust. Over the centuries, what is now called Heritage has been the responsibility of a series of state departments. There was the Kings Works after the Norman Conquest, the Office of Works, the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues and Works, and the Ministry of Works. Responsibility subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Public Building and Works then to the Department of the Environment and now the Department for Culture, Media, the states legal responsibility for the historic environment goes back to the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. Central government subsequently developed several systems of protection for different types of assets, introducing listing for buildings after WW2. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission was formed under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983 on 1 April 1984, soon after, the commission gained the operating name of English Heritage by its first Chairman, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. A national register of parks and gardens, was set up in 1984. Registration is a consideration in the planning process. In 2010–2011 it recorded 4.3 million unique online user sessions, in 2012 the section responsible for archive collections was renamed the English Heritage Archive. As a result of the National Heritage Act 2002, English Heritage acquired administrative responsibility for historic wrecks, the administration of the listed building system was transferred from DCMS to English Heritage in 2006. It was retained on grounds of performing a function which should remain independent from Government. However the department also suffered from budget cuts during the recession of the 2010s resulting in a deficit of £100 million. In June 2013 the British Government announced plans to provide an £80 million grant to enable English Heritage to become a self-financing charity, the national portfolio of historic properties remain in public ownership, but the new English Heritage will be licensed to manage them. The change occurred on 1 April 2015 with the planning and heritage protection functions remaining an independent, non-departmental public body. The new trust has a licence to operate the properties until 2023, English Heritage is the guardian of over 400 sites and monuments, the most famous of which include Stonehenge, Iron Bridge and Dover Castle
20.
Deutsche Bahn
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Deutsche Bahn AG is a German railway company. Headquartered in Berlin, it is a private company, with the Federal Republic of Germany being its single shareholder. It carries about two billion passengers each year, Deutsche Bahn came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany. It also gained ownership of railway assets in West Berlin held by the Verwaltung des ehemaligen Reichsbahnvermögens. There are three periods of development in this unified German railway, its formation, its early years. At its creation, Deutsche Bahn took over the abbreviation and logo DB from the West German state railway Deutsche Bundesbahn, erik Spiekermann designed the new corporate font DB Type. However, these plans have been put on hold, and the Bahntower leased for at least three more years, the second step of the Bahnreform was carried out in 1999. This new organisational scheme was introduced not least to implement European Community directive 91/440/EEC that demands access to railway systems free of discrimination. In December 2007, DB reorganised again, bringing all passenger services into its DB Bahn arm, logistics under DB Schenker and infrastructure, the DB is owned by the Federal Republic. By the Constitution, the Federal Republic is required to retain a majority of the infrastructure stocks, in 2008, it was agreed to partially private DB, with 25% of the business to be sold to the private sector. However the onset of the Financial crisis of 2007–08 saw this cancelled, in World war II the Deutsche Reichsbahn helped the Nazis to deport the Jews from Greece. As of 2016, the company currently lacks a management director, other members of the board include, Dr. The DB group is divided into five main groups, Arriva, DB Bahn, DB Dienstleistungen, DB Netze. These subsidiaries are companies in their own right, although most of them are 100% owned by DBAG, Deutsche Bahn placed a bid in May 2010 for the UK-based transport company Arriva. Arriva runs bus and rail companies in 12 European countries, the merger was approved by the European Commission in August 2010, subject to DB divesting Arriva services in Germany. The merger became effective on 27 August 2010, services in the UK formerly run as DB Regio are now operated by a new subdivision of the company, Arriva UK Trains. It operates the Arriva Trains Wales, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Grand Central, on 1 April 2016 Arriva became the operator of the Northern rail franchise. It also holds a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations and has lodged an application to operate services under the Great North Western Railway brand, in November 2016, Arriva Rail London will commence operating the London Overground concession in its own right
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Ecolines
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Ecolines is a long distance coach organisation with a transnational network. Ecolines connecting 170 destinations, covering the whole of Europe, priority Eastern Europe and it was founded in 1993 as Norma-A. Meanwhile, Ecolines is an amalgamation of various European bus companies. In the Baltic States Ecolines was the first coach operator to implement a multimodal transportation system, the organisation operates the most extensive route network in the Baltic States. Amron Avtobus-Tur ARDA TUR Ecolines Estonia Elbrus-Trans GRUP PLUS Klaipėdos autobusų parkas Norma-A TRANSINESTA Ukrainskie Linii Ecolines Website
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Eurolines
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Eurolines Organisation is an international non-profit organisation according to Belgian law. It operates a network, connecting 600 destinations, covering the whole of Europe. Its forerunner was the Europabus brand network created by the Union des Services Routiers des Chemins de Fer Européens,11 European compagnies, Eurolines is a network of 29 co-operating coach companies from all over Europe offering partially integrated ticketing and extensive connections, rather than a single company. For example, in Great Britain Eurolines services are operated by National Express, in Northern Ireland by Ulsterbus, Eurolines headquarters are based in Brussels. Some Eurolines operators choose to compete on certain rather than complement each other. Due to its approach, standards of service vary between countries. In some parts of Europe, notably the Baltic states and former Yugoslavia, in other parts of Europe, international rail and air travel are more common and Eurolines coaches service a niche market of mainly overnight links. Eurolines sell passes for unlimited travel between 48 European cities for either 15 or 30 days under the name Eurolines Pass and these passes do not provide access to all services, and may make booking tickets at regional offices impossible. The decentralized approach also makes administrative support difficult, in the Czech Republic, there exist several companies which use this mark, Eurolines Česká republika spol. S r. o. is a company owned by Naděžda Hofmannová, wife of entrepreneur Jan Hofmann. Originally it really was a part of the Eurolines network, nowadays, it operates one international line 000395 Praha – Banská Bystrica in cooperation with a Slovakian company SAD BBDS. This company is considered to misuse the trademark and is not mentioned among companies which represents Eurolines network, however, none member company of the real Eurolines network took any legal action against this company. The company was established in 1992, it part of the Eurolines network in 1999. However, later it claimed that it represents Eurolines just since 1992, the company was established in 1999
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Megabus (Europe)
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Megabus is a long distance coach operator operated by the Stagecoach Group. It commenced operating in August 2003, initially in the United Kingdom, some services link with Megatrain services, also operated by Stagecoach. Advertised fares start at £1 with a 50p booking fee, using a yield management model, services from London to Oxford commenced on 4 August 2003, and from Edinburgh to Glasgow and Perth and Glasgow to Dundee were added one month later. During November 2003 routes from Manchester to Liverpool and Leeds were added, Stagecoach West lost the contract to run the National Express route between London, Cheltenham and Gloucester, prompting it to introduce competing Megabus services from 5 September 2004. This enabled Stagecoach to cancel the dedicated Megabus service between the two cities, on 10 October 2004 routes from London to Liverpool and Newcastle. On 15 November 2004, the London to Oxford service was replaced by seats on the Oxford Tube. On 31 January 2005, Stagecoach bus route X5 between Oxford and Cambridge became part of the Megabus network, selling a number of seats per journey in the way as the Oxford Tube. On 13 June 2005 a new service was introduced between London and Coventry, however, the London to Swansea service was withdrawn between Cardiff and Swansea. A joint venture between Scottish Citylink and Megabus led to co-ordination of services in Scotland, on 21 November 2005, the 900 Motorvator service was replaced by an enhanced Citylink service, with the facility to buy seats through the Megabus website was retained. Tickets for the combined Megabus/Citylink services are available through both companies websites, though often at different prices, from 16 February 2006, the slower Citylink service between Dundee, Perth and Glasgow became available to book through the Megabus website, restoring Perth bus station to the Megabus network. The same day of the Citylink service modifications, the London to Manchester route was extended to Preston and this coincided with the loss of National Express work at Preston depot. The extensions to Blackpool and Lancaster were short lived, and were withdrawn in February 2006, one journey a day in each direction was extended to Wolverhampton. The stops in the south of Birmingham were no longer served, a number of changes to routes were made on 27 March 2006. A direct service was introduced between Ferrytoll Park & Ride in Fife, Edinburgh and London via Newcastle and Sheffield, together with changes to the Leeds to London services, this meant that changes at Tibshelf services were no longer needed. In addition, many routes had timetable changes, in particular, the London to Southampton and London to Portsmouth routes became feeders to the London to Bournemouth service, with passengers required to change at Winchester. Some London to Bristol journeys were extended to Cwmbran, early in February 2007, it was announced that the service between London, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Nottingham would be withdrawn on 11 March 2007. These services were restored Monday-Saturday following the acquisition of the East Midlands Trains franchise by Stagecoach, to, from 21 May 2007, services between London and Leeds were extended to Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle. On 1 October 2007, the London hub moved from Bulleid Way to Victoria Coach Station, from October 2009 M35 Cardiff to Newcastle began
24.
National Express Coaches
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National Express is an intercity coach operator providing services throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It is a subsidiary of the National Express Group, most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The companys head office is in offices above the Birmingham Coach Station, pursuant to the Transport Act 1968, the National Bus Company was formed as a holding company for the many state-owned local bus companies. Coach services were de-regulated under the Transport Act 1980 and buses by the Transport Act 1985, in March 1988 National Express was privatised in a management buyout. In July 1989 the company bought ATL Holdings with operations in Sheffield and a 50% share in Yelloway Trathen and these were operated under the Caledonian Express brand. In June 1991 National Express was sold to the Drawlane Group, in December 1992 National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange. For most of its existence, National Express had little, if any, however, in 2003, Stagecoach introduced Megabus, a no-frills service whose £1 fares sparked a price war with National Express in autumn 2004. The competition intensified in 2007 when Megabus transferred its London terminus from the Green Line Coach Station into the main Victoria Coach Station, in November 2007 National Express announced plans to re-brand all its operations under a new unified National Express identity. As part of this the coach received a slightly different livery, retaining the red white and blue theme. Coaches started appearing in the new livery from December 2007, National Express offers many standard routes to destinations across the country. In addition, shuttle and airport services are operated, although there is no obvious difference to the passenger between a standard, shuttle or airport service with regard to branding. Many National Express coach routes pass through several town centres, which increases journey times for longer journeys considerably, a smaller number of Shuttle services operate at least once an hour over faster direct routes. National Express operates Airport services to a number of different airports, including East Midlands, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, the Airport brand was created in 2003 when the National Express image brand was updated merging the former Airlink, Flightlink, Jetlink and Speedlink brands. In the 2007 re-brand, the Airport branding was dropped, although the Airport coding is used on tickets. Nearly all National Express services are scheduled to use vehicles with a wheelchair lift and these vehicles feature a wider entrance and a completely flat floor throughout the coach to aid mobility for all. A very small number of coaches on the network do not yet contain wheelchair access. All these vehicles are expected to be withdrawn from service by mid-2013. Certain one-day a week journeys and duplicate services are not operated using vehicles featuring the Magic Floor Lift, newer vehicles include reclining leather seats, plug sockets, air conditioning and a large toilet
25.
OUIBUS
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OUIBUS, formerly iDBUS, is a subsidiary of French state railways SNCF which has operated coach services in Europe since 2012. Currently, OUIBUS serves Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Brussels, Genoa, Lille, London, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Nice, Paris, Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, the route network is expanding progressively. IDBUS has three hubs, in Paris-Bercy, Lyon-Perrache and Lille-Europe. Revealed in November 2011 under the name of Speed, iDBUS was launched on 23 July 2012 to Amsterdam, London, a domestic service between Paris and Lille was launched on 29 August 2012. A second hub was created at Lyon-Perrache on 17 December 2012 to launch Milan, since 23 May 2013, iDBUS has also run services between Marseille/Aix-En-Provence and Nice, Genoa and Milan. On 28 April 2014 iDBUS launched a service from Brussels to Amsterdam, London, since 1 December 2014, iDBUS started operating into Germany, with a service from Paris to Brussels, Aachen and Cologne. From 15 June 2015 iDBUS expanded further in the Benelux, with Rotterdam, from the same date a London to Lyon route will start. On 3 September 2015, iDBUS is rebranded OUIBUS, OUIBUS have a fleet of 46 Setra, Mercedes-Benz and Iveco Bus coaches that meet the Euro 5 emission standard. The whole fleet is fitted with Wi-Fi, plug sockets and spaces for disabled passengers, on a number of the services to/from Spain, a fleet of Irizar i6 coaches operated by Sarfa are used. These operate in the OUIBUS livery, the fleet is equipped with toilets, free WiFi and power outlets at every seats. Passengers are not required to print tickets, as a valid ID is sufficient to board the buses
26.
London Evening Standard
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The London Evening Standard is a local, free daily newspaper, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant local/regional evening paper for London and the area, with coverage of national and international news. In October 2009, the paper ended a 180-year history of paid circulation and became a free newspaper, the newspaper was founded by barrister Stanley Lees Giffard on 21 May 1827, as the Standard. The early owner of the paper was Charles Baldwin, under the ownership of James Johnstone, The Standard became a morning paper from 29 June 1857. The Evening Standard was published from 11 June 1859, by the end of the 19th century, the evening edition eclipsed its morning counterpart. Both The Standard and the Evening Standard were acquired by C. Arthur Pearson in 1904, in May 1915, Edward Hulton purchased the Evening Standard from Davison Dalziel. Dalziel had purchased both papers in 1910, and closed The Standard, the paper, in 1916. Hulton introduced the gossip column Londoners Diary, originally billed as a written by gentlemen for gentlemen. It became a staunchly Conservative paper, harshly attacking Labour in 1945 in a campaign that backfired. In the 1960s, the paper was now upstaged by The Evening News, during the decade, the paper also began to publish the comic strip Modesty Blaise that bolstered the papers sales throughout the 1970s. In 1987 the Evening News was briefly revived to compete with Robert Maxwells London Daily News, in 1988 it incorporated the byline Incorporating the Evening News, which remained until the papers sale in 2009. A few years earlier,12 percent of the paper was sold to Justin Shaw, Associated News keeps the remaining 24 percent. In November 2009, it was announced that the London Evening Standard would drop its midday News Extra edition from 4 January 2010 with the first edition being the West End Final, previously there were three editions each weekday, excluding Bank holidays. The first, News Extra, went to print at 10,00 am and was available around 11 am in central London, slightly later in more outlying areas. The page changes were indicated by stars in the bottom corner of each page. In January 2010, circulation was increased to 900,000, in May 2009, the newspaper launched a series of poster ads, each of which prominently featured the word Sorry in the papers then-masthead font. These ads offered various apologies for past editorial approaches, such as Sorry for losing touch, none of the posters mentioned the Evening Standard by name, although they featured the papers Eros logo. Ex-editor Veronica Wadley criticised the Pravda-style campaign saying it humiliated the papers staff, the campaign was designed by McCann Erickson
27.
Historic England
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Historic England is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with protecting the environment of England by preserving and listing historic buildings, ancient monuments. The body was created by the National Heritage Act 1983. Historic England has a remit to and complements the work of Natural England which aims to protect the natural environment. Historic England inherits English Heritages position as the UK governments statutory adviser and this includes archaeology on land and under water, historic buildings sites and areas, designated landscapes and the historic elements of the wider landscape. It monitors and reports on the state of Englands heritage and publishes the annual the Heritage at Risk survey which is one of the UK Governments Official statistics and it is tasked to secure the preservation and enhancement of the man-made heritage of England for the benefit of future generations. Giving grants national and local organisations for the conservation of buildings, monuments. In 2013/14 over £13 million worth of grants were made to support heritage buildings, advising central UK government on which English heritage assets are nationally important and should be protected by designation. Administering and maintaining the register of Englands listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered battlefields, conservation areas and protected parks and this is published as an online resource as The National Heritage List for England. Advising local authorities on managing changes to the most important parts of heritage, providing expertise through advice, training and guidance to improve the standards and skills of people working in heritage, practical conservation and access to resources. In 2009–2010 it trained around 200 professionals working in local authorities, consulting and collaborating with other heritage bodies, local and national planning organisations e. g. It is not responsible for approving alterations to listed buildings, the management of listed buildings is the responsibility of local planning authorities and the Department for Communities and Local Government. It also owns the National Heritage Collection of nationally important historic sites, however they do not run these sites as this function is instead carried out by the English Heritage Trust under licence until 2023. Britain from Above, presents the unique Aerofilms collection of photographs from 1919-1953. Images of England website Heritage Explorer, Education site for teachers Department for Culture Media and Sport
28.
Transport in London
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London has an extensive and developed transport network which includes both private and public services. Journeys made by transport systems account for 25% of Londons journeys while private services accounted for 41% of journeys. Londons public transport network serves as the hub for the United Kingdom in rail, air. Public transport services are dominated by the agency for transport in London. TfL controls the majority of transport, including the Underground, Buses, Tramlink, the Docklands Light Railway, London River Services. Other rail services are either franchised to train operating companies by the national Department for Transport, TfL also controls most major roads in London, but not minor roads. In addition, there are several independent airports operating in London, including Heathrow, early public transport in London began with horse-drawn omnibus services in 1829, which were gradually replaced by the first motor omnibuses in 1902. Over the years the companies which began these services amalgamated with the London General Omnibus Company to form a unified bus service. The Underground Group became part of the new London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, Underground trains, buses, the London Transport name continued in use until 2000, although the political management of transport services changed several times. The LPTB oversaw transport from 1933 to 1947 until it was re-organised into the London Transport Executive, responsibility for London Transport was subsequently taken over to the London Transport Board, the Greater London Council and London Regional Transport. Following the privatisation of London bus services in 1986, bus services were spun off to a separate operation based on competitive tendering, Transport for London operates three different railway systems across London. The largest is the London Underground, a transit system operating on sub-surface lines. TfL also operates the Docklands Light Railway, a light rail system in the east of the city. The London Underground and the DLR account for 40 percent of the journeys between Inner London and Outer London, making them the most highly used systems in all of London and these three systems extend to most points of London, creating a comprehensive and extensive system. One major area missed by these systems is South London, which is dominated by a suburban rail network. Colloquially known as the Tube, the London Underground was the first rapid transit system in the world, more than 3 million passengers travel on the Underground every day, amounting to over 1 billion passenger journeys per year for the first time in 2006. The Underground serves North London much more extensively than South London and this is the result of a combination of unfavourable geology, historical competition from surface railways and the historical geography of London which was focused to the north of the River Thames. South London is served primarily by surface railways Carrying nearly 50% of Londons commuters, the Docklands Light Railway is an automated light rail system serving the Docklands area of east London
29.
Emirates Air Line (cable car)
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The Emirates Air Line is a cable car link across the River Thames in London, England built by Doppelmayr with sponsorship from the airline Emirates. The service opened on 28 June 2012 and is operated by Transport for London, in addition to transport across the river, the service advertises a unique view of London. The duration of a single crossing is ten minutes, the cable car is based on monocable detachable gondola technology, a system which uses a single cable for both propulsion and support, used also on the metrocable in Medellín, Colombia. The MDG system is cheaper and quicker to install than a more complex three-cable system which would allow larger-capacity cars. On 4 July 2010, Transport for London announced plans to develop a car crossing over the River Thames. It is the first urban cable car in the United Kingdom, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Expedition Engineering and Buro Happold, it crosses the river at a height up to 90 metres, higher than that of the nearby O2 Arena. The cable car provides a crossing every 15 seconds, with a capacity of 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction. Passengers can pay for their journeys with pay-as-you-go Oyster cards.1 metres above high water springs. South of the river there is a 60-metre main support tower, when the project was announced, TfLs initial budget was £25 million, they announced this would be entirely funded by private finance. TfL planned to make up the shortfall by paying for the out of the London Rail budget, applying for funding from the European Regional Development Fund. €9. 7m of ERDF support, out of an estimated €65. 56m total budget, was agreed on 9 July 2012 In January 2011, News International was planning to sponsor the project, but withdrew its offer. In October 2011 it was announced that the Dubai-based airline Emirates would provide £36 million in a 10-year sponsorship deal which included branding of the car service with the airlines name. Construction began in August 2011 with Mace as the lead contractor, Mace built the cable car for £45 million and was to operate it for the first three years for a further £5.5 million. TfL stated that the construction funding and Emirates sponsorship would cover £36 million of the cost. In 2011 the cable car was the most expensive cable system ever built, the public opening took place at noon on 28 June 2012. TfL reported that the total cost of the project was about £60 million and it estimates that the service can carry 2,500 people per hour. There are 36 passenger gondolas, of which 34 are in use at any one time, all passenger gondolas are ready for disabled persons using wheelchairs, including those ones with leg rest extensions. There are also two engineers gondolas for use by maintenance staff, the Emirates Air Line route was introduced onto the London Tube map in June 2012
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East London Transit
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East London Transit is a part-segregated bus rapid transit, operated as part of the London Buses network. It was opened in phases between 2010 and 2013, the scheme has been developed by Transport for London due to the existing and anticipated demand for public transport in East London caused by the Thames Gateway redevelopment. The scheme has been planned to allow for a future upgrade to tram operation. There are proposals for a variety of extensions, the first stage of the scheme opened on 20 February 2010. EL1 replaced the previous 369 bus service and operated 24 hours a day between Thames View Estate and Ilford, EL1 has been extended from Thames View Estate to Barking Riverside. EL2 operated over the length of the phase 1 route between Dagenham Dock and Ilford until March 2016 when it was amended to run to Becontree Heath after leaving Barking. EL3 replaced the previous 387 operated between Little Heath and Barking Riverside, the change through Barking Town Centre. Route 179 was withdrawn between Ilford and Barking and was diverted to terminate at Ilford bus terminus, all services are operated by Blue Triangle using Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL double-deckers. In February 2017, Blue Triangle commenced a new contract on routes EL1, all routes will be operated by New Routemasters. Phase 1 Ilford — Barking — Thames View Estate — Dagenham Dock station Phase 1 commenced on 20 February 2010, Phase 2 Barking — Thames View Estate — Dagenham Dock Construction of phase 2 began in 2011 and was completed in 2013. It received funding from the Homes and Communities Agency, in 2013 it was proposed to extend route EL1 from Thames View Estate to Barking Reach and a consultation was held. The extended service started on 7 September 2013, early proposals for extensions have included Gants Hill for the Central line, Rainham, Barkingside, Romford, Elm Park and Collier Row and Harold Wood. Havering London Borough Council has voiced support for the extension to Rainham through London Riverside, in a bus network development paper from 2016, a new route EL4 was proposed between Barking Riverside and Becontree Heath bus station via Becontree tube station. Additional proposals include services to Gallions Reach for the Docklands Light Railway, East Ham, Silvertown, the East London Transit formed part of a plan for a much larger Thames Gateway Transit service. It was proposed that it would use the Thames Gateway Bridge to connect to the Greenwich Waterfront Transit on the side of the River Thames. However, construction of the bridge and the Greenwich busway was cancelled in 2008
31.
Santander Cycles
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Santander Cycles is a public bicycle hire scheme in London, United Kingdom. The schemes bicycles are known as Boris Bikes, after Boris Johnson. The operation of the scheme is contracted by Transport for London to Serco, Bikes and docking stations are provided by PBSC Urban Solutions. The scheme is sponsored, with Santander UK being the sponsor from April 2015. Barclays Bank was the first sponsor, from 2010 to March 2015, credit for developing and enacting the scheme has been a source of debate. Johnson has taken credit for the plan, although the concept was announced by his predecessor Ken Livingstone. Moreover, recent customer research showed that 49 per cent of Cycle Hire members say that the scheme has prompted them to start cycling in London, the record for cycle hires in a single day is 73,000. In August 2007 the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, announced that he was planning to implement a cycle hire scheme modelled on the successful Vélib network in Paris. Following discussions with the Mayor of Paris, Livingstone instructed transport officials to study the Paris and similar schemes, discussions were conducted between TfL, the London boroughs and transport commissioners from Lyon, Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Oslo and Copenhagen. In February 2008, plans for the London cycle hire scheme were officially unveiled by Livingstone, the CTC and Green Party hailed the proposals as revolutionary. BCH commenced operations in July 2010 with 5,000 bicycles and 315 docking stations distributed across the City of London area, the coverage zone spans approximately 17 square miles. As of March 2012 there were some 8,000 cycles and 570 docking stations in the scheme, between December 2010 and the end of May 2013, the scheme had registered 22 million rides without a death. The first fatality of a user of the scheme occurred in July 2013, in March 2014,101 of the 10,000 bikes in the scheme were coloured yellow to mark 100 days until the arrival of the 101st Tour de France in London on Monday 7 July 2014. Regular users of the scheme can register on the TfL website and buy access for 24 hours,7 days, users are then posted a key to operate the docking stations, keys cost £3, and up to four can be registered under a single account. The key allows a cycle to be released from the docking station, on 3 December 2010 the scheme was extended to casual users who are not members of the scheme but hold major payment cards. The cost is the same to members and casual users, except that use for one year is not available. A credit or debit card can be used in a station to release a bicycle. Access for 24 hours or 7 days can be purchased, Cycles may be rented at any time during the access period, use for no more than 30 minutes at a time is free of charge
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London Rail
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London Rail is a directorate of Transport for London, involved in the relationship with the National Rail network within Greater London, UK. It manages non-tube rail systems in Greater London, London Rail manages the London Overground, London Trams and Docklands Light Railway. It will also be responsible for Crossrail, as part of an internal restructure within TfL, it recently merged with the London Underground directorate, bringing all of Greater London local transport services on rails under one division. The London Overground was established in 2007 when TfL took over control of the former National Rail Silverlink franchise in 2007 and it has since taken on more services through a former London Underground line and over other network rail lines. London Rail lets a concession to operate the Overground, operation is contracted to London Overground Rail Operations until 2014/16. London Trams is responsible only for the Croydon Tram known as Tramlink, Tramlink was set up in 2000 by a private finance initiative. It was bought by TfL in 2008 and has operated by it since. London Trams has been working on proposals for other schemes in west and central London. The Docklands Light Railway was established in 1987 and has seen significant expansion since and its operation is contracted out as a concession to Serco until 2014. There are also other concessionaires who have built and manage extensions, Crossrail also operates as a concession from London Rail. It already operates the Shenfield Metro services, taking over from Abellio Greater Anglia on 31 May 2015, the Reading / Heathrow services are however still operated by Great Western Railway, but will be taken over by Crossrail from 2018. The National Rail network within Greater London carries large numbers of commuters into London and also many local services. A pilot project was launched in 2003 to promote the services provided by train operating companies in South London under one umbrella brand, Overground Network. The scheme included station upgrades, signage and publicity, but promotion of the brand had ceased by 2007, London Rail also influences rail freight and freight depots in Greater London. In August 2007, London Rail published its Rail Freight Strategy report, London Overground has already taken over Lea Valley Lines services from Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford and Romford to Upminster Line services on 31 May 2015
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Docklands Light Railway
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The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro system opened in 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London. It reaches north to Stratford, south to Lewisham, west to Tower Gateway and Bank in the City of London financial district, and east to Beckton, London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal. The system uses minimal staffing on trains and at interchange stations. Similar proposals have made for the Tube. The DLR is operated under a franchise awarded by Transport for London to KeolisAmey Docklands and it was previously run for over 17 years by Serco Docklands, part of the Serco Group. The system is owned by Docklands Light Railway Ltd, part of the London Rail division of Transport for London, in Fiscal Year 2014, the DLR carried 110.2 million passengers. It has been extended several times and further extensions are under consideration, the docks immediately east of Central London began to decline in the early 1960s as cargo became containerised. They had been connected to the railway network via the London and Blackwall Railway. The opening of the Tilbury container docks, further east in Essex, finally rendered them redundant, as early as 1972, consideration was given to how to redevelop the moribund Docklands. Travis Morgan & Partners were commissioned by the London Docklands Study Team to consider the issue, the Greater London Council formed a Docklands Joint Committee with the Boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets in 1974 to undertake the redevelopment of the area. A light railway system was envisaged, terminating either at Tower Hill tube station or at Fenchurch Street, but both options were seen as too expensive. This was intended to be the stage of the Fleet line – which had been renamed the Jubilee line. The government created the London Docklands Development Corporation in July 1981 to coordinate the redevelopment of the Docklands, the need to provide a cheap public transport solution led to it commissioning London Transport to evaluate a number of exclusively light rail options. The core of the route ran alongside the Great Eastern line out of London, three terminus options were proposed at the west end, at Tower Hill, Minories and Aldgate East. The Tower Hill option would have required a low-level interchange to be constructed alongside the existing Underground station, the Minories option, a high-level station virtually on the site of the old Minories railway station, was selected and became the current Tower Gateway DLR terminus. However, it became apparent that there was no capacity on the existing network for integrating the DLR into the Underground. Two southern terminus options were put forward, at Cubitt Town and Tiller Road, on the west side of Millwall Dock, with two possible routes to reach them. The central option required the West India Docks to be infilled or bridged and would run down the middle of the peninsula, the contract for the initial system was awarded to GEC Mowlem in 1984 and the system was constructed from 1985 to 1987 at a cost of £77 million
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London Overground
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The London Overground is a suburban rail network in the United Kingdom. Established in 2007, it serves a large part of Greater London and parts of Hertfordshire, the network forms part of the National Rail network, but under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London. Operation has been franchised to Arriva Rail London since 13 November 2016, the Overground has been assigned the colour orange as a mode specific colour by Transport for London. This colour is used in the Overground version of the TfL roundel, for the representation of Overground routes on the map, in train interiors. Rail services in Great Britain are mostly run under franchises operated by train operating companies. The concept of developing a network of services around London goes back to the independently produced Ringrail proposals in the early 1970s. The proposal from Barren was for several overlapping services mainly using the North London Line and this was given the marketing name Cross Town Link-Line, and operated with basic 2-car diesel units. The next initiative came from the GLC in 1984, when the government supported the Broadgate development that would entail the demolition of Broad Street Station. The closure process was convoluted because of problems in making arrangements for the North London Line. These would eventually run to and from Liverpool Street via a new section of track and this used a name once associated with a semicircular service that operated from Broad Street to Mansion House, but ceased during World War 1. The pamphlets and briefings, first issued in 1997, initially suggested a route from Clapham Junction to the Greenwich Peninsula, intended to improve access from south London to the Millennium Dome. However, this was thwarted by architect Richard Rogers who considered a railway route on an elevated viaduct could cause community severance, nothing further happened to develop this network until after the new GLA was set up in 2000. But the lobbying discreetly continued with a series of short briefings published by one RDS member based in North London, mayoral and GLA candidates were approached to discuss the viability of the Outer Circle concept. The principle was widely supported and was adopted into the first Mayors Transport Plan, meanwhile, a pilot scheme was launched in 2003 to bring several National Rail local services, mainly in South London and operated by multiple companies, under the ON – Overground Network brand. TfL introduced consistent information displays, station signage and maps on the routes in South London. The pilot scheme was later dropped, in January 2004 the Department for Transport announced a review of the rail industry in Great Britain. As part of review, proposals were put forward by TfL for a London Regional Rail Authority to give TfL regulatory powers over rail services in. A result of consultation was agreement by the then Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling
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TfL Rail
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It is operated by MTR Corporation Ltd under contract to Transport for London, and forms part of the future Crossrail route from Shenfield to Reading and Heathrow Airport. TfL Rail took control of the Liverpool Street to Shenfield metro service in May 2015, in May 2018 Heathrow Connect services between Paddington and the airport and the Heathrow Express shuttle from Heathrow Central to Terminal 4 will also come under TfL Rail operation. TfL Rail will then be re-branded as the Elizabeth line in December 2018, between opening in May 2015 and the end of the 2015/2016 period TfL Rail carried over 38 million passengers. In July 2014 TfL awarded the contract to MTR, with a duration of eight years with an option to extend by a two years. The existing Class 315 trains were re-painted in the TfL Rail livery, every station is also staffed from first train to last of the day. TfL Rail utilises the existing 20 miles 16 chains of track on the Great Eastern Main Line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, during peak times, service frequency is increased and calling patterns vary, with some stations omitted on certain services. On Sundays there are two trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Shenfield and two trains per hour between Liverpool Street and Gidea Park. TfL Rail operations commenced with the fleet of Class 315 rolling stock. These units will be replaced by 66 new Class 345 trains built by the Canadian firm Bombardier Transportation, the Class 315 trains will continue to be maintained at the existing Ilford depot. The Class 345 fleet will be maintained at a new depot at Old Oak Common
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Tramlink
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Tramlink is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in London since 1952 and it is owned by London Trams, an arm of Transport for London, and operated by FirstGroup. The Tramlink is the fourth-busiest light rail network in the UK behind Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro, in 1990 Croydon Council with London Regional Transport put the project to Parliament and the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink. In 1996 Tramtrack Croydon Limited won a 99-year Private Finance Initiative contract to design, build, operate, TCL was a partnership comprising FirstGroup, Bombardier Transportation, Sir Robert McAlpine and Amey, and Royal Bank of Scotland and 3i. TCL kept the revenue generated by Tramlink and LRT had to pay compensation to TCL for any changes to the fares, TCL subcontracted operations to CentreWest Buses. One of the leading to its creation was that the London Borough of Croydon has no London Underground service. There are four routes, Route 1 – Elmers End to Croydon, Route 2 – Beckenham Junction to Croydon, Route 3 – New Addington to Wimbledon, and Route 4 – Therapia Lane to Elmers End. Route 2 runs parallel to the Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction line of the Southern network between Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction – the National Rail track had been singled some years earlier. At Woodside the old station buildings stand disused, and the platforms have been replaced by accessible low platforms. From Woodside to near Sandilands and from near Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park, Tramlink follows the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway, including the Park Hill tunnels. The section of Route 3 between Wimbledon and West Croydon mostly follows the single-track British Rail route, closed on 31 May 1997 so that it could be converted for Tramlink, a partial obstruction near this point has necessitated the use of interlaced track. A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road was dismantled to make way for the flyover over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line, the footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle station on the Swanage Railway. In March 2008, TfL announced that it had reached agreement to buy TCL for £98m, the purchase was finalised on 28 June 2008. The background to this purchase relates to the requirement that TfL compensates TCL for the consequences of any changes to the fares, in 2007 that payment was £4m, with an annual increase in rate. In October 2008 TfL introduced a new livery, using the blue, white and green of the routes on TfL maps, the colour of the cars was changed to green, and the brand name was changed from Croydon Tramlink to simply Tramlink. These refurbishments were completed in early 2009, the tram stops have low platforms,35 cm above rail level. They are unstaffed and have automated ticket machines, in general, access between the platforms involves crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. There are 39 stops, most being 32.2 m long and they are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 2 m
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Crossrail
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Crossrail is a 118-kilometre railway line under development in London and the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex. The project was approved in 2007 and construction began in 2009 on the central section and it has been described as one of Europes largest infrastructure construction projects. Its main feature is 21 km of new twin tunnels through central London and these tunnels will run from Paddington to Stratford and Canary Wharf in the east. Crossrail will be operated by MTR Corporation Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London, in a similar manner to London Overground. The need for extra capacity along this corridor is such that the head of TfL, Sir Peter Hendy. New nine-carriage Class 345 trains will run at frequencies in the section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction. The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943 County of London Plan and 1944 Greater London Plan by Patrick Abercrombie and these led to a specialist investigation by the Railway Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948. The term Crossrail emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report, although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given, £300 million. A feasibility study was recommended as a priority so that the practicability. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded while a decision was taken. The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the rail network as the East–West Crossrail, City Crossrail. The City route was shown as a new connection across the City of London linking the Great Northern Route with London Bridge, the report also recommended a number of other schemes including a Thameslink Metro route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885 million, in 1991 a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. In 2001 Cross London Rail Links, a joint-venture between TfL and the DfT, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, the proposal was rejected by Crossrail, and failed to receive the backing of the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, or the DfT. In February 2008 the Bill moved to the House of Lords, the Act gave CLRL the powers necessary to build the line. Construction began on 15 May 2009 when construction started, in September 2009 the project received £1 billion in funding. The money was lent to TfL by the European Investment Bank, the original planned schedule was that the first trains would run in 2017, but in 2010 the government delayed this to 2018 in order to save £1 billion. Crossrails central core section will utilise new east–west twin tunnels under central London, the tunnelled sections will be approximately 22 kilometres in length
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Crossrail 2
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Crossrail 2 is a proposed rail route in South East England, running from nine stations in Surrey to three in Hertfordshire providing a new rail link across London on the Crossrail network. Should permission be granted, construction is expected to start around 2023, the line is the fourth major rail project in the capital since 2000. The project was known as the Chelsea–Hackney line in reference to a potential route. The plan for a line on this alignment has existed in various forms since 1970 and this route is from the 2015 public consultation. Operating in new tunnels at 30 trains per hour, Dalston Double ended station Angel Euston St. Pancras double-ended station serving Euston, Kings Cross. Running at between 10 and 15 trains per hour on new rails above ground, connected to a north of Dalston, Tottenham Hale all stations to Broxbourne for Crossrail 2 services. The results of the consultation were published on 29 November 2013 by TfL, 96% of respondents supported or strongly supported the plans, whilst 2% opposed or strongly opposed them. The regional route had greater support than the route, with 84% of respondents supporting or strongly supporting the regional route versus 73% for the metro plans. The greatest level of opposition to the principle of Crossrail 2 came from the residents of Kensington and Chelsea, nearly 20% of respondents from this area either opposed or strongly opposed the scheme, views that did not exceed 10% in any other areas. In June 2014, a consultation on small modifications to the 2013 proposals started, a further consultation was launched in October 2015. Situated in the retail area of Wood Green with access to shops, leisure. See consultations. tfl. gov. uk/crossrail2/october2015 Surrey County Council has since called for TFL to consider extending the lines to Dorking and Woking stations. The cost of the scheme has been estimated at £27–32 billion, in 2014 prices and including the cost of new trains, a west/north-east tube line was originally planned as early as 1901 and a Bill was put before Parliament in 1904. However, political manoeuvring by rival tube magnate Charles Yerkes ended the proposal, a west to north-east line was proposed in 1970 by the London Transport Boards London Rail Study as the next project after the completion of the Victoria line and the Fleet line. For financial reasons the line was not built, but the idea has remained, in 1995, an alternative Express Metro plan was put forward that would utilise more existing track, have fewer stations and be built to National Rail standards. The London East West Study in 2000 considered Crossrail, the Chelsea–Hackney line, the Study supposes main-line gauge, and would omit a station at Piccadilly Circus. The Express Metro option would run on the East Coast Main Line, in 2007 Crossrail was given the go-ahead over the Chelsea–Hackney line despite some commentators favouring the latter putting implementation after Crossrails completion date of 2018. The Chelsea–Hackney plans were taken over by Crossrail as Crossrail 2, in 2007, the 1991 route was updated – Sloane Square was dropped and the Central lines Epping branch from Leytonstone was re-safeguarded
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London River Services
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London River Services Limited is a division of Transport for London, which manages passenger transport—leisure-oriented tourist services and commuter services—on the River Thames in London, UK. They do not own or operate any boats but license the services of operators, the River Thames is generally no more than 300m wide as it runs through central London, and is crossed by many bridges and tunnels. More than 2,000 commuters a day travelled by river in 2007, before the construction of Londons bridges and the Underground, the River Thames had served as a major thoroughfare for centuries. For centuries the only bridge across the Thames was London Bridge, crossing the river by wherry was a common mode of transport. Passenger steamboats were introduced in 1815 and the use of the river as a means of transport increased greatly. River services ran from Gravesend, Margate and Ramsgate via Greenwich and Woolwich into central London, by the mid-1850s about 15,000 people per day travelled to work on steamboat services – twice the number of passengers on the newly emerging railways. With increased congestion on the river, collisions and other accidents became correspondingly more frequent, River service companies struggled financially, and in 1876 the five main boat companies merged to form the London Steamboat Company. The company ran a service from Chelsea to Greenwich for eight years until it went bankrupt in 1884. Nevertheless, river services continued under different management into the next century, many of the Thames paddle steamers around this time were built by the Thames Ironworks at Bow Creek. In 1905 the London County Council launched its own public transport service to complement its new tram network, acquiring piers. Frequent services operated from Hammersmith to Greenwich, the LCC river service was not a success, in the first year it ran up debts of £30,000. It was shut down in 1907 after only two years service, numerous proposals for river bus services were considered throughout the 20th century, although the few that were realised were cancelled after a short time in service. London Transport bus inspectors and conductors issued and checked the tickets onboard the boats, with the move of the Port of London downstream in the 1960s, regular river transport was limited to a few sightseeing boats. The centrepiece of these celebrations was to be the Millennium Dome, the Cross-River Partnership, a consortium of local authorities, private sector organisations and voluntary bodies, recommended the creation of a public body to co-ordinate and promote river services. The result was the formation in 1999 of London River Services, mayor Ken Livingstones Transport Strategy for London 2005 stated that, The safe use of the Thames for passenger and freight services should be developed. Passenger services will be encouraged, particularly services that relate to its cultural and architectural excellence, use of Londons other navigable waterways for freight, consistent with their roles for leisure use and as ecosystems, will be encouraged. LRS is responsible for integrating river transport with the rest of the transport network, such as the Tube. It promotes boat services under the London River Services brand, issuing timetables, LRS is also responsible for directly managing eight piers on the river, and invested in LRS-branded signage and passenger information
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Night Tube
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Part of the London Overground should begin Night Tube service by 2017, while the sub-surface lines and Docklands Light Railway are planned to begin Night Tube services in 2021. TfL announced in mid-2014 the introduction of the Night Tube, however, due to strike action, the start of the Night Tube was postponed. Following agreement of new terms by TfL and the unions, Night Tube operations were confirmed to start in the half of 2016. The Central and Victoria line services started on 19 August 2016, the Jubilee line services started on the 7 October 2016, the Northern line on 18 November 2016 and the Piccadilly line on 16 December 2016. Charing Cross on the Northern line is not served by Night Tube services, summary of the Night Tube service, Central line, between Ealing Broadway and Hainault, and between White City and Loughton. The Bank branch is not served by Night Tube due to construction on that branch. TfL estimated that the Night Tube would lead to the creation of 1,965 permanent jobs, time savings of, on average,20 minutes on some routes. Standard business case shows that for each £1 spent on delivering the Night Tube, adding in wider economic impacts increases this benefit by £1.20 for every pound spent. In addition to the above quantifiable benefits, other benefits TfL believe the service is likely to create include, Reduced demand for illegal minicabs. Improved commuter journeys for many people who work during the night-time in central London, potential for longer operating hours for bars, clubs, restaurants, bowling alleys, cinemas, museums, art galleries, and other attractions. Reduced congestion at stations after events at entertainment venues like the O2, improved accessibility to Heathrow for passengers flying or entering before 07,00 at the weekend. London Underground warned there could be no services on Thursday as a result of the walk-out, the strike affected all Tube lines and finished at 21,30 BST on 9 July 2015. A second 24-hour strike action by London Underground trade unions took place from 18,30 BST on 5 August 2015 until 05,00 BST on 7 August 2015, and there was no service at all on 6 August 2015. Three unions also threatened to strike on 25 and 27 August as of 12 August 2015, ASLEF decided not to participate in the planned strikes. On 27 August 2015 it was announced that the date for the Night Tube had been pushed back due to ongoing talks about contract terms between trade unions and London Underground
