I know I sometimes misbehave and tell you transport news off my own bat, but the only genuine transport news in the capital is that pumped out by the TfL press office. I'm therefore pleased to bring you this monthly round-up of London's transport news compiled exclusively from every press release TfL released in June and no independent agenda-setting whatsoever. Just in case you missed everyone else covering it.
06 Jun 2023:4G and 5G mobile coverage now available to customers at Camden Town station
I discovered this for myself earlier in the week when I boarded a Northern line train at Tufnell Park and sat next to a woman who appeared to be making a phone call. "You can't do that down here," I thought, then remembered they've started introducing 4Gunderground along the High Barnet branch of the Northern line. She really had to struggle to be heard as the train approached the new 4G nexus at Camden Town because the screechy track noise along that stretch is appalling. But she battled on anyway, to my increasing annoyance, until the signal suddenly cut out halfway to Euston because they haven't enabled that bit yet. And it's not just good for phone calls, I was able to use the 4G between stations when I thought I spotted actor Jim Broadbent sitting in the seat opposite. Until now going online was impossible but I was able to bring up Google Image Search on my phone browser and reference a few key facial features and ultimately decided that no, on the balance of probabilities it wasn't Jim Broadbent, and my apologies if it actually was.
09 Jun 2023:TfL invites people to have their say on proposals for the next new section of the Superloop, connecting North Finchley and Walthamstow
Last month TfL dangled the X183 in front of us and now it's the turn of the X34, a proposed express route linking North Finchley with Walthamstow. "Game-changing", the press release calls it, as well as lots of duller worthy words ideal for cut and pasting directly into a news story. The official version mentions that the X34 will run every 12 minutes but not that the 34 will simultaneously be reduced in frequency (from 8 buses an hour to 6) to make up for it. It also says that this is "to strengthen and improve public transport options in line with the London-wide ULEZ expansion" but chooses not to mention that the majority of the X34's route runs either along the edge of the current ULEZ or inside it so won't help much. But do have your say, you've got until 21st July.
12 Jun 2023:Strike action due to affect buses in north London for four days in June
The problem with doing a monthly retrospective is that sometimes the event has already happened, as here where the final day of disruption was supposed to be yesterday. Also the strike action was withdrawn a week later and never corrected by any subsequent press release, so this has been an entirely pointless mention.
13 Jun 2023:Explore the Science Museum for less with a new Transport for London offer
You can of course explore the Science Museum for nothing because that's how London's free museum offer works. What TfL are actually doing here is offering money off some of the expensive add-ons like paid exhibitions and experiences, and only if you've downloaded the right app on your phone. You can now get 50% off Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination (saving £7.50), 25% off an annual pass at Wonderlab (saving £4.25) or 20% off an IMAX 3D documentary (saving £2.40), although IMAX 3D films are specifically excluded. You also have to show proof of travel on the day you visit by waving the TfL Oyster and Contactless app at someone on the front desk, which quite frankly is just another layer of unnecessary friction at what is already London's faffiest museum, so maybe don't bother.
13 Jun 2023:TfL and London Councils progress plans to further improve lorry safety in London
This is important but dull, which may be why none of the usual media outlets leapt on it and wrote up the story. I too have struggled to find a nugget of broader interest in "a report on a consultation to build on and improve the existing HGV safety permit scheme with 55% of respondents supportive of the principles of the Direct Vision Standard, the HGV Safety Permits Scheme and the Safe System progressing", but if this interests you fear not you can read about it yourself.
13 Jun 2023:TfL moves forwards with plans to make the Battersea Bridge area safer for people walking and cycling
A problem with a lot of press releases is that you don't really get a full sense of what's going on, just a lot of plain text and summary bullet points. If all the detailed explanatory information and maps are tucked elsewhere on a separate website, as here, a busy journo is unlikely to have the time to dig deeper. I have looked at the maps but I don't really have enough local knowledge to be able to judge the plans for myself, other than to say that yes, a new pedestrian crossing just south of Battersea Bridge would be desperately useful.
15 Jun 2023:TfL sets out vision to further boost cycling by making it more diverse than ever
There's a lot more to boosting cycling than diversity if you read the press release, and a heck of a lot more to it if you ever get as far as reading the new Cycling Action Plan. I found it fascinating and I'm not even a cyclist, I'm one of the refuseniks debated between pages 17 and 28. "Reducing road danger on its own may not be sufficient to achieve a cycling population reflective of London’s diverse communities," it says, "a range of barriers prevent people from cycling such as concerns over air pollution, lack of cycle parking, not being able to afford a cycle, fear of harassment, or the perception that ‘cycling is not for people like me’. Another big issue is not having a broad enough network (for example six outer London boroughs still have no TfL cycleways and four have none planned), and it'll be a slow expensive process trying to improve that. Watch this space.
15 Jun 2023:Upcoming weekend closures for southbound traffic through Blackwall Tunnel
I'm too late for this one too because the two weekend closures have just completed. They were for the removal of a 1960s footbridge over the southern approach road as part of works to connect up the Silvertown Tunnel (and yes they'll be replacing the bridge later with a more accessible one). Apparently one further closure will be required for drainage reasons, possibly 8-10 July but there hasn't been a press release to confirm that yet.
16 Jun 2023:TfL and partners progress public transport proposals to unlock Thamesmead and Beckton Riverside
This is exciting, this is a possible new DLR extension creating a fresh link across the Thames. It'll bear off near Gallions Reach before tunnelling east to Thamesmead with one intermediate stop amid the ex-gasworks at Beckton. But it's not to benefit existing residents, it's to boost accessibility for tens of thousands of homes as yet unbuilt and which will likely remain unbuilt unless the new spur appears. If you get your news from MyLondon you'll be expecting the new link 'soon', because they don't read press releases carefully so missed the crucial detail that it's maybe 10 years away if we're lucky. As yet there's no funding nor any detailed plans, we've merely reached the feasibility study stage, and it might just end up being improved bus routes instead.
16 Jun 2023:REMINDER: Kentish Town Tube station to close for improvements from Monday 26 June
This has already happened, the escalators at Kentish Town station having been deemed so unreliable that the entire tube station has been closed until they've been replaced which might take a year. The Thameslink station remains open but can now only be accessed via the side passage. I dropped by earlier this week and despite an absolute mountain of signage outside the station a baffled woman still felt the need to ask me where the way in was. Also the logo they've used to represent the escalator upgrade looks unnervingly like two tumescent male reproductive organs, or if I'm feeling charitable a pair of radioactive raspberry eclairs.
22 Jun 2023:TfL launches limited edition Oyster card to celebrate 20 years of the iconic smartcard
The iconic Oyster card is now 20 years old, in fact it's 20 years old tomorrow, so TfL are celebrating by printing a limited edition with a special design on the front. They're only available at zone 1 stations, only 300,000 have been produced and they don't have any special benefits other than looking nice. But because you no longer get your deposit back and the charge for getting a card has increased from £5 to £7, if TfL manage to persuade 300,000 tubenerds to dash out and get one they'll have raised two million quid by doing very little. In good news, the press release confirms that TfL have no plans to withdraw the Oyster card because it's a crucial part of an inclusive travel offer.
23 Jun 2023:TfL publishes new data on London’s e-scooter rental trial as it celebrates its second anniversary
The press office loves a birthday, indeed they showed considerable restraint yesterday by failing to publish a press release to celebrate the Dangleway's 11th. In this case the somewhat weak reason for an official communication is that an e-scooter factsheet has been produced, which mainly focuses on the fact that this remains a trial so they're still gathering information. We learn that "the majority of customers were white (77%), male (78%) and under the age of 35 (59%) but also that "customers on low incomes and from ethnic minority groups were more likely to be frequent e-scooter users." One key statistic is that nobody's been killed yet, indeed less than 0.01% of trips resulted in serious injury, but also the average number of rides per scooter per day is only 1.3 which suggests this really hasn't taken off in any significant way whatsoever.
26 Jun 2023:LGBTQ+ community stories told on the TfL network to mark Pride 2023
It's Pride month again so TfL have wrapped three trains and a bus in rainbow colours to celebrate. But more importantly they're standing up in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Londoners loud and proud, because in the current climate that level of support isn't always a given. Several "prominent personalities" are sharing their stories in posters at stations - mainly at Green Park and Victoria if you're trying to track them down. More visibly most station whiteboards across the network currently feature bold quotes from a couple of books featured in this month's TfL Book Club selection, including some that that might make blinkered gender-obsessed bigots feel uncomfortable. The best summary of the campaign is on the TfL blog, including some excellent staff-generatedposters, so maybe start there rather than the press release. Just don't go looking for the rainbow Crossrail train yet because it launches tomorrow.
Please forgive me for mentioning any other transport news during the month of June, and remember to only get your transport news from approved sources and top-down agendas.
