What's new this week in the world of London transport?
Cutting the DLR timetable
TfL's DLR Rolling Stock Replacement Programme isn't going well. The first new walk-through train arrived for testing in January 2023 and should have entered public service in April 2024, yet somehow still hasn't. The latest official estimate for the first new train in public service is "before the end of 2025". That is one hell of a signalling issue.
54 new units are being built to replace ageing rolling stock, most of which are still mothballed in Spain awaiting depot space. Their introduction will allow 33 of the oldest units to be retired, also additional capacity across the network, so a brighter dawn lies ahead. But those 33 units mustn't be allowed to become life-expired so some are being taken out of service lest they do too much mileage, hence a new reduced DLR timetable was introduced this week.
Here's a summary of the previous timetable.
Eight different routes operated on weekdays, the most frequent being Bank-Lewisham at approximately 5 minute intervals throughout the day. Of the eight routes five ran all the time, two only at peak times and one only off-peak.
Here's a summary of the new timetable, starting this week.
The plan has been to remove all three of the intermittent routes, leaving a core service on the remaining five. Frequencies will remain unchanged, except on the Stratford - Canary Wharf branch where intervals will widen.
In good news, services in and out of central London are entirely unaffected, as are services to Woolwich Arsenal. Indeed if your journey is anywhere between Bank, Tower Gateway, Canning Town and Woolwich Arsenal you'll see no change whatsoever. It's the other branches that are getting cut back.
• Canary Wharf - Lewisham is losing its trains from Stratford so frequencies will be reduced in the peak. Expect two trains in every 9 minute period whereas previously it was three. Off-peak frequencies are unaffected.
• Canary Wharf - Stratford is reducing in frequency throughout the day. In the peaks the reduction is from every 4.5 minutes to every 5, and off-peak it's from every 5 minutes to every 6.5.
• Canning Town - Stratford International is losing half its off-peak trains, i.e. services will only operate every 10 minutes not every 5. Peak services are unaffected.
• Canning Town - Beckton is the most downgraded. Only trains to Tower Gateway will now operate, i.e. half the number of trains as before, both peak and off-peak. You could now be waiting up to 10 minutes on this branch, whereas previously it was up to 5.
The new timetable has been deliberately introduced to coincide with the start of the school summer holidays so initially the impact will be reduced. However a full timetable will only be restored "once enough new trains are in service" so we're stuck with lower frequencies for at least the rest of 2025.
TfL still hope that all 54 new DLR trains will be introduced "by the end of 2026", and they don't need all 54 to be able to return to a full timetable. But expect this annoyance to continue well into next year, and if you live on the Beckton branch my condolences.
Side Quest cycling
The latest gimmick to encourage more use of TfL's hire bikes is a website called Side Quests. This generates a cycle route across central London linking three or four themed locations. If you like the route there's a link to a detailed Google map and if you don't you click again and get another one. There are 24 Side Quest routes altogether, presented sequentially. The sponsor's brand colour appears prominently.
Themes include parks, architecture and history but also bao buns, meet-cutes and F1 racing because the whole thing skews heavily Gen Z. A group of bored friends might well find inspiration for a weekend rollout, but should be prepared to fork out along the way because 75% of the routes feature paid-for attractions. Well done if you're the creative team who put this together, but can you really see anyone embracing this?
Bleeding old people
On Monday, fairly quietly, TfL increased the prices for concessionary Oyster photocards. These allow free travel for certain groups but you have to pay an administrative charge when applying for one and that's what's being hiked.
Most prices are going up £1.
» 5-10 Zip card application (£10 → £11)
» 11-15 Zip card application (£15 → £16)
» 16+ Zip and 18+ Student application (£20 → £21)
» Apprentice and Care Leavers application (£20 → £21)
» Replacement for all of the above (£10 → £11)
However anyone who uses a 60+ Oyster card, or wants to keep it, is being pumped for more.
That's quite a hike, at least 75% more for every aspect of the scheme. Applying for a card suddenly costs £15 more than it did last week which is bad news for Londoners born after July 1965. Meanwhile the annual address check now costs £8 more, which given you might have to be checked six times before you're 67 could end up costing £48 more.
To put this in perspective, a 60+ card allows jammy pre-pensioners the opportunity to swan around London for nothing, so they're not really being hard done-by. An extra £15 is nothing compared to a freebie that could end up saving you thousands.
When the chief executive of London TravelWatch says "Higher TfL photocard fees, especially for the over-60s, will be unwelcome news to Londoners who continue to feel the pinch of the ongoing cost of living crisis and some of the most expensive public transport fares in Europe," he's undoubtedly over-stating this.
Equally when TfL say "the large increase in the cost of the 60+ Oyster was because it has the biggest gap between the estimated revenue that we would receive were these journeys paid for and the income we receive through fees", that sounds like they'd be very keen to hike these fees again.
If you have an Oyster photocard best look after it a little bit more carefully. And if you're planning on applying for one in the future, expect to pay more for the privilege.
Magnifying glass
Last month the Dangleway introduced two glass-floored cabins as an opportunity to attract more custom. A round trip cost £25 on weekdays and £35 at weekends.
However as of today the price has risen to £35 at all times, this because the school holidays have started, the last £25 flight having been at 8pm last night. Buying your ticket online and entering a special code at the checkout lowers the new price by 20%, but that's still £3 more than yesterday. Expect prices to readjust downwards in September but until then the shameless revenue-raising continues.
