111 days to go

There are 111 days to the Olympic Games in London and from here on things will get really busy as we prepare for the summer - one which really starts with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and runs through until the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in September.

The vital statistics of the Games are ingrained in my brain - 23,000 athletes, 30,000 media, 5000 officials, 203 countries, 100 Heads of State. All here at once. Over 8m tickets have been sold to spectators but there will, if the experience of previous Games' cities is demonstrated, millions of others here in London to be part of the atmosphere, attend many of the cultural events going on, and of course try and see the many Olympic events taking place on our streets and which are open to the public.

Every inch of the areas around the venues and the Olympic Route Network are available on-line. You can see just how the roads will be affected. Also on-line are 'heat maps' showing the levels of traffic we expect on the surface and at stations. And lastly there are journey planners which will guide everyone across London avoiding the most heavily-used places.

We are increasing the levels of our messages to all who live and work in London - how to prepare for getting to and from work, get your deliveries organised, keep your business functioning etc. With such a huge amount of information available it is really possible to plan ahead.

Some subtle changes to the road network is already underway - if you look closely you will see some traffic islands and traffic signals have been swapped so they are of the 'clip in and out' variety. Other works are also taking place.

The media continues to be clumsy with its language and we spend a lot of time correcting them. The Olympic Route Network is 109 miles of fast moving corridors linking the venues with Central London. With one tiny exception it is open to all traffic. The traffic will travel on it like a fast moving current as there will be no stopping, there will be temporary banned turns and a reduction in the number of crossings.

On about a third of the ORN there are lanes for Games Family vehicles only. This is generally where there are two lanes and in most cases it is the offside lane. These lanes will usually be full - that's how many Games Family vehicles there are. When they are not needed, we will switch them off using variable message signs.

The Torch relay comes to London in July and is visiting every Borough. In the last week before the Opening Ceremony it is spiralling into inner London so we expect crowds to increase. My advice therefore is to plan ahead not just for the Games but the previous week as well.

Other good advice from previous Games is to have plenty of help on the street so we are turning down the amount of 'ordinary business' to allow thousands of TfL staff to volunteer to help on a wide-range of duties. A chance to help directly deliver a great Games and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to add a unique reference on their CV.

This is going to be a very exciting summer!

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More Cycle Hire

I am trying very hard not to look like the secret service but
here we are (me left, the Mayor and Marcus Agius on bikes)
at the Roman Road launch of Barclays Cycle Hire 2

On Thursday we launched Phase 2 of the Mayor's Barclay's Cycle Hire scheme across East London.

Another 2,300 bikes are now deployed across Tower Hamlets eastwards with over 100 more docking stations.

For an annual fee of £45 members can use Barclays' bikes for up to 30 mins for free, thereafter with a further small charge. Casual users are also welcome with their credit cards.

On Thursday Mayor Boris Johnson, together with his Director of Environment Kulveer Ranger and Marcus Agius Group Chairman Barclays plc, hired bikes at Westfield White City, cycled to a nearby Underground station. They later emerged at Mile End where again they hired bikes to cycle to Roman Road E1 to meet the assembled media.

This is the cornerstone of the scheme - hiring bikes between well-located docking stations more of which are now being added.

Cycling is an increasing phenomenon in London. In 18 months since the first launch of Barclays' Cycle Hire over 10 million hires have been made. With the increase eastwards we expect very many more.

Cycling is healthy, creates absolutely no emissions, and is very good value for money for users. We welcome the £50m of sponsorship by Barclays plc towards this scheme.

Eagle-eyed observers will see the new Mark II bikes with their upgraded handlebars, saddles, bells and rear mudguards all numbered above 20000.

The Mayor is rightly pleased with this new expansion of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which has created very many new cyclists from London's population. And they form an important part of our transport system as their ever-increasing number shows.

The successful delivery of Phase 2 is a tribute to the amazing team at TfL who, under General Manager Nick Aldworth, has delivered another, second, fantastic scheme, on time, on budget together with colleagues from Serco who are running the daily operations and have delivered the infrastructure.


Well done everyone


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New Bus for London myths

Russell Young sent me this brilliant photo of
LT2 on its first journey - full of course

Well LT2 has been in service for a whole week and when I was on it on Friday it was still attracting a huge amount of attention - from passengers, onlookers and Londoners as a whole. The conductor was flat out answering questions, taking photos of people with it, having his own photo taken, and the whole impression was hugely positive.

I am taking this opportunity to deal with some myths - the press has had quite a few stories including some derived from a wholly inaccurate TSSA press notice.

So - some facts:

LT1 has not gone back to Northern Ireland for repairs because "it keeps breaking down". In fact it hasnt gone anywhere at all. It is still here.

It has never broken down although it did run out of fuel on a trip to MIRA last year. LT1 has been used extensively in the UK for the required European Whole Vehicle Type Approval process. For this it undertakes numerous tests and many of these were at MIRA. For that purpose it was built - deliberately - with access for various components. Some of these had to be tested specifically or needed adjustment during the process. With the tests completed it always had to return to Ballymena for completion. This will take place shortly.

With the Type Approval granted it was natural that LT2 - complete at Ballymena - could be certified and delivered. As a result it entered service on Monday 27th February. It had a sensor which misbehaved on Monday and needed tweaking. It also had programmed downtime during the week for attention by Wrightbus. Of course it had some curtailments due to traffic congestion too.

As a brand new type of vehicle with few miles on the clock there will be issues to be resolved. Although another of the prototypes has done many thousands of test miles at MIRA, nothing can replace good, hard-working passenger miles in service. That is why we have prototypes and why we run them in service.

I would remind critics that RM1 was delivered in 1954 and didn't enter service until 1956. Despite all that attention within about four days it had a gearbox change. After years of prototype operation, the first production Routemasters suffered numerous failures. Ken Blacker recalls its slang nickname 'Jerkmaster'. A mass delicensing and return to the manufacturers was triggered by the collapse of a steering column in 1961. Over time all of the problems were resolved and history now recalls the Routemaster as an amazingly reliable and fuel efficient bus. 

Another continuing media story is the price tag. You will appreciate you can of course always take the entire development cost and spread it over the prototype fleet and come up with an amazing sum. In fact if you do that with the Airbus A380 or worse still the Boeing 787 you can get an even bigger number. (US$32bn for five aircraft in the case of the latter).

Those who do are of course mixing up the sunk cost of the development with the unit cost of the labour and materials to build the vehicle. In production the unit cost of an LT will be broadly comparable with modern hybrid buses. To the extent it is in any way more expensive should be compensated by its long life, amazing fuel efficiency, and reduced emissions.

For years there has been a continuous pressure from certain quarters that the 'off-the-peg' vehicles built by the manufacturers were inadequate for intensive London operation. That was probably true in the late 1960s/early 1970s but not really the case more recently. But no matter - it remained true that London was operating buses built out of truck components by high volume manufacturers in an effort to hold down costs. It was suggested that passengers would benefit from an admittedly higher-cost solution - a bus aimed squarely at London's unique conditions and led by passenger preference. Well now that we have built some.

And lastly - conductors. I am sure in my recent lifetime I have heard overtures about the need to have conductors to ensure passengers' safety, minimise revenue loss, and speed boarding/journey times. I can even recall the criticism as they were progressively abolished.

Now we have the return of the much-loved open platform and the attendant conductor.......and now criticism for the opposite reasons!

So - what is my point? After decades of much-voiced concerns London now has it vehicle built to its own specifications, designed around a huge input from passengers, and to a much higher standard than we have seen previously.

We are proud of it. Passengers' and Londoners' initial reactions are equally positive. We look forward to learning much more about how it performs and the features passengers mostly like. There is no doubt experience will bring about some changes and refinements.

However it all unfolds this is the first purpose-built new bus for London since 1969 and a project which was inconceivable during the 40+ years which have elapsed since then. For my part, I am working to make it a success!! Where are you?

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More steam

In view of the huge interest in Saturday night's event I have posted a further video clip which you might like to see.


30587 westbound arrival Baker Street

New Bus for London in service

On Monday 27th February the New Bus for London did enter service on route 38 on a journey which commenced just after midday from Hackney Central Station.

LT2 was delivered at the weekend and prepared for service for today. Its first journey was fully loaded and attracted many positive comments from passengers and onlookers. It operated until about 2000.

A door problem interrupted its first journey but was rectified and it completed its duty. It will remain in service all week although there are some other programmed activities as well.

The others from the prototype batch will arrive over the next few weeks and follow LT2 into service. A project of this complexity will always have issues to resolve and the point of the prototype running is to expose those issues and get them fixed. Whilst a separate vehicle has undergone thousands of miles of test track testing, it is only the operation in real London service which will show us how the bus performs.

This is a fitting place to thank everyone who worked so hard to bring the project to this point. The team in TfL and everyone at Wrights to built and delivered the vehicles. It has come a long way since the project was launched in July 2008. In December 2009 Wrights were awarded the contract and only two years later delivered a working prototype.

Thanks to Graham Smith for today's photo of LT2 in service.



Yesterday's blog about the return of Steam on the Underground produced an astonishing 7500 hits. By far and away the highest ever. Thanks and welcome to all my readers!

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Return of steam on the Underground

30587 in steam at Baker Street Station

It isn't every night you get the chance to do this!

Last night we carried out a test designed to demonstrate the feasibility of running a steam locomotive on the London Underground for its 150th anniversary in 2013.

Locomotive Met no 1 and the Metropolitan first class 'Jubilee' coach 353 are currently being restored and fundraising is underway. Restoration of both vehicles is progressing and the London Transport Museum is overseeing both the fundraising and the restoration projects.

To have a working steam locomotive on the Underground presents significant challenges and last night after end of traffic a special train undertook some proving runs. Beattie 30587 was the steam locomotive used. It is owned by the National Railway Museum and was built in 1874. It was coupled to 1923 Metropolitan Electric loco 'Sarah Siddons' which provided a viewing platform, and between two battery locomotives and wagons carrying water and coal.

It left Lillie Bridge depot after 0100 and ran from Earl's Court at 0135 via the District line to Edgware Road. After a stop it then proceeded to Baker Street. At Baker Street the loco was run with protracted steam venting whilst heat and smoke levels in the station were tested. Later it shunted east to west and ran back to Edgware Road. Other trains - composed of S stock and C77 stock - ran around the steam loco train testing the effect on passing trains. With the tests complete the train ran back to Lillie Bridge via Earl's Court.

All went very well. But the sight and sound of a steam locomotive on the Underground was pure magic. It is, of course some 40 years since there was any steam propulsion on the Underground and then of course for engineering/permanent way reasons. The last passenger train hauled by steam here was in 1905.

A truly historic night out!

See the YouTube video http://youtu.be/i33KnnY6e24

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Crossrail

Some of the major physical manifestations of Crossrail are now very visible.

Last week I was able to go and see the first of the Tunnel Boring Machines which is currently being (re-)assembled at the Royal Oak portal. You can easily see it from  the Great Western Main Line and it is on the site of the old Westbourne Park Bus Garage Base.

Constructed by Harrenknecht AG these eight machines are the 'Rolls Royce' of TBMs. At £10m each they weigh 1000 tonnes. They are a moving factory, digging their way through the earth at the front and pressing into place the tunnel segments at the rear. Next month this machine will be pushed into place and the drive to Farringdon (Drive X) will start. Behind it a second machine will be delivered from Tilbury Docks to start work on the second tunnel.

In time further machines will start from near Canning Town in the opposite direction towards Farringdon (Drive Y), and two more from Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green. Lastly two TBMs will dig from Plumstead to North Woolwich.

The scale of the machine can be seen from the photo - the external diameter is 7.1m - and that's me on the right.

Across at Paddington this weekend the taxicab road on the west side of the station has been closed for the last time. This area forms part of the Crossrail station. The associated side entrances to the station are also closed at this time as is Eastbourne Terrace. Originally it was envisaged that this road would remain open in a limited way but it was discovered that this would double the length of time needed so a two year complete closure has been agreed. All bus routes have ben diverted.

A new drop off and pick up area has been fashioned on the east side of the station. and this photo shows it in the last stages of construction earlier this week. Access is from the Bishops Bridge - it was build ready to accept the new connecting road. The centre of gravity of the station thus moves very much towards the Grand Union canal.

Later this year further changes at Paddington will be made to deal with the significant numbers of Olympic Games family members arriving and departing on the Heathrow Express.






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