Service "suspended"

Today London's newest transport service commenced operations. The Emirates Air Line, a brand new cable car across the River Thames, carried its first passengers this morning, with a press launch, before opening to fare paying passengers at midday.

It is less than two years since the project was announced. It runs from North Greenwich to Royal Victoria Dock - about 1km in length and some 90m above the Thames. It is the first urban cable car in the UK, can carry some 2,500 passengers an hour (about the same as the Blackwall Tunnel carries), and is sponsored by Dubai-based airline Emirates.

There was never any specific intention to include Emirates Air Line as part of the transport for the Olympic Games despite media suggestions to the contrary but an extremely fast design, approval and construction programme has brought it into service ahead of the Opening Ceremony.

Testing and certification was complete during June and was able to open for business today.

Mayor Boris Johnson, plus other VIPs including Tim Clarke, Emirates' President were aboard the first cabin to cross the Thames, heading south to a large press contingent waiting at Greenwich. After the speeches we made several trips across the Thames where, happily, the sun came out, and allowed us extraordinary views in all directions. Landing aircraft for City Airport flew over us, DLR trains, buses and boats scurried beneath us, whilst the queue for rides outside grew. The Mayor was clearly delighted with this newest addition to the transport network.

After press interest was satisfied, there was a continuous passage of invited guests followed by the long-awaited opening to the public.

The views are amazing, the ride is smooth and the whole experience one of quality. The Emirates Air Line is fully integrated into the TfL network - you can use Oyster to pay for journeys, it is fully accessible, and of course appears on the Underground map.

It's London's newest tourist attraction!


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34 Days to go!

Key members of the team delivering the Olympic Games transport from
every agency imaginable gather together alongside RM613 in
Greenwich during a brief interlude at their last networking event
before Games Time really gets underway

Firstly to say thank you for the hundreds of messages I have received on and around my birthday. I know Facebook and all the other electronic media tell you when it is, but you all did take the deliberate step of writing to me either by email, on Facebook, and similar. So thank you!

It has always been the longest day (in terms of daylight that is, although the day I was born my mother also thought so), but this week with everything going on, it certainly was. The number of hits to this blog is always a bit of a litmus test and in the time before the strike on London's buses people were certainly checking in here for any information and news.

I am sure you will understand that this personal blog isn't the place for me to discuss the dispute directly but I do want to use it to thank all of the TfL, rail and bus company staff who worked so hard to help keep London moving. Thanks to your hard work the inconvenience to London was minimised.

This now leaves us with just some 34 days to the Opening Ceremony. The Torch Relay, today approaching Manchester, is now half way through.

But things are happening now. The Mall is already closed for the construction of the Central London venue, as is Horse Guards Road. All over London magenta signs are appearing at stations and signs indicating the Olympic Route Network are being installed.

From the start of July we will start to adjust traffic signal timings to create enough capacity on specific routes as the Olympic family, media and others start to arrive. Early in July the Kingsway Subway will operate in the reverse direction and from the weekend of 20th July all the major physical works, banned turns, stopping places, and bus route diversions will be in place. The Torch Relay is in London that week.

The message is clear. Plan ahead. You can see in great detail every area of affected London on the web - GetAheadoftheGames.com tells you everything you need to know. So in your circle of work colleagues, friends, relations; in the pub, club, gym; on the golf course or at home - tell everyone you can that the time is now and a little preparation will help everyone enjoy this amazing experience which is about to unfold onto the streets of London!

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Torch Relay Day 28

"The Kiss" here close to the Quayside in Newcastle

There are lots of potential stories and I know from the hits to this blog that quite a lot of people are coming here looking for news about a number of significant issues currently generating a high profile.

So I thought I would write about Friday when I joined the Torch Relay on Day 28 as it made its way into central Newcastle.

The Torch Relay is really well organised with a selection of interesting vehicles clearing the way, rousing the crowds before the Torch itself, led by a media vehicle, is carried by one of 8,000 torch bearers. Each one carries the torch some 300 yards before handing over to another, lighting his or her flame in 'the kiss'.

The Torch is travelling in many different ways and on different modes of transport. For the most part white-suited joggers are carrying it through the streets of Great Britain (as well as Northern Ireland and Eire).

One of the fleet of ten Wrights Streetlites here taking a break in Wallsend.
They will join the fleet of Stagecoach South Wales when finished

For the Newcastle segment we drove past thousands of cheering people from Wallsend before arriving in a thoroughly appreciative City Centre crowd. From my vantage point in the BMW behind the Torch bearer it was amazing to see all the positive reactions of the crowd - more than half of whom were filming or photographing the event. Jack Charlton was the Torch Bearer briefly in the City Centre where I made a hasty exit from the BMW and made my way to the control centre high above the Quayside. From there it was incredible to see a wire hung from the Olympic rings of the Tyne Bridge some 200ft above the water. From there, soon after 1900, adventurer Bear Grylls, clutched the Torch and flew down a zipwire which brought him down the Quayside and the lighting of a cauldron.

The 'Activation' vehicles which precede the convoy

The Torch's job done for the night the crowd settled in to watch a football match on huge screens across the Tyne. (Not me I should add).

The Torch has some 40 days left to go - almost entirely now in England. When it reaches its last week it will be with us in London, spiralling around the suburbs before visiting the 1908 Olympic site at White City, and threading its way through Camden and Westminster before ending up in Hyde Park. Some interesting modes of transport may feature!

When all this exciting and frantic activity is completed, we will have arrived at the moment of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. THEN it REALLY starts!

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Diamond Jubilee weekend

A short distraction to the busy weekend of events, road closures, bus service diversions and river pageants is the occasion once again of public access to the deserted village of Imber on Salisbury Plain.

Commandeered in 1943 and never returned the village itself remains at the centre of a military training location and is a curious mixture of what has been frozen in time plus the construction of other types of buildings.

As ever a bus service numbered 23A is in operation today with Routemasters but making its debut is LT1 which is also in action there today.

Of course I'm afraid I haven't been able to venture out of London this weekend but fortunately I already have news and photographs beamed from Wiltshire so here indeed is LT1 along with RM1005 at Warminster Station before setting out onto uncharted and mobile phone-free territory on Salisbury Plain.

RT2775

Peter Hendy congratulates the team on restoring RT2775
and LBPT Chairman Peter Duplock listens intently.

Already Thursday and time passing so quickly. 84 days to the Olympics and a few days since the torrential rain at Wisley which reduced the attendance at this annual event.

Peter Hendy and I were pleased to bring LT1. Not quite as pleased as all those poor rain-soaked people who came aboard for a ride around the airfield to get dry.

LT1 was widely appreciated by everyone for its own qualities - comfort, noise levels. design etc and we received numerous positive comments.

After lunch the rain cleared away and so we were able to line up RT1, RM1 and LT1 - London bus prototypes from 1939, 1954 and 2012. And then with clearer skies RT2775 arrived - the London Bus Preservation Group's latest restoration and the sole surviving member of the trio of buses which traveled coast to coast across the North American continent - twice.

Peter Hendy welcomed relatives of members of the 1952 crews and acknowledged the tremendous restoration of RT2775 which was rescued by the original founders of Cobham Bus Museum and now is the newest member of the new London Bus Museum.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6xn9RwJbxw&feature=endscreen 

As ever what history does is help us understand the future. New technology, new demands by our passengers and stakeholders, and a new Mayor for London. As I write all the votes have been cast but no result until tomorrow. Watch this space!

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One year in

Last night we celebrated the end of our Fit for London programme - our exciting series of events which for the first time in the entire history of Transport for London involved every single employee.

Staff came in groups of 150 or so to Stratford International Station and into a purpose-built auditorium nside what will be the International Ticket Hall. Hosted by either Mike Brown, MD Rail & Underground or myself, we spent two hours outlining our prorities for the future, and most importantly listening to what all our staff had to say about the challenges today and tomorrow.

Staff reaction has been overwhelmingly positive - particularly as they came together for perhaps the first time ever in mixed groups and learned about achievements and challenges across the business - from each other. We have taken away a huge number of ideas and issues to help us deliver our services aganst a challenging financial backdrop in the future.

After each event everyone had a tour of the Olympic Park aboard a fleet of double-deck buses from First each with a guide on board. The Olympics, now less than a 100 days away of course, demonstrates first hand just what we can do when we work collaboratively and with a clear objective.

By co-incidence it was also the occasion of the completion of my first year at TfL - a year which has raced past and which has been full of challenges. It was therefore a fitting opportunity to thank all of my team for all their hard work this past year.

The next year looks no less exciting - we have a Mayoral election, the Olympic Games, and continued growing demand for all our services against a rising population of London - another 1.25million people coming here over the next 20 years. That's roughly adding the population of Birmingham to London.

So thank you to everyone who has contributed to all our successes this year and in anticipation of the next one, as we roll up our corporate sleeves and deliver a fantastic London 2012 Olympic Games.

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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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