London requires world class infrastructure and a transport system which maximises the city's economic efficiency and the quality of life of its citizens.

Improvement in the service is believed to increase the economic prosperity and accessibility in the Capital.

Integrating National Rail

        National Rail is the linkage within the nation. A better Rail system is very beneficial to London’s world city economy, it will also bring more convenience to travelers in south London and areas in outer London where there are few Underground alternatives, besides these it will also support regeneration and economic development.

        To achieve this a partnership with the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was formed, it will develop National Rail services in London into a high frequency, safety orientated Metro system geared to London ’s needs, and to accomplish high levels of reliability and adequate capacity over the whole system.

        Mayor believes that a more integrated National Rail will bring London into a more prosperous and accessible world city.

Planning and providing new capacity

        As there are increasing demand in London’s existing transport system. The overall capacity of the system have to be expand. Major development like new cross-London rail links, orbital rail links and addition east London river crossing are promoted to improve access to international transport facilities, which will substantially reduce rail and Underground overcrowding, greatly improve London’s accessibility, and help to support a more sustainable patterns of development.

Improving car journey time reliability

        As car use is very dominant in outer London, improving the quality of car journey will bring a lot of convenience to the suburb people. It aimed on one hand to reduce disruptions and unreliable journey times for car journey and on the other hand to reduce people car dependency. This could be achieve by the enhancement of public transport and facilitation of the use of cycling and walking.

Supporting local transport initiatives

        This is an investment in smaller scale local initiative. Local Boroughs is most participated in this measure. It targeted to local regeneration area, improving the local street environment and maintenance, it also aimed to ease congestion, improves local safety and security. It is also initiatives that focus on area with high levels of social exclusion, improve access to town centre, reducing the travel by car and encourage the use of walking, cycling and public transport.

Making the distribution of goods and services in London more reliable

        This strategy on one hand seek ways to improve the efficiency of freight movement to support the needs of business, on the other hand it wants to encourage the shifting of means of delivery to rail and water transport. This is achieved by the development of new partnership between local authorities and the business community forming the Freight Quality Partnerships. This not only can tackle the problem of congestion, it can also contribute London to be a more prosperity and greener city.

Making the transport system more accessible

        This strategy aimed to bring equality to the London’s transport system. It intended to improve the accessibility of the transport network so that any user, regardless its physical condition can make full use of all transport, making London into a fairer and world class accessible city.

Improving network integration

        This strategy aimed to ensure people’s choice of their own method of travel. Two method is imposed, firstly, they aimed to improve different transports’ co-ordination, make it more convenience to change between transport services. Secondly, it is a network-wide initiatives, they aimed to provide consistence information about every issues like ticketing and fare information. It also aimed to provide affordable public transport, improve the accessibility to all transport service, increase the standard and number of private hire vehicles and taxis. Mayor believes that these are going to increase London’s economic prosperity, improve London’s network integration, thus accessibility.

Details of the Measures carried or proposed to carry out

Fares and Tickets

        

Fares policy is set out to control the fares of all public transport within London, this is done in order to encourage people’s use of public transport, the key fares proposal includes:

• freeze bus fares for the next three years;
• introduce a 70p flat bus fare ahead of implementation of the proposed central London congestion charging scheme;
• limit Underground fare increases to the rate of inflation for the next three years;
• introduce Smartcards on buses and the Underground at the end of 2002, and on Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink soon after;
• retain the Travelcard and Freedom Pass, and develop them in Smartcard format to be simple, quick and convenient to use;
• simplify ticketing on buses, the Underground, the Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink, as resources allow;
• work with the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and Train Operating Companies to develop a common, simple ticketing and fare system for National Rail in London, including use of compatible Smartcards.

(Transport Strategy)

Integration Measures

        Integration will be achieved through improved partnership and co-ordination between transport providers, make London a quicker, safer and more convenience place to travel. Its main measures are as follow.

• improving interchange and integrated, consistent service provision;
• providing clear, simple and logical journey planning and way-finding information throughout London;
• ensuring consistent and high standards of safety and personal security.

(Transport Strategy)

The Underground

        Although London already have an extensive Underground network, it is by far very unreliable. This is mainly due to the lack of investment and maintenances, a new partnership programme will be introduce to improve its service quality, priorities are given to the following measures.

• urgently addressing unreliability and overcrowding, by tackling current unacceptable levels of train cancellations, with particular attention to the worst performing lines;
• increasing the total capacity of the existing network, by raising the total amount of train kilometres operated over existing lines;
• tackling the unacceptable levels of equipment failures, with particular attention to out of service escalators and lifts;
• upgrading existing lines, including refurbishment and replacement of trains;
• improving conditions at stations and interchanges, through a costed, prioritised programme of works, addressing first those stations most in need of improvement;
• making the Underground more accessible to more people, by creating a core ‘accessible network’, coupled with more widespread improvements to trains and stations;
• addressing Londoners’ concerns about safety and personal security, both on the system itself and on journeys to and from Underground stations, including better integration with other forms of transport;
• providing new capacity, in the longer term, through proposed extensions to the network such as the east-west CrossRail, the Hackney-SouthWest Line, and extensions to the East London Line

(Transport Strategy)

The Dockland Light Railway

        Dockland Light Railway is a very crucial contributor to the regeneration of Dockland area. In order to ensure its service quality the following strategy will be used.

• a review of the capacity of the existing network in line with the emerging needs of the Docklands area;
• improved integration with other transport, including through ticketing and interchange initiatives;
• extending the benefits of station accessibility by ensuring surrounding areas and facilities are also accessible;
• supporting the extension of the DLR to London City Airport and exploring the potential for further extensions.

(Transport Strategy)

Croydon Tramlink

        Croydon Tramlink provides high standard service to the south London area, supporting its local services and town center, still improvement is proposed to:

• better integration with other transport services, including local transport to access Tramlink;
• extending the benefits to be gained through Tramlink’s accessibility by ensuring surrounding areas and facilities are also accessible;
• exploring the potential for extending the Tramlink network to provide improvements to a wider area.

(Transport Strategy)

National Rail

        Post-privatisation of the National Rail industry resulting a lack of efficient service and poor safety standard. To improve this Mayor and the Transport for London will work with the Strategic Rail Authority, to ensure substantial investment and expand the existing network to  provide an additional capacity. Improvements proposed to be made are as follow:

• establishing a high frequency network of ‘turn up and go’ services across London with upgraded station facilities, greater integration with other transport services, fares and ticketing,
• and marketed as the London Metro – initial stages are expected
• to include a number of local services in south London and some orbital rail services (see page 21);
• improving the quality and capacity of London’s commuter services through the franchise replacement process and through investment programmes to increase capacity of the network and tackle overcrowding and unreliability;
• increasing and improving rail links to London’s international airports and stations, particularly Heathrow and Stansted, and to Stratford and St. Pancras on completion of the second stage of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link;
• implementing the rail safety recommendations of recent rail inquiries;
• improving the security of trains, stations and station approaches;
• achieving better integration of the National Rail network and services with London’s other public transport services, with common standards of facilities at stations, including accessibility for people with impaired mobility;
• helping to increase the proportion of freight travelling by rail.

(Transport Strategy)

Buses and Coaches

        Buses are a very vital link to Underground and rail service and could be an alternative to Underground and private cars, therefore it is very crucial in lessen the congestion and overcrowding problem. Its strategy will:

• expand the bus network, with new, extended and higher frequency services, and more night and weekend services;
• simplify fares, including introducing a flat rate 70p fare throughout London ahead of the introduction of the proposed central London congestion charging scheme;
• improve journey times and reliability, with more bus priority, bringing back conductors on more central London double deck services, and strict enforcement of bus lanes and parking restrictions. An early priority will be to improve radial bus routes, particularly where congestion is most severe;
• improve the vehicles, with more new low floor fully accessible modern buses;
• improve the quality of services, with new contracts that ensure services are operated more reliably;
• improve access to bus stops, with more convenient siting
• of stops, and safe and convenient crossings;
• improve information, with clearer timetables, local maps
• and more minute-by-minute service information such as ‘Countdown’ signs;
• improve the waiting environment, with better shelters, lighting and seating;
• improve safety and personal security, with increasing provision of CCTV, education programmes with schools, and close working with the police.

(Transport Strategy)

Street for all: Improving London’s roads and streets

        London’s street is often very congested and very poorly maintained. In order to make the street more attractive, a very important mean is to reduce the growth in traffic in London and specific measures includes:

• better management of the road network, with more priority for buses, pedestrians and cyclists to help make them more attractive choices for travelling and, on main roads, providing for distribution and business needs;
• seeking to reduce accidents by implementing the first Londonwide Road Safety Plan and supporting initiatives such as Safer Routes to School, Home Zones and 20mph areas;
• better co-ordination of streetworks to reduce disruption and delays;
• better enforcement of traffic regulations – parking, loading and bus lane controls – to reduce delays and ensure the effective use of streetspace ;
• improving the local environment by supporting intiatives such as Streets-for-People areas, which give greater priority to the use of streets as social spaces and for public transport, walking and cycling;
• better maintenance to keep London’s roads in good condition;
• a proposed congestion charging scheme in central London, to reduce congestion and improve journey times. 

(Transport Strategy)

Freight, delivery and servicing

        Efficient and sustainable delivery services is very vital in enhancing  London into a world-class economy, the most crucial thing here is to minimize the negative environmental impact. The strategy is as follow:

• reviewing loading and unloading restrictions;
• allocating road space both in terms of non-car lanes and dedicated loading/unloading provision;
• catering for servicing on-street and new means of delivery – both areas that may be suitable for innovation and pilot schemes;
• reviewing the London Lorry Ban exempt network and access routes to it;
• more environmentally friendly means of distribution including cleaner and quieter vehicle technologies, and quieter freight, distribution and waste operations;
• reviewing overnight parking provision off-street;
• the requirements of rail freight and particularly those necessary to bring about the substantial increase in rail freight sought by Government and the SRA, and supported by the Strategy;
• how to make greater use of London’s waterways for freight.

(Transport Strategy)

International Transport

        This is intended to provide a very efficient and environmentally sustainable public to international terminal, such as airport and international train station. A main development is the CrossRail scheme which will link up the city and Heathrow airport.

The River Thames and other waterways

        River Thames is a very good mean for transport through east to west London. This is a very good method to release the pressure of land travel and is also very environmentally friendly. Proposed measures include:

• explore options for extending passenger use of the Thames;
• identify options for increasing freight use of the Thames and other waterways.

(Transport Strategy)

Taxi and Private hire vehicles

        These vehicles is a very good door-to-door journey transport, however safety have formed a very crucial problem among these vehicle and the proposed changes are:

• improving availability so that taxis are available when they are wanted to take people where they want to go, with proposals to encourage more taxis to operate in the evenings and at night,
• and to better serve areas outside central London;
• proposals to improve safety and personal security;
• improving air quality through reduced vehicle emissions;
• implementing private hire operator, driver and vehicle licensing, in particular to ensure good quality and safety standards;
• reviewing the taxi ‘Knowledge’ to encourage a more efficient
• and equitable process;
• improving equal opportunities;
• developing more effective methods for dealing with illegal touting for passengers.

(Transport Strategy)

Accessible Transport

• This aimed to transform London into an equality city, making everybody regardless its physical or mental constrain have an equal opportunity to enjoy the leisure and convenience in travel. An accessibility Action Plan is introduced to:
• enable greater user involvement, with mobility forums;
• ensure that transport staff have disability equality training;
• improve the street environment, by removing barriers and obstructions, providing surface level crossings with tactile paving and signals, and prioritising parking for disabled people;
• accelerate the introduction of low floor accessible buses;
• improve the design of bus stops, making it easier to get on
• and off buses;
• develop an initial core network of accessible stations on the Underground and National Rail networks;
• improve the availability and integration of door-to-door services;
• have fair and equitable eligibility and entitlement criteria for door-to-door services;
• provide comprehensive information, in a range of accessible formats, about all transport services in London;
• ensure the effective operation and enforcement of a reputable Blue Badge parking concession scheme, and review the separate central London parking concession schemes.

(Transport Strategy)

 

Major Project

         Another very important way to solve the traffic problem is to expand the entire transport network, this could be achieve by the construction of new, large scale rail and other transport infrastructures.

They included the new cross-London rail link, they include:

• Thameslink 2000, increasing rail capacity across the central area and directly linking many areas north and south of the Thames.
• CrossRail, providing substantially increased capacity into and across central London, tackling overcrowding at Liverpool Street and Paddington mainline termini, linking the City and West End to Heathrow and assisting economic development in east London.
• Hackney–SouthWest Line, providing further rail capacity across central London and providing rail access to areas currently unserved and to major regeneration areas such as Thames Gateway and the Lee Valley.

(Transport Strategy)

The Strategy also puts forward a number of other schemes, which include:

Improved orbital rail links

• The East London Line extensions, to the north and south, serving many areas in need of regeneration with more frequent services and providing access further afield by linking into the National Rail network.
• OrbiRail, a network of higher frequency orbital services based on the North, South, East and West London Lines and the Gospel Oak – Barking Line but spreading out to serve areas throughout London.
• Support for improvements to the West London Line, with a more frequent local passenger service and additional stations to serve new development.

(Transport Strategy)

New Thames river crossings in east London to assist regeneration

In indicative priority order these are:

• A rail crossing at Woolwich, either by further extending the Docklands Light Railway beyond London City Airport or by extending the North London Line to link to the North Kent Line.
• A local road bridge between Barking and Thamesmead that would have dedicated lanes for public transport.
• A road bridge or tunnel between North Greenwich and Silvertown, with particular emphasis on local traffic and providing access to regeneration sites.

(Transport Strategy)

New intermediate mode schemes

Currently four proposals for tram or bus transit have been identified:

• East London Transit, a bus based network between Barkingside, Rainham, Harold Hill, Collier Row and Elm Park.
• Greenwich Waterfront, a bus or tram based proposal extending to Abbey Wood.
• Uxbridge Road, a bus or tram based proposal from Uxbridge to Shepherd’s Bush.
• Cross River Transit a bus or tram based proposal from Peckham across central London to Camden, including the linking of Waterloo, Euston and Kings Cross.

(Transport Strategy) 

• All paragraph in the BOX were extracted directly from Mayor’s Transport Strategy document

Conclusion

        The following graph shows the improvement in the public transport services.

        These major improvement result in a great improvement in the mode of life which people are living.

        By the above statistics, we can realize the distribution of population and the employment projection have emerged to increase at a greater extend at outer London and Dockland area. We may conclude that the improvement in the public transport have result a greater accessibility in area other than the central London, and will be able to attract more human activities.

National Rail Overcrowding

Projected National Rail Overcrowding

Projected Undergroung Overcrowding

Underground Overcrowding

        According to the above graphical Statistic, the problem in overcrowding in the rail and underground services will be significantly solved by the improvement in other means of transport.

Bibliography

        Mayor’s Transport Strategy

Number of Words : 2431 (exclude words in boxes, which is directly extracted from the Strategy)