Amazing Street Art well worth a visit opposite The O2 at North Greenwich.
Artist Xenz and Bowzer the Schnauzer are doing some great art work down at North Greenwich, well worth a look if you’re near The O2 or going on the Emirates Air-Line.
You can find out more about Xenz at his website or why not follow him on Twitter @xnz
Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that, following a successful trial, non-folding bicycles are now permitted on off-peak Docklands Light Railway (DLR) trains on a permanent basis. More than 5,000 cyclists travelled with their bikes on the DLR during a successful trial period that started in July 2013.
The bike trial on the DLR is part of the Mayor’s Vision for Cycling in London, the £913m plan to transform the Capital into a city where cycling is a key part of everyday life. Welcomed by cyclists and cycling campaign groups, allowing bikes on the DLR has opened up many new areas of London to cyclists.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Opening up the Docklands Light Railway to cyclists will be a great boost to the cycling community and make it much more convenient for cyclists to cross the river. This is another important step forward in our mission to make it easier for more people to get cycling in the capital.”
DLR Director Rory O’Neill, said: “All cyclists are now welcome to use DLR services during off-peak hours and at all time on weekends and Bank Holidays. This follows our successful six-month trial during which the London Cycling Campaign provided advice and assistance. I’d like to thank them for their co-operation and input during the trial.”
Serco Docklands Managing Director Kevin Thomas, said: “As DLR’s operator we are delighted to have successfully introduced bicycles onto the railway as another improvement for DLR customers”.
London CC Chief Executive Ashok Sinha said: “We’re delighted to have participated in the trial, and that Transport for London has agreed to allow off-peak cycles on the DLR permanently. This measure will open up new areas of the city to the many Londoners who ride bicycles and provide valuable cross-river links, encouraging more daily cycle journeys.”
Cycling on London’s main roads has risen by 173 per cent since 2001 and this plan will help double the level cycling over the next 10 years. To support this growth, the Mayor and TfL last year announced a range measures to achieve the many aspects of the Vision.
A Central London cycling grid is currently being consulted on; it is a network of 60 miles of quieter routes to encourage less confident cyclists onto their bikes. An additional 80,000 cycle parking spaces will also be installed in residential locations, stations, workplaces and other trip destinations by 2016.
Later this spring, innovative ideas by outer London boroughs will be rewarded when the Mayor announces the winner of his Mini-Holland fund to create cycling havens, delivering dramatic and transformational pro-cycling change.
For more information on the Mayors Cycling Vision, please visit www.tfl.gov.uk/cyclingvision
The world class former Olympic venue will house two 50m pools, a 25m diving pool, a state-of-the-art gym and a creche. We are working with British Swimming / Amateur Swimming Association to develop performance programmes for all Aquatic disciplines based on the successful Beacon model. We are also working with British Swimming who are planning to use the centre regularly as an international training venue for elite athletes.
In addition we will be playing host to a number of National and International sporting events throughout the year. The venue also includes catering and meeting room facilities.View the timelapse build of the iconic venue.
Activities
The Aquatics Centre will have a 50m x 10-lane Olympic competition pool and a 50m x 8-lane training pool. Both pools have moveable floors and booms for greater flexibility.
A separate 25m diving pool with 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m platforms, along with 1m and 3m springboards. There will also be also a separate dry land training facility with trampoline, springboards, foam pits and harness.
A 50 station gym with state-of-the-art Technogym kit with stretch and free weights area will be installed for public use with a fantastic view of the competition pool. Affordable memberships will be available to purchase in advance from 20th January. Keep an eye on the website for further updates.
Explore the south of the Park for the first time since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Enjoy the newly landscaped parklands, fountains and waterways, Aquatics Centre, ArcelorMittal Orbit, walking trails, arts and events and children’s play areas.
From 5 April 2014, there will be lots more to explore at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Experience London’s newest open space as the Park and its venues continue to open.
This spring, one of the Park’s most exciting areas will open to the public – the new parklands in the south of the Park. From 5 April, you can:
You don’t need to wait until 5 April to visit.
The northern part of the Park and the Copper Box Arena have been open since July 2013, and we’ve seen more than a million visitors since then to these and to the series of concerts, festivals and sporting events we held over the summer.
If you visit the park today, you will be able to:
Opening dates for venues across the Park this spring are as follows:
If you’re planning to visit these venues when they open, we suggest booking online where possible – see individual pages for more information.
Please be aware that while we complete the building and landscaping work across the Park some access has to be restricted.
For information on how to find us, see travelling to the Park.
Route 11 to start operating with New Bus for London
· Routes 9 & 390 will also convert to iconic new buses before end of year
· New buses significantly cut emissions and improve air quality
· Manufacture boosts economy across UK
New Bus for London vehicles will become an increasingly familiar sight for passengers on route 11 from Saturday (21 September), as the route becomes the second in the capital to convert to this iconic, green mode of public transport.
Route 11, which is operated by Go Ahead, runs from Liverpool Street Station to Fulham Broadway, via Bank, Mansion House, St Paul’s, Ludgate Circus, Fleet Street, Aldwych, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, Victoria, Sloane Square and Chelsea. When the route has fully converted, 25 New Bus for London vehicles will be in passenger service during peak periods.
The buses will be introduced on route 11 over several days, from 21 September, and will be responsible for carrying the 23,000 people who travel on the route each day.
It follows the first bus route to be converted to operate entirely with New Bus for London vehicles – the 24 – which runs between Hampstead Heath and Pimlico.
The New Bus for London is the greenest diesel electric hybrid bus in the world. In tests a prototype bus was found to emit a quarter of the NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) and harmful ‘PM’ particles of a fleet average hybrid bus and 20 per cent less CO2. When all 600 New Bus for London vehicles are in service in 2016 they will reduce CO2 emissions in the capital by around 20,600 tonnes a year.
The buses are manufactured by the family-owned Wrightbus company in Northern Ireland. The order for the 600 New Bus for London vehicles has resulted in the opening of a new chassis plant in Antrim and the safeguarding of 220 jobs, including 18 apprenticeships and the creation of 50 new jobs.
As well as the manufacture of the chassis and superstructure in Northern Ireland, a number of components for the new bus are made by companies from around the UK; including engines from Darlington, seats from Telford, seat moquette from Huddersfield, wheelchair ramps from Hoddesdon (Hertfordshire), destination blinds from Middleton near Manchester and flooring from Liskeard (Cornwall). All of these companies have received a boost as a result of the new bus project.
•Boarding ramps now in place at 19 further underground stations
•35 additional stations are now more accessible for wheelchair users from platform to train
•Further accessibility commitments set out by the Mayor are being delivered – with 26 Tube and Overground stations to become step free over next eight years
•Work underway to find additional accessibility solutions at other step-free stations
London Underground (LU) has completed the roll out of boarding ramps, used to bridge the gap between platform and train, at a further 19 Tube stations. This brings the total number of Tube stations where level access from platform to train has been introduced through the use of ramps and permanent raised platform sections to 35 since last year. Two additional London Overground stations, Denmark Hill and Crystal Palace, have also become fully step-free since the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The portable ramps are put in place by Tube staff to allow wheelchairs users to get on and off trains. They were first introduced at 16 Tube stations during the Games and proved so successful TfL has now rolled them out more widely. The 19 new stations to have boarding ramps are: Caledonian Road, East Ham, Elm Park, Epping, Farringdon, Hainault, Hillingdon, Hounslow East, Kew Gardens, Mile End, Richmond,
Rickmansworth, Roding Valley, South Woodford, Theydon Bois, Upney, Uxbridge, West Finchley and Wood Lane.
A new short film explaining how the ramps work can be found at [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=UVJl2IKLa1U] Customers can also sign up for TfL’s accessibility email updates by visiting
tfl.gov.uk/emailupdates
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said, “Boarding ramps proved hugely successful in helping people to get around during the Games and I’m delighted that we are now rolling them out at even more stations across the Tube network. London has one of the most accessible transport systems in the world but there is always more that can be done. This is why we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds to ensure that we take accessibility in the capital to the next level.”
Phil Hufton, London Underground’s Chief Operating Officer said: ““We’ve had really positive feedback about the boarding ramps, as well as other improvements such as permanent raised sections of platforms and wide-aisle gates, which are helping to make getting around easier for many of our customers. We also want to ensure that people are aware of how easy the ramps are to use and a short film on the TfL website shows exactly how they work.”
Ruth Owen OBE, Chief Executive of disabled children’s charity Whizz-Kidz said: “We warmly welcome TfL’s decision to roll out manual boarding ramps at a further 19 stations across the network, which will support disabled people to travel more independently. As part of Whizz-Kidz’s Generation Inspired? campaign into the Paralympic Legacy, we polled our network of young wheelchair-users in the five months following the London 2012 Games and discovered that the majority were hopeful that improvements in transport accessibility would form part of the Paralympic Legacy. We’re delighted that young disabled people’s voices have been heard. Whizz-Kidz and its young Ambassadors back the Mayor’s pledge to make transport in London more accessible and we look forward to continuing to support and advise TfL on further measures to improve accessibility for disabled passengers.’
At some stations factors such as the historic design of the platforms and track – particularly where there is a step down from the platform to the train – mean that the use of boarding ramps has not been possible. Work by LU to find solutions in these cases is now underway.
Many large-scale accessibility improvements are also already underway across the Tube network including at Victoria, Vauxhall, Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street and Greenford Tube stations. A new fleet of trains are running on the Metropolitan line and by the end of 2014 there will be new trains running on the entire Hammersmith & City and Circle lines followed by a further 80 new trains on the District line, which will mean that 40 per cent of the network will be served by air-conditioned trains with high levels of accessibility, wider doors and dedicated areas for wheelchair users.
TfL will also increase the number of permanent raised platform sections to provide level access at a third of stations by 2016 and install tactile paving on all platform edges across the network for the visually impaired.
Currently, 66 stations on the Tube network are step-free, but the gap between the platform and train at some of these stations has meant that wheelchair users can struggle to board.
The new deployment of ramps will mean that, of the platforms that are currently accessible step-free from the street, 76 per cent (149 out of 195) will now be accessible to wheelchair users through the use of the ramps, permanent raised platform sections, low floor trains and other improvements.
Introducing ramps to more of the Tube network was one of the commitments outlined in the mayor and TfL’s ‘Your Accessible Transport Network’ document in December of last year. Progress on a number of improvements outlined in the document have already been made. These include:
Disability organisations Inclusion London and Transport for All have been appointed to improve training given to LU staff in how they assist older and disabled customers;
Centres of excellence, which will act as exemplars for how TfL can best assist disabled customers, are being established at Stratford, King’s Cross St Pancras, London Bridge, Green Park and Westminster stations;
Significant improvements to signage have now been completed at 11 stations with four more to follow this month. This distinctive new accessibility signage, developed in conjunction with disabled people, is positioned at locations and heights that are easily viewable from wheelchairs. It provides better information about how best to navigate stations, including Westminster, Waterloo, Kings Cross and London Bridge;
A further 94 wide aisle gates have been installed at 60 Tube stations, and the number of permanent raised platform sections is being increased to provide level access at a third of stations by 2016;
A fleet of new trains are already running on the Metropolitan lines with more new trains being introduced on the Hammersmith & City, Circle and District lines, and by 2016, 40 per cent of the Tube will be served by new, highly accessible trains;
A world-leading customer information system has now been introduced on the entire Victoria line. For the first time this gives give real-time disruption information to help people with hearing loss who may miss announcements from the driver.
Large-scale accessibility improvements are already underway at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and other locations
An additional £18m is being invested to make at least 95 per cent of bus stops accessible by the end of 2016, bringing even greater ease to a bus network that is already the most accessible in the country;
TfL is completely redesigning its website with clearer, easier to read content;
A new Twitter feed @TfLAccess has been launched to give advice on getting the most out of the transport network, to update disabled passengers on improvements to their services and to advise customers of any planned changes on the network – such as to lifts, escalators or stations – that may affect their journeys
