Transport for London
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Image:Transport for London logo.jpg Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for the transport system throughout the City of London and Greater London in the United Kingdom. The role of TfL is to implement the transport strategy for and to manage transport services across London.
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History
TfL replaced London Transport, from which it inherited most of the above functions and modes, in 2000. The London Underground rail system was not transferred to TfL until 2003.
The Public Carriage Office was formerly part of the Metropolitan Police, and Street Management was the responsibility of a mixture of national government and the London Boroughs; both functions were transferred to TfL in 2000.
A full history of the organisations before TfL can be found at London's transport history from 1933.
Management
TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London, a position currently held by Ken Livingstone, who also chairs the Board. The Commissioner of Transport for London (Peter Hendy since 17 January 2006) reports to the board and leads a management team with individual functional responsibilities.
Organisation
TfL is broken down into a set of functional units, each with responsibility for different aspects and modes of transport. These are:
- Docklands Light Railway. Normally abbreviated to DLR, responsible for the automatically-driven light rail network in East London, although actual operation is undertaken by a private sector operator.
- London Buses. Responsible for managing the red bus network throughout London, largely by sub-contracting services to private sector bus operators.
- London Dial-a-Ride. Provides paratransit services throughout London.
- London Rail. Responsible for coordination with the operators that provide National Rail service within London.
- London River Services. Responsible for licencing and coordinating passenger services on the River Thames within London.
- London Street Management. Responsible for the management of London's strategic road network, and for the London congestion charge.
- London Trams. Responsible for managing London's tram network, by sub-contracting to private sector operators. At present the only tram system is Tramlink in south London, but others are proposed.
- London Underground. Responsible for running London's underground rail network, commonly known as the Tube, and managing the provision of maintenance services by the private sector. This network is sub-divided into three service delivery units:
- BCV: Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines
- JNP: Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines
- SSR (Sub Surface Railway): Metropolitan, District, East London, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Waterloo & City lines
- Public Carriage Office. Responsible for licensing the famous black cabs and other private hire vehicles.
- Victoria Coach Station. Owns and operates London's principal terminal for long distance bus and coach services.
There is a separate division of the underground for PPP contract purposes: JNP, BCV and SSL (Sub Surface Lines). JNP is as above, but the Waterloo & City line is included in BCV instead of SSL.
Each of the above main units has its own corporate identity, formed by differently-coloured versions of the standard roundel and adding appropriate lettering across the horizontal bar. The roundel rendered in blue without any lettering represents TfL as a whole (see Transport for London logo). The same range of colours is also used extensively in publicity and on the TfL website.
Fares
Most of the transport modes that come under the control of Transport for London have their own charging and ticketing regimes. As an exception, buses and trams share a common fare and ticketing regime, and the DLR and the Underground another.
Superimposed on these mode-specific regimes is the Travelcard system, which provides zonal tickets with validities from one day to one year, and off-peak variants. These are accepted on the DLR, buses, railways, trams, the Underground and (to a limited extent) river services.
The Oyster card is a new contactless smart card system, which can be used in pre-pay mode to pay individual fares or to carry various Travelcards and other passes. It is used by touching the card flat on the yellow card reader, found on all ticket gates where otherwise a paper ticket would be fed through, allowing the gate to open and the passenger to walk through.
Journey planning
TfL has developed an electronic journey planner, which enables users to plan journeys by multiple modes in and around London. This is available on the web (see 'External links' below) and at kiosks and some payphones throughout London.
Congestion charging
TfL is responsible for managing the London congestion charge, a fee that is charged to motorists entering the Central London area and which is used to fund public transport developments in the city (see 'External links' below).
Mentions in 2006 honours list
After the attacks on the underground and bus systems on 7 July 2005, many staff were recognised in the 2006 New Year honours list for the heroic work they did. They helped the survivors out, removed the bodies, and got the transport system up and running, to get the millions of commuters back out of London at the end of the work day. Those mentioned include Peter Hendy, who was at the time Head of Surface Transport division, and Tim O'Toole, head of the Underground division, who were both awarded CBEs.
Others include:
- David Boyce, Station Supervisor, London Underground (MBE)
- John Boyle, Train Operator, London Underground (MBE)
- Peter Sanders, Group Station Manager, London Underground (MBE)
Transport museum
TfL owns and operates London's Transport Museum in Covent Garden, a museum that conserves and explains London's transport heritage. It is currently closed for a redevelopment project, due to reopen in 2007. The museum also has an extensive depot, situated at Acton, that contains material not normally on display; the depot has several open weekends each year.
See also
External links
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