The people making a real difference to transport across London were recognised at the 10th annual London Transport Awards in London last night with the London Borough of Islington picking up the top award of the night for Transport Borough of the Year and Southern Railway picking up public transport operator of the year.
Hosted by Jeremy Vine, the awards saw over 450 transport professionals gather at the prestigious ceremony at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London.
Transport borough of the year, Islingtons commitment to introduce a blanket 20mph speed limit, the first in London, in the face of considerable opposition the council have demonstrated it is prepared to be bold and to go out on a limb. The Council has also been active in improving the streetscape, particularly in major centres such as Angel and Holloway Road. In addition the borough has done significant work on improving conditions for cyclists through a variety of initiatives – in cycling terms it is considered one of the best.
Public Transport Operator of the Year sponsored by Bombardier Transportation was awarded to Southern for their best performance in a decade on a complex, congested network. They also impressed with their investment in stations which has seen a rise in customer satisfaction and their award winning accessibility innovations such as Maps for All in conjunction with the Royal National Institute for Blind People second year running. Southeastern received a commendation in this category.
There were four special individual awards given out on the night. Outstanding Contribution to Transport Across London was awarded to Hugh Sumner for his work on the Olympics. Hugh was accountable for all transport elements of London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games and, against all the odds, won it. Subsequently he planned and delivered transport for the Games as the Director of Transport for the Olympic Delivery Authority. John Couch picked up Outstanding Contribution to Local Transport for helping to mastermind LB Newham’s contributions to the 2012 Games as far as transport is concerned, ensuring that the host borough for the games was well prepared and able to support local residents and businesses at the same time as guaranteeing access to and from the Games venues. Recently retired Head of Surface Transport Communications and Engagement at TfL, Beverley Hall, picked up the Lifetime Contribution award. She was well respected for her honesty and attention to detail and was an excellent ambassador for TfL during her thirty year career. The final individual award was for Transport Journalist of the year which was awarded to Dave Hill at the Guardian for his ‘open journalism’ he produced in advance of the London Mayoral elections last year.
TfL – London Rail picked up the award for Transport Partnership of the Year for their APD Lifts & Escalators Refurbishment Team. Effective teamwork has slashed the time to refurbish essential equipment and has kept escalators and lifts in use with the availability figure increasing by 19% on last year. It now stands at an impressive 99% for the last year.
One of the most competitive awards on the evening was for the most Innovative Transport Project of the year sponsorsed by Keolis UK which went to Amey for Hammersmith Flyover Strengthening Phase 1. Their excellent construction and engineering approach created a culture where innovation and ideas were welcomed from every level of the business, and applied safely and effectively for the successful delivery of this complex and high profile project.
Transport Woman of the Year - a new award organised in conjunction with the Woman’s Transportation Seminar and sponsored by Clearchannel UK – went to Michèle Dix, Managing Director of Planning, at TfL. Michèle has been centrally involved in projects from the installation of the UK’s first urban cable car to co-ordinating volunteers needed to help London during the 2012 Games. Other projects and strategies she has led include London’s Low Emission Zone; the mayor’s Transport Strategy; the development of Crossrail; the Olympic Legacy Plan; and the mayor’s accessibility strategy.
Due to the high number of excellent London 2012 entries, the judges recognised teams from the ODA, TfL, NATS, London Underground and LOROL by awarding them gold medals for their Olympic performance.
The London Transport Awards, in association with Transport Times magazine, were judged by Transport Times publisher Professor David Begg, Chair of the Judging panel and Chief Executive of Transport Times; Janet Cooke, Chief Executive, London Travel Watch; Nick Lester, Corporate Director - Services, London Councils and Elsie Owusu OBE, Principal Partner of Fielden & Mawson.
Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Transport Commissioner, Transport for London said:
“All of us who work in London’s transport industry can be tremendously proud of what we achieved in 2012, the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This summer, our DLR, rail and Tube networks carried the most passengers in their histories, huge temporary changes were made to the way many of our roads operated, and 35 per cent of people changed the way they travelled. Working together, London’s transport workers ensured that athletes, officials and spectators got to their events on time, and that the rest of London kept moving. It was an extraordinary collaborative effort involving a genuine partnership of all the transport operators, the London boroughs, LOCOG, the ODA and the freight industry. One of the many legacy benefits of the Games is surely to see how we can keep these partnerships going for the benefit of the travelling public in London.
Incredibly, we achieved this in the same year that, at Transport for London alone, we increased capacity on both the DLR and the Jubilee line, completed the London Overground orbital railway, expanded Barclays Cycle Hire and introduced the Emirates Airline to our skies and the New Bus for London to our streets.
In 2013 London’s commuters will experience further improvements to their transport networks, with the roll-out of new air-conditioned trains across the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, continuing work on the Northern line signalling upgrade, more Barclays Cycle Superhighway routes, hundreds of new hybrid, hydrogen and new bus for London buses on our roads and the continuing progress of Crossrail.
I am delighted to support these awards, which celebrate the many achievements of the organisations – and individuals - that keep our city moving and growing, as we look forward to another great year for London and its transport network."
The full list of award winners and those who were highly commended is as follows:
Transport Borough of the Year
WINNER: London Borough of Islington
Achievements in Cycling
WINNER: Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – Two Way Cycling in One Way Streets
Most Effective Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement
WINNER: London Borough of Bromley - Road Safety Education Team D by C - Driven By Consequences
Excellence in Walking & Public Realm
WINNER: London Borough of Merton - Destination Wimbledon
HC: Brent Council - The Wembley Olympic Corridor
HC: London Borough of Lambeth – Venn Street Shared Space
Public Transport Operator of the Year
WINNER: Southern Railway
HC: Southeastern
Rail Station of the Year
WINNER: John McAslan + Partners – Kings Cross Station
HC: LOROL – Hatch End Station
Most Innovative Transport Project
WINNER: Amey plc – Hammersmith Flyover Strengthening Phase 1
HC: Limelight Sports - Home Run London
Contribution to Sustainable Transport
WINNER: NATS 3Di: A Metric to Drive Environmental Performance in Aviation
HC: NHS Greenwich – Cycle Loan Scheme
Excellence in Technology
WINNER: mxData – Tube Map
HC: Southeastern - Leading the way, Delivering Solutions
Transport Team/Partnership of the Year
WINNER: London Rail - APD Lifts & Escalators Refurbishment Team
HC: Transport for London, British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service - Project Spiderweb
Transport Supplier of the Year
WINNER: Bircham Dyson Bell LLP - Emirates Air Line
HC: KPMG LLP - KPMG Transport Advisory in London
Excellence in Travel Information & Marketing
WINNER: London Borough of Haringey - Smarter Travel Haringey Communications and Branding
Frontline Employee of the Year
WINNER: Steve Sharkey, Shift Station Manager, Network Rail
HC: Ben Mathis, Customer Host, LOROL
Young Transport Professional of the Year
WINNER: Felicity Luckett, Project Engineer, Traffic Directorate, TfL
Transport Woman of the Year
WINNER: Michèle Dix, Managing Director of Planning, TfL
Journalist of the Year
WINNER: Dave Hill, The Guardian
Outstanding Contribution to Transport in London
WINNER: John Couch, London Borough of Newham
Outstanding Contribution to Transport Across London
WINNER: Hugh Sumner
Lifetime Contribution to Transport
WINNER: Beverley Hall
LUL Station Customer Service Team of the Year
WINNER: Northwick Park Underground Station
London 2012 Transport Teams
NATS:
- MOD Olympic Airspace Delivery
Olympic Delivery Authority:
- Transport for the London 2012 Games
- London 2012 Get Ahead of the Games Campaign
Transport for London:
- Building the Team to Deliver the Olympic Route Network
- Games Playbook
- London 2012 Active Travel programme
- London Underground Ltd
- London Overground Rail Operations Ltd
- Operating the Capital's Road Network for London 2012
- Transport Coordination Centre
- Travel Ambassador Project
The awards are organised by Transport Times Events
For further information contact: Transport Times Events on 0207 828 3804.
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Contact Grant Poulton, Commercial Director
Tel: 07872 488760
Email: [email protected]
