Skip to main content

London launches new team to crack down on congestion

A new team of Road and Transport Enforcement Officers is being deployed to key traffic routes across London to crack down on illegal or inconsiderate behaviour and other problems that cause congestion. The new 40-strong Transport for London (TfL) team, which will rise to 80 by next spring, will help deal with problems such as illegal stopping or unloading of deliveries, which can cause delays to drivers and bus passengers. It will work closely with the TfL-funded Metropolitan Police Roads and Transpo
November 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A new team of Road and Transport Enforcement Officers is being deployed to key traffic routes across London to crack down on illegal or inconsiderate behaviour and other problems that cause congestion.

The new 40-strong 1466 Transport for London (TfL) team, which will rise to 80 by next spring, will help deal with problems such as illegal stopping or unloading of deliveries, which can cause delays to drivers and bus passengers.

It will work closely with the TfL-funded Metropolitan Police Roads and Transport Policing Command and will help to move unlawfully stopped vehicles, issue Penalty Charge Notices to illegally parked vehicles and clear unnecessary or poorly set-up roadworks.

It is the first time that TfL will have its own officers who will have the power to direct traffic around congestion on London's roads. This includes issues such as breakdowns and collisions. They will also access real time information and data and send intelligence back from the street to TfL’s control room.

The ten key locations the team will be deployed are on roads that between them carry 110 different bus routes and are used by half a million bus passengers, in addition to 300,000 car and taxi passenger journeys every day.
 
The team will be alerted to congestion build ups both through TfL’s network of traffic cameras and through utilising the eyes and ears of the almost 25,000 bus drivers, who are calling in any issues to the TfL control room so that they can be reacted to swiftly and intelligence can be analysed to prevent problems from recurring.

In addition, they will work with businesses along the routes to help improve the way they receive and manage deliveries, giving advice on re-timing or consolidation to reduce the impact of deliveries during peak times.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New services and equipment helps cities tackle air quality issues
    September 19, 2017
    With poor urban air quality shortening lives and fines being imposed for breaching pollution limits, authorities are seeking ways to clean up their cities. Poor air quality is topping the agenda for city authorities across the globe. In the UK, for example, a report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health, concluded that poor outdoor air quality shortens the lives of around 40,000 people a year – principally by undermining the health of people with heart and/or lung prob
  • The UK’s busiest crossing adopts free flow charging
    April 30, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at the transition to free-flow charging on the Dartford Crossing, a notorious congestion blackspot on the UK motorway network. The Dartford Crossing, where London’s orbital M25 motorway crosses the lower reaches of the River Thames 32km (20 miles) to the east of Central London, has long been a major source of congestion. Now, to alleviate the congestion caused by some 50 million crossings per year, the Highways Agency has adopted a free-flow charging system - but the Crossing’s location a
  • ITS instrumental in reducing Texan congestion
    September 4, 2018
    ITS projects in the Houston area have seen costs crunched – and even a system failure has proved valuable in analysing performance. David Crawford reports on developments in the Lone Star state Savings by Texan public agencies are major factors in the recent ITS Texas awards, recognising beneficial initiatives in bridge strike prevention and traffic intersection control. In the first, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)’s Houston District, covering the state’s most populous city and its surround
  • London buses to trial speed safety technology
    June 26, 2015
    New technology that is designed to reduce speeds and increase vehicle safety will be trialled on London’s buses next month, as part of the Mayor and Transport for London’s (TfL) continuing work to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on London’s roads. The Mayor and TfL announced today that intelligent speed adaptation (ISA), an innovative technology that ensures vehicles can’t exceed speed limits, will be trialled on 47 London buses in a UK-first. The new technology, which was outli