please empty your brain below
Happy 25th TfLon. The non-stick transport authority.

daveid76 | 03.07.25 - 1:30 a.m. | #

I have been told that nowadays one should not use italics as some people find italicised script hard to read.

A bit like underlining is now almost extinct because it is confused with a hyperlink.

One wonders how much of those early meetings were 'rubber stamping' rather than genuine decision making on the spot. The fact that the meeting lasted a mere 50 minutes suggests the former and the fact it presumably started five minutes late suggests it was a bit informal.

Pedantic of Purley | 03.07.25 - 6:09 a.m. | #

From the TfL style guide:


diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 7:58 a.m. | #

I worked in Romney House from 1991 to 1993, but little did I know then the role the building would play less than a decade later.

Alan S | 03.07.25 - 8:13 a.m. | #

I wonder who came up with the 'for' in the first place, and wonder if they realised what a trend they'd be setting?

Elsewhere in the country, we now have Transport for Wales, Transport for Greater Manchester, Transport for the North, Transport for West Midlands and Transport for Edinburgh.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and all that.

martin | 03.07.25 - 8:17 a.m. | #

There's also Transport for Ireland.

DavidB | 03.07.25 - 8:20 a.m. | #

LRT lasted 26 years - 1984-2000, so TfL has slightly longer to go, I think it then enters the 'death zone' where it faces an increasing chance of being the victim of the next deckchair throwing reorganisation because a politician needs to 'do something'.

The LGOC lasted 78 years, 1855-1933, arguably you could add a chunk of the LPTB (1933-1948) to that total.

Still Anon | 03.07.25 - 9:00 a.m. | #

I assume they changed the name to Transport for London to show its wider remit than the old LT and LRT, as it took control of most of London's roads as well. Plus to show it was a new era.

Interesting that the Labour government back then wanted inflation + 1 fare rises, with Ken holding fare rises to just inflation. Whatever I might want as a passenger, fares freezes (like unfunded tax cuts) are dubious, reducing income in real terms.

Mikey C | 03.07.25 - 9:00 a.m. | #

Still Anon - I think you'll find that 1984-2000 is 16 years, not 26...

daveid76 | 03.07.25 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Even more unthinkable, there were two union ‘barons’ on the first TfL Board.

Kim | 03.07.25 - 9:56 a.m. | #

The "F" on the anniversary roundel is upper case, apparently ignoring the style guide and current practice elsewhere. The style guide also recommends avoiding all capitals, which the MAKING EVERY JOURNEY... legend round the roundel similarly ignores. Not sure how that all slipped through.

Andrew S | 03.07.25 - 10:04 a.m. | #

Marking anniversaries with fanfare seems to be a distinctly modern urge. To my knowledge, the venerable London Transport didn’t see the need to celebrate its 25th at all.

Steve | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 11:00 a.m. | #

Andrew, I’m currently stood beside a TfL roundel, all of which is in capital letters, and I think you may have over-interpreted the style guide somewhat.

Benjy Mouse | 03.07.25 - 11:29 a.m. | #

The italics in Transport for London were there in the original logo as well - which wasn't a roundel. It's hard to find online but you can just about see it on this page on the London Transport Museum website.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 11:52 a.m. | #

If TfL is the transport authority that has lasted longest in London (by claiming that the LPTB, LTE, LTB, LTE and LRT were all separate organisations) how come ‘London Transport’ celebrated their 50th and 60th anniversaries?!

Kim | 03.07.25 - 12:06 p.m. | #

Alan S I worked in Romney House twenty years before you as a member of the Home Office Research Unit. What a featureless, characterless dump. Even a move to Croydon was an improvement!

What I do remember was that at weekends it was used by the BBC to film scenes for the television series ‘ Secret Army’., It was the headquarters of a branch of the Gestapo!

‘Secretary Army’ was later parodied in the comedy ‘Allo,Allo’

Kenneth Morton | 03.07.25 - 1:23 p.m. | #

Sorry Kim, Steve says that celebrating anniversaries is only a modern thing so there's no way LT would celebrate their 50th 😁

Causton | 03.07.25 - 1:45 p.m. | #

On my 25th anniversary journey I spotted two silver roundels, rode a line that didn't exist in 2000, watched a bus driver allow two passengers aboard without paying, observed two men fixing a platform, waited 5 minutes "to even out the service", caught the Superloop, sighed at some pedants, saw a man pull a knife and all this for free. Happy birthday TfL!

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 3:49 p.m. | #

The clue is in the wording. It's a style guide, not rules.

popartist | 03.07.25 - 4:14 p.m. | #

"watched a bus driver allow two passengers aboard without paying...saw a man pull a knife"

That probably wouldn't have happened 25 years ago.

David B | 03.07.25 - 4:55 p.m. | #

Thanks Ken.

Tetramesh | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 5:10 p.m. | #

Fare freezes reduce income. This may be true, but it is an accountant's conclusion. The function of a transport authority should not be to produce income. It should be to help people get about. Funds to operate the system already come from a variety of sources, of which fares are only a part. Free local travel, and cheap long distance travel, would help to make the world a better and more sustainable place.

Malcolm of Kent | 03.07.25 - 6:20 p.m. | #

Causton. Kim has known me for nearly 50 years. I guess he knows what I meant. Even if you didn't.

Steve | 03.07.25 - 8:33 p.m. | #

TfL, sustaining pedants for 25 years.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.07.25 - 8:35 p.m. | #

Had anything been planned for the 25th anniversary in 1958, it would almost certainly have been cancelled in the light of the six week bus strike that lasted through May and June of that year (not that I have checked contemporary accounts today to corroborate this though).

LT certainly celebrated the centenary of the Metropolitan Railway just five years later. They also celebrated the centenary of the London General Omnibus Company in 1956, with a luncheon and a bus parade, among other activitiies.

Man of Kent | 03.07.25 - 9:43 p.m. | #

On my 25th anniversary journey our bus followed a double deck electric bus (25 registration) clad in SL5 vinyl all the way from Purley to South Croydon. Clearly on a driver training run.

Pedantic of Purley | 03.07.25 - 11:06 p.m. | #

Whilst offering some token congratulations to TfL on their anniversary, I’m not waving any flags.
I joined LU before they became a part of aforementioned body, but thanks to the heartless bastards in a certain department, (having being declared medically unfit to continue in my employment) I was made jobless by the aforementioned team of heartless bastards a year ago. Fortuitously, I’ve managed to make ends meet, but would certainly not recommend working for them.

Unusually Anonymous | 03.07.25 - 11:13 p.m. | #

I think, given Ken’s involvement, that we can trace the use of “for” in TfL to the slogan, “GLC, working for London’”.

Bryn Davies | 04.07.25 - 9:10 a.m. | #

The Embankment Cycleway (2016) belongs on this list.

Certainly more so than the blue paint in bus lanes Ken Livingstone era Cycle Superhighways, and most things done since.

Graham | 04.07.25 - 2:31 p.m. | #

'Unusually anonymous' - deeply sympathise with what happened to you as I suffered their version of heartlessness too, but don't confuse the management with the organisation.

TfL and predecessors had, lost and maybe regained a worldwide reputation for innovation if not the best ways of delivering it. The State helped there - what state-owned organisations do without a profit motive is substantial and long-lasting. What BOAC, BEA, 'LT' and BR did live for a long time and are regarded as aimworthy standards. All it needs is civic responsibilities and long-term planning. we need to do more than dream.

Joel | 04.07.25 - 3:26 p.m. | #











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