To help celebrate this year’s London Pride parade (6 July) and the 50th anniversary of the modern LGBT+ rights movement, Siemens Mobility Limited has installed eight traffic lights onto the Transport for London (TfL) parade float, including the red, amber and green lights cycling through a range of diversity symbols.
Four special designs have been created to represent different and diverse relationships, using the widely recognised gender symbols. The traffic signals, which form part of Siemens Mobility’s intelligent infrastructure offering, were first produced for London Pride in 2016, and have been subsequently adopted by other Pride festivals around the country (a total of six festivals in 2019). The initial traffic signals were installed in Trafalgar Square and proved so popular they have remained.
This year, in addition to the iconic signals, Siemens Mobility is further supporting TfL by supplying additional voiceover clips from Siemens Mobility’s UK CEO William Wilson and UK CFO Julie Owen to be broadcast during the event. The company is also fielding volunteers to accompany the TfL vehicle as it makes its way round the London streets. The specially designed signals can be viewed on the TfL parade float as it passes along the route from midday.
The London Pride parade will start on Portland Place, moving along Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus and Lower Regent Street, before heading through Pall Mall and passing Trafalgar Square to Whitehall. In total it will cover an estimated two and a half miles.
Staynton Brown, Director of Diversity, Inclusion & Talent at TfL said: “TfL has always been a strong supporter of Pride in London, the LGBT+ community, and everyone who lives in our vibrant and diverse city. We welcome all communities and London is open for all to enjoy – whether you’re here to work, study or just enjoy London.”
William Wilson, CEO of Siemens Mobility Limited, said: “Diversity and inclusion is hugely important to us as an organisation and I have a particular interest in the promotion of the LGBT+ movement.”
He continued: “We’ve worked with Transport for London to provide intelligent infrastructure for the Pride festival for the past three years and it’s only right that this year, celebrating 50 years of the birth of the modern LGBT+ movement, our support is bigger and better than ever before.”
*Siemens Mobility has installed the signals at its own cost.
