Transport for London warns of Boxing Day Tube strike disruption

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Tube services could face severe disruption but there will be more buses on Boxing Day as hundreds of drivers go on strike, Transport for London said.

Members of Aslef union will walk out for 24 hours in a row over bank holiday pay, a dispute over a 1992 agreement.

TfL^» (Transport for London - about) said there would be extra buses for shoppers heading for the West End or Westfield shopping centres.

It will be the third successive walkout by Tube drivers on the first day of the post-Christmas sale.

Aslef said its members had voted by 9-1 in favour of strikes in a long-running row over extra pay for working on bank holidays.

TfL said almost all the lines were expected to have a reduced and partial service and urged passengers to check before travelling. There will be no services on London Overground.

But 700 bus routes in the capital will operate a Sunday service, and extra buses will be on the routes bound for the West End or Westfield shopping centres in Stratford and White City.

The congestion charge for vehicles entering central London will not apply during the festive period and there will also be no parking charges on roads in Westminster.

Howard Collins, London Underground's chief operating officer, criticised the union for demanding to be paid "twice for the same work".

"The scandalous actions of the ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) leadership are an attempt to hold Londoners to ransom, and demonstrate a wholesale disregard for our customers," he said. "We will be running as many services as possible, supported by London's 700 bus routes, but there will be disruption."

[Brucey]

The 18th and 25th January tube strikes will probably cause considerably more chaos, with people attempting to get to work and therefore cramming into already busy buses.

I'm yet to work out the best alternative routes for those days, especially on the 25th when I need to get to South Kensington by a specific time.  Will probably end up leaving very early in the morning and walking there from Waterloo.

[grahame]

Will probably end up leaving very early in the morning and walking there from Waterloo.

Or change at Clapham Junction and walk from Victoria?

[Brucey]

Will probably end up leaving very early in the morning and walking there from Waterloo.

Or change at Clapham Junction and walk from Victoria?

My train from Havant doesn't stop at Clapham Junction.  The other alternative would be to take a Southern service all the way to Victoria.

My plan for getting to White City on the 18th is to take a service from Waterloo back out to Clapham Junction, then the Overground from there to Shepherd's Bush.  The rest of the journey is walkable.

I've actually been quite surprised by the service that was available today, all things considered.

[johoare]

Will probably end up leaving very early in the morning and walking there from Waterloo.

Or change at Clapham Junction and walk from Victoria?

My train from Havant doesn't stop at Clapham Junction.  The other alternative would be to take a Southern service all the way to Victoria.

My plan for getting to White City on the 18th is to take a service from Waterloo back out to Clapham Junction, then the Overground from there to Shepherd's Bush.  The rest of the journey is walkable.

I've actually been quite surprised by the service that was available today, all things considered.

For South Ken the 211 (I think.. 11 if not) goes all the way from Waterloo to the Kings Road via Victoria.. Then it's probably a ten minutes walk.. If not you could change buses at Victoria for one that goes closer to South Ken.. I guess it depends how close to South Ken you need to be?

[Brucey]

For South Ken the 211 (I think.. 11 if not) goes all the way from Waterloo to the Kings Road via Victoria.. Then it's probably a ten minutes walk.. If not you could change buses at Victoria for one that goes closer to South Ken.. I guess it depends how close to South Ken you need to be?

Hmm, that looks like a better option than walking.  My destination is Imperial College Library, so walking from Royal Brompton Hospital wouldn't be too far.

I can't be the only one who finds London Bus system to be horrendously complex when it comes to deciding which bus to use when you are unfamiliar with destinations/routes.

[johoare]

For South Ken the 211 (I think.. 11 if not) goes all the way from Waterloo to the Kings Road via Victoria.. Then it's probably a ten minutes walk.. If not you could change buses at Victoria for one that goes closer to South Ken.. I guess it depends how close to South Ken you need to be?

Hmm, that looks like a better option than walking.  My destination is Imperial College Library, so walking from Royal Brompton Hospital wouldn't be too far.

I can't be the only one who finds London Bus system to be horrendously complex when it comes to deciding which bus to use when you are unfamiliar with destinations/routes.

I work between South Kensington and Sloane Square stations so know the buses around there a bit (as they are quicker for me in general than the tube).. I will take a look at where your destination is exactly as I definitely went past Imperial college a week or so ago... just not quite sure where I was going to or from...

[Electric train]

The LU Unions are writing their own death warrants, ATO^▸ (Automatic Train Operation) (Automatic Train Operation) is already doing most of the work for the Motormen on the Underground (they never used to be called drivers if fact they were quite adamant at one time that they were Motormen)

The Unions argument that the public will always want someone at the front of the train as it makes them feel safer that I fear is now wearing thin what the public want is a reliable and cheap metro system.

I can foresee a big bust up with the Unions when LU take them on over full ATO on a line or indeed the whole system, it will be painful for ever one when it happens with potentially the system shut down while the dispute is dealt with, the LU management made a statement last week regarding protection of conditions if the was no strike I feel that was the first warning shot

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Tube strikes cost London ^1bn, Conservatives claim

Strikes on the London Underground have cost the capital more than ^1bn in six years, according to a report.

The study by the Greater London Assembly Conservatives also calls for Tube strikes to be banned and replaced by a compulsory mediation process. It says there were 30 days of Tube strikes during 2005-11 costing London about ^48m each.

The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)) Union has described the GLA Tories as "clowns".

The report, called Struck Out: Reforming London Underground's strike laws, says industrial action is going ahead with only small minorities of the workforce voting in favour. It claims Tube strikes went ahead with an average of just 39% of balloted staff voting for a walkout.

It comes as London Overground guards are to stage a 48-hour strike this weekend in a dispute over job cuts.

Richard Tracey, GLA Conservative spokesman for transport, said: "It is absurd that tens of thousands of passengers could face delays and disruption on the London Overground this bank holiday weekend because 43% of train guards - a mere 53 workers - have opted for strike action."

The party is also calling for strikes to be banned and be replaced with a "binding pendulum arbitration" - in which an independent judge or panel would choose between the competing positions of the relevant trade union and Transport for London. And a minimum of 50% + 1 of all eligible trade union members would have to vote in favour this sort of mediation to take place, the party said.

The report also polled 284 Londoners and found 59% think it is too easy to strike and 48% favoured some form of ban on strikes on the Underground.

Mr Tracey added: "For too long, London's Tube unions have been holding the travelling public hostage, demanding ever greater pay deals and calling strikes at the drop of a hat. We need to urgently readdress this imbalance."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said: "RMT members on the London Overground voted nine to one for strike action on a turnout of 50%. Any politician with a mandate like that would be dancing in the streets. The fact is that the mayor and all the Tory members of the GLA would have to stand down if they applied the same brand of democracy to themselves that these clowns are trying to impose on the unions. This policy on one form of democracy for the political class and another for the working class has the whiff of the military junta about it."

[Super Guard]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):
Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers), said: "RMT members on the London Overground voted nine to one for strike action on a turnout of 50%. Any politician with a mandate like that would be dancing in the streets."

I'm not the biggest fan of what Bob says at times, but this made me chuckle 

While I don't know why all these strikes happened (apart from Boxing Day ones), if TfL^» (Transport for London - about) acted in the correct manner all the time and offered reasonable solutions/outcomes, then I doubt most of the strikes would have happened.