Threats to bus and tube services in London.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

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

The mayor of London has warned transport services may be axed due to a £1.9bn funding gap.

Sadiq Khan claims bus services could be cut by a fifth and Tube services by almost 10% without government money.

A report to City Hall's finance committee says the pandemic means difficulties are worse than expected.

A government spokesperson said: "We have repeatedly shown our commitment to supporting London's transport network through the pandemic."

The mayor said: "Transport for London (TfL^» (Transport for London - about)) is dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis caused by the pandemic.

"We are now less than a month away from TfL's emergency funding deal expiring on 11 December.

"Unless the government provides the long-term funding needed to maintain our public transport network, there will be no choice but to make significant cuts to services just as demand is growing again."

[Lee]

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

The mayor of London has warned transport services may be axed due to a £1.9bn funding gap.

Sadiq Khan claims bus services could be cut by a fifth and Tube services by almost 10% without government money.

A report to City Hall's finance committee says the pandemic means difficulties are worse than expected.

A government spokesperson said: "We have repeatedly shown our commitment to supporting London's transport network through the pandemic."

The mayor said: "Transport for London (TfL^» (Transport for London - about)) is dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis caused by the pandemic.

"We are now less than a month away from TfL's emergency funding deal expiring on 11 December.

"Unless the government provides the long-term funding needed to maintain our public transport network, there will be no choice but to make significant cuts to services just as demand is growing again."

I can't reveal who told me on open forum, but an impeccable source expects this to also be the case in a prominent local authority here in the South West.

[Lee]

The possibility of the closure of an entire tube line has now been mooted - https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-financial-crisis-tube-line-closed-bankruptcy-b968230.html

[Timmer]

The possibility of the closure of an entire tube line has now been mooted - https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-financial-crisis-tube-line-closed-bankruptcy-b968230.html

Not a great time for tube drivers on some lines to be going on strike is it?

[didcotdean]

The Bakerloo Line could become a heritage operation. It's half way there already.

[TaplowGreen]

The possibility of the closure of an entire tube line has now been mooted - https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-financial-crisis-tube-line-closed-bankruptcy-b968230.html

Not a great time for tube drivers on some lines to be going on strike is it?

With Christmas around the corner, Tube strikes are as inevitable as awful John Lewis adverts.

[Timmer]

The Bakerloo Line could become a heritage operation. It's half way there already.

Could be 2040 before new rolling stock replaces what’s running now which is looking and sounding pretty ropey.

[Lee]

The Bakerloo Line could become a heritage operation. It's half way there already.

Could be 2040 before new rolling stock replaces what’s running now which is looking and sounding pretty ropey.

Here is the ever-entertaining MyLondon's take on the situation, with an honourable mention for the choice of "Bakerloo Line Map" used    - https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-underground-tube-line-could-22287869

[grahame]

The Bakerloo Line could become a heritage operation. It's half way there already.

Could be 2040 before new rolling stock replaces what’s running now which is looking and sounding pretty ropey.

Here is the ever-entertaining MyLondon's take on the situation, with an honourable mention for the choice of "Bakerloo Line Map" used    - https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-underground-tube-line-could-22287869

And a picture of a Metro[olitain line underground train captioned "The Bakerloo line is reportedly at risk"!

[eightonedee]

Does anyone know why the Bakerloo line always ends up with the grottiest and oldest trains on London Underground? For those of use coming in from the west it's one of the most useful of all the lines on the system.

[didcotdean]

A contributing factor might be that it is the lightest used of the "deep" tube railways after the Waterloo & City line in terms of number of passengers (at least by pre-Covid measures), 55% or thereabouts of the next highest (Piccadilly).

[Birdie100]

I just assumed the Bakerloo line trains are now the eldest given the Circle/District line were upgraded and there’s sort of a decade interval between each upgrade? Leaving us with the c 1970s Bakerloo stock?

[stuving]

A contributing factor might be that it is the lightest used of the "deep" tube railways after the Waterloo & City line in terms of number of passengers (at least by pre-Covid measures), 55% or thereabouts of the next highest (Piccadilly).

I think it's fleet size that counts - less than half that of the Northern, Central, or Piccadilly Lines. So it was always possible to equip it with cast-offs, whether from those or (with limitations) the two newer lines. While they too have smallish fleets, you wouldn't want to use the old trains on them (it's virtually impossible anyway).

So cast-offs is what the Bakerloo got. My memory of the Bakerloo by the 70s was that it still had ancient (red!) trains after "our" lines, the Central and Piccadilly, had new silver ones. So did the Northern, of course.

[didcotdean]

The Bakerloo briefly had some 1972 stock brand new, but that was always intended to be for what became the Jubilee Line so after that opened it was back to all 1938 stock until 1983. It got back the 1972 stock.in the late 1980s, with some 1959 used in the interim.

If any of the extension plans had been built it probably would have been different.