Strikelists take over London again – but have these strikes been less chaotic?
Londoners are almost through the Tube driver strike, which was set to bring mayhem, but thousands of strikelists have avoided the brunt of it.
Last year’s September Tube strike brought such widespread disruption and misery across the network that people who never cycle jumped on bikes instead.
The four-day strike last year ground most services to a halt, causing monster queues and overcrowding on the Elizabeth line.
However, this time around, it seems the impact from the strike has cut less deep, especially for the army of strikelists who have grown savvier with each industrial action.
Commuters appear to have overcome the worst chaos of the April Tube strike after people who wouldn’t normally cycle jumped on e-bikes from day one.
Follow Metro’s live Tube strike coverage here.
The number of people cycling has surged, with nearly 4,000 riders clocked on the Embankment by 8.45am today, compared with a daily average of around 252 riders.
Forest e-bikes said it saw a 50% increase in rides during yesterday’s rush hour between 7am and 8am compared to the same time last week, and a 35% rise during the afternoon peak.
Lime said it recorded a 23% increase in trips on Tuesday compared with the same day last week, while the average distance and length of trips jumped by 20% on last week.
Meanwhile, small businesses seem to be among some of the hardest hit, with independent shops around the Liverpool Street station saying they are suffering and stressed about surviving the strikes.
How do you feel about the April Tube strike?
-
It has been less chaotic than last year
-
It has felt roughly the same
-
It feels worse than last year
Latest London news
Has the rise of cycling undermined the strike?
When asked about the rise of cycling undermining the strike, Jared Wood,the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s London lead, insisted that this is not the case.
He said that the pattern of public transport usage is different now than before the Covid-19 pandemic, but passenger numbers have recovered.
Could the Tube become fully automatic?
The Tube strike has sparked the debate again about self-driving trains on the Underground, and whether that could happen in the future, undermining the need for strikes or human drivers.
A commuter named Wesley, from south London, told Metro at a pub outside Liverpool Street that while he is not badly impacted by the strike, the Tube is ‘gagging for automation.’
Glasgow is rolling out autonomous trains on the city’s Underground from this year – one of the first such systems in the UK – while London’s DLR has been driverless since the late 1980s.
For RMT, robots replacing Tube drivers is a ‘pie in the sky’ and something they seem confident about that will never happen.
Mr Wood said: ‘It’s not going to work in London and no one is going to put up money for that.
‘It is a fantasy. TfL’s research estimated that to go driverless on just three lines would cost £20 billion. There is no way they are going to have the money to do that. The management have made the point themselves that you would have to have someone on each Tube train, you cannot send a train with hundreds of people down a deep tube and have no one to help passengers in case of a problem.
‘It is completely unrealistic to think that London Underground could retrofit automatic driverless running.’
And it looks like the Tube is not going automatic any time soon after the London mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed that any work on driverless trains ‘shouldn’t be progressed any further.’
While Mr Wood said that London overall needs improvements in public transport and bikes are an important part of it, there is no ‘question that London could survive without the Tube.’
He told Metro: ‘Every time we go on strike, we are told we generate tens of millions of pounds every single day for the London economy. But it is a shame that isn’t recognised when we’re talking about investing in public transport and the people that work on it.’
When Metro dropped by at the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union’s picket lines at Earl’s Court, Northfield and Acton Central yesterday morning when they were scheduled, there were none at these stations.
It has raised questions about the effectiveness of the industrial action this time around, although RMT argued that this has not been the case.
Mr Wood said: ‘The strike certainly hasn’t failed. You only have to look at the number of people that haven’t gone into work and the difficulties that the London Underground have had maintaining any serious service. The strike has been really well supported.’
When asked about the desolate picket lines, he said that picketing is always difficult because it is done around the clock and some people might have been heading for a shift or booked on ahead of the first wave of strikes ending at 12pm yesterday.
Why are the RMT Tube drivers on strike?
The Tube drivers’ strike comes down to a row over working hours.
TfL has proposed to condense the drivers’ five-day working week into four days, meaning they would do longer days, which RMT opposes.
The proposal also details changes to shift lengths, how long drivers can work without a break and notice about shifts, which have direct consequences for drivers’ welfare and lives.
Mr Wood claimed that if the changes came in, a driver could, in theory, start work at 3.45am, drive the train for over five hours without a break, then have a half an hour break and drive again for up to a maximum of duty of 9.5 hours.
TfL insisted that it would never do anything to compromise safety, and that the proposed changes would bring it in line with the shift patterns of national rail operators.
More strikes are currently planned to take place between May 19 and May 22.
When asked about what needs to happen for those strikes to be called off, Mr Wood said: ‘We need the London Underground to change their position at the moment. They have stated to us that they are not prepared to change any element of their proposal, and they are not prepared to give us any assurances on the so-called voluntary nature of it either.’
Nick Dent, the director of customer operations for London Underground, told Metro: ‘We urge the RMT to call off this strike, meet with us and avoid any further disruption to Londoners. While we have been able to run more services than planned over the last 24 hours, we expect significant disruption to continue into Friday and the level of service we can provide will vary across lines, so customers should continue to check before they travel for the remainder of this week.
‘We have set out proposals to the RMT for a four-day working week which are supported by the other Trade Union representing London Underground drivers. This allows us to offer train operators an additional day off, whilst at the same time bringing London Underground in line with the working patterns of other train operating companies, improving reliability and flexibility at no additional cost. The changes would be voluntary, there would be no reduction in contractual hours and those who wish to continue a five-day working week pattern would be able to do so.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.