As most of TrekBBS' Londoners know, the 'blessed' RMT Union has gone on a 48-hour strike from 7pm yesterday evening. This means that the London Underground is mostly closed. At time of writing, only the Northern Line is operating a normal service, and small parts of the Jubilee, District, Metropolitan, Piccadilly and Victoria lines are running, but overall if you want to use the Tube today, forget it. So, how are TrekBBS' Londoners getting around today ? I went to my usual Tube station on the off chance there might be some sort of service, but it was closed. Got a bus to my local mainline station. When I got there, the displays were saying it would be 25 minutes before the next train going in to London arrived. Thankfully, the platform announcer said that was wrong and true enough, a train arrived a couple of minutes later. Even better, it was one that skips out a lot of the smaller stops in between. Made it in to Liverpool Street at 5:47 and walked towards my office near Southwark station. That took me about 45 minutes. It shouldn't have done but I got turned around a few times. A bit of GPS on my phone helped. I know my way now so getting back there tonight should be a bit easier.
How often does this happen? It seems, that every time you turn around, they go on strike. That has got to be a PIA
I'm sure it'll be back to its usual half-arsed service by then. For those non-Brits who haven't heard it, London Underground (NSFW if you don't have earphones)
I remember when both the suburban trains and the BVG (underground, tram and bus service) were on strike here in Berlin. A lot of people here don't even have cars. Thankfully, this lasted only for a few days, the period where one of the two was on strike was much longer, though (especially the suburban trains). I ended up staying home from university when that happened. I got lucky because on the days I had to work, they weren't on strike.
I haven't used the underground today, thankfully. I did go out in the city though, and didn't notice anything different at all. The streets and were just as crowded as usual. Most people seem to have managed without too big a problem. I wonder if they waved the congestion charge? Since people with cars were forced to drive in...
Y'all can't complain until you have your entire transit system go on strike for 53 days during the middle of an Ottawa winter.
I'm in London and I rarely use the underground. I primarily stick to the buses that are cheaper to begin with.
I was planning to jump on the Piccadilly Line tomorrow on my way to Heathrow to catch my flight to Reykjavik, but renounced it after what I've heard and read about today's situation. Don't want to lose my holiday starting, so I booked a car for tomorrow's... hopefully the traffic won't kill me on my way there :P Talk about timing...
No problems on the tube for me today - I don't use it to get to work (Blackfriars overground station is 10 minutes walk from my office). Cor blimey - it's a flower sighting!!! He's back for revenge, I just know it...
Only for 2 days? That's not too bad. In Los Angeles a few years ago, our MTA went on a strike that lasted months.
isnt that song the best part of any strike? that and the TV going on on & on about, like people outside of London gives a damm, somehow we all manage to get to work without a fancy tube system.
People inside London don't give a damn either, plenty of ways to get around apart from the underground. I only feel sorry for those England fans who weren't able to get to Wembley stadium to see their country qualify for next year's world cup final. Still a pretty good turn out though. 6-0 win. YEAH!
Maybe I'm missing something (as usual ) but what's the point of a strike when the end point is planned in advance? Aren't all strikes supposed to last until one side gives in?