LONDON – Londoners suffered a second day of significant travel disruption this week, after some drivers on the city’s Underground train network resumed their strike on June 4.
Drivers belonging to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers are stopping work all day, having also walked out on June 2. The union has failed to reach a deal with Transport for London (TfL) in a dispute over working hours, and further talks are not scheduled until next week.
There is no service on the Circle, Piccadilly and parts of the Metropolitan and Central lines. Other Tube lines are running, alongside the Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and buses, but are also disrupted.
The RMT is opposed to TfL’s plan to allow drivers to condense their five-day week into four days by working longer shifts, saying it could affect fatigue and safety.
TfL has said the changes will help improve reliability and are voluntary. Members of the Aslef union for train drivers will not be on strike, having agreed to the proposals.
TfL was able to run about half of its services in the morning peak on June 2. Underground use fell by 43 per cent, the organisation said, but overall usage of the transport network was only down by about 14 per cent, as commuters switched to the Overground, Elizabeth line and buses.
Footfall in the City of London was 16 per cent lower than a typical Tuesday morning, according to anonymised mobile phone data from Virgin Media O2.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called the strikes “a sign of failure” and urged the two sides to resume negotiations. “The workers on strike lose a day’s salary, TfL loses revenues, businesses are losing their customers, people have hospital appointments they can’t get to,” Khan said on June 2.
“This is a massive inconvenience.”
The strikes are hitting businesses that rely on visits from commuters. Hospitality venues in the capital saw an average drop in sales of more than 8 per cent during the strikes in April, according to restaurant data platform Tenzo.
There will be limited services before 6.30am and TfL is advising travellers to complete their journeys before 9pm.
Unlike the April walkouts that disrupted trains from midday, the strikes this week are affecting the entire day. BLOOMBERG
