How did commuters fare today? We talk to some of them
Just in – my colleague Rachel Obordo has talked to some commuters about their journey today.
Emma, who works as a librarian, took nearly three hours to get into work from Edgware this morning. Instead of getting the Jubilee line to Marylebone station, she took the bus which she said was “excruciatingly slow” and full of people. “The bus also terminated early at Finchley Road so I had to walk about 40 minutes from there,” said the 33-year-old.
Despite her journey taking longer than the usual 45 minutes, she supports those on strike.
Working 35 hours a week is a lot of time for anyone, especially those operating heavy machinery. I personally support moving to a four-day working week across society.
Marketing data planner, Kate, from Wraysbury, is one commuter who found her journey into work easier today. “The train was super quiet, even for a Monday,” said the 58-year-old. Travelling into Waterloo she felt the stations on the line that typically fill up with people were not as busy as they normally would be.
I feel for the people who have been affected. We have one day a month at work where everyone is supposed to be in the office but we’re not even a quarter full today.
I am pro-union as a rule but I don’t know a huge amount about the details behind the strikes apart from wanting a shorter working week. I suspect that though it may be a fair request, it may not be the right time for people in public services to be going on strike right now.
For 31-year-old Luke,* a scientist who cycles to work in central London, he said his morning commute was like the “wild west”. Normally taking 45-minutes from Finsbury Park to Warren Street, he is used to it being a “pretty relaxed affair” of back roads and cycle lanes.
Today the roads were full of aggressive drivers, queues of traffic on previously quiet streets, and frustrated pedestrians weaving in and out of stopped traffic.
It only took a little longer, but there was a lot more dicing with death than I’d have preferred. As a cyclist you often get to enjoy being traffic-proof, but that was certainly not the case this morning. It was like the hazard perception test times a hundred.
He supports the strike but feels there is a way of “minimising the fallout” for other people trying to get to work.
I support the union, however, it is important to acknowledge that public support gets lower each time a strike makes an entire city grumpy.
We should tolerate the inconvenience of the strikes, but it also means that punishing the entire city with the strike is a misstep. RMT should encourage its members to keep services running without taking payment, properly targeting their industrial action to the people they want it to hit.
*Name has been changed
Updated
Closing summary
Downing Street has urged the RMT union and Transport for London to get back to the negotiating table to end this week’s tube strikes, as it said Londoners were “fed up” with the disruption.
The strikes have brought almost the entire underground network in London to a halt and are due to run until 8am on Friday.
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Thank you for reading – we’ll be back tomorrow with the latest business and economic news. Take care – JK
