Great Western Coffee Shop

TfL rubbish claims 1,000 buses will be scrapped to pay for Night Tube

TfL have said claims by a transport union up to 1,000 night buses will be scrapped to pay for the Night Tube as ^incorrect and nonsensical^.

http://www.london24.com/news/transport/tfl_rubbish_claims_1_000_buses_will_be_scrapped_to_pay_for_night_tube_1_3923536


A good and interesting discussion.   

With zero knowledge on the passenger flows / needs ... I can't help thinking that if there's enough traffic to run tubes at night, then some of the buses that run along the same routes will then be rather over-supplied and a reduction might make some sense.   Reading between the lines of the article, I suspect that both TfL and the unions appreciate this, but they're taking positions at the moment.

Night Tube 'won't break even until 2033' says TSSA union

The Night Tube will lose ^19.6m in its first year and not break even until 2033, according to the TSSA transport union.

The organisation said it had seen official London Underground (LU) meeting minutes stating the service would not break even for 17 years.

London Underground and the Mayor of London's office are yet to respond to the TSSA's claims

The Tube will run its 24-hour service at weekends, from 12 September.

The Night Tube will provide services on the Piccadilly, Victoria, Central, Jubilee and Northern lines.

When the service was announced London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "This is just the first stage in the opening up of the Tube to be 24 hours."

LU managing director Mike Brown said: "The new service will boost jobs and will benefit the economy by hundreds of millions of pounds."

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "Mr Johnson wants everyone to think everything in the garden is rosy before he disappears back to the House of Commons in May. In truth, he will leave Londoners with a massive financial headache and year-on-year inflation, plus tube fare rises, to make the Night Tube break even in 17 years time."

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-30956099):

So when will they get to do track maintenance?

From the early hours of Saturday 12 September 2015, Londoners and visitors to the Capital will be able to travel on the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern tube lines all night on Fridays and Saturdays.

[snip]

We will also continue to deliver upgrade and maintenance work, and when possible we plan to do this overnight between Sunday and Thursday on the Night Tube lines.

Utter rubbish.

Finalised London night-time Tube map revealed

(http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/2A7D/production/_83777801_83776558.jpg)
The Night Tube is set to begin on five lines on 12 September

The finalised map for London's night-time Tube service has been revealed.

All-night weekend services are set to begin on 12 September on sections of the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines.

However, the union Aslef has already announced its members will strike for 24 hours on 8 July from 21:30 BST over pay and conditions for the service.

District organiser Finn Brennan said drivers would have to work unlimited night shifts for no extra pay. 'It's easy enough to produce a map, but if London Underground management want to have an all-night service in September, then they need to sit down and negotiate a fair deal for the staff they expect to provide it," he said. "Aslef aren't opposed to all-night services but they have to be introduced in a way that is fair and protects the work-life balance of the hard working staff."

The RMT and TSSA unions are also balloting their members for industrial action over the same issue.

Gareth Powell, from London Underground, said: "As well as making life easier for people, the night Tube will also boost London's night-time economy - supporting thousands of jobs and stimulating hundreds of millions of pounds in economic growth."

The hope is that all-night services will be extended to the London Overground in 2017 as well as the Metropolitan, Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines. A round-the-clock service is planned for the Docklands Light Railway by 2021.

With zero knowledge on the passenger flows / needs [/i]... I can't help thinking that if there's enough traffic to run tubes at night, then some of the buses that run along the same routes will then be rather over-supplied and a reduction might make some sense.   Reading between the lines of the article, I suspect that both TfL and the unions appreciate this, but they're taking positions at the moment.

Night Buses tend to follow the route of the tube lines. With these tubes running all night, there'll be less demand, that's for sure. But whether they'd amend frequency/routes just for Friday/Saturday nights, I doubt it's worth it.

You currently work Monday to Friday 14:00 - 22:00 and work 2 weekends out of 4 right?

 Well not anymore. You now work Monday to Thursday 14:00 - 22:00, Friday and Saturday you will work 23:00 - 07:00. The good news is there Is over 24 hours between finishing Thursday night and starting work Friday night so we are going to call this one of your days off, even though you will finish at 07:00 you can take Sunday as your other day off. You are also going to work 7 out of 8 weekends now as well.
 Great eh? The best is yet to come.
 We aren't going to pay you a bean more!

 So what do you think?
 Actually i'm just being polite, we really don't give a toss what you think, we are imposing it so you are going to do it.

 What do you mean you are not happy with it?

 Of course I realise you will see a hell of a lot less of your husband and children, i'm not stupid, that is basic mathematics and also unimportant. I'm actually a little offended you would consider such to be of greater importance than Coffee Inc, your real family.
 Let me remind you of our corporate motto "live to work, not work to live"

 What do you mean you are going to withdraw your labour?

From a tube driver on Twitter discussing TfL's proposals to them & why they've voted to strike, written in a style of Boss meets driver....

The RMT is claiming that the night tube service on the Piccadilly line is in crisis with only a third of the trains currently operational and passengers having to wait up to an hour.

The tube union say the problem is due to a lack of trained train operators available to run the service. They say that they have been informed that one weekend this month there were only seven trains running on the line instead of the scheduled 22. The RMT understands that the problems could continue until Christmas.

The union says the situation is raising safety concerns for their members who have to deal with angry and sometimes intoxicated passengers who have experienced extended delays.

They claim that the lack of drivers is not down to sickness or industrial action but London Underground’s lack of planning in getting enough drivers trained in time and that the issue has been further exacerbated by management’s reluctance to fully take on board a number of concerns raised by the RMT.