There is general acceptance that in principle weekend night tube will be good for Londoners but it’s important its done safely and without any detriment to local areas and residents near stations serving night service and those with houses backing on to tracks. We know that policing will be a big challenge, particularly given the serious rise in the number of assaults on staff in recent years, many fuelled by late night alcohol.
The service is planned to operate on five underground lines including Jubilee, Victoria, Northern, Piccadilly and Central lines. The overall proposals are for six trains per hour through central London on the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines and on the Northern Line, there will be eight trains per hour to meet demand at busy stations between Leicester Square and Camden Town.
London Mayor’s original plan was to commence the night service on 12th December but there was a large degree of scepticism whether Transport for London (TfL) was actually ready to commence. To a large degree the issues surrounding the concerns raised by the trade unions were about staffing. The launch was deferred by Tube bosses to allow successful conclusion of talks with unions, including agreement on rosters.
Prior to the September start date, as originally planned, I held a public meeting for the benefit of residents around Jubilee Line stations in my constituency which will be affected by the night service. Keith Foley, TfL’s Head of Night Tube Service commented at the meeting that London is growing rapidly and the demand in the last 10 years has rocketed. Travel after 10pm has seen the fastest growth. Currently late night journeys are mainly by bus which has grown 3 times in last 15 years. Night time service will particularly cater to the lower income workers and key workers like nurses. He said that all night tube service will not create more trips but will cut substantially journey time for workers currently using buses for their night journeys. Mr Foley further informed that there will be no staffing reductions at stations. Staffing level will remain the same at night as during the day time. London Transport has seen decrease in crime through deployment of British Transport Police (BTP). There will be more BTP at night with new uniformed BTP deployed for the night service. BTP have done risk assessment and it claims that customers and staff will be as safe as they are during daytime.
I was pleased to see the residents and representatives of local residents’ associations at the public meeting to learn about TfL’s plans for all night tube service and hear their views and concerns. There was in principle support for the proposed service but issues surrounding noise, compensation, extra litter, night bus service, and security were raised. Currently there is an impasse and there is no clear indication of when the service would operate. But if and when the service commences if residents have any complaints I would advise them to contact TfL online or telephone TfL’s Customer Contact Centre. I’m reassured that TfL plan to undertake review of the performance of service after six months which will give me and other London Assembly colleagues to scrutinise the performance and take on board any local concerns.
Navin Shah AM
