Chances are, if you haven’t had the luxury of working from home today and you’ve needed to actually leave the house and get to work, you’ll have had absolutely no fun at all out there. And why is that? A wonderfully convenient 24 hour tube strike, that’s why. Woopdy doo.
Although the strike is due to end at 6pm this evening, it probably (definitely) won’t. Nothing is likely to be back to normal until at least tomorrow morning. Here’s what’s going down (or not going down) on the lines at the moment:
- The Bakerloo line is running between Queen’s Park and Harrow and Wealdstone, every 10 minutes or so.
- The Circle line is running every 20 minutes.
- The Central line is basically just avoiding zone 1, as trains are running between West Ruislip and North Acton, Epping to Liverpool Street, Hainault to Liverpool Street via Newbury Park, and Hainault to Woodford.
- The District line is sort of running, but with delays. (Our second favourite word after ‘strike’).
- The Hammersmith and City line is running between Hammersmith and Barking every 30 minutes (no change there then).
- The Jubilee line is running between Stanmore and Baker Street only.
- There’s no service between Aldgate and Baker Street on the Metropolitan line.
- The Northern line is basically useless, with services only running between Edgware and Golders Green, High Barnet and East Finchley, and Old Street to Morden (actually not so pointless… people might actually use that).
- The Piccadilly line is running from Acton Town to Uxbridge, Hammersmith to Heathrow and Cockfosters to Arnos Grove.
- And just don’t even bother with the Victoria line today.
- Or the Waterloo and City line (not that many people will miss it anyway).
The Overground is “fine” and bus services are “fine” but — of course — by “fine” we mean overcrowded and a total bloody nightmare. TfL will be running an extra 150 buses, but don’t be fooled — that doesn’t mean you’ll be okay. We recommend adding an extra 400 hours to your journey time.
Follow this link to keep up with live updates. But remember: pessimism is key. Expect the worst, prepare for the worse. It’s a jungle out there!
Feature Image: Flickr/Tom Page