Commuters face final morning of Tube disruption before trains resume

Londoners have endured almost a full week of Tube strikes with rammed Elizabeth line, buses, and Lime bike battles – with a couple more hours of disruption ahead.

This week has tested commuters’ patience while most of the Underground was closed after members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) walked out, leading to services being crippled since Monday with few underground trains running.

The commuter hell was made worse by heavy rain battering Londoners trying to get into work by any means possible, with long queues for taxis and surge pricing for private hire cars.

Metro spoke with locals and tourists who had their plans upended by the strike, with nurses and retail workers battling to get into central London on time.

Aida Ladera, a nurse, told Metro that the strike week ‘has been horrible,’ forcing her to spend hours on buses and not knowing how long her journeys would take.

The commuter stress was palpable at Victoria station yesterday, where Metro saw a young man desperately try to board a bus that had just closed its doors in front of him.

Bus drivers have also struggled this week, with one driver telling Metro he was ‘spat at’ and passengers punched the protective screen.

This strike has been dominated by the ‘strikelist’ trend as riders who wouldn’t normally cycle filled already busy cycle lanes – and a battle for Lime bikes taking a more extreme turn as pedals were reportedly removed so that no one else could take the bike.

Limited Underground service started on some lines even during the strike when staff was available, taking some commuters by surprise.

The Tube strike has officially ended – but it isn’t back to business as usual quite yet.

When will the Tube service be back to normal?

London Underground said there will be no service before 8am today, with normal service on all lines by late morning after the rush hour.

The Docklands Light Railway will be running a normal service after it was closed on Tuesday and Thursday as part of the strikes.

However, the DLR has severe delays this morning due to strike action, the latest TfL travel status update shows.

Meanwhile, the Elizabeth line, which has been open throughout the strike, is expected to have normal service today.

The Overground was not closed this week and services have generally run as normal.

Roads into London have been gridlocked this week, including the A2 from Kent and the M4 through west London.

Traffic on the M4 this morning has delays at rush hour, with congestion between Heathrow and Chiswick in the London-bound direction.

In a separate issue, South Western Railway said it expected there may be cancellations, delays or alterations to services until 8pm after a tree blocked the railway between Clapham Junction and Earlsfield, which led to some lines towards Wimbledon being blocked.

SWR services towards Putney were also blocked because of a fault on a train at Clapham Junction. Delays and alterations are expected until 6pm.

Will the strike affect Tube this weekend?

The strike officially ended late yesterday, so the Tube should be back to business as usual by the weekend.

Although the strikes end officially on Thursday, there is no Tube service before 8am today, the latest advice from TfL says.

Normal Tube service is expected on all lines by late Friday morning.

Why was the strike happening and will it happen again?

The strikes happened after the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and TfL could not find an agreement in a row over pay and working conditions.

RMT members called for a 32-hour working week after ‘long-term health effects from working extreme shifts and fatigue.’ TfL said their demands were not ‘practical and affordable.’

The transport authority responded with a 3.4% pay increase instead.

RMT has said the shift patterns have become unsustainable for staff, with 4 am starts and 1 am finishes, coupled with 2,000 fewer Tube staff.

TfL has reportedly invited RMT to resume talks after the negotiations broke down.

Eddie Dempsey, RMT’s general secretary, said previously that the members‘took no pleasure’ in disrupting people’s lives but that there is a ‘crisis in industrial relations.’

The union has the legal right to call another strike in the future, but it will have to be voted for by its members.

The negotiations will reveal how hard the RMT will press on the 32-hour working week and whether the members support further strike action.

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