Coronavirus Implications For London's Transport

We've seen at Cockfosters the draft Covid-19 duties and on the basis that nothing else has been produced and there is nothing on the establishment planning SharePoint site, we can only assume that these are the planned duties as it would seem unlikely that a new set of duties can be produced that could be introduced in a week's time.

As an example, on the Monday to Thursday schedule, we have 80 duties. 37 of these are spares with a further 9 spare for part of their duty. There is also a fair amount of travelling on the cushions both to pick up the next train or to travel back and in some cases, travelling to Acton Town to pick up the first train.

Now, we have permission to travel in the rear cab but not sure how this will work in practice. When we hand over the train and travel back, we will have to walk back to the other end of the train should there be an issue with social distancing in the public cars.

Increasing the service overall at the moment seems unnecessary but easier from a management point of view. Last night for instance, I came back from Heathrow T4 to Cockfosters and apart from picking up a member of staff that travelled from Arnos Grove to Oakwood, there was nobody else.

It would not surprise me if this didn't go ahead as planned. Far too many people at the depot, too many at the meal relief points and far too many trains, at this point, for the few customers we have travelling.

It does say in email revised covid-19 timetables so there should be changes to what was released last month what these changes are we will have to wait and see 

Yes realistically I think this is probably going to turn out to be correct. Unless something materially changes there’s going to be a need to keep usage artificially low, which in practice is going to mean essential journeys only.

It’s likely the definition of an essential journey won’t be as strict as it is at this moment, however casual use of the Underground is indeed looking likely to be subject to restriction for some time.

Yes I’d guess that the first step will be to get some of the less essential workers back to work, whilst still maintaining working from home for those who can continue to do it productively.

This is going to place a major strain on the service at certain times of day, and some serious thought will need to be given to how it can be achieved, and at the same time continuing to ensure key workers can travel safely.

Given the mess LU have made with the temporary timetables, it doesn’t look promising that all this is going to be able to be neatly reconciled. If people are going to still be arriving at work in clusters around defined times then for example it might be preferable to try to flood the railway with trains at certain times and thin things out further at other times, rather than going for a blanket interval.

I think it’s fair to say that all this is going to prove catastrophic for TFL’s finances. Whilst TFL will no doubt be high on the government’s priority list, I’d say it’s now inevitable that spending is going to have to be radically pared back. Bets now on for how long the 72 stock or Piccadilly Line signalling will last! ;-)

I think there would be scope to pare back the service over the midday period and during the mid to late evening without having much ill effect, as we have some pretty empty trains running around at these times now and in the absence of leisure use there isn’t going to be much night-economy usage for some time.

I’m not saying cancel off-peak trains, but there’s no need for a 4-minute service at 2300.

Likewise there may be scope for looking whether there needs to be a full end-to-end service everywhere, or would resources be better concentrated on certain sections leaving extremes with a skeleton service?

From ASLEF this morning


www.aslefdistrict8.org/post/lu-management-ignore-agreements-and-impose-duty-sheets

As ASLEF said TfL increasing the service is linked to a bail out from the Treasury so we can assume that if they don't bring in the timetables they don't get the money. It doesn't seem to matter whether the service is sustainable or even possible, just as long as they get paid.

NHS England did pretty much the same thing before Easter: instructing GP surgeries and Community Pharmacies to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but making the announcement at 3pm on the Friday beforehand.

Yes it's quite possible, however no point in planning something that you simply don't have the resources available to deliver.

To be fair I don’t think either union would wish to strike at the moment, no one would wish to see that happen.

The problem is LU’s own making, trying to run a timetable for which they simply don’t have the numbers of people available to cover all the duties.

It wasn’t the unions that scotched it last time, it was the depot managements who took one look at what was planned, did the sums, and concluded it simply wasn’t viable. Speaking only for my local area I don’t think the sums would be much different now to what they were then, the only thing could be if they offer full-time secondments to night tube drivers, but this seems to have gone quiet unless anyone knows different.

If LU want their timetables then they can have them, and time will tell what will happen. However if we get back to the stage that too much juggling is required to run the service then they will fall flat very quickly. Timetables are absolutely the right way to go, but there needs to be some realism - I can’t help but think there’s a there-way joust going on between Khan, Hancock and LU management, and such political games are just what isn’t needed.

But staff have the right to withdraw from unsafe working conditions (social distancing and overcrowding levels) I have been working consistently but if these new schedules are imposed I will be thinking is it safe for me to continue as I will NOT travel on the cushions between pick ups and if there is not enough room to social distance at work

The timetable increasing the service levels was meant to come in two weeks ago, on Thursday the lockdown was extended for three weeks.

This is nothing to do with being prepared for relaxing the lockdown, this is simply to get money from the government

For a strike to be legal it has to have a ballot, Civica Election Services (formerly Electoral Reform Services) have furloughed their staff so there won't be any ballots until after the lockdown is relaxed.

Regardless under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 anyone can refuse to work if they are being asked to work in an environment that represents a threat of ‘serious or imminent danger’ to their safety.

Although to be fair this WAS mentioned in the notice sent out. I don't have access to it now but there was a paragraph saying something along the lines of needing to be ready for when restrictions start to be lifted.

I think it’s highly likely there will be restrictions on public transport use for some time to come. Whilst we have the combination of reduced capacity and social distancing then some form of restriction is unavoidable.

How it will be laid out and enforced is another matter of course. Enforcement is not a problem for which an easy solution is going to be found, but equally self-enforcement is unlikely to be enough.