Londoners were today faced with another five months of Underground disruption due to strikes - with unions now planning three separate industrial actions due to issues over rotas, jobs, pensions and working conditions.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said 94 per cent of its members on the Tube who took part in a ballot of 10,000 staff that ended yesterday have backed upcoming industrial action, with the dates to be confirmed.
This is in addition to a second set of strikes the RMT also announced yesterday by drivers on the Metropolitan line based at the Neasden depot in North London which will take place on January 20 and 21, and February 10 and 11.
And both of those strikes come on top of a third row over rosters on the Night Tube which has led to weekend walkouts and will continue to hit Central and Victoria line services on Friday and Saturday evenings until June 19.
The industrial action will add further woe to those travelling across the capital, with those heading into the City already facing a difficult journey into work for the next four months when the Northern line's Bank branch closes.
The route between Kennington and Moorgate will shut from this Saturday until mid-May 2022, which is due to upgrade works at Bank to increase the station's capacity and provide step-free access to the Northern line.
Engineers will be connecting new tunnels to the existing railway and integrating new systems in Bank, with the station set to close for Northern line users along with Elephant and Castle, Borough, London Bridge and Moorgate.
Transport for London has also imposed temporary changes to the Overground timetable due to staff absences, with service frequencies halved between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays, and Richmond and Stratford.
There were 920,000 entries and exits on Underground trains and 1,100,000 taps on buses up to 10am yesterday. When compared to ridership on Thursday, January 6, this was up 17 per cent on the Tube and 5 per cent on buses. In terms of pre-pandemic levels, Tube ridership is at around 40 per cent and bus ridership at about 66 per cent.
This Transport for London graph shows passenger data split by station type, dating back to the start of 2020
This Transport for London graph dating back to the start of 2020 shows how passenger numbers have dropped once again
Commuters wearing face coverings travel on a London Underground Victoria Line carriage on Wednesday last week
This close-up of the London Underground map shows how the Northern line Bank branch closure will affect Tube passengers
At the weekend, Tube ridership was between 55 and 65 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, with 2.4million journeys made over the weekend. Bus ridership was between 65 per cent and 75 per cent - with 5.3million journeys made.
Yesterday, the RMT announced that Underground workers have voted to strike in a dispute over jobs, pensions and conditions - although the union has not yet confirmed the dates on when this will take place.
The RMT said its members have been refused assurances on jobs, pensions and working conditions in the midst of an 'on-going financial crisis' it claims are driven by central Government.
The union's executive committee will consider the ballot result but says it will take 'whatever action is necessarily' to prevent staff paying the price for a financial crisis 'that is not of their making'.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: 'A financial crisis at LU [London Underground] has been deliberately engineered by the Government to drive a cuts agenda which would savage jobs, services, safety and threaten the working conditions and pensions of our members.
'It must never be forgotten that these are the same transport staff praised as heroes for carrying London through Covid for nearly two years, often at serious personal risk, who now have no option but to rise up and defend their livelihoods.
'The politicians need to wake up to the fact that transport staff will not pay the price for this cynically engineered crisis and we will coordinate a campaign of resistance with colleagues from other unions impacted by this threat.'
On jobs, pensions and working conditions, Andy Lord, Managing Director of London Underground, said: 'The devastating impact of the pandemic on TfL finances has made a programme of change urgently necessary and we have been working with our staff and trade union colleagues for a number of months as proposals are developed.
Shoppers wear face masks on Oxford Street in London this afternoon as TfL red buses can be seen in the background
A London Underground user wears a mask as they travel on an escalator while on the network in the capital this afternoon
'Nobody has or will lose their jobs as a result of the proposals we have set out and there are no current plans to change the TfL pension or terms and conditions.
'We're calling on the RMT to work with us constructively, to avoid any industrial action which would damage TfL and London's recovery, as we ensure London Underground is efficient and financially sustainable so it can continue to serve Londoners and support its staff.'
It comes as Sir Brendan Barber, with the support of pensions expert Joanne Segars, is leading and facilitating an independent review of TfL’s pension arrangements, which is a condition of the Government funding agreement from June 1. TfL bosses have insisted the review remains ongoing and no recommendations have yet been made.
TfL is proposing not recruiting into around 250 customer services vacancies that are currently unfilled, as well as having the aim of reducing posts by a further 250 to 350 as people retire or move on from the organisation.
It has said this would mean a reduction of around 500 to 600 posts compared to pre-pandemic staffing levels - although the precise number will depend on discussions with staff and trade unions. TfL has also insisted that the Underground would still have more than 4,500 staff available across the network to assist customers.
As part of the most recent funding agreement between TfL and the Government, TfL is also required to work towards achieving financial sustainability by April 2023, meaning it has had to speed up a pre-pandemic savings drive, which has an overall target for recurring savings of just over £500million for London Underground.
The RMT announced the new series of strikes on the same day as revealing another set of days of industrial action by Metropolitan line drivers based at the Neasden depot over what the union described as the 'outrageous imposition of rosters by London Underground bosses'.
It said there had been an 'overwhelming vote for action by drivers', with all members told not to book on for any shifts which start between 11.30am on Thursday, January 20 and 11.29am on Friday, January 21; as well as between 11.30am on Thursday, February 10 until Friday February 11 at 11.29am
