Americas

Home page

Americas

London Commuters Tackle Travel Chaos

08 September 2010 00:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Millions of London commuters faced travel misery on Tuesday as transit unions led a series of 24-hour strikes, but Londoners braved the chaos by walking or using buses, boats or bikes, APA reports quoting The Wall Street Journal.
Even with the extra modes of transportation made available to commuters by the transport authorities, travelers faced cramped buses and heavy traffic, with some having to walk to work for hours.
The Rail Maritime and Transport union, or RMT, and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, or TSSA, were staging a 24-hour walkout starting Monday afternoon in protest over 800 job cuts, representing less than 5% of the London Underground’s work force.
On Tuesday, the unions said the strike action "remained rock solid." RMT also dismissed Transport for London’s claims that a normal service was running on the tube’s Northern Line even though a large number of stations on the route were closed.
"Some 194 out of a total of 500 Tube trains are in operation, providing a service on all but one of London’s Tube lines," the transport authority said.
Despite the travel disruptions, commuters in Europe’s largest capital took to the streets to walk to work and some even saw the bright side of the strikes. Elizabeth Tagge said she had one of the nicest commutes into work on Tuesday.
"I tried Boris’s bikes [a bike-hire program introduced by London mayor Boris Johnson last July] for the first time. [I had] no trouble finding one in Kensington High Street at 8:30 a.m. and had a lovely 20-minute cycle to Victoria enjoying the beautiful weather, avoiding the enormous bus [lines] and traffic jams," she said.
Not everyone managed to appreciate the positive aspects of a strike. Ed Grattan, who has been a London commuter for seven years, said: "Cabs have been a nightmare. I just had to give up in the City trying to get back from a meeting. It is getting aggressive with the mix of very heavy traffic, motorbikes, cycle-hire bikes and cyclists. Strikes are a selfish approach."
On Tuesday, Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, said: "Drop the threat of these lethal cuts." Transport for London insisted the reductions won’t be compulsory.
Unions warned on Monday two more 24-hour strikes could take place in October and November if both parties fail to reach an agreement.