Londoners heed call not to travel in extreme heat with near 50 per cent drop in Tube use from pre-Covid
Londoners are heeding the government’s advice and staying at home due to the extreme heat, with entries and exits on the train network down almost 50 per cent.
During the morning rush-hour on Tuesday, there were 1.03 commuters using the Underground, marking a 47 per cent drop on pre-pandemic levels. This was also 30 per cent down on last week, and even slightly down on Monday.
The Met Office announced today that the highest ever recorded temperature was reached at Heathrow, passing 40 Celsius for the first time.
This comes as the government advised people to work from home if possible, or if they needed to commute, avoid the hottest part of the day.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said people should only travel in the extreme heat if “absolutely necessary”.
Many train and rail services nationally have suspended services or are running heavily reduced services, including a 20mph speed limit.
It was reported before that rails were reaching 62 celsius, as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted the Victorian-era infrastructure “just wasn’t built to withstand this type of temperature”.
As of Tuesday at 1.30, Bakerloo, Central and District lines had severe delays, while the Hammersmith and City is completely out of action, and large parts of the Overground and Metropolitan line are also struggling with heat-related problems.
With much of the train network out of action, some are using alternatives like buses, with 1.04m journeys made up until 10am, which is around 77 per cent of pre-pandemic demand.
This is down 16 per cent from last week, as well as yesterday, which was 1.07m.