When will the Night Tube be introduced? One in twenty Londoners have given up hope that Transport for London will ever introduce 24-hour underground services
Poor, embattled Night Tube. It has yet to see the light of day despite being set to launch this autumn, as clashes between Transport for London and trade unions put paid to these plans.
After months of delays, some Londoners have even begun to give up hope that we’ll ever see it.
A new survey has found that most Londoners blame the unions for the delays in introducing the Night Tube services. Some 56 per cent think the unions are to blame. Another quarter put the blame at TfL’s feet, while 16 per cent say that, actually, it’s all Boris’s fault.
The figures come from TotalJobs survey of Londoners’ perceptions of the Night Tube. The vast majority, 78 per cent, of those polled believe that a 24-hour Tube service would be “beneficial to London” – but when will it actually be introduced?
One in three expect the first night trains to start rolling in early 2016, but 27per cent don’t think it’ll be introduced until later that year.27per cent don’t think it’ll be introduced until later that year.
Meanwhile, a really discouraged five per cent of Londoners have given up hope entirely, replying that the Night Tube will “never happen”.
Alan D Miller, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association, said:
As a global city, London must have provision in infrastructure, business and leisure that competes internationally.
The date of the Night Tube launch was pushed back to March 2016 after several Tube strikes and a breakdown of talks between the two sides in September, but TfL has hinted that the launch is still on track as it suggested hiring part-time drivers to break the deadlock in negotiations.