Looks like the tube is going on strike this evening until Wednesday morning.

Anyone noticing any difficulties? Will VintageKrug have to instruct the Coach & Four to convey him home this evening?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11196317

Continues...

I shall be taking to Boris Bikes. They can't strike.

Continues...

Hi VK,

the most up to date information that I have from a friend of mine who is a senior manager at TFL is the following.

The strike is due to go ahead from 5pm this evening. at 5pm the maintenance staff begin their industrial action. The drivers and station staff do not begin their strike until 9pm so you should be able to get home unless of course their is a breakdown or signal problem on your line as they are both handled by the maintenance staff.

They expect severe disruption from 9pm but are trying to run as many services as possible. Tomorrow is anyones guess but they expect, again, severe disruption if not total closure of some lines.

that is the best I can offer and hope that it is of some help.

Best regards to all,

Jonathan

Continues...

A timely plug for Amateur Transplants (aka Adam Kay & Suman Biswas) for those who haven't heard their TfL industrial action anthem London Underground. To the tune of Going Underground by The Jam;

Some people might like to get a train to work

Or drive in in a Beamer or a Merc

Some guys like to travel in by bus

But I can't be bothered with the fuss

Today I'm going to take my bike

Cos once again the Tube's on strike

The remaining lyrics are unsuitable for a family audience, as are most of their other songs, some of which are on iTunes (other media players are available).

www.amateurtransplants.net

Continues...

I caught the Waterloo & City from Bank to Waterloo both last night (around 6pm) and tonight (5pm) - both journeys running as usual with no delay - although TFL was reporting minor delays for some reason.

This morning was another matter. Waterloo & City was suspended when I got to the station around 7.30am (I was expecting this of course). Under normal circumstances I would have walked / run the 30 mins into the City but have a horrible cold so thought I'd grab a cab.

I had been told the day before the Waterloo rank would be marshalled. I've seen this in NYC before and the system is simple but very effective. The marshalls make sure they know where the first 15 people in the Q are going and quite literally run down the line until they've rounded up a further 2-3 people heading towards the same location. Hardly any cabs leave with only 1 passenger and it's so slick the groups are ready to go the second the cab pulls up - no car has to wait.

The marshalls at Waterloo this morning did no such thing. When you got to the front of the Q (took 45mins) they instructed you to ask the people immediately around you whether they were travelling in the same direction. We had already done this of course during the 45min wait, and no one within my hearing distance could be grouped together so 10 taxis in a row left with just one person.

The cab driver I had was furious and said whilst passengers might not think places are close they can easily be paired together (e.g Square Mile & Canary Wharf since you pass one to get to the other).

If there are further strikes the Marshall system at the major stations really should be improved and I don't think it would take too much effort to do so.

Continues...