By Jack Mendel
London has been paralysed by a strike from workers on the Underground, Overground and bus service, as private hire taxi services like Uber and Bolt raise prices due to increased demand.
All London Underground lines are closed on Friday 19 August following a walk-out called by around 10,000 members of the RMT Union on the network.
In a statement, Transport for London said: “Customers are advised to avoid travelling on the Tube and only travel on the rest of the TfL network if essential.”
In addition to the Underground network, Unite members who are bus drivers are also on a 48-hour strike over pay, after rejecting a 3.6 per cent increase, though this does not affect the whole of London.
On private hire service Uber’s app, it offers travel advice due to the tube strike and warns that “fares are higher due to increased demand”.
On Thursday, and planned for Saturday, is a nationwide national rail strike, with 40,000 workers walking out, citing pay, conditions and redundancy threats.
This comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps issued a 16-point plan to tackle union disruption which has plagued the country this summer.
He accused ‘luddite’ unions of striking not because of pay or conditions, but because they opposed modernisation and change.
Disruption on London’s train network includes ‘severe’ problems on the tube with “little to no services throughout the day” in addition to a “late start” on the overground, delays on the Elizabeth Line, and the DLR finishing at 6.30pm into Bank.
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