London Underground strike has started

The Central and the District Line now have severe delays, the Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Lines are part suspended and the Victoria,Circle, Bakerloo and Waterloo and City lines are suspended. It looks like the lines are slowly closing down one by one.

Why is the Journey Planner on the front page of the Transport for London website updated at 7:55pm but the one on the "Service Update Now" page not updated since 6:58pm? It is not impressive.

I left earlier than usual, at 5:30pm, and although the Central Line platform was slightly more crowded than normal, the main crowding occured around the National Rail platforms, where a police officer was deployed to keep order.

I am working at home until Friday morning, when services should start getting back to normal (meaning semi-regular delays rather than a whole network closedown).

There were problems on the Circle and District lines this morning when I went to view our new office at the Wenlock near Angel tube station on the Northern Line.

Transport for London says it has laid on 100 extra buses, staff are distributing maps outside London Underground stations, and on Wednesday and Thursday morning from 08:00-10:30, taxi drivers will operate a fixed-fare, shared taxi service for central London destinations at these railway stations: Waterloo, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Marylebone, Paddington and Euston. There is also the option of cycling.

The Congestion Charge will not be waived during the strike. Is this a good thing? I am horrified by the number of people living in London who drive into work, but wonder if people should be able to apply for an exemption during the strike.

A more interesting development is that people can show their Oyster Cards at National Rail stations in Greater London. Why can't all National Rail stations in Greater London accept Oyster cards?

My position on the strike is one of cautious support, given that Transport for London decided to make 1,000 people redundant during the middle of a recession rather than when jobs were slightly easier to find.

If you do suppport the tube strike, you can find more information here.

What happens after this strike?