Londoners defied two days of Tube strikes by the RMT to struggle to work in the capital this week.
Many people responded to the RMT’s industrial action by changing their usual route to work, school or for other journeys.
The switch led to a big rise in people using the Elizabeth line on both Tuesday and Thursday.
The capital still faces the threat of more industrial action by the RMT in the dispute over a four-day week for Tube drivers, who earn around £74,000 a year.
However, there were growing questions over how effective the RMT strikes are as Londoners adapt to limit their impact.
As of 3pm on Thursday, there had been 2.74 million unique Oyster and contactless card tap-ins, compared to 2.72 million on Tuesday.
The number of Tube drivers who turned up to work on Thursday was also slightly up on Tuesday’s walkout.
Here is how Londoners defied the strike to get around the capital on Thursday.
Elizabeth line
The number of people using the Elizabeth Line rose by 18% as of 10am on Thursday, compared to the equivalent day a year ago, according to Oyster and contactless tap data.
The increase meant tens of thousands more Londoners were using the flagship line to get to work, school, other venues or appointments.
Tuesday had seen a 17% rise.
With daily journeys normally in excess of 800,000, that suggests close to one million journeys took place on the Elizabeth line on each of the strike days.
Transport for London had warned that the Elizabeth Line would be busier than normal, and that’s how it played out for many passengers who reported struggling to get a seat on trains that would otherwise have been less then full.
London Overground and DLR
Many Londoners also used other rail routes to avoid their usual Tube journeys given the disruption on most lines, and TfL having warned that no service was expected on the Circle and Piccadilly lines.
London Overground use was up 12% as of 10am on Thursday, according to the number of Oyster and contactless taps.
Usage of the DLR was also up 9%.
Bus, bike and cars
Bus boarding taps were up by around two per cent on Thursday morning.
There was also a 22 per cent increase in cycling, according to TfL data, compared to a year ago.
Central and inner London's road network was around 10% busier than normal.
Working from home
London Underground usage was down 43 per cent, according to the Oyster and contactless tap data.
This was the same figure as for Tuesday.
Many Londoners can now work from home after the landmark shift in labour force patterns triggered by the Covid pandemic.
Some people may have decided to WFH given the gloomy and rainy weather forecast.
More Tube drivers at work
Just under 60% of Tube drivers turned up to work, by Thursday afternoon, with the comparative figure for Tuesday being 57.2%, according to TfL.
It stressed that this included 91% of Jubilee drivers, 80% of Bakerloo drivers and 75% of Metropolitan drivers.
“Despite the strike, we are still running services across most lines, and a good service has operated on the Jubilee line for much of the day,” said a TfL spokesman.
“More drivers have come to work today than on Tuesday.”
Luke Taylor, Liberal Democrat spokesman for London and MP for Sutton and Cheam, said: “Commuters are showing their resilience and finding other ways to get around London despite the mess caused by Labour’s lack of leadership in London.”
The industrial action is over changes to working conditions which the RMT has branded a “fake” four-day week, arguing it was compressing five days of work into four, raising concerns over driver fatigue, late notice of shifts, and objecting to the roll-out of iPads to train drivers.
The union has also challenged pledges by TfL that the four-day week is voluntary and that no driver would be forced to accept it.
The RMT’s action, though, has been significantly undermined by the Aslef train drivers’ union backing the reforms and praising them as offering the best working conditions on the mainline rail network.
A TfL spokesman added: “We have committed, a number of times and in a number of ways, including in writing before this most recent industrial action, to these proposals being voluntary.
“Any suggestion otherwise is misleading the public in order to justify strike action over proposals that would give Tube drivers more time off and create a more modern, efficient Tube service.”
