tube strike?

6.30pm sunday - 6.30pm wedneday, i have no other info

NOOOOO NOT THIS THURSDAY. ANY OTHER DAY, I DON'T GIVE A FUCK, I DON'T EVEN LIVE IN LONDON.

Where are you trying to get to and from?

colindale, nw9.

from civilization.

can't be done by bus, not sufficiently quickly anyway.

yeah it's gonna suck for me on thursday too--need to get to kensington fron n1

Oh god, getting home tonight is going to be painful, isn't it, as everyone tries to get MY BUS since the tube no workee.

Leave work early? I've been told to come in when I can tomorrow, but my boss knows I take the bus. Gonna come in an hour late and walk down to the start of the bus route.

Apparently rolling power cuts in the area between Oxford Street and Euston/Camden as well today? Anybody?

end times

It's on.

TfL urged people to check before they travel, to stagger their journeys and to consider alternative ways of getting to work, such as walking and cycling.

What does this mean?

beth green to white city a bit of a nightmare, think bbc have some shuttle buses but still

W1-W12 shuttle, goes from BH, but it will be overwhelmed and slow.

there's one from l'pool st too. might be better just taking two regular buses.

Overground will be too packed probably but Hackney Central to Willesden Junction then 220 could work for you Garda

tuba strike?

Or even Hackney Central to one of the Actons: much closer to White City.

Willsden and 220 better for TVC/WC. There is also the overground stop at the Westfield, change at Willsden.

thanks guys.

why the fuck does tfl's "alternative transport" form just tell you to get the tube!?

The Overground stop is Shepherds bush.

I don't envy anyone who has to use a bus; I'll be walking LOL zone one. Will strikes be on at the weekend too? Have to do farmers' marketing on Saturday, go to party in Kent, more farmer's market on Sun.

i was set to be all smug working-from-home don't-need-to-move smug, then it turns out that i have to be at elephant & castle by 10am (TEN IN THE MORNING WHAT IS THAT) tomorrow, and then get to and from the o2 in the evening, which is hellish at the best of times.

srsly considering walking to e&c...or at least til i get south of the river. 149 will be even more distressing than usual. will turn up all sweaty but it's only booty luv so who cares.

i have, like, negative sympathy w/the strikers btw. so many people wrestling between anger vs lefty principles today but fuck those.

they're striking over a pay rise? M8 THERE'S A RECESSION ON

get the thames clipper from the O2 if you can

Think anyone who can get the overground is better off doing that than relying on buses which will be beyond hellish. At least if the overground is rammed it'll get where it's going quickly.

overground at shepherds bush was always v v rammed in the evening from when westfield opened, hopefully it's quitened down a bit.

i hope there'll still be enough people at my work bday drinks to buy me free booze

The strike isn't over a pay rise IIRC, it's about whether or not TfL can sack station and ticket hall staff and replace them with Oyster machines.

if history has taught us anything, it's that that is a fight the strikers are bound to win in the long term

I've been told I have to still be in for 9am and I can't get stupid TFL journey planner to work to tell me how :(

sack them all and automate the whole thing tbh

really? i do believe all stations should be staffed to a degree, then again DLR seems to manage OK... xposts

DLR is wonderful. sack the staff already!! it'd solve the striking problem anyway.

Strike hard my ex-colleagues.

TFL staff are gonna strike the fuck out of the run up to the Olympics. This is just the start.

Northern Line apparently running great; thanks scabs.

DLR is a mickey mouse trainset, i'm not surprised it can run without staff.

Oh man took me an hour and a half to get to Bank today on teh bus, at which point I gave up and walked the rest of the way (Strand). Fortunately the bus I take starts outside my flat so I got a seat. When we got to liverpool street they were queuing six deep in the road and there was a serious attempt to bumrush the exit doors of the bus by loads of people, with lots of shouting and possibly fisticuffs (I couldn't quite tell - I was on the top deck). Someone was hilariously shouting "Get back, get back, you animals!" Boarders were repelled and we carried on our merry way only to get stuck in gridlock round bishopsgate...

It's a mickey mouse trainset that always works though, which is more than can be said for most of the actual trains in this country.

DLR promo video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvZdUlbTs6U

When we got to liverpool street they were queuing six deep in the road and there was a serious attempt to bumrush the exit doors of the bus by loads of people, with lots of shouting and possibly fisticuffs (I couldn't quite tell - I was on the top deck). Someone was hilariously shouting "Get back, get back, you animals!"

London is funny, man

Well, my boss told me to take it easy and come in when I could, so I left my journey as late as possible to avoid what I knew was going to be a hellish rush hour.

Got a bus very easily (I'm near the end of the route) - got a seat (two seats since it was so empty) - there were 3 busses in quick succession that bunched quite badly towards the end of the route.

However, TRAFFIC was so bad that it took an hour and 45 minutes to make an hour's journey.

I don't know what it's gonna be like getting home, as I'm not at the beginning of the route at the other end. But I'm going to wait and go later in the hopes that the carnage will have abated. (Someone told me the Victoria Line is running so it might not be so bad.)

Says Mr Privatise the Royal Mail now because my letter was late

i like the way people seem to assume that only middle-class people have been inconvenienced by this. no one else depends on the tube obv!!!

(fyi i am not remotely inconvenienced today, i am just having empathy~~ with my brotherhood~~~ of fellow commuting workers)

maybe commuters should unionise and walk into work every day, seeing as how it's so great and all, and then where would tube workers be

Everyone should unionise

my union of creative industry slackers will be discussing this at our AGM tonight. assuming we can be bothered to turn up.

Point of order, brother, I was not invited to this AGM

secy. is a slacker innit, invites are lying under an ashtray somewhere.

that is an occupational hazard, comrade xp

tbh it was just an excuse to make some pretty pamphlets

I decided to ignore the TFL journey planner and got 2 buses in, it took 2 hours but I had a seat the whole way, didn't have to walk anywhere and didn't have to scrum to get on. So I'm considerably less grumpy than I was yesterday.

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:24 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

you could be in paris in 2 hours, colonel pewp.
also wtf some buses are barely running today

Pretty bad going home last night on bike - gridlock at Hammersmith (pedestrian under a truck) and Kensington (although this isn't uncommon tbh). Strangely quiet eye-of-the-storm effect in central London, but bad again round Angel.

This morning, gridlock at King's Cross and Kensington and Hammersmith (again, not really anything MUCH worse than usual).

I hope those drivers (like my former landlady) who don't like subsidised public transport realise what it'd be like now, and also go to Hell.

also wtf some buses are barely running today

Maybe Boris saw some blossom falling and thought it was snow

blossom dearie looks nothing like peter snow

I walked from Stoke Newington to Waterloo this morning, it took me 1hr 10mins which is only slightly more than my regular bus. Flagged a bit around Angel but got a second wind around Holborn, thankfully!

There seemed to be even more traffic around than usual from Essex Rd onwards. If you think striking tube workers are selfish, what about people who take to their (generally single-occupant) cars at the first opportunity?

if they were really that selfish they would drive regardless of the strike

enough b*p-friendly talk here. you were momentarily inconvenienced for a day or so. it wasn't rwanda.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 11 June 2009 10:27 (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but bob crow is british.. and hate europe??

I have to wonder how the decision to lift the congestion charge for the duration of the strike has affected the traffic volume as much as the strike itself. (In other obvious news, bears found to defecate in forests.)

It certainly hasn't helped anyone trying to get around by bus, that's for sure.

and where do people park in central london?

but bob crow is british.. and hate europe??

Nick Griffin only gets eggs thrown at him, whereas Bob Crow gets death wished on him by inconvenienced ILXors

is crow really pro capital punishment? having trouble finding citation/evidence

Please don't throw eggy-weggs at the democratically elected racist, KILL THE UNION LEADER!!!!

um we are only amputating the leader now actually.

You do know that when people on the internet say someone should die they are not actually wishing death on them, right?

I didn't think they had lifted the charge this time? http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/11979.aspx

Still completely bemused by people driving. Traffic not as bad today as yesterday, and fewer cyclists today.

it's just unfair to label things BNP friendly when they are not necessarily so.. there are probably thousands of pro-trade-union racists out there. there's probably a union of them.

except bob crow [CITATION NEEDED] xp2

Oh, my mistake. I thought they had. Oops!

You do know that when people on the internet say someone should die they are not actually wishing death on them, right?

Yes, I've never done it myself though

x-post I think Boris has utilised it a couple of times already when there's been 'disruption' so maybe everyone who's driving has assumed it too, and will get a surprise £60 fine in a month or whenever.

yay

Yes, I've never done it myself though

not even re Thatcher?

No, of course not. Stupid thing to do.

i'm still hoping she'll go just an hour before the Queen...

it's alright to wish death on old people. like when harold shipman killed all them pensioners it wasn't quite as bad as if he'd killed 200 nubile young blondes.

there are probably thousands of pro-trade-union racists out there

I can think of one :(

nubile young blonde bob crow

nubile young Aryan blonde bob crow

So this bullshit is supposed to wrap up at 7pm tonight, right? My co-workers are telling me that the tube will likely remain a mess for another 24 hours as things get "back to normal." Does that sound about right, from past experience with this kind of thing?

Maybe not 24 hours but I wouldn't expect it to get back to normal until tomorrow morning at the earliest. Tonight will still be screwed up after 7pm

Bummer. I have a ticket to see a gig tonight way across town and the TFL journey planner is basically laughing in my face when I try to work out getting there easily.

my colleague took a tube that was running yesterday and because nobody knew it was running she got pretty much a whole carriage to herself so maybe it's just pot luck

i remember once (on a train not a tube) getting a whole carriage to myself and thinking WOWOW GREATNESS, and put my feet up on the opposite seat. But then getting told off by the cleaner woman which ruined the rest of the journey as I was then stacked with guilt and shame.

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
THE TRUTH (AND IF NOT SUE US FOR LIBEL)

This is my 31st year as a member of this Union and a worker on London Underground and in all that time I have never experienced such dishonesty from any management that I have dealt with. Let me explain to you what really happened at the talks.

The Facts

Pay. Management made a revised offer on a two year deal or four year deal. We said we would go away, speak to our members and representatives and come back to them. We said this did not have to be resolved immediately and hence we could suspend the action.

Breaches of Agreements. It is an out and out lie that we were only interested in the two sacked drivers. There were another five specific cases where management had abused the disciplinary procedures. It was agreed that ACAS would look at all seven cases and we said that we would be able to suspend the action to allow this to go ahead.

On the application of the sickness procedures, management were abusing it by making unannounced visits to members without a Trade Union representative being present. They were also issuing 52 week warnings as opposed to the maximum allowed which is 26 weeks. We reached agreement that the 26 weeks maximum would be adhered to and that a Trade Union representative would be in attendance at the interviews.

Redundancies. In 2001 after campaigning that the privatisation of the infrastructure would be a disaster LUL members were transferred to Metronet. We reached an agreement with LUL and Metronet that there would be no compulsory redundancies and that staff would be offered alternative employment in the event of their job going. This was enshrined in members' contracts. As we predicted Metronet went bust with massive debts. We asked that all Metronet members that came back to LUL, and all other LUL members, should have the same agreement of no compulsory redundancies. At 6 o'clock, and hour before the strike was to begin, agreement was reached with the Acting Managing Director, Richard Parry. In fact I signed a document to this effect and this was to go back in front of your General Grades Committee immediately so that we could suspend the strike. At 6.35 p.m. whilst awaiting the final typed agreement we were told by management that they had made a phone call and that they could no longer abide by the agreement - they reneged before the ink was even dry. We were stunned that management could be so dishonest.

I have no doubt that the phone call made was to the Transport Commission or City Hall and they instructed the negotiators to pull the agreed deal. It became quite clear that the Transport Commission or City Hall were using stalling tactics to try and extend the talks to 7 p.m. in the hope that staff would believe agreement had been reached and turn up for work and members were also getting anonymous texts telling them the action was being called off.

It is an absolute disgrace that these bodies should interfere in the negotiations taking place between your Union and the LUL management. We negotiate in good faith and expect the same from the other side. It is the management side that have forced this strike to go ahead and now they will have to find a way to deal with the outstanding issues all over again.

The RMT want a negotiated settlement without interference from the Politicians. Agreement can be reached if management sit down and negotiate honestly.

Thank you for your support - the strike is solid and it is a tremendous effort by all of you. I will write to you with developments.

Best wishes

Bob Crow
General Secretary

There you go, you heard it from the Crow's mouth, errrrr, beak

From the Guardian:

Check out the hordes of cyclists taking advantage of Boris' City Hall publicity stunt

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/6/11/1244710025503/0.jpg

I no longer know who to believe any more.

I'm inclined to believe Crow over Boris et al for some reason.

believe in bikes and (if getting drunk) buses tbh.

Boris Johnson's wife would probably call him an egregious liar too.