Transport for London are “doing everything we can to keep our city moving and ensure people can travel safely”, according to a statement issued by Andy Byford, TfL Commissioner, as the formal public events surrounding the national mourning of the death of Queen Elizabeth move south today to the capital.
Stately procession: the Queen’s coffin being taken to St Giles’ in Edinburgh yesterday. It is due to arrive in London later today
“Following the death of Her Majesty the Queen, ceremonial events are taking place over the next seven days in order to allow members of the public to pay their respects during this period of national mourning,” the TfL statement said.
This includes the Lying-in-State at the Palace of Westminster from tomorrow, Wednesday September 14. Queues of people wishing to pay their last respects to the Queen had already begun forming outside St Thomas’s Hospital on the southern side of the Thames by yesterday evening.
TfL says, “These events are expected to bring thousands of people from all over the UK and beyond to London, which will lead to busy services and short-term changes to how stations operate, including queuing or changes to the way you may need to enter or exit a station.
“There are also road closures in place throughout central London which will impact on some cycling routes and bus services.”
TfL says:
- Tube services will be running as normal, however some stations will be busier than usual, and some short-term safety measures such as queuing, closures, non-stopping or changes to the way customers enter or exit a station may be necessary
- Customers are encouraged to avoid Green Park Tube station if possible, due to high numbers of customers passing through, and to keep capacity for customers who need step-free access. Other Tube stations, such as Victoria, Piccadilly Circus and St James’s Park, are within a short walking distance of Buckingham Palace
- Other stations expected to be busier include: Westminster, Charing Cross, Embankment, Victoria, Waterloo, St James’s Park, Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch
- The Elizabeth line (which since it was opened earlier this year has not operated on Sundays) will run a special service with 12 trains per hour on the central section (Paddington-Abbey Wood) on Sunday September 18 to provide further transport options for customers
- Due to road closures, some buses will stop short of their destination or will be on diversion until after the events. They may also run to a reduced frequency
- All rail and bus strikes that were planned to take place this week have now been called off
- Some cycle routes will be impacted by road closures, such as C3
- Santander Cycles will operate as normal, but some docking stations may be closed
- London River services will operate as normal
TfL says recommends using Journey Planner or by downloading the TfL Go app, and to check before you travel – by visiting their Status Updates page, and to allow more time for your journeys.
For more information, visit the TfL website.
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And it that statement by TfL as a public service is summed up in it’s focus on identifying a need and working to meet that need for the good of all who need a safe integrated transport at this time.
There may still be Central Political ”Masters” directives and threats to funding but the head the body and the appendages are all working in unison to deliver for everyone and in the public interests.
So despite some blond twit pissing away funding of over £800+ million every single year.
Despite other political idiots interfering in the running and operations and dictating pay and pension and alleged cuts to safety and security created industrial unrest.
Strikes are cancelled, people will come in from leave, in fact everyone who can will come in to ensure needs are met in a crisis and for the Public good.
Those people will give up their time with their families just to deal with the huge amounts of people in London and will work with the other services to keep them all safe as best they can.
From the times of war, Pandemic’s, terrorism and any very large gatherings of people and the dangers , inherent in that, Transport, Police, Fire, Ambulance and A+E have put aside differences and delivered to the general public.
Perry has set a poor example in comparison and let down the council and people of Croydon with the ten day holiday. The purported reason smacks of taking advantage and comes across as base opportunism. Ms Kerswell obviously is carrying on with recruitment and perhaps other tasks and that is exactly what one should expect from the CEO in a crisis (albeit unpopular)