London: the unlockening/relockening
- Thread starter teuchter
- Start date
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
“Last week I was on the Tube at 7am and 6.30 pm. Empty at 7, slightly busier at 6.30 but still quite empty and easy to social distance. I could have got a cab paid for by work but I don’t see how that’s safer given it’s an enclosed and small space. The stats say occupancy is still less than 10% and my experience bears that out.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Tube less busy than buses according to the stats.
ska invita
back on the other side
the Great British Public have rightly decided fuck going back to work or school if at all possible
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tony.c
Well-Known Member
If it's a licensed black cab there is a partition between driver and passenger.
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
Went through Camden locks yesterday on my boat, (canals are open, restrictions are only for manned locks etc). It was almost completely dead, the only visitors were construction workers and what looked like people who lived there, drinking coffee outside. Had a long convo with a security guard, apparently the market reopened on Monday. There were outside stalls open, but I could see the masked up staff of just one takeaway food outlet open. I can’t see how any of these businesses are sustainable without tourism. No customers!
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klang
klang
Mate of mine is a CM trader and has told me that CM has sent letters (to sign) around, stating that CM would reduce rent during the crisis, but traders would have to pay the full balance back if closing within two months after re-opening. Apparently hardly anybody signed.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
I know. A lot of my colleagues have been taking black cabs or mini cabs with temporary plastic partitions but I think the Tube is perfectly safe at the moment.
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Or they’re working from home. The danger is that many won’t have jobs to go back to.
little_legs
Поехали!
Absolutely. Some companies explicitly told their employees to work from home or just stay at home for the fear of being sued.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Or they’re working from home. The danger is that many won’t have jobs to go back to.
Let's face it half the jobs around are bollocks service jobs anyway, moving spreadsheets around from place to place.
pinkmonkey
2.4 hour party person
I’m in Rickmansworth now and the optician here is open.
Thanks. Was just about to ask again.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Walked into town on Saturday. Although some people have been saying "lockdown's broken" for a while now, I haven't really agreed with that. But this weekend was the first time it felt to me like something had changed. A lot more traffic on the main roads, and people out and about. Still a lot of people walking and cycling though, in a "just going for a walk" kind of way, more than would normally be the case.
Only went into the edge of "central" london, but noticeably quieter when you go into the congestion zone still.
The Thames is still very quiet, no motor boats. A few people in canoes though.
Today I went on a bike ride into the city, along Oxford St, Hyde Park, Kensington, out into West london. They are serious about changing the road priorities in the city. Only bikes and buses allowed over London Bridge.
The city still fairly deserted (6 or 7pm) but not as deserted as a couple of weeks ago. A few people about on bikes, and some people queuing for buses but not many. A few sports cars and Bentleys with private numberplates cruising around - this seems to have been a feature of central london right the way through.
Oxford St and Regent St are no longer completely shut down - some shops with their doors still open around 7pm, and a few shoppers about but not that many. Here is what Oxford St looked like this evening.
Hyde Park was quite busy. A lot of people on bikes including a lot of people meandering around on the Tfl bikes.
Heading out through West London there seemed a bit less traffic. They have also been fairly serious there about making segregated bike lanes with the large plastic dividers.
Lots of people sitting out in the sunshine along the Thames, along that nice bit by Chiswick etc. And a few more canoeists in the water.
Only went into the edge of "central" london, but noticeably quieter when you go into the congestion zone still.
The Thames is still very quiet, no motor boats. A few people in canoes though.
Today I went on a bike ride into the city, along Oxford St, Hyde Park, Kensington, out into West london. They are serious about changing the road priorities in the city. Only bikes and buses allowed over London Bridge.
The city still fairly deserted (6 or 7pm) but not as deserted as a couple of weeks ago. A few people about on bikes, and some people queuing for buses but not many. A few sports cars and Bentleys with private numberplates cruising around - this seems to have been a feature of central london right the way through.
Oxford St and Regent St are no longer completely shut down - some shops with their doors still open around 7pm, and a few shoppers about but not that many. Here is what Oxford St looked like this evening.
Hyde Park was quite busy. A lot of people on bikes including a lot of people meandering around on the Tfl bikes.
Heading out through West London there seemed a bit less traffic. They have also been fairly serious there about making segregated bike lanes with the large plastic dividers.
Lots of people sitting out in the sunshine along the Thames, along that nice bit by Chiswick etc. And a few more canoeists in the water.
bimble
floofy
Am a bit surprised to get an email just now from TFL telling me that, temporarily, from 22nd of this month, the congestion charge for driving into the middle of town is going to go up to £15 (usually its £10) and that the charge will for now apply for much longer hours (between 7am and 10pm every day of the week).
The email says they are doing it 'in order to enable more journeys to be made safely by foot or bike' which makes sense but it does seem a strange time to make this move right now exactly when they want to keep public transport as un-crowded as possible?
The email says they are doing it 'in order to enable more journeys to be made safely by foot or bike' which makes sense but it does seem a strange time to make this move right now exactly when they want to keep public transport as un-crowded as possible?
Isn't this what was forced on them by the government to get their bail out?
I had understood it was a permanent thing?
bimble
floofy
What bail out? Sorry don’t know what you mean, unaware of any context to this.
tfl needed money from the government as they had completely exhausted their funds by continuing to run services during lockdown. The government provided extra funds but they were conditional.
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T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
I thought the CC was normally about just shy of £12 these days? I am not sure how many of the drivers prepared to pay £12 to go into the zone will change their mind due to the extra cost, though I’m sure it will have a small effect.
Other than business journeys, what percentage of the driving population does ever need or want to drive into the CC zone during chargeable hours for private reasons anyway? I struggle to think of any scenario outside of perhaps people doing the school run who live outside the zone. Those who live inside get a 99% discount IIRC.
I haven’t been to central London this week and it’ll be interesting to see what effect the opening of the shops will have on traffic. It has been zombie apocalypse level of emptiness all the way even when it was back to pre-lockdown levels elsewhere in London.
Other than business journeys, what percentage of the driving population does ever need or want to drive into the CC zone during chargeable hours for private reasons anyway? I struggle to think of any scenario outside of perhaps people doing the school run who live outside the zone. Those who live inside get a 99% discount IIRC.
I haven’t been to central London this week and it’ll be interesting to see what effect the opening of the shops will have on traffic. It has been zombie apocalypse level of emptiness all the way even when it was back to pre-lockdown levels elsewhere in London.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Looks like the Thames Clippers are running again.
The first time I went down to the Thames during lockdown, the stillness of the river was unexpected - it hadn't ocurred to me that it would mean boat traffic would stop as well. Usually the river is full of boats and the wakes they create - normally you'd almost never get to see it perfectly calm.
On a normal (not covidy) working day I'd say probably less that 2% of traffic in the CC zone is private vehicles. I can see the logic in trying to discourage people from driving to work at the moment even though the PM said everyone should drive to work at the moment. Quite frankly though I can't see it making much difference to the amount of people on their bikes. People will either cycle or they won't and the danger rarely comes from private cars as its nearly always larger commercial vehicles and if a company needs to deliver than a few quid more on the CC charge will not make a jot of difference.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
from where I am sat ( off tourist trail but still tidal), I am always saying how little the river is used. We are the clippers, occasional police boat, the recycling barges from Wandsworth and the occasional cement carrying barge crossing from Chelsea to Wandsworth and back.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
No, the amount of traffic on the roads, including private cars, definitely affects how safe people feel to cycle. And the more traffic there is, the more congestion will slow down buses.
Well I disagree and even if I'm wrong it's a false security. The danger to cyclists and is overwhelmingly from commercial vehicles. This being said though there are far fewer of them on London roads at the moment but that has nothing to do with the CC zone.
