Bring back a full tube service!

Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers has called for the London Mayor to restore the capital’s transport capacity so her constituents can travel safely, using social distancing, and help keep the economy going.

Theresa asked the Prime Minister yesterday to intervene and ask the Mayor to act and to stop public address announcements on the Underground which have been saying that only key workers can use public transport, when lockdown rules actually allow anyone to travel to employment if they cannot do their job from home.

Transport for London (TfL) is running a reduced service on buses, trains and the Underground, which has made it more difficult for commuters to keep their distance from one another. It is rumoured that the Mayor wants to cut services even more.

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa said: “Lockdown rules permit people to travel to work if their jobs cannot be done from home, but some have faced criticism and pressure not to do so, including from announcements on London Underground wrongly saying that they should not be on the system unless they are key workers. Will the Prime Minister ask the mayor to restore public transport capacity in London so that my constituents can travel safely and we can keep as much of the economy going as possible?

In reply Boris Johnson said: “My right honourable friend is absolutely right that a crucial part of our success in getting transport to run safely will now be running a bigger and more expansive tube service so that people can observe social distancing. We will certainly be working with the mayor to try to achieve that, although there must be mitigations to help people who, for reasons of social distancing, cannot use mass transit. There will be a huge amount of planning going into helping people to get to work other than by mass transit....”