The introduction of the night Tube service was originally supposed to be on September 12th, however now it will not be in service until next year.
Unfortunately the delay will actually cost a lot of London businesses, theatres and restaurants millions of pounds. Where it had all gone wrong is that the launch date was set before an agreement was officially released with the Tube’s unions.
A senior member of the union commented saying; “The talks have been crawling along anyway and now they have stopped. Unless London Underground dramatically improves its offer and there is no sign of that happening, then there is little chance of night Tube happening this year.”
The ASLEF union organiser, Finn Brennan, has attempted to resolve this issue as he said; “We have made it clear to London Underground that we want to keep talking and develop a solution that delivers night tube while protecting and improving work life balance for our members. We have put forward a number of proposals to resolve this dispute in a way that is fair and benefits both sides. London Underground has rejected them all. Most disappointingly of all they have decided to blackmail their own employees by refusing to make a pay offer unless staff agree to worsen their working conditions. This is not something we are prepared to accept. Underground management have completely mishandled these negotiations. They have wasted every opportunity for a settlement and seem to have been determined to provoke confrontation rather than resolution.”
The night Tube will actually be beneficial in the long run, once it is in service, as a spokesman mentioned; “Night Tube will be supporting around 2,000 permanent jobs and boosting the economy by £360 million.”
However there is a negative side of the service, as some passengers have mentioned they would not use this service as they do not feel safe, as well as some managers of London Underground fear that this will also leave no time to repair tracks and tunnels, if it were needed.
Now it will be a waiting game until 2016!