You may have seen footage of the tube still operating with crowds of people packed in like normal and also pictures going viral of the city itself almost deserted. But the complete opposites of each other are still happening and this is largely due to the closures and restricted services across all lines:
- The Circle Line and Waterloo & City Line closed completely.
- The Bakerloo Line is part suspended
- All other lines have special services as per measures put in place to help contain the spread of the coronavirus and the hope in the public that they will only use these services to get to work as a key workers or when absolutely essential.
London Underground still busy despite calls from mayor to “stop all non-essential use of public transport now” amid coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/vCccBHx7h7 pic.twitter.com/qBX73S7wlo
— ABC News (@ABC) March 23, 2020
But due to the reduced services, with the DLR and Jubilee Line having services every 10 minutes for instance and all others at 15 minutes, we are still seeing large groups of people using the tube and the underground services are at risk. With less services it means the amount of people have to pile into the lesser amount of trains, meaning the social distancing advice cannot be followed. It’s unclear if all these people are all key workers and on essential duties but it has to be reduced to stop the spread in the city.
There are numerous services with part closures, London Overground have taken the choice to close all services between: Surrey Quays and New Cross; Sydenham and West Croydon.
Stricter measures were put into action since Monday 23rd as in the same evening Boris Johnson announced what would basically be a lockdown for the entire country. Although many stations still operate they are all under special services, closed or suspended. They remain open as they remain an integral source of travel for key workers with no other option but to use the underground services. And Londoners are urged to only use it for essential travel like commuting to work.
