Prompt's Blog
Tube strike brings out a little creativity for Londoners
12 June 2009
Posted by Becky
Last week was quite a week for London! After continual negotiations last Tuesday, the Major of London, Boris Johnson and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transposrt (RMT) Workers leader, Bobo Crow, failed to reach agreement over London Underground workers' pay, and the great tube strike of London began.On day one, Londoners faced their first hurdle - could they make it home before the strike started? The online TFL journey planner crashed at around 4pm, nice and timely for the 7pm strike, but despite the inconvenience, most people managed to get themselves safely home. Fears of a hectic day 2 and 3 kicked in.
Most people, unless they were lucky enough to be able to walk to work, had to set their alarms to the crack of dawn and look at alternative ways to get around the city. Here in Prompt's offices, we pulled out all the stops, using buses, overground trains, the occasional still running tube, bikes, walking and even water-taxis.
The water-taxi was my personal favourite. After being left no other choice, I jumped aboard the Thames water-taxi to find my way to the nearest overground train station. The journey was livened up by a tourist guide pointing out historical monuments, and Big Ben chiming in at 9am. What a way to see in a Thursday morning.
The strike has also highlighted some useful online services, for example, 'tweetbike'. A motor cyclist has set up a free service ferrying commuters around south London. He tweets is exact location on Twitter to let people know here he'll be and if anyone wants to hitch a lift they can track him down. Another service that has proven useful is walkit, which tells commuters the best ways to walk between stations.
And when and if they got to work, commuters frustrated by the strike could visit Punchbob, offfering them the chance to vent their frustrations on the strike's figurehead.
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