Beyond the pandemic: the London Underground battles to follow the path
By JILL LAWLESS
LONDON (AP) – When London stopped when a nationwide coronavirus blockade was imposed a year ago, the tube continued to function as an essential service. But it was a strange and disturbing experience for his workers.
Joseph Cocks, driver of the Circle Line of the subway that runs through the city center, said he could “count the number of people getting on the train on one side.”
“Seeing it on a Monday morning peak, seeing almost no one, was amazing and startling,” he said of the system that opened in 1863 and is colloquially known as Tube.
Its continued operation was a sign that even in a pandemic, the heart of London was still beating.
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Plagues, fires, war: London has survived them all. But he has never had a year like this. The coronavirus has killed more than 15,000 Londoners and shaken the foundations of one of the world’s largest cities. As a moving mass vaccination campaign promises to reopen, The Associated Press looks at the impact of the pandemic on the people and institutions of London and wonders what the future may hold.
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In a city where almost half of households do not have a car, public transport keeps economic and social life moving. Prior to the national closure on March 23, 2020, there were about 5 million trips a day on the subway. Its iconic map, reminiscent of a multi-colored circuit board, is both an emblem of the city and an essential tool for residents and visitors.
For the first few weeks, when most Britons were told to stay home and fear overcame the facts about the virus, Underground employees continued to work, but worried about getting sick.
“We didn’t know exactly how bad it was,” Cocks said. “There were concerns about the danger of this work and you could hear stories of people on the subway catching coronavirus. So we didn’t know how quickly it spread and how safe we were.”
COVID-19 has severely affected transport in London, which manages the city’s tube, rail and bus network. According to a study by University College London, at least 89 TFL members have died from coronavirus, mostly bus drivers, the mortality rate has been three times the national average.
The virus has affected more people in public jobs and the death toll has been higher among ethnic minorities than their white compatriots. Reasons are believed to include jobs, underlying health conditions and economic inequality.
About a third of the TFL’s workforce belongs to an ethnic minority, in part a legacy of thousands of people from the former British colonies who came to the UK after World War II to bolster the depleted labor force.
Brian Woodhead, director of subway customer service, says the network acted quickly to protect staff and passengers. Masks are mandatory, hand sanitizer is plentiful, escalators are operated with ultraviolet light that kills viruses, and one-way systems reduce blockages in the station corridors. On buses, drivers sit in closed cabins.
“As much as anyone can in the circumstances we are in now, I think the tube is a safe environment,” Woodhead said.
He cites a recent study by Imperial College London, which tested the virus on the surfaces and air of the tube and found none. This is due in part to people like Ivelina Dimitrova, who oversees 20 cleaners at the stations, including the crowded King’s Cross. She and her crew, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa and South Asia, regularly spray surfaces with hospital disinfectant.
“We had to change our work routine and all, and (we had to) do it quickly” when the virus arrived, he said, adding that they felt constant stress to get infected.
Now, he said, “we have a strong morale, because we feel we have to do what we can do just to stay safe, our families safe, the rest of the people around us.”
Passengers who previously didn’t pay much attention to the cleaning staff sometimes stop to thank them, he said.
The pandemic has left the world’s oldest subway system facing an uncertain future. The Tube, which is heavily dependent on ticket revenue, is facing a cash crisis. Laughter fell to only 4% of the pre-pandemic number at the start of the outbreak and now carries about a quarter of the passengers it did before the outbreak.
During a recent rush hour, a stream of passengers passed through the doors of tickets at Victoria and King’s Cross stations, which used to be full of signs, passing signs reminding travelers that they needed to cover their faces and that they were “ kind ”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put the country on a slow closing path, with hairdressers and shops scheduled to reopen on April 12th. But people are advised to work from home if they can and take the subway only if necessary.
His government has given Transport for London nearly £ 4bn ($ 5.6bn) in grants and loans to keep it running, although the money will run out on 18 May. Talks about funding have been clouded by acrony between Johnson’s Conservative government and London. Mayor Sadiq Khan, a member of the Labor Party.
Woodhead expects the number of riders to increase, but “it’s hard to predict whether it’s 18 months or 36 months.” And it is possible that the pandemic has definitely changed travel patterns, with more walking and cycling and fewer rush hour trips.
In December, an independent report commissioned by TFL and the mayor said a “credible” forecast was that there would be a 20% reduction in public transport demand due to “travel changes and economic weakness” after the pandemic.
“I highly doubt people will travel five days a week,” Woodhead said. “It simply came to our notice then. But there will be a lot of people now who do it in a hybrid way. This will surely happen, which on the one hand will help from the point of view of congestion, but on the other hand it will not help from the point of view of income ”.
Still, Woodhead is confident the Tube will be a key part of London’s recovery.
“It just intertwines with all the infrastructure and the way London works,” he said.
Meanwhile, drivers like Cocks will continue to do work that has become “a little more isolated, a little more isolated.”
“It’s good to know you’re keeping London moving,” he said. “You’re making your grain of sand so that everything goes from A to B.”
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