Posted 11th November 2013 | 1 Comment

It's no longer quicker by Tube

Olympics poster: please avoid London Bridge

Regular passengers on London Underground were urged to walk instead during the 2012 Olympics

Commuters on an overcrowded section of London Underground are being urged to walk instead from today.

Transport for London has issued the appeal to morning peak users of some of the stations on the Morden branch of the Northern Line, following a similar campaign to divert commuters away from heavily used sections of the Underground during the Olympics last year.

Passengers at stations between Tooting Bec and Clapham North between 08.00 and 08.45 are having wait for several trains before one arrives with space on board.

Would-be passengers will now find 'localised information' at Tooting Bec, Balham, Clapham South, Clapham Common and Clapham North, which explains how 'small changes to their journey, for example travelling slightly earlier or later, could make their journeys faster, more reliable and more comfortable'.

Some passengers could also gain access to another route by walking for a few minutes, such as from Clapham North to Stockwell for the Victoria Line.

TfL said: 'The aim of the pilot is to understand the impact of providing this kind of information outside a special event like the Games.'

It also pointed out that the line is being modernised, and upgrading signalling will mean that capacity on the route will be upgraded by 20 per cent when the new equipment comes into use.

Reader Comments:

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  • Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

    Price London is paying for Boris waste on vanity projects instead of bread and butter issues like tube capacity or bus capacity having thrown away 400 high capacity Artic buses and now wasted millions on needlessly buying buses that are to small to do the job and are more akin to old ones trying to relive their childhood !

    Just think Borisbuses barely carry 20 passengers seated on lower deck and despite bulking their passenger numbers up via standing passengers still carry fewer passengers than normal off the shelf double deckers which are £100 grand cheaper!

    And while money is wasted on these buses cities like Nottingham are now ordering trams with capacity to carry 200 passengers ALL AT STREET LEVEL !

    As for Southern end of Northern Line well several of these stations still have dangerous island platform which restrict capacity and thus have to be closed for safety reasons. The solution would be to build a section of running tunnel and then convert existing running tunnel into a wider platform but Boris puts vanity projects first!