Boris Johnson has announced the start date for the capital’s 24 hour weekend Tube services.
The new extended service, which will operate on selected lines on Fridays and Saturdays, was first announced last November and is due to start on 12th September 2015.
City Hall predicts the capital’s night-time economy could be boosted by up to £360 million thanks to the greater ease and lower costs of getting home after a night out.
Six trains per hour will run through central London on the Jubilee, Victoria and sections of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines while on the Northern line eight trains per hour will run between Leicester Square and Camden Town.
Confirming the start date, the Mayor said: “Running trains all through the night was once thought impossible, but with the huge investment we’ve put in and upgrades that have been delivered we stand ready to take the Tube to the next level.
“As well as creating vital new jobs and giving a huge boost to our economy, the Night Tube will help millions of people to get around our city more easily and quickly.
“The evolution of the Night Tube will without doubt make London an even better place to live, work, visit and invest.”
Mike Brown MVO, the Managing Director of London Underground, added: “We are now less than a year away from the first ever 24-hour services operating on London Underground.
“Already over half a million Londoners use the Tube after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the introduction of the Night Tube, which will cut journey times and open up new possibilities across the night time economy, is a historic step in our modernisation of the Underground.
“The new service will boost jobs and will benefit the economy by hundreds of millions of pounds. We will also now be exploring any sponsorship opportunities that could make this transformative service even more cost-effective.”
RMT leader Mick Cash claimed plans for the new services “are not properly thought through” and were being used to divert the public’s attention from job cut caused by the closure of ticket offices.
He added: “To make this plan work we need more tube staff not less if we are not going to be risking disaster at three o’clock in the morning when the West End is flooded with thousands of people fresh out of the pubs and clubs.”
London Assembly member Darren Johnson said a night tube was “long overdue” but warned against trying to run the service “on the cheap using over-stretched staff who can’t deal with the inevitable hassles, medical issues and overcrowding at closing time.”
