Boris Johnson is facing calls to halt plans to reduce the frequency of night bus routes if the new night Tube service is delayed.
The new weekend Night Tube was expected to start running on September 12th but ongoing industrial action by Tube workers unhappy at being forced to work through the night means its start date may slip.
Anticipating that large numbers of Londoners would take advantage of the Tube’s faster journey times, bosses at Transport for London drew up plans to reduce the frequency of seventeen night bus routes to meet an expected fall in demand.
Their plans also included extending 20 additional routes to run through the night.
The results of a public consultation on the proposals is expected to be announced soon, but one London Assembly member says the changes should not come into effect until the night Tube is up and running at the very earliest.
Caroline Pidgeon AM said: “The proposals by the Mayor and TfL to reduce night Bus services at the weekend were based entirely on the premise that in some places passengers will choose to use the night Tube instead. However with the night Tube delayed this argument completely falls down.
“It is absolutely vital that people who use night Buses across London are not inconvenienced by a reduced service before the night Tube has even started.”
Ms Pidgeon has previously called on the Mayor and TfL to wait until the night Tube has “been up and running for a few months” before bus routes are altered to ensure changes are “based on hard evidence, not mere speculation of what might eventually take place.”
She’s now written to the Mayor saying that the risk of delays to the night Tube means “it is more important than ever to delay the implementation of reduced Night Time bus services at weekends on the 17 bus routes where cuts in services are planned.”
