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Train unions have warned that they could take industrial action and stop trains if drivers and passengers are not protected against the coronavirus as photographs of crowded London Underground services appeared, as many people returned to work after seven weeks closed.
Photographs at the Finsbury Park station on the Victoria Line showed commuters, mostly men, standing a few inches away in doorways with little masks. Men have died of coronavirus at twice the rate of women in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.
When the first lockdown relaxation occurred, the Rail, Shipping and Maritime Union (RMT) warned that Boris Johnson’s return to work message was “fraught with danger.”
Mick Cash, the secretary general, said the strike may be necessary to “protect workers and passengers” and added that staff would have the right to “refuse to work” if they did not feel safe.
“If that is what it should be to keep people safe, then we will stop the trains,” he told Sky News.
Despite a Transport for London call for passengers to wear face covers on public transport, Wednesday’s photos showed that few were doing so.
Subway workers also said there was “complete confusion” during the suspension of part of the Victoria Line after a passenger collapsed.
“The social estrangement during the peak was a joke. During the suspension, our carriages stirred. It will get worse, ”said one worker.
Cash said: “This incident shows how fraught with danger is the government’s call to return to work for our transportation services in the midst of this pandemic.”
A woman who works in a laboratory said it was easy to keep 2 meters away during closure. But since last week, his trip had become much busier, with less effort to distance himself socially. People have also dropped masks and gloves used on buses and trains.
“People used to stand in line for the socially detached bus, or stand off to the sidewalk, but now they don’t move. People don’t care that much anymore,” he said. “I think if they haven’t gotten sick by now, they think they got away with it,” he said.
Transportation secretary Grant Shapps said the government will ask travelers to be cautious in admitting that they will not get on the subway or bus.
Some photographs, including some of Liverpool Street Station, one of the busiest exchanges for commuters in Essex and East London, show that people were able to adhere to physical marks of distance from the floor.
Some buses in the capital were reported to be busier than normal after the prime minister’s message that people should return to work if possible as of Wednesday.
And the Automobile Association said that the roads in England, the only country in the UK where the relaxations apply, were 10% busier on Wednesday.
TfL said Monday it would have to reduce the number of passengers to 13-15% of normal levels to achieve a physical distance of two meters.
With daily figures of almost 4 million last April, that would mean limiting the number of people who use the network to get to work to just 600,000.
TfL said passenger numbers as of 10 am Wednesday were 7.3% higher than the same day last week, but it was still a fraction of normal. Just over 63,000 passengers traveled between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., compared to over 1 million at the same time last year.
Bus services in the capital and elsewhere were also filled with few masks.
In its plan for the capital released Monday, TfL urged people to stay home, only go to work if essential, and wear facial covers online.
Johnson said in his address to the nation on Sunday that those who cannot work from home should start returning to work from Wednesday, but he urged people to avoid public transportation and drive, bike or walk.
Unions say this is not a viable option for many in the capital, who do not have a car or live too far from their workplace to ride a bike or walk.
TfL progressively increases the frequency of trains to reverse the reduction in services during the closure, with a view to operating at 70% of normal capacity by next Monday.
It will also reopen some of the 37 stations it closed, but said that would not include lift-only stations because it would be impossible to maintain a safe physical distance.
