Damned If We Do...

Diamond Geezer has just completed a three-part adventure around London using all of the Rail Replacement Bus services which were forced upon (largely unsuspecting) Londoners over the weekend just gone. As usual for DG they were well written, interesting posts. As is occasionally the case with DG, it struck me as a masochistic thing to do, and definitely more in the interests of London in general than for him in particular I’m sure.

I don’t want to get in to the issue of RRBs because DG has just done it eloquently enough and I don’t disagree with anything that he’s written – they should be far better. What does interest me is the attitudes of people in general towards those dreaded words – the “TfL Investment Programme” or, as it is now referred to in the station PA scripts, “closures as part of our programme to upgrade the Tube”.

There are three scenarios for engineering works. No-one seems to like any of them.

Don’t Do It
In a return to the policies of the 1980s and 1990s, the Tube is not upgraded at all. Assets deteriorate and fail, because they were not designed to be patched up forever, they were designed to have a useful life of about forty years. Every day is like those awful four weeks in October/November 2010, when everything seemed to be buggered all the time. Unlike autumn 2010 though, it doesn’t make headline news, because it is the norm.

Londoners, the papers, business owners and politicians all bitch that the Tube is shit, and will never get better. They’re probably right.

2) Weekend Closures
Money is found from somewhere (PPP, sigh), and the upgrades begin. Three to four hours a night is not enough for major engineering works, so the line has to be shut for a proper period of time.

Every weekend for months, and in some cases years, part of the line is closed.

With the line closed for 50 hours, the engineers and labourers move in. Two hours are wasted setting everything up at the beginning. Two hours are wasted dismantling everything at the end. For working overnight, some of them are paid extra. For working at the weekend, some of them are paid extra. For working overnight at the weekend, some of them are paid extra. Although some ordering in bulk is possible, it’s not possible to buy everything the work will require over the whole year because warehouse space for that much stuff for that length of time is just too expensive. Economies of scale are lost.

With the line closed for 50 hours, people who have been working all week now can’t leave the house to go and play. Gigs are missed. Pub gatherings are postponed to a weekend when the Tube’s working. Those who do venture out end up spending ages trying to work out which bus to get, and even longer on the damned thing. Businesses along the line are hard hit on every weekend of the year.

It’s annoying, definitely, but gradually things get better. Journeys take less time. Fewer failures occur. The line steadily becomes more reliable, and travelling on it is less hit-and-miss, less stressful.

Unfortunately, sometimes multiple lines in the same area have to be closed. This is done as a last resort, not as a decision taken at 4.55pm by that week’s work experience kid, but people in the afflicted area naturally decide it is malice, incompetence, or malicious incompetence.

Londoners, the papers, business owners and politicians all bitch that the Tube is shit, and will never get better. They’re wrong, though it requires about 20 years of weekend closures until this can be proved to them.

3) Blockades
Money is found from somewhere (PPP, sigh), and the upgrades begin. Three to four hours a night is not enough for major engineering works, so the line has to be shut for a proper period of time.

For four solid weeks, part of the line, or even the whole thing, is closed.

With the line closed for four weeks, the engineers and labourers move in. Two hours are wasted setting everything up at the beginning. Two hours are wasted dismantling everything at the end. For working overnight, some of them are paid extra. For working at the weekend, some of them are paid extra. For working overnight at the weekend, some of them are paid extra.

Actually though, most of them are paid the normal amount. Most of them work 8-6, Monday to Friday. Everything for the closure is bought at the same time, saving considerable outlay. Instead of being planned as 50 50-hour chunks, the work can be properly project managed as a four week intervention, saving considerable outlay.

With the line closed for four weeks, people who live along it need to make other arrangements, not only for play, but for work. The first few days are awful, but after that everyone has worked out the quickest ways of getting around and travelling to work by bus becomes routine. A few people take to their bikes for the first time. Businesses along the line are hard hit for four weeks.

It’s annoying, definitely, but things quickly get better. Journeys take less time. Fewer failures occur. The line quite rapidly becomes more reliable, and travelling on it is less hit-and-miss, less stressful.

Unfortunately, the line being closed for so long obviously has annoying effects. It is short term pain for long term gain, but people in the afflicted area are pretty sure that those morons at LU don’t understand how important the Tube is to everyone living there.

Londoners, the papers, business owners and politicians all bitch that the Tube is shit, and will never get better. They’re wrong, and actually it doesn’t take that long to prove it to them.

Since Scenario Four doesn’t exist (it’s the year 2000, and Mayor Livingston clicks his fingers. Magically, all the Tube lines are upgraded overnight. Hooray!), one of the three listed above will happen instead. Where I live, all three have happened actually. Ten years ago, the local paper and the local MP liked to get readers/votes by decrying the awful performance of LU. They were right, and they were adamant that Something Must Be Done. Two years ago, the local paper and the local MP liked to get readers/votes by decrying the awful weekend closures. The closures weren’t even that frequent, and they were only necessary because of the past awful performance of LU which the paper and MP rightly attacked. But they were something to bitch about, and were happily seized upon. Last year, the local paper and the local MP liked to get readers/votes by decrying the awful three-week blockade.

You get the picture by now, surely?