tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/london-underground-8150/articlesLondon Underground – The Conversation2022-12-19T16:39:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1966002022-12-19T16:39:25Z2022-12-19T16:39:25ZLondon Underground polluted with particles small enough to enter the human bloodstream – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501579/original/file-20221216-17-ukf8o7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roughly 2 million people use the London Underground each day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-november-14-2018-train-arriving-1235340622">Tom Eversley/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The London Underground is key to the functioning of England’s capital city. Roughly <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/your-commute?">2 million people</a> use it each day. But it is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019313649#b0120">polluted</a> with small particulate matter from heavy metals, including iron oxide, that may be damaging to human health. </p>
<p>These particles range in size, but so-called <a href="https://www.blf.org.uk/taskforce/data-tracker/air-quality/pm25">PM2.5</a> particles are typically less than two and a half micrometres (2,500 nanometres) in diameter and can cause asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological problems. If it was classified as an outdoor environment, concentrations of particulate matter on the underground would exceed the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-and-health">air quality limits</a> set by the World Health Organisation.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I recently conducted <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24679-4">research</a> at ten underground stations across seven different lines: the Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, District, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Central. We found that users of the London Underground may be inhaling more airborne particles than previously recorded. </p>
<p>The majority of these particles are also smaller than those identified by previous research and represent a particularly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00038-019-01202-7">serious health concern</a> for humans. Between 60% and 70% of the iron-bearing particles sampled were 0.02 micrometres (20 nanometres) or less in diameter. Particles of this size can pass from the lungs into the bloodstream.</p>
<h2>Magnetic particles</h2>
<p>Metallic particulate matter is <a href="https://oem.bmj.com/content/62/6/355">generated</a> in underground rail systems through interaction between brakes, wheels and rails. Poorly ventilated platforms and tunnels then mean that underground users are exposed to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231010002852?via%3Dihub">high concentrations</a> of these particles.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman seated and scrolling through her phone while a train moves past in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501580/original/file-20221216-11-8bg4cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Poor ventilation means Underground users are exposed to high concentrations of airborne particulates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-wearing-protective-face-mask-2100516343">DavideAngelini/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But as many of these particulates are metallic, they have magnetic properties. The underground is therefore a suitable location to test whether magnetism can be an effective method for monitoring airborne particulate pollution.</p>
<p>Our study employed magnetic and microscopic techniques including magnetic fingerprinting, 3D imaging and nanoscale microscopy. These methods represent a cost-effective way of characterising the harmful particulate matter in underground transport systems.</p>
<p>Traditional methods instead involve recording the concentration of bulk particles, such as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-statistics/concentrations-of-particulate-matter-pm10-and-pm25">PM2.5</a>, by mass or volume – for example, in micrograms per cubic metre. Yet the fine particles that we identified weigh very little and may be too small to be detected using such a metric.</p>
<p>Examination of these fine particles under a microscope also revealed that they naturally clump together and give the appearance of larger particles. This means that traditional monitoring methods may not account for the true abundance of these smaller and potentially more harmful particles.</p>
<h2>Mitigation routes</h2>
<p>Our study also revealed that these fine particles have likely been present in the underground for months or years, but further research is needed to obtain a more accurate estimate.</p>
<p>The chemical structure of iron oxide moves through phases depending on its exposure to air. We recorded concentrations of highly oxidised iron-rich particulate matter. This suggests that the particulates have been exposed to prolonged low temperature contact with oxygen and makes it unlikely that they were freshly generated but instead circulated over time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A busy underground train platform with passengers about to board a train." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501849/original/file-20221219-12-122a43.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Air quality is up to 40% worse on platforms than in ticket halls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-6-2018-passengers-1197949861">Matthew Ashmore/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>These particles will settle over time but are lifted into the air again as trains move through underground tunnels and arrive at platforms. We found that the air quality on some platforms is up to 40% worse than in ticket halls as a result.</p>
<p>But a set of systematic mitigation measures can be used to limit the recirculation of old particles. These measures include the periodic removal of accumulated dust from underground tunnels and the regular cleaning of tracks, which at present are cleaned solely for operational reasons and not in the interest of public health. </p>
<p>Another strategy would be to install magnetic filters in ventilation shafts to trap magnetic particles before they come into contact with humans. This strategy has been trialled in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es404502x">Seoul’s subway system</a> in South Korea. Using a 60Hz fan frequency and double magnetic filters, 46% of the PM2.5 particles were successfully removed from a subway tunnel. This decreased, however, to 38% for smaller particles.</p>
<h2>Understanding the risk</h2>
<p>There is conflicting evidence over whether particulate matter pollution in underground train systems is in fact more dangerous than exposure to outdoor air pollution. More definitive toxicological research is needed to evaluate the impact of airborne particulates on human health.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A queue of road traffic pouring exhaust fumes into the cold sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501581/original/file-20221216-27-i3bmwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">It is unclear whether exposure to airborne particles in underground rail systems is more dangerous than outdoor air pollution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pollution-exhaust-cars-city-winter-smoke-1301806378">NadyGinzburg/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Research into the health impacts of exposure to air in underground rail systems shows mixed results. <a href="https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=1142">Toxicological testing</a> of particulate matter in the Stockholm subway system in 2005 concluded that subway drivers were no more likely to suffer a heart attack than other manual workers in the city.</p>
<p>But more recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396422002444">laboratory studies</a>, using particles from the London Underground’s Bakerloo and Jubilee lines, indicate that users are susceptible to pneumococcal infection (including pneumonia and bloodstream infections). Further research in Stockholm found that the air on the subway is <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/tx049723c">40-80 times</a> more damaging to human DNA compared with the air in an urban street environment.</p>
<p>Our characterisation of the London Underground’s particulate matter pollution complements traditional monitoring. Detailing the size, structure and chemical composition of particulate matter will better enable health experts and toxicologists to limit any potential health impacts associated with travelling on the underground.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hassan Aftab Sheikh receives funding from Cambridge Trust</span></em></p>New research reveals that the London Underground is polluted with small particles which may carry negative health effects for humans.Hassan Aftab Sheikh, PhD Researcher in Earth Sciences, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1954002022-11-29T13:58:13Z2022-11-29T13:58:13ZPFI at 30: it’s hard to say anything positive about this deeply flawed financing model<p>It was Norman Lamont who first announced a new way of paying for public buildings and infrastructure in November 1992. In a <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1992/nov/12/autumn-statement">speech to the House of Commons</a>, the then chancellor of the exchequer said he was looking to encourage more private financing for such projects. </p>
<p>Speaking only a few weeks after the government had been rocked by <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-black-wednesday-still-matters-it-was-the-start-of-markets-telling-politicians-what-to-do-190471">Black Wednesday</a>, he reassured the house he would “ensure that sensible investment decisions are taken whenever the opportunity arises”.</p>
<p>So began the era of private finance initiatives (PFIs), which saw more than 700 contracts signed off in the UK until the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/goodbye-pfi/">government stopped</a> doing them in 2018. They <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-and-private-finance-2-projects-018-summary-data">produced projects</a> with assets worth approximately £60 billion, which are costing the taxpayer £170 billion – that’s a gap of £110 billion between what the assets are worth and what the taxpayer is paying for them. </p>
<p>So now that PFI has reached its 30th anniversary, how should it be remembered?</p>
<h2>What they are</h2>
<p>PFIs have paid for everything from roads to bridges to schools to hospitals, not to mention military training facilities, water and waste projects, sports facilities and prisons. Transport projects came first, such as the <a href="https://nation.cymru/news/a-u-turn-on-tolls-the-severn-bridge-pledge/">Severn River crossings</a> and the <a href="https://clok.uclan.ac.uk/22711/7/22711%20AAM.pdf">M6 Toll Road</a>. A refurbishment of some <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/innovation-in-pfi-financing-the-treasury-building-project/">HM Treasury buildings</a> was another early project, and was often cited by Conservative ministers as evidence of the Treasury’s belief in these schemes. </p>
<p>Generally PFIs – or public-private partnerships (PPPs), as they are sometimes known – involve a consortium of private companies financing, building, maintaining and operating assets for 25 to 30 years. Once operational, the public body effectively makes leasing payments to the lead contractor – subject to the assets being available and meeting key performance indicators. </p>
<p>The Treasury persistently claimed, at least initially, that this link between payments and performance would ensure the private sector bore most of the risks. By putting these experts in charge, it was argued that project management would improve. This was going to lead to more and better infrastructure, delivering value for money for taxpayers. </p>
<h2>Rhetoric vs reality</h2>
<p>PFI has certainly seen many infrastructure projects completed and facilities modernised which would not have been possible under traditional public procurement. But as far as the supposed benefits are concerned, the evidence suggests a disconnect between political rhetoric and reality. </p>
<p>Borrowing costs are one unavoidable problem, since contractors will most likely have a lower credit rating than the government. These costs get passed on to the taxpayer, which has constrained what authorities <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0408.2010.00508.x?casa_token=67XC3f19J0IAAAAA%3A52iVpXX-HAZygSfwWE7LXdHdKHFkEMXnMYgBi3wNMpahaeMetcMgSgKCreHZN_anN355yLgs7w-slxtI">such as the NHS</a> can spend on essential services, forcing them to reduce budgets accordingly. It also created <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-923X.12990?casa_token=X17PTYGqWeUAAAAA%3AqMfhidbEmqwkcgTRc3sNCFDlZy4eiitOzQodVVPur-cM9hY4bFrd3N4Wt1naWqAFwE3xc9h0DiPl8hY4">pressure to reduce</a> project costs, leading to poorer infrastructure. </p>
<p>There’s evidence from PFIs in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jane-Broadbent/publication/238789662_Nature_Emergence_and_the_Role_of_Management_Accounting_in_Decision_Making_and_Post-Decision_Project_Evaluation/links/00b49528dcb0c11e93000000/Nature-Emergence-and-the-Role-of-Management-Accounting-in-Decision-Making-and-Post-Decision-Project-Evaluation.pdf">health</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12401?casa_token=tBI96iHYGo0AAAAA%3APAeIf5nkMMUdLgpKmnarEQQHgEJPesRcpEPccK86i0o0K-aOhrlQOd8Ju_2v5ux6f5gFSmDWCE29_2QH">roads</a> that performance-based payments don’t incentivise contractors. The financial incentives are often inadequate, since they form only a small portion of leasing payments, and it’s difficult to develop key performance indicators for long projects anyway. </p>
<p>There are also endless issues around asset risks. With schools, for example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838914000031?casa_token=Uw2ZBlOFgD0AAAAA:WJG1mGN9MhTWZSToEfuhX66bzc3BG7TWjV9x6CXiBRPbFDlKs6aesAeg4vongNYgflyY3OFsfTU">empirical studies</a> highlight inherent complexities and subjectivity in how risks were allocated. According to this research, public authorities and their financial advisers could “manipulate” accounting numbers to make it look as though more risk was being transferred than was necessarily the case.</p>
<p>High returns earned by private investors also suggest departments were overpaying for transferring project risks. For example, equity returns in the M25 motorway project <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubacc/894/89405.htm">were approximately 30%</a> – mkore than double the expected annual returns in PFIs.</p>
<p>Another issue is the difficulty in foreseeing and estimating all risks over a project’s lifetime. For example, the mid-1990s PFI contract for modernising the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS-2) experienced multiple delays and renegotiations during the pre-contract stage on account of uncertainties around future IT requirements. The Inland Revenue <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0408.00139?casa_token=ApoSFT6hNYsAAAAA:hiYpSdNpN8zS4PE8eG0HjmaqCCYARWjOvMlIzwgZ-ZvIKSngxf9ryNvAfX5E21PQizv0U-EkXStxik4">reportedly received</a> only limited compensation from the contractors for these delays, yet did not take further action to avoid prejudicing “the partnership relationship”. </p>
<p>Sometimes failures to estimate risks helped to push contractors into bankruptcy. The classic example is <a href="https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/4909/1/I%20Demirag%20-%20Sourcing%20public%20services.pdf">Carillion in 2018</a>, whose collapse was partly due to problems with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/15/carillion-collapse-two-years-on-government-has-learned-nothing">PFI hospital contracts</a> in Birmingham and Liverpool. Similarly with the <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/0809512es.pdf">London Underground</a> modernisation in the early 2000s, poorly foreseen costs caused contractor collapses. The incomplete project reverted to the government, costing taxpayers <a href="https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/london-undergrounds-failed-ppp">billions of pounds</a>.</p>
<h2>Future concerns</h2>
<p>These difficulties help show why the UK government ultimately scrapped PFI. It had also found it more difficult to make austerity savings in the 2010s because of PFI payments, while unfinished projects such as the <a href="https://www.cityam.com/carillion-two-years-on-misery-as-major-hospitals-in-liverpool-and-birmingham-still-unfinished/">Birmingham and Liverpool</a> hospitals involved in the Carillion collapse produced waves of negative publicity. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, existing contracts remain a concern. Leaving aside leasing costs, <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/managing-pfi-assets-and-services-as-contracts-end/">one critical issue</a> is contracts expiring at the end of their lifetimes. PFI holding companies aren’t required by law to to disclose much financial information, so there are unknowns around the state of <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/5144/documents/50775/default/">many assets</a>. Some could be passed on to the public in poor condition, and services could be disrupted as a result. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/work/921/managing-the-expiry-of-pfi-contracts">recent parliamentary review</a> pointed to uncertainties around funding to help better manage the expiry of contracts. The review also found an absence of clear guidelines for contract expiry in some of the oldest contracts (meaning the ones due to expire soonest), and limited trust between procuring authorities and their contractors. </p>
<p>The government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-pfi-contract-expiry">recently published guidance</a> for procuring authorities around contract expiries, but said nothing about making available technical, commercial, financial or legal expertise. Authorities will need to organise this in-house, raising the prospect of hiring expensive private consultants with taxpayers’ money. </p>
<p>Three decades after PFI launched as a “sensible” form of infrastructure investment, it’s <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752173/PF2_web_.pdf">now seen</a> by the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility as a fiscal risk. This is both because PFIs have been allowed to remain off the government’s balance sheet and because the risks often revert to the government if a contract fails. </p>
<p>PFI may have seemed sensible on paper, but successive governments <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-72128-2_11">appear to have</a> implemented it to make projects happen faster, often to score political points. To make the best of a bad situation, changing the rules around the financial reporting of PFI holding companies and making sufficient resources available to manage asset handovers to public authorities would be a step in the right direction</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Yes it got many things built, but the legacy is fairly disastrous.Salman Ahmad, Lecturer in Accounting, Aston UniversityCiaran Connolly, Professsor of Accounting, Queen's University Belfastistemi demirag, Professor of Accounting, Tallinn University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1672542021-09-02T23:54:52Z2021-09-02T23:54:52ZA subway flood expert explains what needs to be done to stop underground station deluges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419151/original/file-20210902-27-1r1ksoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C8%2C5679%2C3749&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Underground and underwater.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/commuters-walk-into-a-flooded-3rd-avenue-149th-st-subway-news-photo/1235009695">David Dee Delgado/Getty Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Subway stations in New York were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/nyregion/nyc-subway-transit-updates.html">inundated with water</a> following <a href="https://www.amny.com/new-york/torrential-rains-in-nyc-suspend-all-subway-service/">heavy rain</a> on Sept. 1, 2021. But the Big Apple isn’t alone – over the last year we have seen similar images in other major cities, including <a href="https://www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/london-flooding-severe-delays-london-21037568">London</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-china-subway-flood-survivors-harrowing-experience-i-may-not-be-able-to-get-out-11627130928">Zhengzhou in China</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>We spoke with Klaus Hans Jacob, a <a href="https://www.earth.columbia.edu/users/profile/klaus-hans-jacob">geophysicist and flood expert</a> who analyzed New York’s subway system before and after <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3Kh5Lzumf0">2012’s Hurricane Sandy</a>, about the ongoing – and increasing – flood risk to coastal underground transportation systems and what city planners can do to prepare and protect.</em></p>
<h2>Are instances of major subway floods increasing? And if so, why?</h2>
<p>In New York over the last month or so we have had three subway floods – first <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/watch-nyc-subway-station-floods-as-sudden-heavy-downpours-wreak-havoc-on-tri-state-roads/3146172/">due to a heavy downpour</a>, then from <a href="https://www.amny.com/transit/overnight-track-floods-snags-subway-service-during-storm-henri/">Tropical Storm Henri</a> and now <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/09/01/nyc-streets-subway-stations-overrun-by-flash-floods/">Hurricane Ida</a>. Meanwhile, we have seen similar floods in <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/15/texas-capitol-flood/">cities across America</a> and the world.</p>
<p>I think the message should be pretty clear by now: Climate change isn’t a matter of the future; its effects are happening right now. Warmer oceans means more moisture in the atmosphere, and as that moisture encounters cold air, it all comes down on the cities like the proverbial cats and dogs.</p>
<p>It is not necessarily a problem just for coastal cities. Ida, for example, left havoc across the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-new-york-philly-and-inland-spots-arent-safe-from-climate-change-fueled-hurricanes-like-ida-11630599975">entire interior</a> of the eastern United States. But, of course, many <a href="https://interestingengineering.com/primary-reasons-cities-built-where-they-now">major metros</a> – from London to Amsterdam to Marseilles to New York – have been built next to major rivers or on the coast. This makes them vulnerable to excess water through rising tides or heavy rain. In the latest case in New York, it was from above, but the flooding from Sandy came from coastal surge.</p>
<h2>How does the age of some of these subway systems affect flood risk?</h2>
<p>When the subway was <a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/progress/jb_progress_subway_1.html#:%7E:text=On%20Thursday%20afternoon%2C%20October%2027,later%20arrived%20at%20145th%20Street.">initially built in New York starting in 1904</a>, no one was thinking of sea level rise or torrential rains. And so the fundamental design of the underground system did not take those phenomena into account. </p>
<p>We know better now. For the past 20 years, it has been clear that more severe storms are an <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-climate-change-can-affect-extreme-weather-but-there-is-still-a-lot-to-learn-136003">inevitable outcome of human-made climate change</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1433258249491451908"}"></div></p>
<p>But despite having a couple of decades to do something about it, we are still in a reactive mode rather than being proactive. Essentially city officials are cleaning up the mess after the storm, rather than taking measures like relocating infrastructure or protecting it.</p>
<h2>So what can cities do to better protect aging subways systems?</h2>
<p>In the case of older subway systems, we cannot reasonably expect them to be relocated over the next few decades. Instead we need to fix them.</p>
<p>Odd as it may seem, water in itself is not the problem. Rather, it is a mismatch of the amount of rainfall we are seeing and where the openings are in our subway systems – not just where people go in and out, but also the ventilation grates where air goes in and out and where the electric cables enter the system. All of these openings allow for water to run off the streets and into the subway. </p>
<p>These are known engineering problems that can be fixed. In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority <a href="https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/transit/2019/10/30/hurricane-sandy-anniversary-seven-years-later-mta-outlines-prep-for-future-storms">fixed a large proportion</a> of the problem caused by coastal storm surges by installing things such as gates and barriers – some installed permanently, some that need to be inserted into place before the water shows up. These prevent water getting into the subway system. When working as designed, they can result in a 98% reduction in coastal flood potential, according to my calculations.</p>
<p>But these measures work for coastal flooding. The problem we saw on Sept. 1, 2021, was the result of runoff water from the streets that gets into the system. With coastal storm surges, the water comes into the subway system only at a low level – perhaps at entrances just a few feet above sea level. With the rain, even at higher elevations in a city, subways can flood.</p>
<h2>How do you address this runoff street water problem?</h2>
<p>You have to approach it in two ways: Avoid street flooding in the first place and protect entrances to subways. </p>
<p>Avoiding street flooding can be achieved through increasing the capacity of street gutters and the sewer system to take up the runoff water from streets. This can be done by widening or adding new gutters, but also by having larger-diameter sewer pipes in the roads.</p>
<p>And then you can make the ground more absorbent by <a href="https://www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-trees-help-reduce-runoff#:%7E:text=Trees%20are%20increasingly%20recognized%20for,the%20soil%20that%20promote%20infiltration.">planting more trees</a> on streets and putting in permeable surfaces. For example, rather than concrete parking lots, put in gravel which is a permeable surface that allows the ground to absorb water.</p>
<p>Individual property owners can, if they have a flat or near-flat roof, put <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-green-roofs-can-protect-city-streets-from-flooding-82679">gardens on their roofs</a> rather than have gutters. Green roofs can absorb the water coming down from the sky; and catch basins – devices that collect storm water – and then release that water slowly over days, for each house; they can help to ensure sewer systems don’t get overwhelmed. These measures work best in areas with lots of single-family houses.</p>
<p>Trash on the streets can amplify the problem by clogging up drainage, but it isn’t the systemic issue. It just makes a bad situation worse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Firefighters pump rainwater from a flooded metro station in Zhengzhou, China" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419179/original/file-20210902-13-pj1dsj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A flooded metro station in Zhengzhou, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/firefighters-pump-rainwater-from-a-flooded-metro-station-on-news-photo/1332081722?adppopup=true">VCG/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to protecting existing subway entrances, you can build berms – mini levees or raised banks – of several feet at every entrance. That does make it more difficult for people with disabilities, so you have to also modify elevators to take people down.</p>
<p>All it needs is good engineering – there is no mystery. Well, it is engineering, and political will and money.</p>
<h2>Are we seeing this engineering in newer subway systems?</h2>
<p>These are not new problems; the fact that water flows downhill has been known since the beginning of mankind. But newer underground systems are dealing better with this. Tokyo <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.11.730">deals with flooding</a>, <a href="https://english.dorts.gov.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=07AD51A0326C05A8&s=EB778A52E17E85DF">Taipei likewise</a>. They have had problems in the past but are faster to adapt. For example, transport officials in Tokyo installed sliding doors in underground passages that are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705816340917?via%3Dihub">able to withstand the pressure</a> from storm floods 15 meters deep.</p>
<p>Newer subway systems also tend to have entrances at high points compared to their surroundings. The key is not letting water build up near entrances in the first place - so don’t put subway entrances near low points of a street. </p>
<h2>You mentioned political will and money…</h2>
<p>It isn’t cheap. To effectively protect a city’s subway system from flooding costs tens of billions of dollars. But it is cheaper to fix the problem before extreme events than having to fix the problem after the damage is done.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the current <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/us/politics/infrastructure-bill-passes.html">trillion-dollar infrastructure bill</a> going through Congress has a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22621793/public-transit-funding-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill">totally insufficient amount for subways</a> – far more of it, around US$110 billion <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/08/10/senate-infrastructure-bill-what-is-in-it/">goes to bridges and roads</a> than public transportation modes, which are set to receive around $39 billion.</p>
<p>[<em>Get our best science, health and technology stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-best">Sign up for The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Klaus Hans Jacob carried out pro bono analyses of MTA subway system's vulnerability to flooding that was published before Sandy hit in 2012.</span></em></p>Images of water gushing into subway stations filled social media following heavy rain in New York City. Solutions are at hand – but it takes money and political will, an expert explains.Klaus Hans Jacob, Professor of Geophysics, Columbia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254652019-11-01T11:25:04Z2019-11-01T11:25:04ZFive ways commuting on the London Underground has and hasn’t changed in the last century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299850/original/file-20191101-88387-1hirda.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fashion has changed a lot more than the tube since 1906.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground#/media/File:Baker_Street_Waterloo_Railway_platform_March_1906.png">Wikipedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The London Underground opened in 1863, more than 150 years ago. A lot has changed since then but a lot of the gripes about travelling on the tube remain the same. A pretty standard list of current complaints includes: it’s too crowded, claustrophobic, noisy, dirty, hot and expensive. Has this become any better over the last century? Here’s my verdict, based on my <a href="https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/London-Transport/?k=9781789739541">research into the history of the underground</a>.</p>
<h2>1. It’s less expensive</h2>
<p>Let’s start with what is most easily quantifiable: money. Most fares today are <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/fares-freeze">frozen</a> at 2016 prices, but the history of London’s fares has seen some wild gyrations over a century. In 1981, for example, the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/10/transport.transport">fares fair</a>” policy cut all fares by 31%. They were then doubled in March 1982 before being reduced again in May 1983 by 23%. </p>
<p>The key issue when it comes to expense is how the cost of tube travel today compares to previous costs. Historically, as London Transport’s 1925 commuter mascot <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16102/mr-pennyfare">Mr Pennyfare proudly proclaimed</a>, London transport’s core policy until after World War II was that a penny corresponded to a mile of travel. </p>
<p>Allowing for <a href="https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/">retail price inflation</a>, 1925’s 1p is now 56p. At present a trip on the underground in zone one costs £2.40 and a one hour hop on bus fare costs £1.50. Roughly speaking, if a commuter’s tube journey is more than 4.5 miles or their bus journey is more than 2.5 miles then they’ve done better than their 1925 counterpart.</p>
<p>We also have to allow for being considerably better off than in 1925. <a href="https://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/ukearncpi/result2.php">UK wages have tripled since 1925</a> from around £7,000 to £21,000 in constant 2010 values. So the reality is that the average commuter has to pay a much smaller proportion of their wages to travel than in the past. </p>
<p>So, is any of the griping about cost justified? The answer is a qualified yes, but only if you compare it to public transport systems elsewhere. A one-year travel card <a href="http://web.mta.info/metrocard/mcgtreng.htm#30day">in New York is £1,176</a>, <a href="https://sbahn.berlin/en/tickets/all-tickets/weekly-monthly-annual-tickets/vbb-umweltkarte-annual-ticket/?tabs=tbc-t2">in Berlin it’s £841</a> and in <a href="https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/navigo-annual-travel-pass">Paris it is £712</a>. This ranges from a third to a fifth of a <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares-2019.pdf">comparable London travelcard</a>.</p>
<h2>2. It’s more crowded</h2>
<p>Complaints about overcrowding are as old as the network. In 2018-19 there were nearly <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-annual-report-and-statement-of-accounts-2018-19.pdf">1.4 billion journeys</a> made through 270 stations. If numbers were evenly distributed, each station would see about 10.2m passengers passing through them over the course of a year. </p>
<p>By comparison, in the first year of fully unified underground railway operation (1934) there were 416m journeys through 186 stations, meaning roughly 4.4m passengers passed through each station. Naturally these averages conceal enormous variations and given that they do not account for changes while on an entire journey they are almost certainly an underestimate. However, as a rule of thumb about what it feels like to use the network, it’s a clear indicator. Escalators, travelators and faster journey times alleviate some of the crush, but it’s definitely got busier out there.</p>
<p>In terms of claustrophobia, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23896855">we keep getting taller</a> and <a href="https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/obesity">fatter</a> but tube trains have retained the same basic dimensions since the 1920s. The <a href="https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/City_and_South_London_Railway">original tube</a> ran in 3.1-metre tunnels. In the 1920s the last of these were widened to the current 3.56 metres. The chances of re-boring the entire network are nil, though happily the new Elizabeth Line is built to mainline specifications (6.2 metres).</p>
<p>There is no data on dirt levels on the tube. But we can trace the subjective perceptions that passengers had towards things like safety and crime. Transport for London (TfL), which manages the underground, devotes an entire section of its annual report to <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-annual-report-and-statement-of-accounts-2018-19.pdf">safety and security</a>. Sections on safety and measures to tackle “hooliganism” appear for the first time in the early 1970s. </p>
<p>But it seems unlikely that crime did not exist on the underground before this point. Fears that tube travel mixed classes and genders, as well as the threat of terrorism, existed in the <a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2013/10/29/terror-in-the-underground-30-october-1883/">late 19th century</a>. Researchers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885911000667">Barbara Schmuki</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.7227/TJTH.32.2.4">Colin Divall</a> have examined how railway companies attempted to challenge these fears in the interwar period to encourage more female travellers. </p>
<p>Looking at all the annual reports from 1934 onwards, passenger experience is a section that gradually grows in prominence, squeezing out the pages devoted to engineering and research. The implication is that London transport has become increasingly sensitive to customer feelings.</p>
<h2>3. It’s noisy but trains run quicker</h2>
<p>The tube makes <a href="https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2019/09/london-tube-strike-update/">screeching sounds</a> as wheels rub against rails when it goes around tight bends. There is a widely held view that the numerous sharp corners on the older parts of the system are there because the tube system follows the pattern of the streets above. Urban geographer and London transport specialist <a href="https://www.nathandarroch.co.uk/presentations">Nathan Darroch</a> partly demolishes this idea. But some of the layout does owe its convoluted shape to the desire to avoid paying “wayleave charges” (a form of fine for trespassing under certain properties) when it was built. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299851/original/file-20191101-88387-i8nzim.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tight bends cause screeching sounds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tube-150-exhibition-2013.pdf">Transport for London</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether this problem has got better or worse over the years is hard to judge. Average speeds have risen from 26km/h in 1919 to 33km/h today, though the resulting increase in noise has been compensated for by improvements in train design. In comparison to elsewhere, the <a href="http://www.railsystem.net/rubber-tyred-metro-2/">Paris metro system uses rubber tyres</a> on some lines to minimise noise.</p>
<h2>4. It’s getting hotter</h2>
<p>Anecdotally, when the tube was first opened it was promoted as a cool refuge from the streets above. Temperatures would have matched the ambient temperatures of the earth surrounding the tunnels which <a href="https://www.railmagazine.com/infrastructure/stations/cooling-the-tube">was about 14°C</a>.</p>
<p>Official data on temperatures is only available <a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-average-monthly-temperatures">from 2013</a>. This shows that while average peak temperatures have not risen, the minimums have from 16.4°C in January 2013 to 19°C in January 2018. This gives the feeling of a hotter system more of the time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299871/original/file-20191101-88414-188r87c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London underground average temperatures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Transport for London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the decades the heat released from electric motors, the friction of train movement and train breaking systems has steadily cooked the clay soil around the tunnels, making it even less able to absorb heat. Add the problems of a general rise in background temperatures due to climate change and old tube lines constructed decades ago without the ventilation systems like those on new tubes like the Jubilee line, and you get an <a href="https://cdn.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cooling-the-tube-05.jpg">overall rise in temperatures</a>. The modern tube is hotter than ever and likely to get more so. </p>
<h2>5. It’s more accessible</h2>
<p>Like claustrophobia and screeching wheels, long walks to change tube lines is a problem rooted in path dependency – the original tube designers made decisions that we are stuck with.</p>
<p>Over the decades London transport has tried to make things easier with more lifts, escalators and travelators. In 1934, the 186 stations had 127 lifts and 124 escalators. <a href="https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2019/07/29/tube-trivia-and-facts/">Today</a> 200 of the 270 stations have step free access and there are 202 lifts, 451 escalators and four travelators. In many ways it is easier to get around than ever, but the fundamentals of station location cannot be easily changed.</p>
<p>So in terms of accessibility and cost the underground is an improvement on a century ago. But it is busier and hotter, and some historical decisions on scale and location cannot easily be resolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Fowler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s hotter and more crowded on the Underground but some things have got better for commuters.James Fowler, Lecturer, Essex Business School, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/995582018-07-17T11:55:44Z2018-07-17T11:55:44ZUnused £321m trapped on dormant Oyster cards – and time may be running out to get it back<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227036/original/file-20180710-70072-h9lbms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Topping up.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-april-17-2018-passengers-1071469106?src=yI5vOnSrqkdMzpS0q5QOZQ-1-13">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is 15 years since Transport for London (TfL) launched the Oyster card on London’s buses and tube trains, but Oyster hasn’t had a very happy birthday.</p>
<p>Instead of cake, candles and raised glasses, news broke that money trapped on dormant Oyster cards amounts to £321m, a princely sum that has effectively been loaned, interest-free from the public to TfL. This <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/dormant-oyster-card-cash-mountain-totals-321m-11421714">“mountain of cash”</a> exists as credit on cards that haven’t been used for at least a year – either lost, damaged, abandoned, or stashed away.</p>
<p>To followers of Oyster-nomics, this is just one more episode in a marked decline affecting Oyster and similar top-up based systems. More and more cards have been slipping into disuse, while the percentage of journeys using Oyster has plummeted. Where did these troubles come from, and might the so-called cash mountain be the final straw?</p>
<h2>Oyster vs Octopus</h2>
<p>To understand Oyster’s problems, we need to take a look at its history.</p>
<p>London was not the first world city to introduce labour-saving methods on its public transport, and there have been many attempts to use technology to ease the passage of commuters cramming into buses and trains. In the 1960s, the Japanese launched a cardboard ticket with a <a href="https://www.omron.com/about/history/founder/04/">magnetic stripe</a> on the back. The system is still used today, including on some British railway lines and the Mexico City metro.</p>
<p>In Hong Kong during the 1990s a diverse group of companies collaborated to develop Octopus – a payment card with a chip that dramatically reduced the city’s use of cash. Initially, the card solely served the city’s vast transport network – a direct forerunner of Oyster – but slowly expanded to include convenience stores, fast food restaurants and more.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227039/original/file-20180710-70045-xfwvap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">They look better too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hong-kong-china-may-5-2018-1088258894?src=BRNxz7Sc_WC-gGgrLYEiaw-1-19">shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By <a href="http://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/corporate/en/investor/annual2017/EMTRAR2017F.pdf">December 2017</a>, more than 10,000 Hong Kong shops and service providers were accepting Octopus payments from 34m cards – accounting for 15m transactions a day. These corresponded to a daily spend of around HK$194m (£18.7m).</p>
<p>The Oyster card seems brittle by comparison. While Octopus morphed into a contactless, stored value smart card capable of online and offline transactions, Oyster remains a glorified travel card. TfL oversees <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-draft-annual-report-2017-2018.pdf">3.99 billion journeys</a> every year, so have easily had the influence and financial muscle to help develop Oyster if they had wanted. Predominantly, they have chosen not to.</p>
<p>At one stage there were ambitions to expand the Oyster network to Britain’s ATMs, so that customers would be able to top-up at any hole-in-the-wall. But in the course of <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cash-and-dash-9780198782810?cc=gb&lang=en&">our ATM research</a>, interviewees in the banking sector suggested it was political infighting in LINK – the sole ATM network in the UK – that kept the plans on the shelf, rather than any technological or commercial concern. A clear missed opportunity for Oyster to develop, Octopus-esque, and establish similar schemes across the country.</p>
<p>As it is, while some global counterparts have evolved to keep up with the new applications of contactless technology, Oyster has been touching in and out the same way since 2003.</p>
<h2>Going for gold</h2>
<p>Perhaps unexpectedly, the 2012 London Olympics dealt the Oyster card a body blow. Preparations for the games included plans to make Olympic sites <a href="https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/95825/Plastic-Games-at-London-Olympics">“cash-free zones”</a> in a bid to cut queues and stop criminals targeting visitors.</p>
<p>After much lobbying, this led to TfL starting to accept EMV payments. “EMV” – “Europay, Mastercard, Visa” – refers to technical specifications which, within specific guidelines, make chips in payment cards and point-of-sale terminals compatible. This allowed contactless bank cards to be used instead of Oyster, initially on London’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/londons-tube-is-getting-contactless-payments-could-they-work-in-the-us/267300/">8,500-strong fleet of red buses</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227037/original/file-20180710-70063-nm2z9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The London Olympics delivered an unexpected blow to the Oyster monopoly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-aug-6-2012-tower-bridge-460761517?src=1lWJqwxo2mDAC_5q-CC19g-1-5">shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the end of 2013, London’s entire network of buses, tube trains, trams, metropolitan rail lines, and TfL-operated river boats was open to EMV payments, and in 2014 TfL doubled down by banning cash payment for bus fares. At the time, fewer than 40% of the 96m debit cards and 58m credit cards in the UK were contactless, but by the end of 2017, 70% of all payment cards had contactless capabilities. Similar trends were expected in the wallets of many of London’s 15m or so annual <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32812460">overseas visitors</a>. </p>
<p>Since the London Olympics in 2012, Oyster travel has dropped by 20%, while EMV journeys grew from <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/contactless-payment">79,421 in 2014 to 723,098 in 2017</a> – a factor of more than nine. The number of unused Oyster cards doubled between 2013 and 2017 from 27m to 53m. As for the cash mountain, that’s been growing by an average of 25% per year since 2014, from £123m to the whopping £321m now quoted in the press.</p>
<h2>An Oyster with no pearl</h2>
<p>In effect, punters have loaned TfL this money, interest-free, and there’s no guarantee it will be fully returned. When breaking the news, Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon stated that it was “time TfL devoted far more time and energy telling the public how they can get their own money back.” </p>
<p>But as with energy companies, TfL has no financial incentive to persuade the public to withdraw their balances. Gas bills at least are usually large enough to jerk the claimant into action, whereas Oyster balances are spread across 76m units (73% of which have lain dormant for a year or more), each containing an average of <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/oyster-card">£2.86</a>. One solution would be to imitate airlines and air miles – TfL could set a deadline by which to withdraw dormant money, or lose anything that goes unclaimed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227042/original/file-20180710-70066-54gr27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Punters can now pay for their morning torture in more ways than ever before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/underground-151196600?src=hMB0p500T2jTrzpZa5XNAw-1-6">shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This dormant money has set off alarm bells across the pre-paid industry, and shows how non-financial organisations can heavily affect the way payment methods develop. In this case the bargaining power clearly lies with the transport operator (TfL) and not the user as, regardless of people’s preferences, they have to conform to the operator’s choice of payment method. Whether Oyster stays or goes will depend on TfL’s strategy, not on benefits to users.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this is just one narrative in a much wider story: cash transactions are digitising, payment methods proliferating, and top-up systems like Oyster must evolve quickly or face extinction. Advances barely on the horizon a few years ago are now setting the industry standard, and the Oyster card has spent 15 years in stasis. One day soon it may be touching out for good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernardo Bátiz-Lazo has received funding to research ATM and payments history from the British Academy, Fundación de Estudios Financieros (Fundef-ITAM), Charles Babbage Institute and the Hagley Museum and Archives. He is also active in the ATM Industry Association, consults with KAL ATM Software and is a regular contributor to <a href="http://www.atmmarketplace.com">www.atmmarketplace.com</a>.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prachandra Shakya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A dormant ‘cash mountain’ marks a nadir for London’s contactless travel card, but trouble has been brewing for some time.Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, Professor of Business History and Bank Management, Bangor UniversityPrachandra Shakya, PhD Candidate, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/881142017-11-27T14:11:04Z2017-11-27T14:11:04Z‘He just pulled my hand in to his lap’: what it’s really like to be assaulted on the London Underground<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196491/original/file-20171127-2066-1td5hp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">unsplash/dwayne paisley marshall</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sexual harassment is rife in public spaces, and as an integral part of daily life, public transport is no exception. As global as it is endemic, women are forced to negotiate the risk and reality of sexual harassment as they get from A to B on a daily basis.</p>
<p>On the London Underground, the extent of the issue became apparent in 2013 after a Transport for London (TfL) <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/safety-and-security-annual-report-2013-14.pdf">survey</a> revealed that 15% of Londoners had experienced some form of unwanted sexual attention on public transport in the city. A large proportion of these incidents happened on the Underground.</p>
<p>In my research, I spoke to women who had experienced sexual harassment on the tube. The unique nature of the space of the underground and the way people interact with each other when they’re using it mean that the abuse manifests itself in particular ways.</p>
<p>As Eliza, who has lived in London and used the tube her whole life said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>On the tube you’re simultaneously in close proximity with so many people and yet you’re completely anonymous. Everyone is in their own world … and I think some people take advantage of that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Groping or “frotteuring” are the most common offences, and generally happen in the morning and evening rush hours. Masturbation and indecent exposures are more likely on quieter, off-peak trains.</p>
<p>The women I spoke to also described being “upskirted” – having someone take a photo up their skirt – and having indecent images randomly sent to them via the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/airdrop-penis-pictures-how-to-report-it_uk_5992b156e4b08a247276fd15">airdrop function</a> on their phone. They said they had been followed, ejaculated on, had to deflect drunken come-ons, and put up with verbal and physical aggression.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196493/original/file-20171127-2004-1aeyz35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The daily crush provides useful cover for perpetrators.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axelrd/3275942326/in/photolist-5Zu4wf-a6eaZB-jn1KZB-dnj867-6HZnfg-9ueXb-oSDGDR-3Mgr4-nLLNzb-fKVukn-3kEagN-dqZbxq-q8uKXQ-dwy7i3-a7Xku8-9udEV-dqZ27p-3kzJA6-7xJUG7-dQcCQh-oAaQxF-8Httto-9udEQ-HS4PEC-9ufAe-dgc3o6-3kEbm1-9ucVo-9udER-ofvFWK-9ucVu-bQxzyi-fKVw4F-ERDbcT-duBKd2-3cc5hM-4ZL2cr-aZzGcF-bKCqtk-3kEaQf-9ucVw-oTJtne-a6Ghbr-4xSuoW-9ubZ3-9UG7Yq-6bVnnC-ouYEgE-TgbPXa-52ECsi">Axel Drainville</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taylor, a 33-year old project manager in Canary Wharf, east London, called her experience “insidious”. On a late evening tube, she described how a man came and sat next to her:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He just pulled my hand in to his lap and held it there … I just froze … I was looking around trying to make eye contact with someone to say, ‘Get this guy off me’. The longer I left it, the more I felt like I couldn’t move … it lasted 15 minutes. Afterwards … I was so ashamed and confused by my own reaction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I asked her if she had reported the incident, she shook her head and said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had a hard time even explaining it to my boyfriend. How would I go about talking to the police? There’s no way they’d take that seriously.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The TfL survey showed that only one in ten people made reports after experiencing a sexual offence on the Underground. Due to the nature of the environment and the type of incidents that occur, reporting and policing sexual harassment on the tube comes with its own set of difficulties.</p>
<p>Unlike most acts of sexual violence, offences on the underground are committed by strangers. The police therefore have to rely on CCTV, Oyster card data, and, most importantly, information from victims when looking into a case. In a fast paced, densely packed, transitory environment, that can be extremely challenging.</p>
<h2>Anonymity</h2>
<p>Ruth, who commuted on the Waterloo and City line, described how she wasn’t even sure who assaulted her:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I felt someone’s hand touch me … between my legs … The carriage was packed full of men in suits, I couldn’t tell where the hand was coming from and no one looked suspicious. So at first I thought maybe I was imagining it, or it was an accident. Then the fingers moved from side to side … What was I going to do? If I’d said who’s touching me, no one would admit it. It would be so embarrassing. The tube arrived, the doors opened and everybody got off.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That kind of uncertainty and ambiguity often affects women’s reactions – both while an incident is happening and afterwards – making them reluctant to come forward. They also report a fear of being victim blamed, and thinking the incident was not serious enough to bother the police with, demonstrating the pervasive normalisation of sexual harassment. Furthermore, some women said they didn’t report simply because they wanted to avoid their day being further disrupted, which, considering the energy that often already goes into <a href="https://theconversation.com/have-you-ever-wondered-how-much-energy-you-put-in-to-avoid-being-assaulted-it-may-shock-you-65372">avoiding and negotiating sexual assault</a>, is as valid a reason as any.</p>
<p>However as Rach stated, perhaps the onus should not be on women to report in the first place:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everyone said to me, report it, you should report it. But I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to have to relive it again … It’s not my responsibility and I shouldn’t be made to feel guilty.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ed1-8AAD448?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Loughborough University.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an attempt to overcome some of these barriers and to put less pressure on victims, British Transport Police have taken various measures. There is now a number you can text to report incidents and undercover officers who are specially trained to spot this kind of behaviour are patrolling the Underground network. </p>
<p>The recent proliferation in reporting and public story sharing has led to an increased awareness that women are forced to negotiate this behaviour on a regular, often daily, basis in all kinds of places. Perhaps we should use this momentum to transfer the pressure and obligation to combat sexually invasive behaviour away from those who have already been victimised and instead collectively challenge issues of normalisation and bystander apathy that allow these incidents to occur on such a pervasive level.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sian Lewis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A survey revealed that 15% of Londoners had experienced some form of unwanted sexual attention on public transport.Sian Lewis, Doctoral Researcher. Feminist Urban Sociologist, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/623732016-07-21T14:51:05Z2016-07-21T14:51:05ZA hundred years of Johnston – the iconic typeface of the London Underground<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131255/original/image-20160720-31146-5vtrke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been 100 years since the London Underground’s distinctive typeface made its first appearance. Alongside the unmistakable roundel, Johnston has helped to create some of the most recognisable signage in the world: a design which screams “London!”, no matter which language you speak. It has guided Londoners and visitors alike through the city’s complex and changing transport system for a century – it’s hard to imagine where we’d all be without it. </p>
<p>On the centenary of London’s most famous lettering, now is a good moment to reflect on how Johnston has shaped the city, and why words – and the way they’re written – form such an essential part of urban infrastructure. </p>
<p>The development of modern cities and transport systems called for new tools to help people negotiate urban life: new technologies for finding our way, new systems for naming, new rules to preserve order and avoid accidents – and, of course, new visual forms to communicate all of these things. Every city has tackled these tasks in a slightly different way, and London made progress thanks to the efforts of many different people. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131438/original/image-20160721-32286-l1nd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I get around.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, in 1854, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/snow_john.shtml">physician John Snow</a> mapped the cholera epidemic in London. Not only did he manage to locate the source of the outbreak (a water pump in Soho), his designs also helped those in power to understand the needs of the people. His maps were consulted during the development of crucial sanitary and plumbing works, which transformed London into a 20th-century city.</p>
<p>Later, during the 1930s, Phyllis Pearsall also helped to forge the path, by creating an alphabetical index of London. Pearsall’s <a href="http://www.az.co.uk/?nid=5">Geographer’s A-Z Map</a> became a milestone of design and transformed the way place can be understood, by recasting the city’s then 23,000 streets into an easily navigable list. </p>
<h2>Designing London</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131435/original/image-20160721-32600-jz2zd8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=932&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Johnston, by Johnston.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_(typeface)#/media/File:Johnston_2.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>While the likes of Pearsall and Snow responded to the city’s surface, others turned their attention underground. In 1908, three events transformed London’s nascent underground railway: both the roundel symbol and the word “Underground” appeared for the first time in stations, and the network’s first machine-made tickets were issued. </p>
<p>These innovations were part of managing director Albert Stanley and then-publicity officer Frank Pick’s plan to rescue the ailing Underground Electric Railway Company of London. From this, a brand was born, and calligrapher Edward Johnston was commissioned create a typeface as visually striking as the roundel mark. In 1916, it was rolled out right across the city. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131432/original/image-20160721-32606-t3x4h7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Trajan column: an inspiration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/uralumnitravelandlearn/7295605192/sizes/l">UR Alumni Travel & Learn/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>For Johnston, the alphabet’s most important letter was “O”. Along with the “I”, its purity and character drives the form of all others. For inspiration, he turned to one of the Roman alphabet’s most critical touchstones: the Trajan column. Located in Rome and constructed in around 117AD, the column celebrates Emperor Trajan’s military victory in the Dacian wars with an inscription of six lines of letters. </p>
<p>It was the unadorned, uncorrupted form of the column’s square capitals that defined the character of Johnston’s typeface, which strove to represent a humanist essence among the chaotic visual landscape which was emerging above and below ground in London in the 1930s. Advertising and branding were colonising the everyday visual space, and competing for the attention of passengers and pedestrians through a veritable typographic storm. </p>
<p>But Johnston had a more radical intention: to create a typeface that was understated, quotidian, ordinary – a part of the consistent background, rather than a changing foreground. It’s this quality which perhaps explains the design’s longevity; the way it has become a feature of the city’s landscape, seeped into its infrastructures of government and, of course, transport. </p>
<h2>Changing face</h2>
<p>The typeface’s 1979 redesign by Colin Banks and John Miles placed Johnston at the centre of a strategic rebranding for <a href="http://www.ltmcollection.org/roundel/about/detailedhistory.html?IXpage=4&_IXSESSION_=GAwsfxHs6_c">London Transport</a>. They reined in some of Johnston’s typographic idiosyncrasies, by reducing the ratio between a stroke’s height and thickness, and breaking the rule that the stroke of a letter must be a constant width. </p>
<p>These interventions helped to shape the typeface that so powerfully embodies the character of the city; steeped in history and tradition, while striving towards an ideal of modernity; resolute and resourceful, unique and efficient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131441/original/image-20160721-30441-1jwezce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From old to new.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/futureshape/6936208501/sizes/o/">futureshape/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In the 21st century, we’ve seen Johnston’s lettering extend beyond the functional and into the political, after it was adopted by London’s mayor and assembly. Now, 40 years after Banks and Miles’ redesign, global type agency Monotype <a href="http://www.dezeen.com/2016/06/27/monotype-update-transport-for-london-100-year-old-johnston-typeface-underground-tube/">have retooled Johnston</a> for new platforms, trends and media. Notably, they have introduced thinner weights for digital use and, for the first time, the hash (#) and at (@) signs. </p>
<p>Like London, the typeface is subject to the push-and-pull of its own sense of self and history: one feature of Monotype’s Johnston100 redesign was the return of those quirks and idiosyncrasies that fell by the wayside in previous reworkings. The versatility of Johnston’s remarkable letters show how such superficially simple characters can powerfully influence the way people experience the city. It is the “voice” which helps people to get around – a comforting familiar presence amid the chaos of the morning commute.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A century ago, Edward Johnston designed a typeface for London’s transport authority. It continues to shape our experience of the city to this day.Paul Wilson, Lecturer in Communication Design, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/589072016-05-11T09:02:46Z2016-05-11T09:02:46ZHow to save underground railways from climate change flooding<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121399/original/image-20160505-19868-18weqry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could this become a regular occurance?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos/8152151223/sizes/l">MTAPhotos/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When superstorm Sandy hit New York in 2012, it caused a massive 14-foot storm surge. Several New York City subway stations were flooded and the subway was shut down for days. Although the authorities prepared well for the incoming storm, it still resulted in <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/286877-totalling-sandy-losses-how-new-yorks-mta-got-to-5-billion/">some $5 billion</a> in damage to the transport system. In other words, it could have been much worse.</p>
<p>Water management is only going to become more important as <a href="https://theconversation.com/extreme-weather-exposes-the-vulnerability-of-our-cities-to-climate-change-37448">extreme weather events</a> increase due to climate change and the proportion of people living in cities grows to <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects-2014.html">more than 70%</a> by 2050. Worse still, urbanisation increases the risk of water disasters such as floods because development reduces the amounts of permeable surfaces where water can soak into the ground, creating runoff that contributes to flooding.</p>
<p>This poses a particular risk to urban subways and underground railway systems, which can suffer flooding from various sources including tidal surges, river (fluvial) flooding, surface water (pluvial) flooding and burst water pipes. London Underground recently identified <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/10/57-tube-stations-high-risk-flooding-london-underground-report">57 stations</a> that were at high risk of flooding, saying it was “only a matter of time” before heavy rainfall caused serious problems for the city’s subterranean transport network. So what can city leaders do to meet this challenge?</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121403/original/image-20160505-13461-h1jthl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos/8149523765/sizes/l">MTAPhotos/flickr</a></span>
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<h2>How deep is this issue?</h2>
<p>Some cities are already used to dealing with flooding. The New York subway uses 700 pumps that typically drain on average around <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/sandytransportation.pdf">50 million litres of water</a> (nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools) a day from the network. Before the Sandy flood, the city implemented $30 million worth of projects to prevent flooding, targeting the most flood-prone stations, installing valves to keep pumped out water from re-entering the subway and improving sewers to avoid future flooding. But the subway was <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/files/rudincenter/sandytransportation.pdf">still severely affected</a> by flooding because its pump system couldn’t work once its power was knocked out.</p>
<p>Citizens of Taipei in Taiwan are accustomed to severe weather associated with typhoons, which the country experiences on average three to four times a year. And around <a href="http://mapa-metro.com/en/Taiwan/Taipei/Taipei-MRT-map.htm">2 million passengers</a> use the Taipei Metro (MRT) every day. As a result, the risk of flooding is high on the agenda for the MRT planners and managers.</p>
<p>Their stated <a href="http://english.dorts.gov.taipei/ct.asp?xItem=205668&ctNode=19583&mp=115002">goal is to protect</a> against floods that reach 50cm higher than those likely to occur once in 200 years. To do this they have raised all station entrances and network openings by between 60cm and 120cm above the adjacent ground level, as well as installing flood gates and flood control structures along the river.</p>
<p>But when <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1550748.stm">Typhoon Nari</a> swept through Taiwan in September 2001, with one of the highest rainfall records in northern Taiwan, the resulting flash floods and the failure of several pumping stations flooded a number of MRT stations. Flooding caused <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2693969">94 deaths</a> and approximately $800 million of damage.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121968/original/image-20160510-20746-19btmj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Thames Barrier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21372046@N00/913793">Andy Roberts/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In London, this kind of flooding is highly unlikely due to the <a href="http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/363/1831/1455.short">Thames Barrier</a>, a kind of closable river gate that spans 520 metres across the River Thames and protects 125km² of central London tidal surges. This means that Underground stations within the tidal Thames floodplain are pretty safe. It was designed to protect against all but the kind of floods that would likely occur only once in 1000 years.</p>
<p>But other rivers in London that flow into the Thames, such as the River Lee, the Silk Stream and the River Wandle, still pose some risk of fluvial flooding. Climate change is also making extreme rainfall more likely in the UK, which in turn might increase the risk of surface flooding of Underground tunnels. Even more likely is flooding from London’s water 31,100km of water mains. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18345503">For example</a>, in June 2012 water from a burst water mains founds its way into the tube, flooding the Central line for 26 hours.</p>
<h2>Not an easy fix</h2>
<p>In principle, there are two ways of mitigating flood risk: structural and non-structural. Structural measures include engineered solutions to reduce or avoid possible impact of flooding, such as building levees and tidal barriers. Non-structural measures don’t involve physical construction but are instead about reducing risks and impacts in other ways, through policies and laws, public awareness and education. This includes things such as making sure building work considers its impact on flood risks, preventing loss of permeable surfaces, and better forecasting and early-warning systems.</p>
<p>Several measures apply directly to underground transport systems. For example, cities can install backup power for pump systems to reduce or avoid the potential for infrastructure damage when power outages occur, and clear flooded tunnels more quickly. Similarly, flood gates and raised entrances at stations could allow the underground transport system to continue operations even during floods. </p>
<p>Some new technology includes subway “plugs”, being <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/35000-gallons-prevention">developed by the US government</a>, which look and work like big balloons. They can inflate in just a few minutes to help prevent water from entering underground tunnels. When not in use, the plug packs down to a small storage space in the tunnel, ready for remote, immediate inflation in an emergency.</p>
<p>But for all this useful engineering, we do have to realise that there is no feasible way to provide total flood prevention and there will always be some risk of flooding. That means we need to become more resilient to flooding when it does occur through prevention, preparation and planning. This way we can develop early warning systems, limit exposure to flooding and the damage it causes, and organise more effective recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dragan Savic receives funding from EPSRC, NERC, Innovate UK, British Council and European Commission. </span></em></p>Cities’ metros and subways are threatened by rising flood risks but innovative engineering could protect them.Dragan Savic, Professor of hydroinformatics, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/583902016-04-29T08:54:28Z2016-04-29T08:54:28ZPublic transport is part of the London mayor’s raison d'être – but both main candidates fail to impress<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120529/original/image-20160428-28044-1kxmwol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each week, the equivalent of <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-improvements/the-future-of-the-tube">two busy tube carriages</a> of people move to London. As London’s population grows, so does the strain on its public transport system. On May 5, the <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/04/21/sadiq-khan-leads-20-london-mayoral-race/">polls predict</a> that London will elect either Labour’s Sadiq Khan or the Conservative’s Zac Goldsmith as the next mayor – and in doing so, endorse the winner’s vision for the capital’s public transport network.</p>
<p>Transport is the area that the mayor has the most say over – indeed, two thirds of the mayor’s annual budget goes towards it (<a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/how-we-are-funded">£11.5bn</a> in 2015/16). But even with such significant powers to play for, both of the key mayoral candidates have largely failed to come up with a visionary, coherent plan to cope with the capital’s major transport issues. </p>
<h2>Freezing fares</h2>
<p>Sadiq Khan’s <a href="http://www.sadiq.london/a_modern_and_affordable_transport_network">headline pledge</a> to freeze public transport fares at 2016 prices for the whole of the mayor’s four-year term is an eye-catching policy (they currently increase <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/how-we-are-funded">in line with inflation</a>, plus 1%). It’s aimed at reducing the transport cost burden for low-income families. Khan estimates the policy’s price tag at £450m for the term – much less than the Transport for London (TfL) estimate of <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b13740/Minutes%20-%20Appendix%201%20-%20Transcript%20Transport%20for%20London%20Wednesday%2010-Feb-2016%2010.00%20London%20Assemb.pdf?T=9">£1.5bn</a>. Khan also proposes to overhaul the bus fare structure: A one-hour bus pass – unlimited bus trips for an hour instead of paying for each bus separately. </p>
<p>He proposes to pay for it by finding efficiencies within TfL, and reducing the use of consultants and contractors. He would also lease TfL land for development, have TfL bid to run services outside London and sell TfL’s expertise – much like London Transport International, transport consultancy trading arm of TfL’s predecessor, which advised metros around the world from the <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/research-guide-no-10-development-of-organised-transportation-in-london.pdf">mid-1970s to mid-1990s</a>. </p>
<p>It <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b13740/Minutes%20-%20Appendix%201%20-%20Transcript%20Transport%20for%20London%20Wednesday%2010-Feb-2016%2010.00%20London%20Assemb.pdf?T=9">will be difficult</a> for TfL to absorb the fare freeze cost just by being thrifty, because any efficiencies are already earmarked to bridge the national government’s <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b13740/Minutes%20-%20Appendix%201%20-%20Transcript%20Transport%20for%20London%20Wednesday%2010-Feb-2016%2010.00%20London%20Assemb.pdf?T=9">£2.8bn cut</a> to TfL’s grants, for the period up to 2020. Any failure to bridge these budget gaps with money-saving measures will mean raising fares, scaling back programmes or striking projects altogether. </p>
<p>Offering concessionary fares to those who struggle to pay for public transport could be a more targeted intervention, without such a high price tag. </p>
<h2>Train take-over</h2>
<p>Both candidates are calling for TfL to take over management of the railways in London. They want to replicate <a href="http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Going%2520Local%2520web_2.pdf">the success</a> of the London Overground; the orbital network created between 2007 and 2012, after TfL took over underused railway routes. The model, which promises more frequent services, greater connectivity and safer, cleaner stations is popular. Last year the <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/devolving_rail_services_to_london-final-report.pdf">Greater London Assembly</a> called for the Overground model to be adopted across South London. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120590/original/image-20160428-28209-1xh0xrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Great success.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The UK government’s Department for Transport (DfT) holds the keys to greater rail devolution. Only it can transfer responsibility for managing the routes to TfL. A recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493754/dft-tfl-rail-prospectus.pdf">joint DfT and TfL publication</a> suggests a move to more TfL involvement in managing London rail services. In theory, Transport for London could adopt the first South London routes in 2018, as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478018/nov-2015-rail-franchise-schedule.pdf">franchises expire</a>.</p>
<p>But the success of the London Overground orbital hinged on large scale capital investment. There has been little to no discussion of how these levels of investment might be secured for the south London venture – undermining its potential to be a success from the the outset.</p>
<h2>Crossrail 2</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120203/original/image-20160426-1327-5fuozz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proposed route for Crossrail 2, as of autumn 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/21543524163/">Transport for London</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both Khan and Goldsmith have also pledged to work with government to build <a href="http://crossrail2.co.uk/why-crossrail-2/">Crossrail 2</a> – a rail link running through the centre of London from the South West to the North East. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-for-a-world-city-a-national-infrastructure-commission-report">National Infrastructure Commission</a> recently concluded that without it, London “would grind to a halt”. The project is already being jointly developed by TfL and Network Rail. The government just has committed <a href="https://next.ft.com/content/080d2e62-ea01-11e5-bb79-2303682345c8">£80m of funding</a> towards planning the project. There is widespread support for Crossrail 2 in principle from stakeholders, in particular the <a href="http://londonfirst.co.uk/our-focus/londons-transport-infrastructure/crossrail-2/">business community</a> and <a href="https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail/june-2014">the public</a>. </p>
<p>It’s estimated to cost between <a href="http://crossrail2.co.uk/funding/">£27bn and £32bn</a> – double the cost of the first Crossrail project. Neither of the candidates have put forward a coherent plan for funding. </p>
<h2>Serving the south</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/120204/original/image-20160426-1339-yv3hzj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Proposed Bakerloo line extension.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/15389199511/sizes/l">Transport for London</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Khan also promises to secure funding for the Bakerloo tube line extension to south London. TfL are already developing a technically detailed case, after it found that <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2015/december/bakerloo-line-extension-to-improve-transport-links-in-south-london-by-2030">96% of Londoners</a> supported further extension southwards from the current terminus at Elephant and Castle.</p>
<p>Goldsmith promises to start planning the extension, but will prioritise new trains and signalling across the network in the shorter term. But he does commit to extending the tram in south London (Khan considers this a project for the longer-term). TfL has already committed <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b13740/Minutes%20-%20Appendix%201%20-%20Transcript%20Transport%20for%20London%20Wednesday%2010-Feb-2016%2010.00%20London%20Assemb.pdf?T=9">£100m</a>, but the project has been stalled as contributions of <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/b13740/Minutes%20-%20Appendix%201%20-%20Transcript%20Transport%20for%20London%20Wednesday%2010-Feb-2016%2010.00%20London%20Assemb.pdf?T=9">£200m</a> from the local borough have not yet been secured. Goldsmith does not say whether he would push forward without local contributions. </p>
<h2>Night tube</h2>
<p>London was to get its first <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/september/-historic-new-night-tube-service">all-night weekend tube</a> services in <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/news-articles/night-tube-launch-deferred">September 2015</a>. This failed following <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2015/august/lu-decides-to-defer-launch-of-night-tube-to-allow-successful-conclusion-of-union-talks">disputes between unions and management</a>, which led to strikes. A new start date has not been set, but both candidates have committed to delivering the night tube. Khan pledges to work with the unions, while Goldsmith takes a harder line, saying he’ll clamp down on the unions’ ability to strike if necessary. </p>
<p>Goldsmith’s manifesto proposes to expand the transport services on weekend nights to include the London Overground in 2017 and the Docklands Light Railway by 2021. But – you guessed it – <a href="http://content.tfl.gov.uk/fit-for-the-future.pdf">TfL has already outlined </a> that it seeks to extend the night tube to the Circle, Hammersmith and City, District and Metropolitan line once the modernisation programme is complete. London Overground and the DLR are also set to have night time services at weekends in <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-improvements/the-future-of-the-tube/night-tube">2017 and 2021 respectively</a>. </p>
<p>It’s clear that both candidates are playing it safe by taking their lead from TfL. They are both promising to progress popular investment projects, which are already in the works. Neither has outlined a coherent plan on how to meet growing pressure on the network and finances. Without such a strategy, TfL grant cuts will translate into fare rises, service cuts and deteriorating infrastructure. The hollow rhetoric of efficiency and portfolio development falls short of offering a plan to “keep London moving”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For her doctoral research at UCL Nicole receives funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council via the research programme Transforming the Engineering of Cities. Nicole works on the MacArthur funded research project New Urban Governance looking at transport governance in different cities across the world. This project is hosted at the urban research centre LSE Cities at the London School of Economics. Nicole is also currently supporting the project CREATE, which is looking at the evolution of sustainable transport policies in cities. CREATE is funded by the EU via Horizon 2020.
Nicole is a non-active student member of the Labour party. This article does not reflect the views of any research organisation. </span></em></p>With a fast-growing population, London needs a mayor with a clear vision for public transport. Will it get one?Nicole Badstuber, Researcher in Urban Transport Governance at LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and the Centre for Transport Studies, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/466932015-08-26T15:09:29Z2015-08-26T15:09:29ZWomen-only train carriages are just another form of victim blaming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93060/original/image-20150826-15411-1i8eynk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All spaces should be safe.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sexual violence is an everyday occurrence for women and girls on public transport. The latest statistics from the British Transport Police show a 25.2% increase of reported sexual offences on public transport with <a href="http://www.btp.police.uk/pdf/BTP-%20Statistical%20Bulletin%202014-15.pdf">1,399 recorded incidents across England, Wales and Scotland</a> in 2015. Many of these (40%) happen on the London Underground. However, it is estimated that <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/safety-and-security-annual-report-2014-15.pdf">93% of women do not report incidents</a>, so the true figure is likely to be much higher. </p>
<p>As part of a policy to tackle the harassment women and girls face in public spaces, Jeremy Corbyn, front-runner for the Labour Party leadership, suggested opening a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11824403/Jeremy-Corbyn-considers-women-only-train-carriages.html">consultation</a> on women-only train carriages. Several other Labour MPs, in particular his leadership rivals Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham, condemned the idea, whilst the <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/60933/could-women-only-trains-reduce-sexual-assaults">Everyday Sexism Project in 2014 described women-only train carriages as a step backwards</a></p>
<h2>International precedent</h2>
<p>Women-only transport is not new. Internationally, a number of countries have introduced them (for example <a href="http://weburbanist.com/2013/09/08/transits-of-venus-8-women-only-subway-train-cars/2/">Mexico</a>, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/1490059/Persistent-gropers-force-Japan-to-introduce-women-only-carriages.html">Japan</a> and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8290377.stm">India</a>, among others). Women-only buses can be found in a number of countries and cities, including <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/15219/1/Gekoski,%20Gray,%20Horvath,%20Edwards,%20Emirali%20%26%20Adler%202015.pdf">Bangladesh, Malaysia and Nepal</a>. In the UK, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/road-safety/9573645/Women-only-taxi-firms.html">women-only taxi firms</a> have been in operation for a number of years. And of course, women-only public spaces – for example in gyms – exist across the country.</p>
<p>The response to Corbyn’s suggestion has been divided. While many politicians are against the idea, a quick skim of social media reveals many women supporting the idea of segregated carriages (<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/womenonlycarriages?src=hash">#womenonlycarriages</a>) saying this would make them feel safer and they would definitely use them, particularly at night. In a survey of women commuters in London, <a href="https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/op4fx7xarp/Results-TRF-GlobalPublicTransportPoll-UK-London-04092014.pdf">45% said they would feel more secure in segregated transport</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"636523244691038209"}"></div></p>
<h2>Blaming the victim</h2>
<p>If women-only carriages can help women to feel safer, then surely that is a positive step? Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons why women-only carriages might be a bad idea. </p>
<p>Segregating women away from men may perpetuate the idea that sexual assault is about men not being able to control their urges around women. Worldwide, feminists have campaigned tirelessly for four decades to dismantle this theory and show that rape is about power and control, not sexual arousal. Reducing women to sexual objects and men to their sexual urges is patronising and shaming to both women and men. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"636542181206007808"}"></div></p>
<p>And by creating women-only carriages, there is the potential for women who choose not to, or who are unable to, use these carriages being blamed for their assault. <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-violent-crime-and-sexual-offences--2013-14/rpt-chapter-4.html#tab-Attitudes-to-sexual-violence">Research</a> has <a href="http://www.vawpreventionscotland.org.uk/sites/www.vawpreventionscotland.org.uk/files/Havens_Wake_Up_To_Rape_Report_Summary.pdf">consistently shown</a> that women are held to be <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-new-poll-finds-third-people-believe-women-who-flirt-partially-responsible-being">partially</a> or fully responsible for rape or sexual assault if they engage in certain behaviour which puts them “at risk” or fail to “protect themselves”. </p>
<p>The risk is that creating spaces which women are expected to use to be “safe” it feeds into the already endemic victim-blaming culture. In Japan, research has shown that women who use mixed-carriages <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/15219/1/Gekoski,%20Gray,%20Horvath,%20Edwards,%20Emirali%20%26%20Adler%202015.pdf">worry they will be viewed as “willing” victims</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93061/original/image-20150826-15393-119pgb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women-only train carriages on the Keio Line in Tokyo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/WomensCar_KeioLine.jpg/1024px-WomensCar_KeioLine.jpg">WomensCar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The responsibility here should be placed on men not to rape. The focus should be on tackling societal attitudes towards women and the behaviour of perpetrators, rather than confining women to particular spaces and restricting their freedom, particularly as <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_394500.pdf">the majority of rapes and sexual assaults take place in private spaces</a></p>
<p>There are also concerns about how a segregated carriage would be policed. Yvette Cooper <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11824560/Jeremy-Corbyn-attacked-over-women-only-train-segregation-live.html">rightly pointed out</a> that the policing required to maintain a women-only space could instead be introduced in the current public transport system to reduce overall crime and increase public safety. </p>
<h2>What works</h2>
<p>Internationally, the research evaluating the effectiveness of women-only public transport is <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/15219/1/Gekoski,%20Gray,%20Horvath,%20Edwards,%20Emirali%20%26%20Adler%202015.pdf">mixed</a>. While some positive reductions in the number of sexual offences has been reported, several studies have reported issues with lack of thorough policing and men not respecting the segregated spaces.</p>
<p>Research suggests a multi-faceted approach to tackling sexual violence is the <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/15219/1/Gekoski,%20Gray,%20Horvath,%20Edwards,%20Emirali%20%26%20Adler%202015.pdf">most successful</a>. Along with a consultation on women-only carriages, Corbyn also raised a number of other suggestions in his proposal, one of which was a hotline run by women, for women, to report sexual harassment and assault. The proposal includes the option to text into the hotline, which could be particularly useful on public transport. </p>
<p>Raising public awareness through campaigns would also be a positive initiative, though care would need to be taken not to victim blame, as previous campaigns have been <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sussex-police-pulls-sexual-assault-prevention--poster-amid-accusations-of-victim-blaming-10168817.html">guilty of doing</a>. </p>
<p>Although segregation may not be the way forward, the discussion of how to tackle sexual violence against women in public spaces is welcome. Working with women’s organisations to address these issues and make women safer, as Corbyn proposes to do, is a positive step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Bows receives funding from ESRC for her current research exploring sexual violence against people aged 60 and over in the UK.</span></em></p>We must place the responsibility for preventing assault firmly on men’s shoulders.Hannah Bows, Researcher (Sexual Violence and Violence against Women), Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/333322014-10-23T05:07:42Z2014-10-23T05:07:42ZWhy disused London tube stations should not just be sold to the highest bidder<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62532/original/jdqt4bzh-1413990012.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Iconic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/az1172/7991519653">André Zehetbauer</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>London has more than 40 “ghost” underground stations that are awaiting a new function. Now, Transport for London is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/11107818/Ghosts-and-treasures-beneath-London-to-be-unearthed.html">inviting companies to submit bids</a> to transform them. But is this a good idea and does it matter what they are used for?</p>
<p>The sell-off of Brompton Road underground station earlier this year offers some interesting insight into the government’s attitude toward these heritage properties. The disused station at 206 Brompton Road was sold to a private investor for £53m in a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26382658">cost-cutting effort</a>, to increase public finances.</p>
<h2>Heeding heritage</h2>
<p>Brompton Road station has high value both economically and for its heritage. Located in Kensington, near Harrods, it opened in 1906 as part of the Picadilly Line and closed down in 1934 after a long period of disuse. During World War II it was used as a secret command centre for air defence operations, protecting the city from air raids, and hosting meetings with the Ministry of Defence’s high commanders. Any transformation should consider these traces of its past transport and military heritage, as well as issues of social mobility and urban infrastructure.</p>
<p>So, the plan to sell off forsaken tube stations for retail and real-estate development presents itself as an austerity solution. Faced with the need to pay off the national debt, the government thought that getting rid of unused assets could be a viable solution. It is paradoxical, however, that those who sold it in the name of austerity today spend millions in military operations, and the money from the sale of the station will be put back into the defence budget. </p>
<p>The Ministry of Defence, responsible for the building, has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/disused-tube-station-sells-for-53-million">said</a>: “We take our role as a custodian of the nation’s history very seriously and have been working to record the historic significance of the building.” But selling the site to a Russian billionaire to develop luxury apartments is a very peculiar way of preserving the building’s heritage in contemporary capitalism, one which values the merchandising of history and the creation of theme parks, as American architect Michael Sorkin <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/variationsonathemepark/michaelsorkin">has shown</a>. </p>
<h2>Other options</h2>
<p>Most cities have buildings that have been abandoned due to economic reasons, fallen into neglect, occupied for residential purposes, or vandalised after disuse. Across the globe we find examples of these sites being converted for cultural use and real-estate development. Post offices, train stations, factories, power stations and even churches and police stations have been transformed into cultural and arts venues in recent decades, not without contention. </p>
<p>These strategies of post-industrial urbanism aim to bring “dead” industrial spaces in the city back to life through an injection of culture, capital or both. But concerns have also emerged about these conversions paving the way to an increase in land values and population displacement, facilitating the exclusionary process of gentrification. Clearly the way that buildings are regenerated must be thought through and it shouldn’t be a short-sighted desire for revenue driving deals.</p>
<p>When selling off abandoned stations such as Brompton Road, the state is selling a public asset for private residential development in one of London’s most affluent areas. In times of rapid urbanisation, the demand on the city is likely to increase and the state cannot afford the luxury of putting public buildings on sale for private use, acting as if it were a real estate agency. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62529/original/g2s5dps4-1413988781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brompton Road Station with its heritage façade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/niallsco/4180302504/in/photolist-8q7HQW-8q8hk9-8q596p-8q59Rt-8q8hBs-8q8iBj-6m4b6d-ajSg8g-ajSdCg-ajSe4n-6kZ1x8-fpxj73-7np9i7-ajV1Mf-ajV1cE-ajV4ef-a6mQt8-5L9vZ3-55m6xu-7WdRQM-ajSf6a-a6mR3i-ajV2Cb-ajSfzB-ajSfov-ajSfGP-ajSgj8-ajV43L-ajV1Aw-ajV2pC-e92jsd-fpxiTA-a72VM8-a75Pw9-a72VbM-e8VDyx-dCX7qi-dCX7vF-5pbrUg-54Rj4m-bM4wDR-54Rj8m-5pfHNb-5pfHJs-5qigmw-of1dqG-dD3wcJ-oiu83i-hYvEV-6QckaH">Niall Napier</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Plus, the very abandonment of a public building in the first place is often an act of neglect. With the typical arch-shaped and red brick layered façade that characterises old tube stations in the British capital, the past of Brompton Road station is contained in its dark tunnels, long passageways, mysterious stairs and dusted lifts. </p>
<p>As sociologist <a href="http://www.sponpress.com/books/details/9780415433679/">Michael Keith has written</a>, we should think about the ways in which the history of the city occupies the present. The government’s decision to allow the conversion of this space into luxury flats suggests the past is to be erased in favour of extravagant consumption and austerity-led regeneration.</p>
<h2>Who benefits?</h2>
<p>Discussion over using the disused tube stations cannot overlook the issue of who benefits from them. The station is in a part of London famed for the <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-ghost-town-of-the-superrich-kensington-and-chelseas-buytoleave-phenomenon-9207306.html">“buy to leave” phenomenon</a>, where properties are increasingly bought and not inhabited or used.</p>
<p>Whereas now, the disused stations are popular among photographers, artists and tourists, and they are also used for film sets. The former station at Aldwych, for example, was featured in Atonement and V for Vendetta, and it even housed the National Gallery’s art collection during World War II. In Berlin, abandoned underground stations have been used for choreographers’ performances. </p>
<p>So, exclusive real-estate development is not an inevitable option and these spaces could also be converted for social and cultural use for local communities.</p>
<p>It is certainly a great initiative to re-use abandoned transport infrastructure and revitalise urban areas. Cultural, artistic and educational activities have the potential to trigger progressive urban, social and economic benefits. </p>
<p>But austerity policies can justify the privatisation of public assets and the sale of the city’s heritage and public spaces. And selling disused tube stations for private real-estate development is a not very creative move in a capital that prides itself of being among the world’s most creative cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cecilia Dinardi's current research is funded by the Urban Studies Foundation and City University London.</span></em></p>London has more than 40 “ghost” underground stations that are awaiting a new function. Now, Transport for London is inviting companies to submit bids to transform them. But is this a good idea and does…Cecilia Dinardi, Urban Studies Postdoctoral Research Fellow, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/242372014-03-11T12:26:35Z2014-03-11T12:26:35Z‘A fighter and a man of character’: Bob Crow dead at 52<p>Bob Crow, the pugnacious General Secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT), has died at the age of 52 after suffering an aneurysm and a massive heart attack. His passing has brought tributes from both sides of politics, from his friends and political enemies who saluted a passionate fighter for members’ rights who worked his way up through the rank and file to lead one of the most powerful and successful trade unions in modern Britain.</p>
<p>Crow first became involved in union activities when working as a London Transport tree-feller in East London. He became an official for the National Union of Railwaymen when he was elected as a local representative in 1983. His rise through the NUR ranks started in 1985 when he was elected as national officer for track workers. </p>
<p>When the NUR merged with the National Union of Seamen in 1990 to form the RMT, Crow was elected to the national executive and became the assistant general secretary in 1991. He was elected to succeed Jimmy Knapp as general secretary in 2002, having polled almost twice as many votes as his opponents. He was also on the General Council of the Trades Union Congress.</p>
<p>In recent years Crow <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577866/My-145-000-pay-Im-worth-insists-Crow-Militant-union-chief-defends-six-figure-salary-interview.html">came under much criticism</a> for living in a council house at the same time as earning a salary package rumoured to be worth around £133,000, something he was unashamed of as, in his view, he did a good job for RMT members. Some argued this amounted to hypocrisy, given his leaning toward the far left. He had been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later joined Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party. </p>
<p>Bob was a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jul/02/uk.iraq">vociferous critic of Tony Blair</a> and had no time at all for third way politics. For Crow, all Labour had done was waste a landslide victory and allowed the gap between rich and poor to widen.</p>
<h2>Working class hero</h2>
<p>Crow was perhaps not the most photogenic union leader; photos of him in a baseball bat with snarling expression are easily found on the internet. </p>
<p>In recent months he was embroiled in the bitter dispute between the RMT and the London Underground over the closure of 240 ticket offices and the loss of around 750 jobs. This inevitably led to personal confrontations between him and his arch enemy, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There couldn’t be two more different characters; Crow from east London educated at a secondary modern school, and Johnson born in New York and educated at Eton and Oxford. Despite their differences, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bob-crow-death-london-mayor-boris-johnson-reacts-to-death-of-rmt-union-leader-9183792.html">Johnson described Crow as “a fighter and a man of character”</a>, there was clearly mutual respect between the two of them.</p>
<p>Crow was uncompromising in his defence of RMT members. As far as the London Tube was concerned, the ticket office closures were a step too far and the inevitable strikes were called. In response Johnson and the CBI reiterated their calls for a minimum of 50% of affected members to vote in ballots for industrial action. </p>
<p>Any criticism of the RMT and industrial action was met with a strong rebuff. When the <a href="http://glaconservatives.co.uk/campaigns/struck-out/">Greater London Authority Conservatives published a report</a> which estimated the cost of the London Tube strikes at <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-600m-tube-strike-cost-based-on-estimates-of-just-61-small-businesses-23105">£48m a day</a>, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23792766">RMT described them as “clowns”</a>. As far as Crow was concerned, the reduction in staffing levels on the London Tube would have significant negative impact on services and passenger safety. Crow and the RMT were determined to fight the plans with every tool at their disposal; the union continues to do so.</p>
<p>Paying tribute, former Mayor of London <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26526646">Ken Livingston said</a>, “The only working-class people who still have well-paid jobs in London are his members.” He added: “With the passage of time people will come to see that people like Bob Crow did a very good job.”</p>
<p>There is no doubt Crow’s death will change the industrial relations landscape on the London Underground, as well as on the national railways, and on a wider scale in Britain. He was a determined, old-fashioned trade unionist, who drove a hard bargain. Crow was described by <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f48cf06c-a906-11e3-9b71-00144feab7de.html">John McDonnell</a>, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington as “one of the finest trade union leaders of his generation”. There is no doubt that industrial relations will sorely miss his enthusiasm and wit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alf Crossman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bob Crow, the pugnacious General Secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT), has died at the age of 52 after suffering an aneurysm and a massive heart attack. His passing has brought…Alf Crossman, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations and HRM, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/228512014-02-05T14:45:40Z2014-02-05T14:45:40ZCommuter chaos, but Tube staff make moral case for strike<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/40782/original/nhtbzpdz-1391591109.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Show me the way to go home.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Keene/PA Wire</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Predictably, the newspapers have been full of reports of “Tube chaos”, millions “facing transport misery”. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552027/Thousands-homes-left-without-power-trains-cancelled-storm-batters-parts-country.html">In the Daily Mail</a>, an enterprising editor has conflated the storms which have caused rail cancellations throughout Britain with the 48-hour strike on the London Underground: “92mph winds reported in Isles of Scilly while passengers in London face travel chaos because of Tube strike”.</p>
<p>London’s Evening Standard newspaper found a picture, snapped by a disgruntled commuter as the strike got underway on Tuesday night, of an information booth worker apparently asleep, prompting the Tweet: “This photo taken this evening doesn’t bode well for your argument that ticket offices should stay open.”</p>
<p>But there is little real discussion about why underground staff across London have voted, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25684670">by a 75% margin</a>, to take action. </p>
<p>The strike, called by the RMT and the ticket office union TSSA, is about a mix of job cuts, safety, and longer-term plans of London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, to slash the cost of running the service. Johnson forced through the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/firefighters-cry-as-10-london-stations-including-clerkenwell-close-due-to-cuts-9050079.html">closure of ten fire stations</a> across London only last month, and Londoners may well be right to begin to feel a little concerned about their safety in this regime of austerity. </p>
<p>Perhaps that is why, despite the massive inconvenience caused to workers across the capital by the strikes, public opinion appears to be on the side of the unions. According to a <a href="http://survation.com/2014/02/majority-of-tube-users-think-strike-is-justified/">poll by Survaton</a>, almost two-thirds (65%) of underground users say industrial action is justified as a last resort against Transport for London (TfL)’s plans to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888">close all ticket offices</a> by next year. </p>
<h2>Community support</h2>
<p>Indeed, the RMT and TSSA have been attracting user groups to their cause, and both <a href="http://dpac.uk.net/">Disabled People Against the Cuts</a> (DPAC) and <a href="http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/node/4828">Hands off London Transport</a> (HOLT) campaigns have come out in support of the strikes. Many unions have now learnt the dangers of not involving user groups in their campaigns against austerity, especially in the public sector where job cuts often mean service cuts. The civil servants union, PCS, for example, now works closely with such organisations as London Citizens, the Citizens Advice Bureau, and the Howard League for Penal Reform in its campaigns against civil service cutbacks.</p>
<p>Unison, the local government and public utility union, has also worked comfortably with the Defend Council Housing pressure group. Britain’s largest union, Unite, also has a community arm, and donates money regularly to community organisations who are pledged to defend public services. Indeed, it may the case that unions must seek to expand their “sword of justice” role if they are to begin to renew membership and be taken more seriously once again by employers. </p>
<p>This is especially so when the traditional ties between the Labour Party and the unions are <a href="https://theconversation.com/ed-milibands-historic-break-with-the-unions-is-bold-but-risky-22712">being relaxed by Ed Miliband</a>. Some would argue, should this evolutionary process continue, that unions may even begin to resemble their early pioneers, with a remit that goes beyond the workplace to wider civil society in pursuit of what the British Marxist historian E P Thompson called the <a href="http://understandingsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/moral-economy-as-historical-social.html">“moral economy”</a>. We must await the outcome of the tube strikes, alongside the renewed strikes in universities on Thursday, before we can pass judgement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Upchurch recently acted as independent consultant to Unite the union during the 2010/2011 BA cabin crew dispute.</span></em></p>Predictably, the newspapers have been full of reports of “Tube chaos”, millions “facing transport misery”. In the Daily Mail, an enterprising editor has conflated the storms which have caused rail cancellations…Martin Upchurch, Professor of International Employment Relations, Middlesex UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212562013-12-09T14:40:45Z2013-12-09T14:40:45ZHow to use the London Underground to heat your home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37249/original/ytz3z9cw-1386591632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting heat from people underground to those above ground is not an easy task.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sean Dempsey/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any traveller on the London Underground during the summer will know <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-heatwave-tube-passengers-sweat-it-out-in-hot-weather-as-temperatures-exceed-34c-to-beat-bali-8716893.html">how hot and stifling</a> it can get. That the Tube can be hotter than Bali or Barcelona is a fact of life for commuters.</p>
<p>Running trains in small, deep tunnels means temperatures are well above those on the surface, [even in the winter](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2003.10.017](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2003.10.01). Lighter trains, improved brakes that generate less heat and ventilation systems can help cut areas where heat builds up, but there will always be some waste heat generated, especially in deeper routes such as the Northern and Central lines.</p>
<p>While Transport for London has maintained a programme of works to try to <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/londonunderground/performance/1594.aspx">cool the tube</a> for years, at the same time there has been a growing realisation, most recently <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/031250%20GLA%20Secondary%20Heat%20-%20Summary%20Report.pdf">in a report</a> for the Mayor of London, that waste heat could be harnessed as a form of energy to heat buildings.</p>
<p>There’s an opportunity here: TfL needs to get rid of the Tube’s underground heat, and there are many people above ground who could use it. With the rising costs of household energy bills, recovering and putting the heat to good use looks like a sensible, feasible prospect. However, there are several challenges in implementing such a system – not least how to extract the heat, how to get it to where it could be useful, how much it would cost, and who pays.</p>
<h2>Making good use of the heat we find</h2>
<p>Within the Underground there are two possible locations where heat recovery <a href="http://www.cibse.org/content/cibsesymposium2011/CIBSE%20Paper%2008%20Rev%203.pdf">has been considered</a>: stations and air shafts. Recovering heat directly from the train tunnels is difficult because of gaining access to install and maintain equipment, and the potential to disrupt services. This could probably only be considered during the construction of new tunnels, or total renovation of old tunnels.</p>
<p>Station heat recovery is attractive as a large amount of heat is generated and given off from trains’ brakes when stopping at the platform. Heat could be removed using exchanging devices such as an air handling unit, which London Underground has developed for cooling, or heat transfer panels on walls. </p>
<p>Both function by using water to transfer the heat to where it usefully required. At <a href="http://www.tunneltalk.com/London-Underground-Feb12-Borehole-cooling-for-Green-Park-Station.php">Green Park station</a>, for example, cold water is passed through the warm air, taking the heat away from the station and into the ground. Instead, the warmed water could be pumped elsewhere for heating before being returned.</p>
<h2>Laying the pipes</h2>
<p>These are significant financial and logistical undertakings. Certainly any widespread deployment of such systems would be costly and require significant political support. A more pragmatic example exists <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/06/us-heat-metro-paris-idUSTRE68522420100906%5D">on the Paris Métro</a> where heat exchangers were installed into station passages to transfer heat to a district heating system in a housing development which, being adjacent, didn’t require significant construction.</p>
<p>London Underground, like all underground railways, has ventilation shafts to supply fresh, cool air or remove stale, warm air. Shafts that extract air have the potential to recover heat. One way would be to take the air directly to the potential user, which would mean the recipient would need to be close to the shaft and, given the shaft size, their building designed with this in mind.</p>
<p>An alternative is to install a heat exchanger in the airshaft to remove heat from the air, for example through water, which then could be piped to a user. This second option is more flexible and allows for more control, and is similar to the system to be used in the <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/media/mayor-press-releases/2013/11/waste-heat-from-the-tube-will-help-to-warm-hundreds-of-homes">recently announced project</a> to supply heat from the Underground to the <a href="http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/parks-environment/sustainability/sus_energy/Pages/decentralisedenergy.aspx">Bunhill Estate heat and power network</a> in Islington, London.</p>
<h2>Sharing benefits, sharing costs</h2>
<p>Using ventilation shaft heat recovery won’t benefit the Tube network, as it only uses heat that was on its way out of the system already. This would suggest it would be the energy user who took on most of the costs from using heat from the Tube. If and when London Underground considers installing station cooling, they should consider the potential for heat recovery, but this type of project could not be initiated on the basis of heat recovery alone.</p>
<p>Constructed over more than a century, the variability in design and configuration of the Underground network means any adoption of heat recovery needs to be judged case by case. The proximity of a station or shaft to potential users, the users’ energy costs, their heating demand and London Underground’s plans for station cooling will be important in determining where a project could take place and whether it will be viable.</p>
<p>The widespread adoption of heat recovery from the London Underground faces many challenges. But if both building owners and developers along with London Underground consider heat recovery as a normal part of project design then there is a greater possibility for future adoption, when potential benefits exist.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Cross receives funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).</span></em></p>Any traveller on the London Underground during the summer will know how hot and stifling it can get. That the Tube can be hotter than Bali or Barcelona is a fact of life for commuters. Running trains in…Daniel Cross, PhD Student, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208652013-11-28T14:22:10Z2013-11-28T14:22:10ZBoth Boris and unions are wrong on tube strikes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/36449/original/cgy8w7dm-1385644534.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nearly strike o'clock.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Parsons/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>London’s tube users face disruption in the New Year as the unions threaten strike action. Debate on the subject is as heated as ever, with both sides racing for the moral high ground. But, though London Mayor Boris Johnson relies on some dodgy evidence, it turns out the tube strikers’ case may not be as strong as they would have us believe either. Despite a <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/piccadilly-line-workers-to-go-on-strike-next-week-8968984.html">one day strike</a> on the Piccadilly line next week over untaken leave, the prospect of major action affecting the whole network in the run-up to Christmas looks very unlikely.</p>
<p>The dispute centres on the threat of 750 job losses as a result of London Underground’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25025888">plans</a> to close up to 240 ticket offices. This is part of London Underground’s master plan to make part of the tube system a 24-hour operation at weekends, and to move to a contactless ticketing system.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the announced closures have attracted the condemnation of Bob Crow of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) and Manuel Cortes of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA). The move to 24-hour working will also result in a significant contractual change and the unions will seize the opportunity to leverage all they can in return for train and station staff working round the clock.</p>
<p>The RMT has taken the robust stance that we have come to expect: on Tuesday Bob Crow announced <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tube-staff-to-vote-on-strikes-over-job-cuts-8964518.html">they would be balloting members</a> on strikes or other actions such as a go-slow or overtime ban. The two unions are now set to launch a joint campaign against the ticket office closures.</p>
<h2>Perfect timing</h2>
<p>Unfortunately for Crow, the idea of a “night tube” caught the imagination of Londoners and rather distracted from the planned closures. The mayor and Mike Brown of London Underground also perfectly timed the announcement to ensure any strike does not happen before Christmas. </p>
<p>The statutory notifications required for industrial action ballots make rapid strikes difficult to plan. The union must give no less than seven days’ notice to the employer of its intention to hold a ballot; the ballot must be “fully postal”, which adds another two weeks; if the vote is in favour of industrial action, the union must give the employer no less than seven days’ notice of the start of the action. </p>
<p>The first day of action must take place within 28 days of the vote otherwise, unless the employer agrees to an extension, a new ballot is required. So while tube users can look forward to industrial action in January, they have at least been spared it at Christmas.</p>
<h2>Struck out</h2>
<p>Boris’ case against tube action is extremely weak, and based on flimsy research. Earlier this year, Conservatives in London’s local government commissioned a survey into industrial action on the tube. The “Struck Out” <a href="http://glaconservatives.co.uk/campaigns/struck-out/">report</a> contains three recommendations for curbing strike action by tube workers: to ban strikes entirely; replace the right to strike with “binding pendulum arbitration”, where an independent judge or panel sides with one party or the other; or to require a majority to vote in favour of arbitration for it to happen.</p>
<p>Frankly, the report is amateurish and no doubt cost far more than it is worth. There is no “right to strike” in English law, this is a myth. The poll comprised just 285 Londoners, not exactly a representative sample, and the survey questions were extremely leading. Take this, <a href="http://glaconservatives.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Struck-Out.pdf">for example</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘it is currently too easy for London’s tube workers to strike’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The truth is that statutory balloting requirements make lawful industrial action difficult. For evidence of this, see the numerous cases in the last few years where employees of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2010/may/18/johnston-press-nationalunionofjournalists">Johnston Press</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10119196">British Airways (twice)</a>, <a href="http://www.jordanslawforbusiness.co.uk/articles/metroline-travel-ltd-and-others-v-unite-the-union-2012-ewhc-1778-qb-2012-emplr-150">Metrobus</a>, and <a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/network-rail-seek-injunction-to-prevent-national-strike-2010-03.aspx">Network Rail</a> among others were prevented from striking due to technical errors in balloting. It’s a lot harder to take industrial action than most people realise.</p>
<p>The report claims that an average strike on the tube costs London’s economy <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23792766">at least £48m per day</a>. This estimated figure is based upon a survey in 2007 of 315 businesses on behalf of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. For decades it has been argued that employers overstate the economic impact of industrial action and this report has that ring to it. Research based on a small sample of biased respondents speaking six years ago is not the most rigorous way to assess costs.</p>
<h2>Where’s the mandate?</h2>
<p>Low turnout in strike ballots is the biggest problem for most unions and this plays into the hands of employers and the political right. Boris and the London government may have their sums wrong on the economic impact of striking, but here they have a point. Ultimately, minimum turnouts for ballots will become a legal requirement. The CBI has called for <a href="http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2011/06/goverment-must-not-cave-into-union-pressure-on-public-sector-pensions-cbi/">a minimum of 40%</a> and Boris <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/oct/04/boris-johnson-cbi-strike-ballots">wants 50%</a>.</p>
<p>Trade unions often overstate support for industrial action and headlines such as “<a href="http://www.cwu.org/postal-workers-vote-4-to-1-for-strike-action.html">78% in favour of strike action</a>” tend to be misleading as they refer only to those already voting. In the autumn of 2011 most ballots saw fewer than half of union members voting. The Border Agency strike, which threatened to disrupt the 2012 Olympics, was called by the PCS union after a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18912742">turnout of only 20%</a>. The same union threatened a strike in March this year on a turnout of 28%. This is no mandate for industrial action in anyone’s book. According to the London government report, in recent years tube strikes have gone ahead on an average turnout of 39%. </p>
<p>These continued arguments over economic impact and turnout mean industrial action in the New Year looks increasingly likely. The chances of the two sides reaching an agreement are receding – time to brush the dust off those walking boots. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/20865/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alf Crossman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>London’s tube users face disruption in the New Year as the unions threaten strike action. Debate on the subject is as heated as ever, with both sides racing for the moral high ground. But, though London…Alf Crossman, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations and HRM, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.