please empty your brain below

I said that I didn't want the tube to run an hour later at the weekend.

There are so many reasons to oppose the "One Hour Later" proposal...

- key workers need the tube to get to work on time and at a cost they can afford;
- business and leisure travellers rely on the tube to get to and from Heathrow;
- travellers need to be able to rely on an efficient service to London's railway termini for services to the rest of the country
- alcohol-fuelled revellers in stations and on trains means more chances of death and serious injuries, assaults on staff and passengers, and other undesirable effects.

Those who choose to have a night out are unlikely to require an early start and therefore can afford to have a longer journey home.

Those who have to weave their way to work, get their luggage and themselves to the airport or any other important tasks have no choice.

It's time for common sense to prevail. It's time to scrap this proposal.

That said, the converse common sense applies, too.

My girlfriend, who works as a waitress until 12.45am would *love* the tubes to be running later. As would I, as the man who pays her cab for the gap between where Mr. Night Bus stops and where our front door begins.

Late flights. There’s nothing worse than arriving at Kings Cross, Heathrow, Victoria or Tottenham Hale at 1am knowing you have a treacherous 2 hour journey on (any number of) night busses, while would-be muggers assess if you have any duty free fags, a digital camera and unspent foreign currency in the suitcase you’re dragging conspicuously behind you.

This is indeed true...but then one could argue if you have an 8am sunday flight, you can simply allow plenty of time and use that same hourly train to Gatwick or "excellent" all-night bus to Stansted.

And with shift workers - for every early starter who loses out, another late finisher benifits. Ultimately its six of one and half a dozen of the other - and you cannae please all the people all the time.

Nevertheless, I'd imagine the current status quo, as usual, will remain.

12 years later, and here's Night Tube!










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