Commuters are being told not to travel through stations during peak hours as Tube lines are once again full this morning as data from Apple reveals more and more people are searching for alternative walking and cycling routes.
Signs at Canary Wharf warn passengers, who will have already arrived at the station, to avoid using the station between 5.45am to 8.15am and and 4pm to 5.30pm.
Passengers say they’re returning to public transport after Sadiq Khan brought back the congestion charge.
Tube trains at Canary Wharf stations are busy once again this morning as tens of thousands of people return to their daily commute
Bus passengers in London are being forced to stand as space runs out on board the capital’s public transport on Tuesday
Paul James, 41, a health and safety advisor in the construction industry, said: ‘I live in Sittingbourne in Kent and although I’ve been working for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been driving into London.
‘I’m now back on public transport because Sadiq Khan has now reintroduced the congestion charge and I think he’s been too rash.
Signage at Canary Wharf station this morning urges passengers to stay away during the rush hour
‘The councils are also putting parking restrictions back, which I think is also wrong. It’s all about putting money over people’s health.
‘I think I’m putting myself at risk going down into the tube network and that’s why I’m wearing these gloves and this mask.
‘Although it’s much quieter than normal, there’s more people commuting this morning than I expected.’
Zain Safi, 23, from Catford, South London, caught the train to London Bridge and was heading on the tube to Paddington, where he works as an essential banker.
He said: ‘I’ve been working throughout the pandemic as the bank I work in near the Edgware Road has stayed open. But before this week I was driving in all the time.
‘Now the congestion charge has returned, I don’t want to pay £11.50 every day so from this week I’ve gone back to using public transport.
Passengers are returning to Canning Town station this morning as London gets back to work after nearly two months of lockdown
The Jubilee Line through Canary Wharf is busy this morning, with little room for passengers to obey social distancing rules
‘It’s a bit of a worry to be honest as I’ve got a little brother and sister at home so I don’t really want to be going on trains and tubes at the moment.
‘I’m using gloves and a face mask but I still feel a sense of trepidation.
‘I’ve noticed more drivers on the road recently and there are more commuters heading into central London than I thought.’
Last week Sadiq Khan pledged to bring public transport services up to 75 per cent of pre-lockdown levels, as people return to work after nearly two months of either being furloughed or working from home.
Transport for London maintains that 75 per cent of services are running today, with around 30 Tube stations out of 270 remaining shut.
Monday’s rush hour was the busiest of the lockdown with Tube ridership between 5.30am and 10am up 18.5 per cent – compared to last Monday – with around 15,000 extra people using the underground this morning.
Passenger numbers are creeping up this morning, as tens of thousands of Brits return to work.
Not all Jubilee Line passengers are choosing to wear protective face masks during their commute on Tuesday
But some stations remain eerily quiet compared to rush hour before lockdown began nearly two months ago.
Rajinder Sabharwal, an electrician from Hayes, west London was travelling through an empty Paddington station this morning. He said: ‘It’s been like this since last week, when I returned to work. Prior to the lockdown you’d have to wait for ages to get onto the underground and everybody was squeezed in tight but now there’s nobody around.
‘I’ve been really surprised that there are so few people travelling. I think they are still too scared to come to work.’
It comes as Apple data used in Government press conference slides has revealed a sharp increase in requests for walking and driving routes in the UK compared with early May.
The latest figures show requests for walking directions just 38 per cent beneath the Apple baseline – calculated since January 13 – with driving just 40 per cent below baseline.
Despite these figures being well below average for this year, they are a significant increase from figures for lockdown generally.
North Acton looks a little more sparse compared to other stations in London this morning
Data for early May shows requests for walking and driving requests at around 70 per cent below the baseline – with public transport route requests hovering at around 80 per cent below baseline.
All three categories – walking, driving, and public transport route requests – took a sharp plunge when lockdown was announced in March, but public transport requests have remained the lowest since then – with walking and driving route requests now at their highest this month.
Transport for London, which is run by Mayor Khan, said on Monday that Tube services would be back at 75%, DLR and London Overground at 80% and buses at 85% of pre-lockdown capacity as Boris Johnson encouraged as many people as possible to return to work.
Passengers have been advised to sit one seat apart on public transport as tens of thousands of people return to work this week
Apple data used in Government press conference slides has revealed a sharp increase in requests for walking and driving routes in the UK compared with early May. The latest figures show requests for walking directions just 38 per cent beneath the Apple baseline – calculated since January 13 – with driving just 40 per cent below baseline. Despite these figures being well below average for this year, they are a significant increase from figures for lockdown generally
Traffic in London remains way short on pre-lockdown levels – but are increasing every day as more people return to work with congestion on the capital’s roads now up four per cent today – compared to last Monday, according to TomTom data
But as Monday’s morning peak ended a senior Tube source told MailOnline: ‘That might be the aim but in reality, across the entire Tube network, it was about 50 per cent of service.’
At least 30 Tube train drivers refused to work on Health and Safety grounds saying not enough had been done to protect both them and passengers from the virus, the insider said.
It is not known how long they instead to stay away but they are not expected to return soon. There are around 3000 drivers on the London Underground, including those who work for the night Tube.
Transport for London insisted 75 per cent of Tube trains were running.