Commuters trickle back to 'ghost-town' London, data suggests

[rooster59]

Commuters trickle back to 'ghost-town' London, data suggests

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a face mask crosses a bridge in front of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson//File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - More people are returning to work in London, data showed on Friday, an encouraging sign for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has urged Britons to start commuting again to help the economy recover from its coronavirus crash.

 

Data from Transport for London, the public transport authority in the capital which has been largely empty of commuters since the lockdown, showed an increase in the number of people using the Underground metro system and buses, albeit from very low levels.

 

The number of payment card taps on readers on the Underground was 21% higher on Friday morning than a week earlier and trips on buses were up 30%, a TfL spokesman said.

 

The increases in part reflected the end of the summer holidays in August but were sharper than those recorded in recent days.

 

However, usage of London's public transport remains only a fraction of what is was before the lockdown, hit not only by people working from home but also by the slump in tourism, which usually attracts about 30 million people to the city each year.

 

On Thursday, card taps on the Underground were still only around a third of their level of a year ago and bus journeys were down by about half.

 

Data from Google also suggested an increase in people in the Greater London area - covering the city's suburbs - rose in the seven days to Aug. 30 after largely flatlining since July.

 

The rise was echoed in Google's mobility data for workplaces in other cities, such as Madrid and Berlin, but was more pronounced in London.

 

The largely empty commercial centre of the British capital was described as a ghost town by a business leader last week. Businesses reliant on office workers have been hard hit, a situation mirrored elsewhere in Britain and abroad.

 

Mobility data published by Apple on Friday, based on requests for directions on public transport by users of Apple Maps, also showed an increase in London as well as in other cities.

 

Johnson has called on people working from home to get back to their workplaces this week as many children returned to schools that have been largely closed since March.

 

Road congestion in London, and elsewhere in Britain, has been close to pre-lockdown levels for much of the past two weeks, according to data from TomTom, a manufacturer of location technology and devices.

 

Britain's statistics office said on Thursday that people around the country had continued to gradually return to their workplaces in late August.

 

Fifty-seven percent of working adults travelled to work between at least once between Aug. 26 and Aug. 30, up from 55% two weeks earlier and 33% in May, it said.

 

(Writing by William Schomberg, graphics by Leigh Thomas in Paris; editing by John Stonestreet)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-05

 

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[2 is 1]

 

[JonnyF]

Everyone has finally realized that with secure client vpn, Zoom, mobile phones etc. most people only need to be in the office one day per week at the most.

 

Great for the environment, not so good for the high street economy.

 

 

[Bluetongue]

53 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Everyone has finally realized that with secure client vpn, Zoom, mobile phones etc. most people only need to be in the office one day per week at the most.

 

Great for the environment, not so good for the high street economy.

 

 

I agree with you, although I can think of a few issues that haven't really been addressed yet. I can see the benefits to employees becoming bargaining chips in future wage negotiations, performance may be able to be monitored but addressing it remotely may be difficult, induction, team building, social engagement hmm one day a week. I think longer term it may settle down to a higher ratio than that.

[soi3eddie]

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Road congestion in London, and elsewhere in Britain, has been close to pre-lockdown levels for much of the past two weeks, according to data from TomTom, a manufacturer of location technology and devices.

That's only because Khan, TfL and the looney left councils have used the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to remove lanes (Park Lane - was 3 lanes now down to 1 lane, same for Euston Road) and close or restrict many, many other roads for pedestrians and bicycles only. This has created huge tailbacks and stalled the flow of traffic. Add to that, numerous bridge closures or restrictions. My colleagues and staff in London tell me that if people were back at work as before then the city will be permanently gridlocked. Bear in mind that there are very few private cars driving in central London and it's mostly delivery vehicles, busses and taxis. Add to this the fact that it now costs £15 per day, seven days a week from 07:00am to 10:00pm then there are actually fewer vehicles. This roads chaos has been generated by removal/restriction of roadspace and banned turns. As things grind to a halt it will be Uber drivers, Taxis, Amazon and other delivery drivers and private motorists who will get the blame and there will be calls to BAN VEHICLES COMPLETELY from the city! It's already impossible to get to certain premises/hotels by road. I see the city as completely fxxxxd for businesses reliant on transportation and personally despair how my businesses will survive (I run a limo/taxi service and also a wheelchair/mobility scooter hire service delivering in the city).

[Bender Rodriguez]

if for the last 6 months, you proved your employer you can be productive from home

 

why spend 2-3 hours a day commuting ?

 

in my home country long time ago, they did not trust the people working from home (and I was in a team that was beta-testing it for the major player in my home country, in the beginning of the 2000')

[Bluespunk]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Johnson has called on people working from home to get back to their workplaces this week

Why?

If people can and are happy to work from home, why shouldn’t they?

[dunroaming]

4 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Everyone has finally realized that with secure client vpn, Zoom, mobile phones etc. most people only need to be in the office one day per week at the most.

 

Great for the environment, not so good for the high street economy.

 

 

For once I completely agree with you.  But this isn't a new thing.  For the last three or four years my friends (I live in the city commuter belt) have worked from home more and more.  The development of the above mentioned devices has been, to a great extent, to promote the ability to do that.  My accountant has only been going into her office three days a week for the last four years.

 

A neighbour of mine works for Savills and he said that spare bedrooms are now always referred to as home offices when marketing property in the suburbs.  This will grow and grow.  And it will be another death blow to the high street as companies like Costa, Café Nero and Pret A Manger feel the effects.  City pubs will lose many of their after work drinkers as well.

 

 

[3NUMBAS]

all city centres are in trouble with reduced footfall ..debenhams and costas are laying off and closing shops ,mind you theres a saturation in coffee shops everywhere so easy to undercut them on price by cheaper shops at a quid a coffee like mcds

same as everywhere really

 

 

[bert bloggs]

I enjoyed working all my life .why ? because i could spend time at work with people who were my friends as well ,also i had to drive to see clients ,i enjoyed getting out and about ,Now it seems people live on the internet ,they hardly ever really interact with real people . ce la vie .

[Chomper Higgot]

5 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Everyone has finally realized that with secure client vpn, Zoom, mobile phones etc. most people only need to be in the office one day per week at the most.

 

Great for the environment, not so good for the high street economy.

 

 

I this afternoon had a phone conversation with somebody who is in the process of moving out of London back to Edinburgh, she and her employer have agreed she can continue working remotely, so she’s going to slash her living costs and move back to what is one of the finest cities on the planet.

 

I’m sure many are making similar moves.

 

COVID-19 is changing very many aspects of the way we live and work.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Chomper Higgot

[torturedsole]

My wife and I are beginning to wander out now post-lockdown UK and ended up in sunny Tunbridge Wells today.

 

Obviously an affluent area in the middle of Kent. We visit Tunbridge Wells on an annual basis during the summer and have noticed the declining high street for many years, same as anywhere, but our visit today was revealing.

 

To let signs hanging on empty shops aplenty. The Pantiles was busy but it was the weekend and hardly likely to be reproduced weekdays.  

 

UK furlough and mortgage repayment holidays ending soon.  Jeez, it's going to be a blitz.

[kingdong]

12 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Why?

If people can and are happy to work from home, why shouldn’t they?

perhaps because he realises if you can work at home in croydon,someone could work at home in Calcutta at a fraction of the price.

[kingdong]

10 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I this afternoon had a phone conversation with somebody who is in the process of moving out of London back to Edinburgh, she and her employer have agreed she can continue working remotely, so she’s going to slash her living costs and move back to what is one of the finest cities on the planet.

 

I’m sure many are making similar moves.

 

COVID-19 is changing very many aspects of the way we live and work.

lets hope her boss dosen,t give her the gooner and employ someone from a developing country at a fraction of the price to slash the firms wages bill,it,ll only want one large firrm to do it and they'll be a domino effect.

Edited September 5, 2020 by kingdong

[torturedsole]

41 minutes ago, kingdong said:

perhaps because he realises if you can work at home in croydon,someone could work at home in Calcutta at a fraction of the price.

Great for call-centres and the like, but not really specialists when it comes to the complicated stuff, are they?

[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, kingdong said:

perhaps because he realises if you can work at home in croydon,someone could work at home in Calcutta at a fraction of the price.

Yeah, right, that’s what’s going to happen...deary deary me 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Bluespunk