Does anyone else feel like there’s
just a tiny bit of melodrama going on with the tube strikes at the minute? I don’t
know it might just be me, maybe it’s just because it’s not had a massive effect
on my commute. I just feel like everyone
is having a massive moan about it though. I’ve heard so many times already
since Tuesday.
“You managed to get here then?”
or “Good Luck getting home tonight.”
I mean you’d swear we were in the
middle of World War 3 the way that people are talking about it; people are
literally acting like they are “surviving” the tube strikes. I think good for
them striking. Our trip to and from work is being inconvenienced for 48 hours.
That’s it, 48 hours. Extra buses have been put on to help aid journeys, and we’ve
been warned about it for weeks now that this was coming. So it’s not as if it’s
been dropped on us out of the blue. We’ve had time to plan for it. Why not work
from home, or take some holiday leave. Get on a Borris Bike, or get as close as
you can by train or bus and then have a nice little walk, and enjoy the sights
and sounds of London. There are so many job losses these days, and so many
people unemployed with little or no hope of getting work, the fact people are
complaining that it’s going to take longer to get to their job just seems
ridiculous. The problem of getting to work for two days pales in comparison to
not having a job to get to at all doesn’t it?
My point is that up to 1000 tube workers
may not have jobs to go to over the next few months. When I was looking for
work in December I was told by the job centre that for every 1 job advertised there are 60 people applying for
it. That’s a minimum. These people know that our unemployment statistics are still
quite bad so they’re probably terrified for their future prospects. Yes
unemployment is getting better, but it’s not great, and now we’re going to add
1000 more people to the list. This all in favour of replacing them with
machines, and in so taking away more reason for human interaction in a city
usually too busy to acknowledge one another as it is.
I personally think people are
still definitely needed on the ticketing booths. There are constantly queues at
the ticketing windows, so where has it come from that we don’t need them. If
anything we need more at the major stations. The ticketing machines are great if you live
here, or are a regular visitor and you know how to use them, but what about
people who are visiting from abroad, or people who don’t know London as well. I
remember when I first moved here I was only ever buying tickets from the ticket
booths or topping up my Oyster with them. I had never been here so I didn’t have a clue.
These people are needed there; the machines they are going to be fitting are definitely
no substitute for talking to a person who can help you, and having face to face
contact.
Politicians are always talking
about investing money back into the city to make it a better place to live, and
give a better quality of life for Londoners, but what about using some money to
invest back into the people of London. Stop spending billions dicking around
with bullshit stuff that no one really cares about and focus on the people of
London who work their ass off every day to keep it running.
