Transport for LondonLU question time success
I and my team believe it is hugely important to use the services we provide
Mike Brown, Chief Operating Officer, and Richard Parry, Director of Strategy and Service Development, answered more than 80 questions during the two-hour question time.
The questions covered a wide range of subjects, from Northern line train times to the directors' own commuting habits.
An edited summary of a few of the questions and answers follow.
For the full list, go to tfl.gov.uk/questiontime and click on 'view questions and answers'.
I appreciate that some closures for engineering work are necessary, but on some weekends the number seems excessive.
Could consideration be given to limiting the number of closures at any one time, even if it means a scheme may not be completed so quickly?
The Tube has suffered from decades of under-investment, and is carrying more passengers than ever before - 1.1billion last year.
It's vital that we renew and upgrade all of the lines over the next decade or so.
This means that we have no option but to undertake a large number of closures at weekends if we are not to shut the railway during the week when demand is highest.
Careful planning goes into developing the closure programme so that we don't shut down whole areas of London, even if journeys take slightly longer.
We are also careful to avoid clashes with major events, given the numbers of people involved.
The volume of work means there are more weekend closures now than ever before, but we do ensure that it is still possible to travel around.
We provide replacement bus services where there is no alternative Tube service.
Richard Parry
What are the plans for reducing the temperature inside the trains during the hotter months?
...As part of our upgrade to the District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines we are introducing air conditioned trains - the first of which customers will see from the beginning of 2010.
On the deeper level lines...we are looking at improving ventilation by bringing old ventilation shafts along individual lines back in to use to allow hot air to escape more easily.
There are other things we are doing at stations, such as introducing chiller units and industrial-sized fans.
We are also conducting a trial at Victoria station to use ground water to cool the Victoria line platforms and looking at how this technique could be used elsewhere on the Underground.
This is not an easy problem, but I am aware how hot it can get in the summer.
Mike Brown
My friends and I are often out in central London till late at the weekends and getting the night bus home is a real pain!
Why doesn't the Tube run all night?
We're in the 21st century now, and it must be possible.
Every night we carry out regular inspections to check the condition of the track...
Unfortunately this engineering work isn't possible while the trains are running.
Other metros that run all night in other cities often have dual tracks, so that one can be closed and the other used for the train service.
So that we minimise the number of weekend closures we have to make the most of the time available to us each evening.
If we extend the Tube operating hours at weekends this would have to be balanced with a later start on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Mike Brown
What are you doing to make the Underground more accessible?
LU has a step-free access programme that will make 25 per cent of our stations step-free from street to platform by 2010.
It is difficult because our stations are old, and entrances aren't generally built directly above platforms.
This can lead to complex engineering solutions that may create convoluted routes for our customers.
...Platform 'humps' have already been fitted at some stations to reduce the height difference, and we know this makes a difference to many of our customers.
We are also making improvements at our stations as we modernise and refurbish them.
We add tactile strips to platforms, improve our information systems, and increase colour contrast in customer areas.
Richard Parry
Do you actually take the Tube to work?
Every day.
You can recognise me from my LU name badge.
I predominantly use the District and Circle lines, although as my job takes me all around the network I use every line.
I and my team believe it is hugely important to use the services we provide to ensure we are constantly aware and in tune with customers, and so we can pick up the good things we do and put right the not so good.
Mike Brown
