The London Underground Waterloo & City line will provide a full weekday service from Monday 22 November.
The line connects Waterloo and Bank stations and is an important commuter link for thousands who come into London to work in the City each day.
It shut in March 2020 in response to the Government's advice for people to work from home. As commuters predominately used the line, demand for the line plummeted.
To support workers returning to their offices, in June this year Transport for London (TfL) reintroduced weekday services on the line but at peak times only. Now, as London continues to recover from the pandemic, from 22 November the Waterloo & City line will operate a full service from 06.00 in the morning to 00.30 at night. Trains will run every three minutes at peak times, between 06.30 and 09.30 and between 16.00 and 19.00. At off-peak times, trains will run every five minutes.
TfL could not reintroduce a full service to the Waterloo & City line before now, as the line's drivers have been operating Central line services where demand has been higher.
Using these drivers on the Central line has ensured that TfL could run as many services as possible to enable social distancing during the pandemic .
Before the pandemic, demand for the Saturday service on the line was only one-sixth of demand on an average weekday. Hence, Saturday services on the Waterloo & City line will not resume for the foreseeable future.
However, TfL will continue to monitor demand across the network and make service adjustments to meet growing demand. Ridership on the Tube is now regularly hitting at least 60% on weekdays compared to before the pandemic.
Since the Waterloo & City line re-opened in June, the number of passengers using it has more than doubled. TfL expects this to increase as workers return to offices and more people visit the city for leisure.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said “As Londoners and visitors return to the capital, whether that be for work or to enjoy London's world-class culture and hospitality venues, it's important that they can travel easily and safely around the city.”
“The Waterloo & City line provides another great transport option and a vital link to the City, and the return of a full weekday service is a big boost for the capital's economy as we continue to recover from the pandemic.”
Andy Lord, Managing Director of London Underground, said “The return of the Waterloo & City line to a full weekday service is yet another important step towards the recovery of London's economy.”
“The line is a vital link into the City, and as people continue to return to offices and travel into the heart of London to enjoy the city's vibrant culture, retail and hospitality, this will provide even more options for customers to travel when and where they want.”
“The Tube has played an important role during the pandemic and I am proud of the excellent work happening behind the scenes to allow customers to travel with confidence on clean, safe, frequent and reliable services.”
Policy Chair at the City of London Corporation, Catherine McGuinness, said “Those who have returned to the Square Mile recently will have noticed that City streets are buzzing again with offices, restaurants and cultural venues coming back to life.”
“Today's announcement of a full weekday reopening of the historic Waterloo & City line in November is hugely welcomed as the additional capacity will give options for commuters and relieve pressure on our vital public transport network.”
“It will give even more confidence to our workers and visitors as they commute to the City for work and leisure, whilst also providing further reassurance to those Square Mile businesses which rely on commuter traffic for trade.”
“The return of the Waterloo & City line to a full timetable of operation is a key marker in the sustainable recovery of the City and of London as a whole.”
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“All trains go to Bank”
As if they went anywhere else . . . !
About time that the Waterloo & City line should resume its full weekday service since it closed because of Coronavirus pandemic last year and early this year. About time.