Sadiq Khan: Extending Night Tube to run on Thursday nights 'under review'

Proposals for the Night Tube to tally connected Thursday nights are being kept “under review”, Sadiq Khan has said.

The contented was raised astatine Mayor’s Question Time by Tory assembly subordinate Emma Best, who argues the determination could play a important relation successful revitalising the capital’s nighttime economy.

“Thursday is the caller Friday for galore Londoners, and the propulsion for a Night Tube connected Thursdays volition lone increase,” she said, earlier asking whether the politician volition inquire the Government for the required funding.

The politician said helium was “really sympathetic” to the assembly member’s point, adding that helium would support her updated connected whether it volition go imaginable to grow the work successful future.

A caller study by Ms Best, titled ‘Fixing London’s Nightlife’, pointed retired that the Night Tube “only runs connected conscionable 5 retired of 11 [Underground] lines, lone 2 nights a week [Fridays and Saturdays]”.

The study adds: “You lone person to look astir the streets of Soho, the City and Canary Wharf connected Thursday nights to realise conscionable however precocious footfall is for galore workers piling retired the bureau and into the pubs, with galore workers past taking vantage of moving from location connected a Friday… There is simply a lawsuit for extending the Night Tube to beryllium connected a Thursday.”

Mr Khan said that since its motorboat successful 2016, the Night Tube has boosted London’s system by hundreds of millions of pounds. It present covers the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, on with portion of the London Overground.

“Given the occurrence of the Night Tube, I’ve asked TfL to support Night Tube services nether review, and I’ve made it wide I’d similar to spot the work expanded to enactment the moving of our city’s late-night system erstwhile circumstances allow,” helium said.

The politician warned nevertheless that, arsenic good arsenic other funding, immoderate enlargement of the work would necessitate “complex planning”, arsenic it would mean re-scheduling enactment presently carried retired astatine night.

“The instauration of the Night Tube saw galore important changes to London Underground inspection and attraction work, condensing what was erstwhile 7 days of enactment into five,” helium said.

“Shift patterns for this enactment present debar Friday and Saturday nights and Night Tube work lines, with indispensable enactment being redirected to different areas of the network.

“So 1 information is the interaction of further condensing this captious work, which utilized to instrumentality 7 nights, into 4 nights, to accommodate a precocious nighttime work connected Thursdays.”

He added that TfL undertakes “continuous assessments” of question patterns, but said precocious evening ridership connected the Tube remains astir 20 per cent higher connected Fridays and Saturdays than connected Thursdays.

It is unclear whether Ms Lame volition beryllium replaced with a caller nighttime czar. A ‘London Nightlife Taskforce’ is alternatively expected to analyse the effectiveness of the relation - which presently commands a wage of £132,000 a year.

But Liberal Democrat assembly subordinate Gareth Roberts said that if a caller czar is hired, the politician should guarantee they are a “political appointee”, successful bid to “allow robust scrutiny by the Assembly, without fearfulness of breaching employment law, arsenic was a recurring occupation with Ms Lamé’s appointment”.

The politician suggested this would not beryllium possible, arsenic the Act of Parliament which created London’s mayoralty successful 1999 limits however galore of those appointees helium tin person astatine immoderate 1 clip - and each positions are presently filled.

Mr Khan told Mr Roberts: “I’d beryllium much than blessed for [assembly] members to lobby the Government for maine to person much governmental appointees.”