Umunna opposes Mayor’s tube station cuts
Chuka Umunna, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Streatham, is opposing cuts to ticket office opening times at tube stations in Clapham, Balham and Brixton.
Details of the cuts were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson this week, and would affect tube stations including Brixton, Clapham South, Clapham Common and Balham and result in hundreds of jobs being axed.
Under the proposals, Clapham South station ticket office would see its opening times cut by 46 hours per week, while Clapham Common station’s ticket office would be open for 32 fewer hours each week.
While currently Clapham South’s ticket office closes at 9.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays, under the Mayor’s planned changes it would be without a ticket office after 3.45pm on Saturday and 4.00pm on Sundays.
The ticket offices at Balham and Clapham Common will close at 7.45pm from Monday to Friday and Clapham South’s at 7.15pm, also closing for most of the afternoon, between 1.30pm and 5.00pm on weekdays.
Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the Streatham constituency, which includes significant parts of Clapham and Balham, said:
“Thousands of people use our local underground stations on a daily basis and they form a vital connection with central London.
“The Mayor’s drastic cuts to opening times would see our local tube stations without ticket offices for hours on end at peak times.
“As well as the loss of customer service for tube users, I am concerned about the impact the changes could have on the safety of stations, particularly late at night.”
Last year, Mr Umunna launched a campaign to bring the tube to Streatham after learning that TfL was examining plans to extend the Bakerloo line to Lewisham and Bromley in Kent. Following this, TfL is now considering a range of options for extending the line in South London, including one which would
bring the line to Streatham.
