All stations will also be staffed by Tube employees, who had staged a series of strikes in their dispute with Johnson over rotas on the new service.
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A Costa Coffee spokesperson told Eat Out: “We’re thrilled to be able to continue serving Londoners through the night as the Night Tube finally arrives this weekend”.
As the Mayor of London boarded the first train, there were cheers down the carriage.
The Liverpool Street site will be open around the clock on Fridays and Saturdays for a month. The BBC reports that his successor, Sadiq Khan, plans to ride the rails in the inaugural “Night Tube” service on the Victoria Line.
The Tube will run past midnight tonight (Friday 19 August) for the first time on the Central and Victoria lines, with the Northern, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines set to follow in the autumn. It can’t be beyond the wit of a full-time mayor and TfL to make this work properly.
You can go out for as long as you want, without worrying about a hideously long night bus or overpriced Uber fare – what a luxury!
Tottenham Hale now has the highest level of demand across night tube stops, at 56%.
The extra underground services will be supported by more police and linked bus services, Transport for London said.
“It’s great that the Tube’s going to be open all night”, said Omar Khan, a 27-year-old clothing designer who was planning to party through the night with his friends. “I’m really pleased and proud that today the Night Tube is here, ” he said.
London’s Night Tube began with 50,000 people expected to use the service each weekend.
A recent study by business membership organisation London First estimated the Night Tube could be worth £77 million each year to the capital’s economy by 2029.
However, some workers – in health care and other sectors – will no doubt be disappointed if employers revoke the paid auto services sometimes offered to employees working overnight shifts.
The all-night service, which was originally meant to start in September 2015, is hailed as a big step forward for the capital’s transport network.
The union supports the concept of a Night Tube, but was caught in an enduring dispute with London Underground management all throughout past year and even lasting until this May.
London Underground once claimed the entire system would “come to a halt within days” if 24-hour running was introduced.
But when Khan’s predecessor as mayor, Boris Johnson, announced the Night Tube in November 2013, there was an obstacle he had not foreseen: whether drivers and station staff were willing to operate it.
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It will also go some way to catching up with train services in other major centres: the NY subway already runs throughout the night and the Paris metro operates late on weekends.
