About 100 British Transport Police officers patrolled the network on the launch of the service.
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The 24-hour service will run throughout Saturday and Friday nights.
In fact, according to the same report, London’s “24-hour economy” could contribute close to £30 billion ($39.2 billion) to the United Kingdom capital each year by the year 2030, and support as much as 790,000 jobs.
As London Mayor Sadiq Khan boarded the first train on the Victoria line, there were cheers down the carriage.
London’s Night Tube, which will operate for 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays, starts running Friday on the Victoria and Central lines.
In autumn, the service will be rolled out onto the Jubilee, Northern and Picadilly Lines.
Boris Johnson had promised the service would begin on September 12 2015, and TfL had even promoted it by saying it would be good for those going to games at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
Concerns, however, have been expressed about the safety of the new service, after a leaked internal assessment by TfL indicated that sexual offences and other crimes are likely to increase.
It’s a familiar sight on public transport late at night: a passenger, often half-eaten takeaway in hand, sits with head slumped, eyes closed, being carried towards an unknown destination.
LU’s new managing director, Mark Wild, who launched night services in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this year, said: “What happened there is what I expect will happen here”. If Sadiq wants to save London’s nightlife, it’s not transport he needs to tackle – but the big businesses and property developers who’ve been cutting the heart and soul out of the city. “Its introduction is a historic step in the modernisation of the Underground and our continuing work to make life easier for Londoners and to support London’s economic growth”.
Another added: “Got to say there was a great atmosphere on the Night Tube tonight”.
Cabs: London’s famed black cabs might suffer as a result of the new operating hours, showing that not everyone will benefit.
Which renders the whole Night Tube thing pretty useless.
The managers of the London Underground now believe all the needed maintenance work can be completed on weeknights, giving them time to offer the overnight service on the weekend.
It noted the lines as the 74-kilometre East-West Central Line and the 21-kilometre Victoria Line, which snakes through central London from Brixton in the south-west to Walthamstow in the north-east.
“So that’s why the Tube must close down for a few hours every night”.
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The Night Tube is one way to boost business, he said.
