The 41, W3 and 102 have little or no service until 4am Wednesday. TfL has called off the 19 to 21 August strike. The next walkout is 25 to 28 August.
Arriva London North drivers are on strike today. Transport for London expects little or no service on 14 routes through this area, the 41, the W3 and the 102 among them, until 04:00 on Wednesday.
The Crouch End bus strike comes down to one route. The 41 is off in both directions all day, and the Broadway is left with the 91, the W5 and a diverted W7.
The better news is in the small print. TfL has confirmed that the strike planned from 04:00 on Wednesday 19 August to 04:30 on Friday 21 August has been called off. Buses should run normally on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week.
The next walkout is 04:00 on Tuesday 25 August to 04:30 on Friday 28 August, over the bank holiday week.
What is off, and what is not
TfL’s strike list covers 43 routes across north, east and central London. Only some of them come near us, and the effect is very uneven. Highgate barely notices. Turnpike Lane loses eleven routes at once.
Checked against TfL’s own stop data, this is the position at six local stops:
- Crouch End Broadway: the 41 and N41 are off. The 91, N91, W5 and W7 are running.
- Muswell Hill Broadway: the 102 is off. The 43, 134, 144, 234, 299 and W7 are running.
- Hornsey and Alexandra Palace: the W3 is off. The W5 and the 184 are running.
- Wood Green station: the 29, 67, 121, 141, 221, 243, 329, W3, W4 and N29 are off. The 91, N91, 144, 184, 230 and 232 are running.
- Turnpike Lane station: the 29, 41, 67, 121, 141, 217, 221, 329, W4, N29 and N41 are off. The 123, 144, 184, 230 and 231 are running.
- Highgate: nothing is affected. The 43, 134, 143, 210, 214, 234, 263, 310, N20 and N263 all run as usual.
One route matters more than the rest here. The 41 is the direct link from Archway up through Hornsey Rise to Crouch End Broadway, then along Tottenham Lane to Turnpike Lane and Tottenham Hale, according to TfL’s route data. Without it, the Broadway keeps its 91 towards Wood Green and Trafalgar Square, plus the W5 and W7.
The W7 is running, but it is not running its normal way. It has been diverted since February between Stroud Green Road and Crouch End Broadway, via Hanley Road, Hornsey Rise and Crouch End Hill, and it is not serving Crouch Hill or Crouch Hill station. That diversion lasts until 18:00 on Monday 2 November.
The Piccadilly line is shut as well
For Wood Green, Turnpike Lane and Bounds Green the timing is worse than a bus strike alone.
TfL’s live status for the Piccadilly line says there is no service between Cockfosters and Uxbridge on Tuesday 18, Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 August. Trains run only between Acton Town and Heathrow. Replacement buses are operating.
That closure takes out Wood Green, Turnpike Lane, Bounds Green, Manor House, Arnos Grove and Finsbury Park’s Piccadilly platforms, on the same day the Arriva routes serving those stations are on strike.
It happens again next week. TfL’s planned closures schedule, correct at 13 August, has the Piccadilly line shut from Cockfosters to Uxbridge on Tuesday 25 to Thursday 27 August, inside the 25 to 28 August strike window.
Highgate has its own date to watch. The same schedule closes the Northern line between Archway and High Barnet from Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August, including during Saturday Night Tube.
Why the drivers are out
The dispute is about heat, not pay.
Unite says more than 1,500 drivers at eight Arriva North London garages are taking action over the company’s failure to improve working conditions in hot weather. Two of those garages, Tottenham and Wood Green, are in this borough. The others are Barking, Edmonton, Enfield, Grays, Palmers Green and Stamford Hill.
Most Arriva North London buses have air cooling rather than air conditioning. The union says that in a heatwave this only brings the temperature down by two or three degrees, and that cabs can pass 40C.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “No worker should be made ill by their job. This problem is raised year after year and as the summers get hotter it can no longer be swept under the carpet.”
Regional officer Steve Stockwell said drivers “have raised concerns multiple times but these are not being listened to by management”, and that Unite “is willing to come back to the table” if Arriva makes changes.
Unite says one driver was signed off for five days with heatstroke after the late June heatwave. The union has also given drivers a letter to hand to managers when a cab gets too hot, citing the right to stop work on safety grounds under section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
We have not been able to reach a statement from Arriva London North on the dispute. Its London service updates page returned an error when we checked early on Tuesday.
The full strike calendar
Unite has called 26 days of action. After this week, the remaining dates are:
- 25 to 28 August
- 4 to 5 September
- 7 to 8 September
- 18 to 19 September
- 21 to 22 September
- 2 to 3 October
- 5 to 6 October
- 16 to 17 October
- 19 to 20 October
Each window runs from 04:00 on the first date to 04:30 on the last.
What it means for you
- Today is a strike day. It runs until 04:00 on Wednesday 19 August. Night buses on the evening before a strike starts operate as normal, TfL says.
- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are back on. If you had rearranged your week around a four-day walkout, you can put it back.
- Book the bank holiday week now. The 25 to 28 August strike lands with a Piccadilly line closure from 25 to 27 August. For anyone in Wood Green or Turnpike Lane, that is both the tube and most of the buses.
- From Crouch End, the 91 is the workhorse. It reaches Wood Green one way and Trafalgar Square the other, and it is not an Arriva London North route.
- Highgate is the safe bet. No route through the village or along Archway Road is on the strike list, and the Northern line only closes over the 29 to 31 August weekend.
- Check before you leave. TfL’s bus status page shows each route’s live position, and the 41, W3, 102 and 29 are all currently flagged as a special service.
Longer term, the 91 is due to be extended from Crouch End Broadway to Wood Green, a change Haringey signed off in July. TfL has still not named a start date, and we will report it when it does. Our roadworks and travel page carries the current closures and diversions across Crouch End, Hornsey and Highgate.
Have your say
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