Night Tube: bring it back for women’s safety
There is a mental checklist every woman goes through when planning to leave the house after dark; what time does the sun set, how far is the nearest bus or train, how long will I have to wait at the stop or platform if I miss one, how far do I have to walk on the other side, is the walk well lit, is my phone charged, will one of my friends wait up until I text: “I got home ok”.
This is not new. Women have been doing it for years, not just in London but all over the world. But recently the fear has been amplified; Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa were murdered walking by themselves in London, petrol and driver shortages have made booking an Uber either impossible or extortionate and the Night Tube is closed.
The options for getting home have been significantly reduced just as the nights begin to draw in. Taxi waiting times are longer than ever and, according to Transport For London (TFL), there were 235 allegations of rape or sexual assault against London taxi and private hire drivers over a 12-month period in 2019. Getting a taxi alone carries risk too. Then there’s the bus, which often takes much longer and involves a walk on either side. Not ideal at 1am on a cold winter’s night.
The Night Tube was introduced in 2016 by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as an essential service with CCTV and staff at every station to ensure everyone had a safe route home. When the first lockdown was introduced in March 2020 and the work-from-home advice was implemented, footfall on TFL services was greatly reduced and the Night Tube was put on hold.
Over 18 months later, we no longer have lockdowns, a curfew or the work-from-home advice, yet the Night Tube has not returned. In April, Transport Commissioner Andy Byford told the Evening Standard that a lack of demand meant “there are no plans to restore the Night Tube within a year, and certainly not before 2022.” The group that will be hardest hit by this closure is women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who rely constantly on public transport and those working anti-social hours in hospitality and nursing; two industries we heavily rely on but fail to reward with the simple option of a tube home from work.
Following the harrowing details from the trial of Sarah Everard’s murderer, there is now a desperate need for the return, and improvement, of the Night Tube. As for demand, two petitions were created in the last few weeks on Change.org asking for the return of the service as soon as possible. Although the petitions have122,000 and 2,300 signatures respectively, they will currently not be debated in Parliament but a glimmer of hope appeared when Sadiq Khan told LBC last week that he would make an announcement about the Night Tube in “a couple of weeks”. Hopefully he moves fast. The Night Tube is an expensive investment, but you can’t put a price on safety.
In his Mayor’s manifesto, Khan lists “renewing our focus on the safety of women and girls” as a top commitment, it is high time he followed through. The Night Tube won’t end violence against women, but it might, after an exhausting few weeks, put some minds at ease.
We all dream of a world where women can take shortcuts through the park at night and friends don’t have to stay up on the phone to make sure we get home safe, but that feels very far away right now. Re-opening the Night Tube is a small step to make the streets safer. We pride ourselves on the freedom and opportunities our capital city provides but is it really freedom at all if fear and risk curtail our options by the hour as the sun goes down?
As Sadiq Khan reviews the Night Tube over the next few weeks, I hope he considers the safety implications of keeping it closed. Is it really too much to ask that London, one of the best cities in the world, might go the extra mile to prioritise women’s safety?