Lime bike battles, vomit on buses and 100ft queues: Inside day three of Tube strike hell

100ft queues for the Elizabeth line, battles for Lime bikes, buses packed to the rafters, and heavy downpours – welcome to day three of the London Tube strikes.

We’re now more than 72 hours into the Underground shutdown, and it’s safe to say it hasn’t been fun for millions trying to get to work.

In fact, to quote one commuter today, it’s been ‘carnage’.

The early morning scramble for Lime bikes – thanks ‘strikelists’ – later became a race for buses after the heavens opened.

If that didn’t help, there have been reports of people taking extreme measures to secure their Lime bikes by fleeing with pedals.

Metro was at hand to see hundreds stuck in a queue for the Elizabeth line at Liverpool Street, with a line stretching for at least 100ft outside.

Meanwhile, a bus driver reportedly had to cancel a journey after a passenger threw up all over the front door, forcing all passengers to evacuate.

Liverpool Street passengers then became even more confused when the alarm went off suddenly, urging everyone to evacuate due to an ’emergency.’

Staff told Metro it was only a drill – but it added to the chaos.

For Londoner Michael La Borde, 53, this strike is extra heavy as he is worried about people getting to his mum’s funeral tomorrow.

His commute to work on the Strand is relatively straightforward, but arranging the funeral tomorrow has been difficult.

He said: ‘An event like that will be impacted because people have to find alternative transport to get there.

‘If people think they need to strike for something, then by all means. But at the same time, there are other people who it impacts as well.’

Michael said the length of the strike has made it feel more chaotic than previously.

‘If it’s one or two days, fair enough. But Monday to Friday? That’s quite an impact, isn’t it? It also has an impact on the economy,’ he added.

Helena, 49, and her daughter Emily, 16, had just flown into London from County Clare with Helena’s elderly parents to visit an uncle in hospital.

She said: ‘We flew in this morning to see my uncle, who’s in hospital. We were caught off guard. My parents arrived yesterday, and my dad decided to meet me this morning.’

During their last visit, they were able to travel on the Tube quickly to see him, but ‘this time, I just don’t know what to do,’ Helena said.

‘My father is 81 and he walked 14,000 steps yesterday. We get strikes in Ireland. I sometimes think that workers need to strike. But the Tube Service here is so essential to everybody that I just think it’s a little selfish,’ she added.

Lindsay Outtin, 50, said her commute was so bad that work paid for a hotel in London last night.

Lindsay told Metro she’d been standing for 20 minutes with no bus in sight – and reckoned it’d be another 15 until she got on board.

She said: ‘It’s been a bit of a mare, really.

‘I think the knock-on impacts of the strike are so huge that really there needs to be more of a political will to solve it.

‘I don’t know enough about the demands that the RMT and the unions, but the effect on the economy, everyone’s tempers and well-being … Someone needs to resolve it if they can.’

This morning, almost all Tube lines remain closed, although patchy service has resumed on some sections of the Northern, Central and Metropolitan lines, but not all stations are open. Scroll on to see the latest travel status for all TfL services.

And there is more misery in store for commuters queueing up for rammed buses as rain has been forecast in London for most of today.

Charlie, 30, told Metro about the battle for Lime bikes on London streets during the strike.

He said while trying to reserve one of the green cycles: ‘As soon as someone jumps off of one; another person is on it.’

When asked about the strikes, he said ‘it doesn’t bother me. I get a bit of exercise.’

Bernadette, 26, who normally takes a train to Tottenham Hale and then the Victoria line to Victoria station, said she is trying to make her way into the office with a Lime bike.

She said as she confessed not being a regular cyclist: ‘I’ve been struggling to get a Lime Bike. I don’t bike often but it’s worth a shot.’

Matt, 41, who works in construction and normally comes to London three or four days out of the week, told Metro he will walk from Liverpool Street station to his office in west London as no Lime bikes were available.

‘We’re lucky to have an office in Essex,’ he tells Metro, holding two coffee cups of coffee to power him for his journey ahead.

‘But we have a meeting in West London today that I’m going to walk to. We’ve had to completely cancel some other things this week which has messed us up.

‘We haven’t been able to get in… today was the first day I even bothered trying,

‘It sounds like everybody is just walking, so that’s what I’m going to do. I thought about getting a Lime Bike, but they’re all going to be taken,’ he added.

Other commuters have also tried to make the most of the misery and use it as a chance to keep fit.

One man, who didn’t want to share his name, told Metro he’s been quite happy with the amount he’s walked this week.

Showing reporter Sarah Hooper his phone, he smiled: ‘Look at that. One mile earlier this week and the steps get higher each day. I’m just grateful it’s been sunny for most of the week.’

‘It feels like a third-world country’ – tourists speak out

By Sarah Hooper

A couple have said their holiday to London has been affected after strikes meant they weren’t able to get around and see the sights of the city.

Janelle, 58, and Paul, 61, are visiting London from Sydney, and they arrived just as the strike began.

Paul told Metro that in Australia, a strike of this magnitude was inconceivable.

‘The government would intervene. Strikes would not be allowed to shut down a system that 5 million people rely on every day. It feels like a third-world country,’ he said.

‘It’s made our trip as visitors less enjoyable, but I feel for the commuters, and I feel for the business owners.

‘All I seem to read on the news websites is the impact of loss of income for the strikers, but that’s got to be such a small amount of the overall economic impact on the country. It’s ridiculous.

‘We don’t live here, but from what I’ve read, the workers on the Tube are on an amazingly good salary, with something like 53 days’ leave and already reduced working hours.

Janelle added, ‘I feel for the bus drivers. We’ve done a few bus trips that see people just piling on the back. I’ll bet those bus drivers don’t earn anything near what the tube workers earn.’

The couple added that their expenses have increased as a result of the tube strikes.

‘We would have taken the underground, but now a £2 trip has become a £40 trip,’ he said.

‘I’m just glad we’re fit and healthy enough to walk 10 kilometres a day,’ Janelle added. ‘We’ve been fortunate; it hasn’t changed our plans other than we’ve walked a lot further than we would have intended. But we’ve survived.’

Meanwhile, major roads into London like the A20, M4, A4, A13 and M11 are expected to be busy today with commuters opting for cars and taxis to get into the capital from the city’s outskirts.

What about people travelling from the far corners of London and outside?

Harry Seager, 35, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, spent 3.5 hours travelling from his home to the office in Farringdon, London, which usually takes around 90 minutes on the Metropolitan line from the Chalfont and Latimer station.

While he was not forced to come in and could have worked from home, he said he ‘forgot’ about the strikes.

His mammoth strike journey involved a 24-mile drive, four trains, one bus, plus a two-mile walk.

He told Metro: ‘I had Monday and Tuesday off and forgot about them. Today I went to work and had all of this. I could have worked from home.’

Gaby Smith, 37, who moved to London from Israel four months ago, said the Underground has worked ‘perfectly’ until now.

The strike also took him by surprise, but he had sympathy for the cause.

‘Strikes are natural. Workers can complain, and if they have an option to do that and it’s a legitimate reason, as long as they let people know in time to prepare, I don’t see an issue.

‘People are finding ways to get around. I saw people taking the buses, taking bicycles. The weather was fine, so people could find alternatives.’

Some commuters found respite from the travel stress by hopping on the River Thames boats when the weather was still sunny yesterday or taking National Rail.

What lines have no service today?

Here are the Tube lines that are suspended today with no service:

• Bakerloo
• Circle
• District
• Hammersmith & City
• Jubilee
• Piccadilly
• Victoria
• Waterloo & City

Tube lines which have opened with limited service today:

What TfL services are running today?

• Central line – Trains are running with minor delays between White City and West Ruislip/Ealing Broadway, and between Stratford and Epping/Hainault via Grange Hill only. The rest of the line has no service and some stations remain closed. Passengers should check their journey on the TfL website or app before travelling
• Northern line – Service is operating between High Barnet and East Finchley/Mill Hill East and between Golder Green and Edgware only, no service on the rest of the line and some stations remain closed
• Metropolitan line – Trains are running with minor delays between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham/Chesham/Watford/Uxbridge only, and the rest of the line remains closed. Some stations might also be closed in between

Docklands Light Railway travel status today:

• DLR has no service between Bank and Shadwell due to the strike, while the rest of the line has severe delays

And here is the latest Overground status:

• Mildmay – Part closure with no southbound service from Willesden Junction to Shepherd’s Bush until 6.15 am
• Suffragette – Reduced service with 5.48 am and 6.24 am trains between Barking Riverside and Gospel Oak cancelled
• The rest of the Overground lines have good service

Is the Elizabeth line open during the strikes?

Most of the Elizabeth line is running today, along with the buses and Overground trains, but services are busy.

The Elizabeth line trains will not stop at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel stations between 7.30am and 10.30pm today, and before 8am tomorrow, Thursday.

One passenger said Paddington station this morning was ‘carnage.’

Wet weather could make journeys – and queueing outside – trickier today.

Met Office has forecast rain until at least 8pm tonight across Greater London, with some heavier downpours predicted this afternoon.

When will Tube strikes end and service is normal?

Although the strikes end officially on Thursday, there is no Tube service before 8am, the latest advice from TfL says.

Normal Tube service is expected on all lines by late Friday morning.

Why is the strike happening?

The strikes are going ahead after the talks between the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and TfL have stalled. RMT members are calling for a 32-hour working week after ‘long-term health effects from working extreme shifts and fatigue.’

RMT has said the shift patterns have become unsustainable for staff, with 4 am starts and 1 am finishes, coupled with 2,000 fewer Tube staff.

TfL has said the shorter working week is ‘neither practical and affordable,’ and it has offered a 3.4% pay increase instead.

Commuters and London leaders have urged RMT and TfL to reach an agreement soon.

One frustrated commuter told TfL to give the staff ‘whatever they want, man, I’m having a horrific morning.’

Eddie Dempsey, the general secretary of RMT, said his members are ‘absolutely furious’ over TfL’s handling of their demands.

He said that the union ‘took no pleasure’ in disrupting people’s lives but that there is a ‘crisis in industrial relations’.

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