I’m no fan of Sadiq, but…

[JustDanceAddict]

Thank goodness they’ve made masks mandatory on London transport as of next Monday. I use the tube a reasonable amount for various reasons (although didn’t from Dec-April as nowhere to go and I don’t work in central London) and local buses more and I would be much more wary of travelling if they’d only been ‘advisory’.
I’m not majorly paranoid about catching it, but if I can take easy steps to avoid getting it, I will!

@Dghgcotcitc

Umm well about 25 percent of people don’t wear them in the tube now when I am on and I cannot see that decreasing fine Monday no matter what Sadiq says. If it’s important to you that people wear masks I would avoid London transport to be honest.

So you think the CEV should be confined to their homes?

It's the right decision. Scotland has kept masks. Wales will do so as well (we find that out today) and I bet NI also. Johnson is looking increasingly marginalised on this.

I think it’s ok for it not to be mandated but individual companies take the decision

I feel better with this version as each situation is assessed

Thank goodness for that.

No idea how you avoid public transport in London lol... learn to fly?

Just to be clear. Mask wearing on London transport in relation to tubes cannot be policed. The majority of time you are in a carriage there is no member of staff, so people can wear or just wear a mask as they choose abs this has been the case throughout the pandemic. My own observation is that there is a lot of mask wearing when people perceive risk abs less when they don’t (so lots more mask wearing in feb/March less now). With masks ditched in so many other places compliance’s will likely dip further on Monday (as I said my estimate is about 75 percent compliance at the moment, but that is just my estimation)

If someone is generally going “oh everyone will wear a mask now because Sadiq said so” it’s a little naive and you are may find yourself on a tube train with a fair few people not wearing masks confused as to why “none listened to the mayor”

This is political postering by Sadiq it isn’t something you can genuinely rely on to make you safer …if people are relying on it I think they may be disappointed!

This is political postering by Sadiq it isn’t something you can genuinely rely on to make you safer …if people are relying on it I think they may be disappointed!

It's better than him doing nothing, which he would have also got grief for.

I think people should be required to wear masks in public transport.

But the battle is lost in buses here in S London. People just don’t. Maybe half to a third of passengers on a very crowded bus?

@Dghgcotcitc

Just to be clear. Mask wearing on London transport in relation to tubes cannot be policed. The majority of time you are in a carriage there is no member of staff, so people can wear or just wear a mask as they choose abs this has been the case throughout the pandemic. My own observation is that there is a lot of mask wearing when people perceive risk abs less when they don’t (so lots more mask wearing in feb/March less now). With masks ditched in so many other places compliance’s will likely dip further on Monday (as I said my estimate is about 75 percent compliance at the moment, but that is just my estimation)

If someone is generally going “oh everyone will wear a mask now because Sadiq said so” it’s a little naive and you are may find yourself on a tube train with a fair few people not wearing masks confused as to why “none listened to the mayor”

This is political postering by Sadiq it isn’t something you can genuinely rely on to make you safer …if people are relying on it I think they may be disappointed!

but this this been the case since June 2020 - there has never been a police officer in each carriage monitoring people's mask wearing. So it'll carry on more or less as it has been for the past year. I was not going to wear a mask on the 19th and now I will, so yes I am doing what Sadiq has said. There will be people that don't wear a mask now and still won't on the 19th of course but in my experience most people want to do the right thing and generally do as is the case now.

@LaurieFairyCake

I hope it's not enforceable on mainline train platforms. Where I go it's outside and there's never anyone within 50 feet of me never mind 2 metres. It's really awkward to walk down the long flight of outside stairs in a mask - and they've been enforcing it there.

Very happy to wear it ON the transport itself as I'm sat down but on platforms I want it off - Charing Cross, Victoria, Waterloo - all huge airy stations - I don't want to wear them there

It never was on train platforms which aren’t significantly covered. (This was how it was in the legislation) which meant if you were in an open platform you dont have to wear a mask

I’m glad there’s a clear logical decision. There’s been high compliance when I’ve been on enclosed tube compartments, I think people get how high risk this is, and it’s reasonable to remove your mask on an open platform if distanced. Even if it’s 80% of people sticking with it, it’s a bit less droplet soup wafting around.

I’m glad as it is the only very limited protection for kids using public transport to school.

@NannyAndJohn Thanks for your reply. I've been looking for an indication of the timescales and I have found a quote from Khan, As long as the virus is still with us, and as long as we're still concerned about the virus being transmitted, we will make it compulsory. As complete elimination of Covid will be impossible this means a de facto permanent ban on all London public transport for my family. I fully support mask wearing as an emergency measure in a pandemic, but this has worrying long-term implications.

"No idea how you avoid public transport in London lol... learn to fly?"

I know plenty of people who haven't used public transport since March 2020. Most people in zone 3-6 have cars (and don't come into central London much). In zone 1 where I am, people walk, cycle and use Uber.

I'm in zone 3, car ownership is not high in my area. I work in zone 1 - the tube is my only way of getting there.

I'm very glad masks are mandated on the tube, though agree that only about 75% are complying at the moment, so expect that will go down even further next week.

As long as those without masks make some effort to keep a distance if there is space, and not cough or shout conversations to each other I'm not too bothered. Some just don't care about others though.

Am on the tube right now and about half are not wearing them. However I realise I can't do anything about this so wearing an FPP and moving on with my life!

I think it will all make very little difference either way. This is my experience of transport systems outside London, not sure what they’re going to advise yet as most have far fewer powers than tfl.

Many people who strongly objected to masks before were already not wearing them. Large groups of teenagers/student age were often not wearing them. I don’t see why these people will change their behaviour.

Many other people were wearing masks and will continue to do so. I don’t see why these people will change their behaviour.

Enforcement was already largely impossible and will continue to be so.

I’ll keep wearing a mask but will continue to take it down periodically for gulps of fresh air when it’s absolutely fucking boiling and I feel like I’m going to faint. Some people will continue to look at me like I’ve just shit on their chips. I’ll continue to think they probably need to get a grip. Little will change.

If Mr Johnson objects about the use of conditions of carriage to keep this requirement, just remind him that this was the process he used when London Mayor to ban consumption of alcohol and open containers of alcohol.

This won't affect me but I'm glad about it for my daughter's sake. She mostly cycles but does also use the tube a bit. As she's early 20s she has only had her first jab so far, so this will help keep her safer.

Agree with @Dghgcotcitc

I work on the Tube. I have got so much verbal abuse over the past year/18 months from asking people to wear a mask. I don't bother anymore, because it's starting to affect my mental health. (Don't tell me I shouldn't be doing the job if I can't hack it. No-one, and I mean absolutely no-one, should be verbally abused just for doing their job)

Until Monday the British Transport Police can enforce mask wearing. After that, it will be confined to TfL's Conditions of Carriage which means that responsibility will fall to TfL and affiliated staff plus the new enforcement officers. These officers can ask someone about not wearing a mask, but if the person says they are exempt there really isn't much the EO can do. Enforcement Officers are supposed to reduce ASB and help uphold the CoC, but in reality other legislation like the Equality Act prevents them from doing anything significant. A person not wearing a mask doesn't even have to wear a badge or lanyard to prove exemption.

I appreciate that people are obviously nervous about using PT again but Imperial College do test the transport modes and often report no sign of Covid. In addition, I have never seen buses and tubes so clean!! You have to remember that essential workers have been using PT throughout the pandemic. I myself caught it once, I believe from a guy on a bus, in late March 2020. One of my coworkers almost died from it. About 75 people from TfL altogether have died from it. But to sound callous, our workforce numbers are in the tens of thousands so it's a tiny proportion, really. I think the risk is very low.

@newnortherner111

If Mr Johnson objects about the use of conditions of carriage to keep this requirement, just remind him that this was the process he used when London Mayor to ban consumption of alcohol and open containers of alcohol.

IMO Boris is pleased Sadiq has made this decision. Grant Shapps has been all over the airwaves this morning basically saying this is the decision we wanted TFL to make. I think it's more about a strategy for weaning organisations/ companies off relying on the Gov for guidelines and being told what to do constantly by the Government. It has forced Sadiq to make a decision which he was unlikely to ever do off his own his own back - even thought TFL has always set the Terms of Conditions for Carriage. I see it a bit like parents encouraging their adult kids to move out of home again after they've moved back in again!

Sensible decision - would be bonkers not to keep masks on public transport and would have been negligent towards their staff

Sasha completely agree

There’s a fair bit of grumbling as people have to take decisions again but it’s better all round.

order-order.com/2021/07/14/sadiq-mandates-tube-mask-wearing-for-the-rest-of-time/

I live in London. My DH has to take the bus and tube every day to work and I have a CEV adult DS who lives elsewhere, so I'm very pleased about this. Our whole immediate family apart from DS 9 has made the decision to keep wearing masks in shops etc.

@frazzledasarock

Some of my colleagues are back at work and said the trains they were on were packed they couldn’t social distance. And they were all very worried about the masks and social distancing and hand sanitising coming to an end

Glad public transport will keep masks.

Why are they worrying about hand sanitising? They can just buy and carry their own hand gel.