The first 24 hour Tube service will run on 12 September next year
The first 24-hour London Underground services will run on 12 September next year, Boris Johnson confirmed today.
The Night Tube will run six services an hour after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays on the Jubilee, Victoria, Piccadilly and Central lines, and eight trains an hour on the Northern line "to meet demand at busy stations between Leicester Square and Camden Town".
Night bus usage has risen 270 per cent since 2000 – 50,000 people use the Tube after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, apparently.
The Mayor reckons running Tubes for 24 hours at weekends will create 2,000 new jobs, boost the economy by £360m, and cut night-time journeys by an average of 20 minutes, with some being more than an hour shorter.
Johnson said:
London is a bustling, 24-hour global city and by this time next year we’ll have a 24-hour Tube service to match. Running trains all through the night was once thought impossible, but with the huge investment we’ve put in and upgrades that have been delivered we stand ready to take the Tube to the next level.
The evolution of the Night Tube will without doubt make London an even better place to live, work, visit and invest.
If he means "invest in a couple of extra rounds", we'd say he's right on the nose. Mind that gap, there…