Above-inflation fare rises and teeming queues at the ticket machine as people flock to renew their passes; January 2nd is traditionally not the best day for the rail industry. TfL may be harking about a single fare freeze (whilst downplaying the Travelcard fare increase), but for Londoners today the news in general is less good: two of the capitals busiest transport hubs are closed.
Liverpool Street station, shut since December 23rd while engineers were busy destroying a Victorian era bridge as part of the East London Line revamp, was supposed to re-open this morning, but work ran over schedule and at the time of writing it remains closed. Tickets are being accepted on local, already-overburdened tube and bus routes, while One railway services are starting and stopping at either Stratford, Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters or Hackney Downs - full details here.
Meanwhile, in a slightly more planned closure, the Victoria line is not stopping at Victoria station until this Sunday. A bus replacement service will crawl at surface level between Victoria and Pimlico stations, with customers also advised to take local buses from Green Park tube if they are trying to reach Victoria.
The usual advice applies - namely, give yourself plenty of extra time to reach your destination, and visit TfL's website for the latest. We'll update you throughout the day if there's any change to the Liverpool Street situation, but even if it does re-open, chaos can be confidently predicted for the remainder of today.
New year, same old commuter hell. We think a lot of travelers might be seeing angry hallucinations in the new Rorschach influenced tube map today.
Image of Liverpool Street (not taken this morning, clearly) from victoriapeckham's Flickstream
