Curfew consequences

sir – Martin Williams (Commentary, October 5) asserts that, had more transport services been running in the capital in recent weeks, the hospitality sector in central London would have been in a stronger position to weather the Covid storm.

It must have escaped Mr Williams’s attention that, since Transport for London staff absence levels returned to normal in June, we have been running pre-covid levels of service on the public transport network. The major threat to normal service patterns now comes not from City Hall, but from Whitehall.

If ministers fail to replace the lost income caused by the Government’s own rules (fare income is 73 per cent down compared with last year), and do not urgently review the 10pm curfew – which may increase the spread of the virus as people leave venues all at once – then it will be the Government, not the Mayor of London, adding to the industry’s challenges.

Heidi Alexander Deputy Mayor for Transport London SE1