Tube strike takes down transport websites

London travel chaos hits the web...

Although yesterday's tube strike in London saw many workers staying away from the congested capital, those turning to the web to find alternative routes in to the office often found they were struggling to access websites crippled by demand. Londontransport.co.uk, which usually takes an average of 3.97 seconds to access, was taking an average of 11.08 seconds to download during the morning, as measured by web monitoring firm Keynote. The page dedicated to updating commuters on the strike action was slow all day. At its worst it took 19.40 seconds to access. The quickest time was still a pedestrian 11.20 seconds as Londoners logged on in search of travel updates. Similarly, Stagecoachbus.com, which offers route information for London experienced severe downtime during the day. It was only accessible 66.67 per cent of the time on Tuesday evening as commuters started looking for ways of getting home once the tube strike took effect. However, the general pattern was one of improved services over the performance of websites during the previous week's strike. South West Trains and Thames Trains had both been hit by downtime during the strike on 24 and 25 September. However, this time both sites were able to stay up for the duration of the strike. Eric Nataf, European product marketing director for Keynote, said in a statement: "It is good to see train operators have ensured the sites are available at times like these, when travellers need them most. Dips in performance and slow loading sites are still a nuisance that London workers could do without though."