I'm writing a short article on ways that small businesses in London can
cope better during strike days - eg pointing out free wifi on stations
with a long wait. Any suggestions gratefully received.

E.

On 2014-05-07 18:33:03 +0000, Paul Corfield said:

Difficult to give ideas with no clue as to the difficulties such
businesses face during a tube strike.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses, the February strikes
cost smaller firms £600 million and about £1,300 each on average:

"In London, 58 per cent of members were negatively affected by the shut
down with most saying cancelled meetings (59%), staff absences (43%)
and difficulty transporting goods and services (18%) were the main
problems. However, many businesses also say loss of demand for goods
and fewer customers also caused problems."

In a smart city - we are supposed to be Europe's technology capital -
there are some suggestions.

E.

"Paul Corfield" wrote

My general sense of things is that people don't consider or plan
alternatives because they never expect to need such a thing.
Nonetheless there is always value to having done some contingency
planning and being able to react quickly once a strike is announced.

If it's any consolation when I still worked for LU I became the
impromptu travel information guru for my boss and the wider team as

Hope that helps a bit.

Yep.

I recall that at the time of the Clapham junction crash, only two in my
office knew they could travel from Blackfriars to Wimbledon.

--
Paul C

On Wed, May 07, 2014 at 06:47:12PM +0100, eastender wrote:

I'm writing a short article on ways that small businesses in London can
cope better during strike days - eg pointing out free wifi on stations
with a long wait. Any suggestions gratefully received.

I suggest that they develop contingency plans for unexpected short
interruptions to normal business. That would cover tube strikes, the
road they're on being closed because a sewer collapsed, bad weather,
banking glitches, and so on. Really, tube strikes and other events that
have similar effects are *common events*. If you've not considered them
in your business plan you shouldn't be in business.

And in that happy year when nothing of the sort happens - well then,
that's the staff christmas party paid for with the money you expected to
lose.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club"

PLEASE NOTE: This message was meant to offend everyone equally,
regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, politics, choice
of beer, operating system, mode of transport, or their editor.

In message , at 12:01:24
on Fri, 9 May 2014, David Cantrell remarked:
I'm writing a short article on ways that small businesses in London can
cope better during strike days - eg pointing out free wifi on stations
with a long wait. Any suggestions gratefully received.

I suggest that they develop contingency plans for unexpected short
interruptions to normal business. That would cover tube strikes, the
road they're on being closed because a sewer collapsed, bad weather,
banking glitches, and so on. Really, tube strikes and other events that
have similar effects are *common events*. If you've not considered them
in your business plan you shouldn't be in business.

The difference between the sort of business continuity plan you mention,
and something for tube strike days, is that there's always an assumption
that you are one of the few organisations disrupted. For example, when
the twin towers fell, companies called in the grief counselling agency
they'd mentioned in their continuity plan; only to find them a trifle
over-booked.
--
Roland Perry