Aug 7, 2015 -- At 6.30pm on August 5th, the London Underground system was brought to a halt as four unions, including the RMT, staged the latest in a series of 24 hour strikes. With continued dissatisfaction among the unions and workers regarding plans for a night tube service and their overall pay and conditions, further disruption is likely in the months to come, impacting upon London commuters and potentially millions of businesses in and around the capital. Mapmechanics explains how their Truckstops routing software powered by HERE can save businesses time and money when the underground is at a standstill.

The Tube strike can affect businesses in many different ways, but the overall cost for a single day's action has been estimated by the Federation of Small Businesses to be a staggering £300m. Other figures have been suggested, and it's always difficult to give precise predictions, but this figure is based upon the £600m losses that resulted from February's two day strike.

Just what causes this significant cost to our businesses? One factor is the loss of trade suffered by London's people facing businesses such as cafés, bars, and tourist attractions. As well as this, many workers will be unable to get to work and will simply take a day off or stay at home, hitting the efficiency and output of the company that employs them. A further factor is the added congestion on London's already busy streets. With the tube trains grounded, there will be a noticeable increase in the amount of traffic on the road, creating an adverse effect upon journey times; for logistics and manufacturing companies this can be especially damaging, but there is a solution.

Truckstops from Mapmechanics is a smart and reactive daily routing and scheduling software solution. This means that it enables the easy planning and implementation of routes on a daily basis. Using the intuitive software interface, businesses will be able to plan ahead for days that are affected by industrial action on the London Underground, leading to quicker and more reliable deliveries. Truckstops can help businesses achieve this by creating special schedules for a particular day, one of which could be deliveries outside of normal commuter hours and also taking into account the anticipated congestion thus avoiding the worst that a Tube strike can bring. Truckstops also displays real time traffic information, provided by HERE maps.

Mapmechanics is committed to helping businesses across the United Kingdom save on their route planning and delivery times, and cut down their fuel costs in the process. To find out how Truckstops can help your business avoid the negative impact of tube strikes, call 020 8568 7000.