Night Tube: Winners and Losers of a 24 Hour London Underground

Let Londoners rejoice from Walthamstow down to Brixton and from Ealing Broadway across to Epping.

It has been a distant dream for Londoners, but finally 24-hour services on the London Underground will become a reality, at the weekends at least, from 2015.

Five lines will run round-the-clock services in the capital on Friday and Saturday nights. They will be the Central, Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee lines, as well as sections of the Northern line.

"For 150 years the Tube has been the beating heart of London, its tunnels and tracks providing the arteries that have transported millions of people and helped to drive the development and economic growth of our great city," said Mayor Boris Johnson.

"Now it is time to take the Tube to the next level and so for the first time in London's history, we will provide a regular 24-hour 'Night Tube' service at weekends.

"This will not just boost jobs and our vibrant night-time economy, it will further cement London's reputation as the best big city on the planet in which to live, work, visit and invest."

IBTimes UK looks at who may be the winners and losers of the so-called Night Tube.

Homeowners along those five Tube lines - winners

If you're one of the lucky few who own a house in London and you live along a soon-to-be 24-hour line, then you've just hit the jackpot.

Now that you'll be able to stumble drunkenly home from the Tube at 4am on a weekend rather than relying on the night bus, the transport link just got a whole lot more lucrative for you.

Proximity to transport connections is a big factor in the price of a house. A study for London's under-construction Crossrail project found that houses near one of its stations will get as much as a 25% boost in value.

Renters who want to buy along those lines - losers

Given how unaffordable London property prices are already - and according to a study by housing charity Shelter it'd take an average single person in the capital 30 years to save a deposit - it'll only push prices more out of reach of first-time buyers who want to live along the 24-hour lines.

Better add a couple more years of saving on, or sell a couple of vital organs.

Cabbies - losers

Why get a cab when you can get the Tube? That's a question cabbies are going to struggle to answer when 24-hour lines are introduced.

If it's a choice between a costly cab from Soho to Liverpool Street - and having to endure those typically inane and insane conversations with drivers - or just hopping on the Central Line at Tottenham Court Road using the travelcard you already have for commuting to work, it's a no-brainer.

People who rely on night buses - winners

Night buses, or Murderous Red Bedlam Carriages to give them a more suitable name, are what Pandora's Box must feel like on the inside.

So it will come as huge relief to those who live on the soon-to-be 24-hour lines that they'll no longer have to rely on the vomit comets to take them home after a night up town.

Night time economy - ­winners

A 2010 study by night-time economy research specialists TBR and MAKE found that the Westminster borough alone was worth £2bn a year from its after-hours businesses.

When the capital's consumers and night owls no longer have to worry about shelling out for an expensive taxi, or dashing off early to catch the last Tube, London's bars, clubs, pubs and all else open at night will feel the spending boost.

That means more tax in the Treasury's coffers and more jobs from the extra spending. And probably a lot more rubbish and sick to be cleaned up in the mornings.

Street cleaners - losers

See last sentence above...

Commuters - losers

There's nothing to bring death by coronary closer than the pent-up fury of Tube delays.

The five lines chosen are the heaviest used and need a lot of maintenance to keep services running. Extra use at weekends means less time for track maintenance. Less time for track maintenance means an even creakier network. And an even creakier network means more delays for commuters.

So as you hurtle gaily through the tunnels at Silly o'Clock in the morning on a Friday, spare a thought for the commuter who'll suffer at rush hour on Monday.

Tube drivers and staff - winners

While the 24-hour Tube service announcement was made alongside another that all ticket offices on the Underground would close and 750 jobs would go, there is a small nugget of good news for Transport for London staff.

Additional services means more overtime and hours available to Tube drivers, station staff and cleaners who will be needed to run the system. And that means more money in their pockets.