Six things Londoners are hoping for in the New Year

Londoners will put up with most things: incompetent landlords, sharing a house with rodents, long working hours, job cuts, unpaid internships, overpriced coffee (well, overpriced EVERYTHING), as we’re a career-driven, optimistic bunch. Still, here are the things we can’t help but hope for in the New Year:

1. The night tube to materialise 

Bring on the 24-hour tube!© Annie Mole

We’re an impatient lot when it comes to travelling around, so we didn’t plan on still having to get the night bus during our Christmas festivities – let alone in the New Year.

2. Maintenance of usual escalator etiquette

Stand on the right and walk on the left.© Barney Moss

That’s stand on the right and walk on the left for anyone who wasn’t mortified last month, when told to stop walking on the left of the escalator in Holborn. We’ll pretend the breaking of escalator etiquette never happened. Better still, we’ll leave Holborn to the laid-back newbies of London, and avoid it like the plague in the same way we avoid Bank (it’s easier to get out of jail than Bank). Meet at Holborn station you say? Not on our watch.

3. Pedestrian fast lanes don’t appear

Can you imagine anyone keeping to pedestrian lanes?© Jolene Chocopiano

At first pedestrian fast lanes seemed like a great plan when the idea cropped up in the news in 2010 – but this was before we’d all had our morning caffeine fixes. And then reality hit us in a shot. As much as we like to get around fast, deep down we know such lanes wouldn’t work. We’ll let go of this idea and laugh at the daftness of the Belgians – and more recently (this November) the Liverpudlians – for introducing such schemes in earnest.

© William Warby

 4. TfL fares don’t increase

It happens every year, just like our favourite coffee shop wacks a 15p on our sarnies and beverages every now and again. Millennials reminisce about the '90s, when you could actually buy something with a penny. Public transport fares are set to increase in 2016, like always – but it doesn’t hurt to hope, right? 

5. Air con on the Central line by the summer

Oh, the joy of the Central line.© Tom Page

If you don’t cruise on the tube at the first stop and bag a seat, you probably suffer from the lack of air-con the most (unless you're on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City or Metropolitan lines, lucky sods). The majority of us are forced to arrive at the office like we’ve just run a marathon, or – if you bagged the spot in front of the window – with hair so windswept we bear a striking resemblance to Hermione Granger. 

6. A rent cap will be introduced

What do we want? A rent cap! When do we want it? Now. © Davide D’Amico

The fact that the rent for your double en-suite room in a six-bed house share in Stratford costs basically the same as renting a moderate-sized three floor, cottage down south never fails to sting – not enough to make us reconsider London of course, but definitely enough to moan about it.

In the meantime, here's some things to do on New Year's Day in London.