Ihe mkpuchi amanyere iwu na-alaghachi na London Underground

• Mask wearing on the Tube could be required by law again soon.
• Only mandatory masking will make people feel safe on public transportation again.
• Mandatory mask-wearing for England was dropped on July 19.

Onye isi obodo London Sadiq Khan is urging the return of mandatory mask wearing on the Tube London, seeking to make it into a by-law, thus enabling the British Transport Police to enforce it and impose fixed penalties on those boarding the trains maskless.

“We are trying to lobby the Government to allow us to bring in a bye-law, so it will be the law again, so we can issue fixed penalty notices and we can use the police service and BTP to enforce this,” Khan said, adding that only mandatory masking will make people feel safe on public transportation again.

Making mask-wearing compulsory again would make people feel safer and encourage them to use the Tube, the mayor said.

Mandatory mask-wearing for England was dropped on July 19, though Khan has consistently opposed the move. Ahead of ‘Freedom Day’, which ended compulsory mask-wearing, he asked Transport for London (TfL) to enforce it as a “condition of carriage,” making TfL workers able to ask non-compliant passengers to leave the bus or train.

If implemented, the changes proposed by Mayor Khan would effectively revert the situation on London public transportation to pre-July 19 conditions. Despite the easing of restrictions, around two-thirds of adults in the UK still plan to continue wearing masks, according to official statistics. The number of people wearing masks on public transportation also remains high, with around 85% of Tube, bus, and train passengers continuing to do so.