Millions of London commuters face two days of transport disruption after a 48-hour strike shut down the capital's underground rail network tonight in a dispute over pay and jobs.
London Mayor Boris Johnson condemned the walkout by thousands of drivers, station staff, maintenance workers as "utterly demented."
"We will do everything in our power to keep this city on the move," he said.
Extra buses would be laid on, "Oyster" prepay travel cards would be accepted on overground rail links and temporary parking would be laid on for the thousands expected to cycle, he said.
Road works would be suspended but the £8 congestion charged for cars in central London would remain in place.
RMT union leader Bob Crow said transport chiefs had deliberately provoked the confrontation.
"The RMT wants the issues at the heart of the dispute to be resolved so that our members can get back to delivering a first class transport service," he said.
Despite last minute talks to avert the strike underground workers walked out just before 7 p.m. and are not due to return till the same time on Thursday.
London Underground says it has offered an above inflation multi-year pay deal, but the RMT has refused to be tied down to any settlement longer than a year.
The union is also seeking assurances over up to 4,000 job losses after the collapse of the Metronet rail maintenance company and its takeover by London Underground.
The 400km network normally runs over 500 trains at peak hours to carry 3.5 million passengers a day.
It has been hit by a number of labour disputes in recent years including a planned three-day strike by maintenance workers in September 2007 that ran for 30 hours before being called off.
Reuters