Returning to Work, Anxiously

Londoners summoned their courage and went back to work Monday on red buses, Tubes and commuter trains back in operation after last week’s bombings paralyzed the city.

Officials at London Underground and automobile organizations stoically described the commute into town as “a normal Monday morning.” But the hot day pulsed with sirens and screeching brakes, and the streets of a city on its highest anti-terrorism alert ever were filled with police.

“We are going to work,” Mayor Ken Livingstone said as he stepped into a packed train headed for City Hall, watched by a large cluster of reporters. “We don’t let a small group of terrorists change the way we live.”

“I had a good think about it at the weekend, and I decided nothing was going to stop me coming in,” said Idris Taylor, 25, an office worker who converted to Islam after studying comparative religion at college. “Sure, you take the precautions -- check for bags, maybe get in the back carriage of the train. But you can’t stop your life.”

Some commuters exited the Underground with a sigh of relief after reaching their destinations.

“It took nerve to get me on to the Tube this morning,” said Anna Bagrat, a 38-year-old financial analyst, emerging into brilliant sunshine at Moorgate Station, near the sites of two of the subway bombings, in London’s financial district. “The door opened, and I took a good long look inside at faces and bags before I dared to step aboard.

“Usually you have to fight and push to get standing-room space. But my train this morning was half empty. And everyone was looking at each other just like I was.”

The Times of London reported that British security services, military and police were on the highest-level terrorism alert ever ordered here. The “severe specific” alert, second only to “imminent,” is higher than the alert ordered after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., and was apparently called because Thursday’s attackers might not have been suicide bombers and might be planning further strikes.

There were signs Monday that Londoners’ widely expressed refusal to kowtow to terrorism might mask private qualms about the advisability of taking public transportation. Cars crowded the city, and bike shops reported a run on bicycles since last week’s attack.

“We’ve been selling bikes left, right, back and center,” said Markus Blanshard, deputy manager of Cycle Surgery, a chain with six outlets in inner London. “There have been queues of customers coming in since Thursday saying, ‘I want something to commute on rather than taking the Tube.’ They’re so desperate they’ll take anything.”

On a normal Thursday afternoon, Blanchard added, the entire Cycle Surgery chain turns over no more than $3,500. On Thursday, a single outlet on the edge of the financial district sold 10 times that amount.

Most Underground and bus service had resumed Friday, but ridership was sparse. For many, Monday was their first commute since the Thursday attacks.

London was packed with police, some of them also on cycles. Young policemen in fluorescent yellow jackets and Lycra shorts, with racing bikes leaning on the wall next to them, were spaced 10 yards apart around the Bank of England, a white mass of classical architecture at the center of the financial district.

London Underground officials asked commuters to be “extra careful” not to leave belongings behind on trains. But inevitably alarms were triggered as bags were forgotten. Still, most of the Underground system was running smoothly. Only one line remained shut down entirely and four others had limited service because of the police investigation and the recovery of bodies.

Flowers left by passersby piled up at the four Tube stations near where bombs exploded last week, killing dozens of passengers. “London -- we New Yorkers stand with you,” read one message attached to flowers outside King’s Cross Station, which has resumed service for one subway line only. “Evil will not win. Those who perished are sharing a banquet with those who died on Sept. 11, 2001. We will not forget you either.”