Some Londoners have changed jobs entirely to avoid the delay-riddled District Line, despite a £500,000 investment from Transport for London to improve signalling issues. Infrequent service and unreliable trains prompted passengers to form a campaign called 'Fix the District'.
Campaign tracks lost passenger time
Commuters who live on the Wimbledon to East Putney portion of the line said that some people have changed jobs to avoid using the District Line. On Fix the District, commuters can log issues as they occur – including overcrowding, general delays, and reduced service.
The website also has a running tally of passenger time lost, calculated by adding the estimated delays each day in minutes, multiplied by the number of people affected. As of October 5, 2026, passengers have lost more than 134 hours of valuable time waiting for the District Line.
Reliability concerns and inaccurate departure boards
Max Barber, who leads the campaign, told the BBC: 'People have said they won't move to Southfields because of the District Line. I also know one person who changed their job because of the reliability issues.'
Even departure boards are inaccurate, commuters claim, which has led to widespread confusion for visitors to the area. London Underground's Richard Jones said: 'We know that historically there have been problems with the service that we have delivered to customers who live in this area, and we will continue to work with Network Rail to improve it as much as we can.'
