Londoners who normally tube it into the Capital for work aren't having a nice day today because there's a tube strike. It's also widdling down with rain - Twitter is full of the terminally dampened bemoaning their curtailed commute.

Some industries, though, are likely to do rather well out of this.

Virtual businesses


The last time anything like this happened to transport systems was the BA strike earlier this year, at which point audio conferencing service PowWowNow did some marketing around it.

A spokeswoman said the website at flypowwownow.com did pretty well, launched when the aviation industry was marketing against teleconferencing so of course it was all in place when not only the strikes but the volcanic ash incidents happened this year. There was the site, a mail to 160,000 businesses and other activities.

Website traffic went up 8% and secured 180 new customers. So the first business to benefit has to be teleconferencing. The second business to benefit is video conferencing - if you've got the facilities. It's less likely to benefit directly from strikes but they contribute to the "perfect storm", says a spokeswoman for video specialist Mvision.

Skype also draws attention to its calls on these occasions - video for free if you're calling from one Skype member to another. It confirms it's seen a rise in traffic today, as has French videoconferencing specialist Arkadin.

Transports of delight


Don't forget it's only the tube workers who're on strike, though. The buses will still be working, and rammed - and the taxis will be packed; years ago during a tube strike in the early nineties I was caught by a taxi driver taking four of us to town and charging four full fares each. Nice work if you can get it, but I never went back again. You can pay quite a lot to sit in a non-moving cab.

The river bus is an alternative means of travelling around the Capital if your needs are close to the river, of course. One can only hope the numbers will stay safe. Buses, taxis and boats represent three more businesses that will do well.

Others


Some ought to do well but might not, quite. Boris Johnson's famous bikes aren't yet available to the casual user who hasn't registered yet, although bike sponsor Barclays should get some visibility, but Boris'll be coining it with the congestion charge. Umbrella salespeople will no doubt do well but they won't win any popularity contests. Couriers delivering goods might get a bit of a fillip.

And finally...


Two words. First, gym. Gym membership is likely to increase as lardbutts like me (OK, I work from home but you know what I mean) have to walk an appreciable distance and realise we're not as fit as we ought to be. You buy the membership, you don't do the exercise but that's a bit of money you can't spend on chocolate so it's still a saving, we tell ourselves.

More realistically the pub and leisure industry ought to do OK. People will want to avoid the rush, hang around, maybe take in a film...pint, anyone?

That top ten in full:


We should stress there is very little actual science in here, but we reckon the top ten businesses to be in during a tube strike are:

10. Gyms
9. Pubs (will zoom to no. 1 at about 5.30)
8. Couriers
7. Umbrella sales
6. Boris' bikes and Barclays
5. River bus
4. Taxis
3. Bus service
2. Video conferencing
1. Audio conferencing

We will of course take a second opinion - over to you!

Links (opens new windows)



How Anne Summers is cashing in
PowWowNow
Mvision
Skype