Record-breaking year for London’s public transport network

Transport for London’s (TfL) Annual Report reveals an additional half a billion journeys took place on London’s public transport network in 2014/15 compared to five years ago.

The Report records passenger journeys between April 2014 and March 2015. According to TfL, record numbers of customers used the public transport network coinciding with the introduction of contactless payment on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and some rail service. Figures reveal more than 1.3 billion passenger journeys were made on the Tube, an increase of 3.2% on the previous year. In addition, 2.4 billion passenger journeys were recorded on London’s buses equating to more than half of all bus journeys taken in England.

Commented on the Report, Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London Underground is now more than 50 per cent more reliable compared with 2010/11 owing to a relentless focus on getting the detailed day-to-day operations right while simultaneously modernising the network. Train frequencies and capacity on the upgraded Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines now rival those of the best metros anywhere in the world.”

Commissioner of Transport, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, added: “We became the first transport authority to introduce contactless ticketing, vastly improving convenience for customers and quickly becoming the fastest growing merchant in Europe for payments. We developed a new smartphone-friendly website to meet these needs of our tech-savvy city and continued to be a driving force for free open data, fuelling hundreds of new travel apps. We are also pioneers in the use of ‘big data’ to improve services for customers.”

The Annual Report also revealed more than 110 million passenger journeys were made on the DLR, up by almost five million on the previous year. Additionally, London Overground witness the introduction of five-car trains, this aided the 140 million passenger journeys recorded over 2014/15, almost ten million more than the previous year.

TfL’s 2014/15 Annual Report can be downloaded here.