Mayor presents bold Strategy for the future of London’s transport

• •      Mayor’s Transport Strategy will ensure affordable public transport for all, support London’s economic growth, and create a fairer, greener and healthier city
• •      Continued record investment in improving transport capacity, with new rail lines, more frequent tube services, thousands of clean buses and more accessible transport over the next two decades
• •     Latest Strategy includes new commitment to a West London Orbital rail line and a specific proposal for the Sutton Tram extension 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today set out his ambitious plans to improve transport in London over the next 25 years, presenting his Transport Strategy to the London Assembly for consideration before final publication in the coming weeks. 

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy will act as the backbone of transport planning across London, helping to deliver Sadiq’s ambition for 80 per cent of trips in London to be made on foot, by cycle or using public transport by 2041.‎ It includes record investment in new and improved rail, tube and bus services, an unprecedented focus on walking and cycling, and a commitment to make the entire transport system zero-emission by 2050.

Last June, The Mayor published a draft of his strategy for statutory consultation, and more than 6,500 responses have been received from members of the public and key stakeholders from across the UK.

As outlined in the Strategy, there will be new Tube trains and signalling giving more frequent and reliable services, the opening of the Elizabeth line, extensions to the Tube, DLR and Overground, new green buses and taxis, new river crossings, and the transformation of London’s streets to make walking, cycling and public transport the most appealing and practical choices for Londoners. The strategy also reiterates how vital Crossrail 2 and a transformed suburban rail metro service are for the capital’s future economy, jobs and homes.

Following extensive feedback from the consultation, the strategy now also includes the potential for a West London Orbital rail line, connecting Hounslow with Cricklewood and Hendon via Old Oak, Neasden and Brent Cross. This new line, delivered through TfL, the West London Alliance, boroughs and Network Rail, could potentially support the delivery of an additional 20,000 homes, as well as employment growth in west London. 

The strategy also contains a specific proposal to work with the London Boroughs of Merton and Sutton to develop the proposed Sutton Tram extension. 

Across the next two decades, the Mayor’s Transport Strategy will include:

• ·         Major transport schemes including the Elizabeth line, Northern Line extension, Crossrail 2, Bakerloo line extension and the Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf crossing. These major transport schemes, delivered through partnerships and close working between TfL, boroughs, and landowners across London, will help create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and homes across London and the South East and support the principles of ‘Good Growth’.

• ·         Billions to be invested in delivering the Healthy Streets Approach across all London boroughs. This investment will help remove the need to travel by car, and make walking, cycling and taking public transport safer and easier, helping to promote healthier active lifestyles. This includes major transformation schemes at Oxford Street and Old Street in Central London, as well as hundreds of walking and cycling schemes across inner and outer London to help more journeys become active, efficient and sustainable.

• ·         Forging ahead with Crossrail 2, which is vital to the success of the wider UK economy. Once delivered the new rail line would relieve pressure on the transport network across the south of England, enabling 270,000 more people to travel into and across central London every morning at peak time, and will drive the development of 200,000 homes and 200,000 new jobs across the south east.

• ·         Record breaking investment across the entire Tube network to run more trains more often and carry far more passengers. This investment will see the completion of new signalling and more frequent services on the Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. The modernisation of the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines will also begin by the mid-2020s and see new trains and more frequent services delivered to increase capacity and improve reliability.

• ·         Dramatically improving air quality across London and making London a zero-emission city. This will be delivered through a phased approach, following wide-spread public consultation and building on the forthcoming introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. This includes creating zero emission areas in town centres from 2020 and in central London from 2025, larger zero emission zones in inner London by 2040 and London-wide by 2050. TfL will lead by example, with the aim that all taxis and PHVs will be zero emission capable by 2033 and buses will be zero emission by 2037.

• ·         Improving accessibility across London to enable all Londoners, including disabled and older people, to travel spontaneously and independently. The Mayor and TfL will work hard to halve the additional journey time required by those using step-free network only, so that journey times on the step-free network become comparable to those on the wider transport network. This work will see more Tube and rail stations made fully accessible, while improvements to the DLR and London Tram, both of which are already 100 per cent fully accessible, will make it easier for people with a disability to turn-up-and-go. When Sadiq became Mayor, fewer than 25 per cent of Tube stations were step free - the interim target is to ensure 40 per cent of the network is accessible by 2022.

During last year's statutory consultation on the draft Mayor's Transport Strategy, more than 6,500 responses were received from members of the public and stakeholders from across the UK, showing strong support for the aspirations and vision set out. Hundreds of presentations were carried out across London to key stakeholders and businesses to explain the strategy.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said:

“I’m delighted that thousands of Londoners have got involved and given us their feedback on the future of transport in London over the coming decades. 

“I’ve been clear that we need to be bold in how our city operates as London’s population grows, and this means not only investing record amounts in new infrastructure like extensions to the tube, rail and Crossrail 2, but working with boroughs and local communities to reduce our reliance on car use across London. 

“With our unprecedented focus on walking, cycling and clean public transport, our ambitious Transport Strategy can act as a crucial driver for new homes and jobs, but also improve quality of life for everyone living in London.”

Val Shawcross, Deputy Mayor for Transport, said:

“Our ambitious strategy for the next 25 years shows how we can provide affordable, accessible and world-class transport for every Londoner, while ensuring our transport network acts as a huge catalyst for new jobs and homes across the capital. We have looked closely at the input from thousands of people who have responded to the consultation, and I’m pleased that our bold focus on encouraging walking, cycling and public transport, alongside reducing emissions, remains at the heart of our Strategy.”

London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown, said: “Transport is vital to the success of a city. The capital’s population is expected to rise to 10.8m people by 2041 – creating six million additional journeys every day. This bold strategy sets out how London can prosper as it grows over the next two decades, supported by huge improvements to the transport system and the Mayor’s vision for active, affordable, efficient and sustainable transport.”

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of business group, London First, said: “If London’s going to continue to grow, we have to build the transport links our city needs. Crossrail is a huge achievement and promises to transform journeys across the capital, but the trains will be full as soon as the doors open. The launch of the Elizabeth Line shows the way for London, and that means Crossrail 2.” 

Fran Graham, Campaign Coordinator, London Cycling Campaign (LCC), said:

“London Cycling Campaign welcomes that walking and cycling are at the heart of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy. It’s vital for the future functioning of a dense, complex and growing city like London that active travel and greener public transport are prioritised over motor traffic.

“London Cycling Campaign looks forward to continuing to work with the Mayor, TfL and the boroughs on exciting schemes that are already on the table such as Cycle Superhighways 4, 9 and 11. These routes will help the Mayor fulfil his commitment to triple protected space for cycling on main roads during this mayoralty, and get implementation of the Mayoral Transport Strategy off to a good start.”

Ruth Owen OBE, Chief Executive of Whizz-Kidz, said: “Whizz-Kidz is delighted to see accessibility at the heart of the Mayor of London’s transport strategy. Expanding the step free network, halving additional journey times and improving turn-up-and-go services will not only make travel easier for young wheelchair users, but also give them greater access to the many leisure, education and employment opportunities London has to offer.

“As one of the supporters of Whizz-Kidz’s Get on Board campaign, TfL has shown a real commitment to improving accessibility, and it is extremely encouraging that the Mayor is exploring how new technology can drive further innovation across the capital’s transport network.”

Following the consultation, the strategy has been reviewed and, where required amended to reflect some key comments raised. In addition to the West London Orbital Rail and Sutton Tram extension, the amendments are in key areas such as:

• Continued focus on prioritising bus services in outer London. Following several years of decline, bus ridership is now beginning to improve, helped by investment in bus priority measures and more affordable fares. Improvements to the Tube and the Elizabeth Line from the end of this year, coupled with more people walking and cycling allow bus services to be restructured to ensure a core reliable bus network in central London, and help improve bus services in outer London right now and in the longer term. New orbital bus routes will also be investigated in the coming years, supporting new housing and business developments and providing new capacity along key routes in inner and outer London.

• Supporting the freight and logistics industry to reduce impact of deliveries while ensuring they remain efficient and accessible across London. The strategy outlines a range of measures to help reduce the number of lorries and vans in central London during the morning peak by 10 per cent by 2026. This include identifying key freight routes across London which could be completed by rail and water as well as understanding the wider impact of “last-mile” deliveries and seeing whether they could be consolidated or retimed to help reduce congestion on a localised level.

• Ensuring that a Vision Zero approach applies to the whole transport system. This radical change to how London approaches road danger will aim for no one to be killed in or by a London bus by 2030, and for all deaths and serious injuries from road collisions to be eliminated from London’s streets by 2041. Later this year, TfL will publish its strategy for achieving the Mayor's 'Vision Zero' aim, with the focus on reducing road dangers caused by speeding, fast traffic and poor road design.

• Working with Government, local boroughs and developers across London to secure revenue to deliver vital transport infrastructure. TfL no longer receives an operating grant from Government and in the coming years has to rely more on other income to keep the capital moving. TfL’s recent Business Plan shows the good progress being made in turning the deficit caused by the removal of this grant into a surplus over the next five years, with savings to operating costs already £242m ahead of this year’s target. However, to protect transport investment in the long-term, the Government needs to allow greater use of Business Rate Retention, as well as approving additional powers, such as allowing Vehicle Excise Duty raised in London to be reinvested into the capitals roads, to create a fairer way of funding transport schemes. Failure to do so could lead to London losing its place as a world-leading capital city and risk businesses opting to relocate as a result.

• Increased focus on the opportunities from new technology to ensure that innovations contribute to Mayor’s Transport Strategy outcomes and the public good. TfL is already working with a wide range of tech companies around the world to support, and learn from, innovation that could improve transport across London. This builds on what TfL has already delivered in areas such as contactless ticketing, free open data and state of the art signalling. A number of pilots and initiatives are underway to help ensure that any introduction of new technology is safe, environmentally-friendly and consistent with the wider focus on walking, cycling and green public transport.

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy will be discussed by the London Assembly on 8 March and can be accessed by visiting: https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=179&MId=6259