Mayor hails 'stonking year' as Tube passengers make 1.2bn journeys

Date: 2/5/2013

The Mayor of London has hailed a "stonking year" for the capital's transport network as new figures show that 1.229 billion passenger journeys were made on the Tube during 2012/13 - a five per cent increase on 2011/12. 

Boris Johnson said that the city's Tube system has taken full advantage of the opportunity to "showcase itself to the watching world" over the course of the past 12 months, and emphasised that further growth is vital in maintaining its current performance. 

"With London due to grow by a city the size of Birmingham over the next decade it is imperative that we continue to see the sustained investment in our transport network in order to keep the capital moving," he said. 

Events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games were attributed as one of the reasons for the surge in passenger numbers, while reliability was also praised as the number of customer hours lost to delays was cut by 20 per cent over the course of the year. 

And with the number of kilometres operated on the Tube network increasing by 4.5 per cent in 2012/13, Managing Director of London Underground Mike Brown highlighted the progression that the capital's transport systems have made. 

"Our investment to date has brought real improvements for customers - delays have been cut by 40 per cent since 2008 and modernisation of the Jubilee and Victoria lines means we can deliver faster, more reliable and more frequent services for the ever-increasing numbers of customers who rely on them," he explained. 

"But continued investment in London's transport infrastructure is vital to keep pace with this growing demand." 

According to Transport for London, recent improvements mean that only four other metro systems across the globe operate any lines with a higher frequency than seen on the upgraded Jubilee and Victoria lines.  

Mr Brown added that existing plans to increase capacity and reliability on the Tube network have the potential to create "thousands of jobs" that could support businesses throughout the UK. 

Posted by Mary Treen 

Transport News, Transport Consulting News and TRL Ltd