Transport > Facts and Figures

Transport - facts and figures

Travel Market

During 2006/07 public transport accounted for 36% of journeys made within London.

18% of journeys made within London were by bus, which equated to approximately 6 million journeys made per weekday. Bus journeys have continued to increase into 2007, making buses the fastest growing mode of travel in the last seven years.
There has been a strong growth in night buses since 2000/01, with number of trips peaking in 2006. Currently 100 night bus routes operate in the Capital.
10% of all journeys made within London were by London Underground in 2006, totalling a staggering 4 million journeys made per weekday and an average of 1 billion trips per year.
Rail and DLR journey stages increased by 6% each.
Road travel in London was unchanged at 11 million car/motorcycle trips per day – with reductions in inner London offset by continued growth in outer areas and the success of the Congestion Charging Zone.
Over 480,000 journeys are made by bicycle in the Capital every day. Since 2000, the number of recorded cycle journeys has increased by 83%.
Crimes on the Underground and Docklands Light Railway went down by 2.1% in 2007 despite ever increasing numbers of passengers on the network.

38% of London households do not own a car, compared to only 23% of households across Great Britain as a whole.
In central London, cars and vans are used by only 11% of people as the main mode to work. This rises to 63% in outer London and 76% in the rest of Great Britain.

In 2006, on an average weekday 1.11 million people entered central London during the morning peak (7am to 10am). This was 4.6% higher than the previous year.
The proportion of people entering central London by car fell by 7%, representing only 7% of total journeys.

Road traffic in London in 2006, at 33 billion vehicle kilometres per year, remained almost unchanged from its 1999 level.
Car traffic entering the central London Congestion Charging zone was 21% lower in 2006 than in 2002, just before the charge was introduced.
Average road traffic speeds in central London increased from under 10mph to 11mph in 2003 as a result of the introduction of the Congestion Charge. Speeds have since declined to 10.2mph.
The number of casualties on London roads decreased by 7% in 2005, compared with a decrease of 5% in Great Britain as a whole.
Slightly injured casualties amounted to 26,000 a decrease of 8%.

Road freight lifted increased in 2006 compared with the previous year, with levels higher than any time since 1990.
A total of 156 million tonnes of goods was lifted by road in 2006, made up of 68 million tonnes moved within London, a further 54 million tonnes from outside London to destinations within London, and 34 million tonnes from origins in London to destinations outside London.
Around 1.7 million tonnes of airfreight was handled at London airports in 2006, a decrease of 4% on the previous year. Heathrow handles the majority (74%) of London’s airfreight, with Gatwick and Stansted carrying 12% each.
In 2006 there was a total of 2.5 million tonnes of internal traffic carried on the river, similar to the previous year. There was 51.9 million tonnes of Port of London sea-going traffic in 2005, a small fall compared with 2005.
In 2000, 7.8 million tonnes of rail freight had its origin or destination in London.

In 2007 there were 321 rail stations in Greater London, 275 London Underground stations, and 34 Docklands Light Railway stations.
On the Underground passenger volumes have increased by 31% in the past 10 years to 1014 million passenger journeys in 2006/07.
2006/07 showed a 3.5% increase in the number of bus passenger journey stages on the previous year. 1,880 million passenger journey stages were made.
On the DLR passenger travel has increased significantly in line with expansion of the network and the development of Canary Wharf, with passenger volumes increasing by over 267% in the ten years to 2007. There were 61.3 million passenger journey stages in 2006/07.
Rail trips within London increased by 15% between in the ten years to 2007, with 232 million passenger journeys (within London) a year.

Use of Oystercard, TfL’s smartcard ticketing system, continued to increase in 2006. By March 2007, Oystercard accounted for 85% of journey stages on buses, up from 28% at the end of 2004.
On the London Underground, Oystercard accounted for almost 60% of journey stages in March 2007, up from 28% at the end of 2004.

For a direct link to the statistics quoted above, visit Transport for London's statistics web pages.

Personal travel statistics are available from the Department for Transport.

General UK statistics, including information on travel patterns are available from National Statisitcs.