Streets

London has 13,600km of streets.

The Mayor of London is responsible for only 580km of London's important roads - the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN). These are mostly Red Routes. The TLRN accounts for about five percent of London's roads but carries 33 percent of London's traffic.

London's 33 local authorities manage the other roads, apart from motorways, which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency.

What has been achieved to date?

Traffic management

The Congestion Charging scheme was introduced in February 2003, and was extended westwards in February 2007. Traffic volume decreased by 20 percent, resulting in 70,000 fewer car movements per day
The London Traffic Control Centre (LTCC) became operational in 2002. The LTCC constantly monitors traffic and co-ordinates responses to congestion 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Outline traffic enforcement plans completed, and the decriminalisation of traffic offences Bill came into force October 2004
Transport for London (TfL) is responsible for all of London’s 4,700 sets of traffic light signals. Over half of these can be adjusted from the LTCC through the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system
The London Traffic Information System (LTIS) is a custom built database that logs all verified events and their management
COMET is a real-time map-based display providing early warning of congestion using information from monitoring cameras and 1,200 sets of traffic signals
Traffic calming measures, such as 20mph zones have been installed on the TLRN and London borough roads
Increased parking and loading controls with nearly all TRLN roads now operating as Red Routes

Motorcyclists

Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes: Report undertaken by Transport for London
March 2008

Collisions involving Powered Two Wheeler (P2W) riders generate comparatively high numbers of casualties in London, relative to the size of this group among road users and measures to reduce the number of casualties from this group have been investigated. One measure under consideration was to examine the road safety impact of allowing motorcycles in bus lanes. Transport for London undertook a study to determine whether the safety of P2W users could be enhanced by doing so, whist not negatively impacting on other road users. TfL introduced three pilot schemes on the Transport for London Road Network whereby PTWs were permitted to use bus lanes along the three routes (A41, A23 and A13). This report the results of the trials conducted at these locations.

Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report PDF (256KB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report RTF (586KB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 1 PDF (233KB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 1 RTF (835KB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 2 PDF (2.4MB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 2 RTF (447KB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 3 PDF (9.2MB)
Powered Two Wheelers in Bus Lanes Report Appendix 3 RTF (454KB)

The London Motorcycle Working Group was set up in October 2001
TfL has developed Motorcycling safety campaigns
The BikeSafe London training programme has been set up in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service

Safety

The first London Road Safety Plan (PDF) was published in 2001
A London Camera Safety Partnership (LCSP) has been set up to better coordinate activities on safety cameras in London
By 2006, casualties on London’s roads were down by 41 percent compared with the average between 1994-98

Streetworks

The streetworks taskforce was established in 2001 to tackle the issue of effective coordination of streetworks
Maintenance and streetworks have been improved through new TfL and London borough three-year priority street maintenance plans
TfL is pursuing new legislative powers with government to provide them with greater powers to control streetworks in London
The 2004 document Making London a Walkable City (PDF) has further information on streetworks