Bus journey times

The London Assembly Transport Committee is investigating bus journey times in London and holding a one-off meeting on 9 December 2025.

• To understand why bus journey times in London are getting increasingly longer, and the impact this has on service and regularity.
• To examine whether the measures set out by TfL will provide passengers with quicker bus journeys.

• Buses are the most used form of public transport in London, with over 1.8 billion bus journeys taking place in 2024/25.
• Average bus speeds in 2024/25 were 9.17 mph. This follows a pattern of increasingly slower speeds since 2020/21, when average bus speeds were 10.27 mph.
• TfL has previously introduced several bus priority measures to improve bus speeds which TfL state will result in shorter journey times for passengers. This includes: the creation of 25km of new bus lanes by December 2025; 1,900 traffic signals that prioritise buses; and extending the operating hours of 85 km of existing bus lanes to be 24/7. TfL also committed to providing further bus priority measures in its Bus Action Plan and recently published its Bus priority design guidance in November 2025.
• TfL’s Bus Action Plan states that for TfL to meet its target for 80 per cent of trips to be made by walking, cycling and public transport “up to 9 million daily journeys may need to be made by bus by 2041”. Recent figures show that in 2023/24, Londoners took 5.1 million daily bus journeys.
• London TravelWatch’s report, The next stop: Making London’s buses better stated that 33 per cent of survey respondents said that slow buses stop them from using the bus more often. Over a third of respondents also said that their top consideration when deciding whether to travel by bus was how fast the bus journey is. TfL has also stated that its analysis has shown that every one per cent change in journey times leads to 0.6 per cent change in passenger numbers.
• London TravelWatch has also found that if London buses can travel just 1mph faster it could potentially save TfL between £100-£200m a year, as well as generating additional revenue of £80-£85m.

• What factors are currently contributing to long bus journey times?
• Will the measures TfL is taking, and intends to take, achieve improved journey times?
• What impacts do long bus journey times have on passengers, network performance, and London’s wider transport objectives?