The London Underground carried over 4 million passenger journeys last Thursday – the first time daily passenger journeys exceeded 4 million since the pandemic hit.
Last week (19th – 25th Nov 2023), 24.78 million Tube journeys were completed, and Thursday saw the highest number of tube journeys with around 4.05 million – above the average of 3.7m journeys that the tube currently sees during the middle of the week.
The pre-pandemic single day record was set in December 2018, when just over 5 million journeys were made on the London Underground.
Weekend ridership also continues to grow, with several tube stations around central London already close to or exceeding levels seen before the pandemic.
Ridership across the DLR and London Overground networks are also continuing to grow towards levels seen before the pandemic, with around 325,000 journeys made on the DLR (80% of pre-pandemic levels) and around 625,000 journeys made on London Overground (96% of pre-pandemic levels) on an average weekday.
The Elizabeth line also averages around 720,000 journeys made daily between Tuesday and Thursday, and the busiest day ever on the railway since its opening was Thursday 9th November, which saw more than 766,000 journeys.
Across London, bus ridership also continues to grow, with around five million journeys now being made daily.
In total, passenger journeys are now 89 percent of pre-pandemic levels, up from 85 percent at the end of 2022/23.
TfL is using the recovering passenger numbers to argue for increased investment in public transport as it faces a roughly £500 million shortfall compared to the budget needed to maintain the network.
The Government did not confirm funding support in the Autumn Statement, and TfL says that the situation is now urgent if it is going to continue to provide reliable services that can support the growth in passenger numbers now being witnessed.
Andy Lord, London’s Transport Commissioner, said: “It’s great news that we are now seeing ridership numbers reach 4 million a day on the Tube again, and that ridership is growing across our services. Public transport is a fundamental component of our economic recovery, and we must continue to encourage public transport use if we are to revive and grow our economy. However, we need the Government to urgently confirm that they will provide the capital investment support we need for 2024/25. TfL’s investment in the supply chain supports more than 100,000 jobs across the UK, almost half of which are in small medium enterprises, who are also reliant on TfL’s funding certainty.”
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