Travel in London Travel in London

Overview
upgrade programme, including the current renewal of the entire sub-surface
train fleet, now evident.
• In 2014/15, 489 million vehicle kilometres were operated on the bus network, a
2.4 per cent increase against 2008/09, continuing the high rate of service
provision following the major increase to bus service levels in the earlier part of
the last decade.
• On the other TfL Rail modes 2014 saw continued incremental development to
the networks and the services operated on them. Between 2008/09 and
2013/14, the net increases in service provision have been 48.7 per cent on the
DLR and 142.5 per cent on London Overground, reflecting the rapid expansion
of this network, and 13.2 per cent on Tramlink.
• In terms of the overall capacity provided by the public transport networks,
measured in terms of place-kilometres (a reflection of the maximum carrying
capacity of the vehicles), the net increases between 2008/09 and 2014/15 were
9.8 per cent for Underground, 4.3 per cent for bus, 91.9 per cent for DLR and
13.1 per cent for Tramlink, equating to an overall increase of 9.6 per cent across
the four networks in combination.
• This is a growth rate equivalent to 1.5 per cent per year, on average, in the
capacity of London’s key public transport networks. Despite falling short of the
overall increase in travel demand, indices of customer satisfaction with crowding
on the public transport networks have improved over the period.
Alongside increased public transport provision, there have also been sustained
improvements to the quality and reliability of public transport services, and
corresponding increases in customer satisfaction.
• Service reliability indicators in 2014/15 for the major public transport modes
were also at, or close to, best-ever levels, following on from and maintaining the
exceptional performance to support the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. London’s public transport networks now carry more people, more
reliably, than ever before.
• In 2014/15 London Underground operated 80 million train kilometres, reflecting
97.6 per cent reliability, against 73 million train kilometres operated in 2008/09,
reflecting 96.4 per cent reliability. In terms of customer-focused measures,
excess journey time for the Underground has reduced from an average of 6.6
minutes in 2008/09 to 4.6 minutes in 2014/15, a reduction of 30.3 per cent in
this measure of unreliability.
• Bus reliability, in terms of the percentage of schedule operated, has been at
consistently high levels throughout the period from 2008/09. In 2014/15 97.1
per cent of the schedule was operated, compared with 97.2 per cent in 2008/09.
Achieving and maintaining these high levels of bus network reliability has been a
major feature of the period since 2000. In terms of excess waiting times, for
much of the period since 2008 the average bus passenger has had to wait just
one minute longer than they would otherwise have to do if the service ran
perfectly to schedule, although this has increased to 1.1 minutes in 2014/15,
and there are signs that wider congestion trends during 2015 are beginning to
impact on bus service reliability.
11 Travel in London, Report 8