Travel in London Travel in London

3. Travel trends by mode
Table 3.1 Passenger kilometres and passenger journey stages by National Rail –
operators classified by ORR as London and South East operators.
Year
Passenger kilometres
(billions)
Year-to-year
percentage
change
Passenger
journeys
(millions)
Year-to-year
percentage
change
1998/99 17.1 .. 616 ..
1999/00 18.4 7.6 639 3.6
2000/01 19.2 4.3 664 4.0
2001/02 19.3 0.5 663 -0.1
2002/03 19.8 2.6 679 2.4
2003/04 20.1 1.7 690 1.6
2004/05 20.5 1.9 704 2.1
2005/06 20.7 1.1 720 2.2
2006/07 22.2 7.1 769 6.9
2007/08 23.5 6.1 828 7.7
2008/09 24.2 2.9 854 3.1
2009/10 23.8 -1.8 842 -1.4
2010/11 25.0 5.2 918 9.0
2011/12 26.4 5.3 994 8.3
2012/13 27.3 3.4 1,032 3.9
2013/14 28.6 4.9 1,107 7.2
2014/15 29.6 3.4 1,155 4.3
Source: Office of Rail and Road.
3.10 Modal trends: Road traffic in London
Scope
This section considers road traffic volumetric trends in London. It first looks at
vehicle-kilometre based estimates from the Department for Transport (DfT), and
then looks at complementary traffic flow data from TfL’s own traffic counts. The
latest available DfT data is for the 2014 calendar year, and shows a return to traffic
growth in London for the first time since 2006. TfL’s traffic flow data shows a
similar trend, continuing into 2015. If this apparent renewed trend towards
increasing traffic in London continues, it will have significant implications for the
management of the road network in the coming years.
Developments in 2014 (DfT data)
In 2014, vehicle kilometres in London were up by 1.8 per cent overall, with the
biggest increase in central London, which was up by 3.4 per cent on the previous
year – a very sharp turnaround compared to established trends. Traffic in inner
London grew by 1.4 per cent, while traffic in outer London, which accounts for
about 70 per cent of traffic in London, increased by 1.9 per cent. Traffic in outer
London has now increased for three consecutive years (figure 3.7).
Trends since 2000 and 2008 (DfT data)
Despite the increases in the latest year, DfT data shows that vehicle kilometres in
London in 2014 were 9.5 per cent lower than in 2000. This fall in road demand has
been a consistent feature of the last decade, and has been particularly prominent in
central London (although this indicator applies to an area larger than the central
London Congestion Charging zone), where vehicle kilometres in 2014 were 21.3 per
cent below the 2000 level, even taking into account the increase in the latest year.
57 Travel in London, Report 8