Travel in London Travel in London

3. Travel trends by mode
flows declined to 2011/12, and have been relatively stable since then, and are
almost 8 per cent lower than in 2006/07. Traffic flows in outer London also
declined up to 2011/12, but recent data suggests a return to growth, with flows in
2014/15 just 2.6 per cent below 2006/07.
Figure 3.8
105
Trends in road traffic (traffic flows), all motor vehicles in central, inner and
outer London. Index: P13 2006/07=100.
100
Index: P13 2006/07 = 100
95
90
85
80
75
2007
/08
2008
/09
2009
/10
2010
/11
2011
/12
2012
/13
2013
/14
2014
/15
2015
/16
Central London Inner London Outer London Greater London
Source: TfL Surface Transport - Outcomes, Insight & Analysis.
Trend shown by TfL’s cordon count data
Trends in the numbers of motor vehicles crossing the three London cordons and
the Thames screenline show a similar pattern to data on vehicle kilometres. Since
2000, the number of motor vehicles crossing the central cordon has fallen by 23.7
per cent, although there have been signs of growth since the low point in 2010.
Across the inner cordon, the decline has been 10.1 per cent, while the boundary
cordon has been relatively stable, with just a 0.9 per cent decrease comparing 2013
against 2000. The number of vehicles crossing the Thames has also declined over
the same period, with 18.7 per cent fewer vehicles in 2014 compared with 2000.
Since 2008, the trend has been relatively stable across most of the cordons. The
number of vehicles crossing the central cordon fell by 1.8 per cent over this period,
with a similar decline of 1.6 per cent across the boundary cordon. There was a
slightly larger decline of 3.8 per cent across the inner cordon.
Comparing the cordon data with the DfT traffic data in table 3.3, the overall trends
since 2000 are relatively similar. Both data sources show a drop of over 20 per cent
in central London, although the DfT traffic data suggests larger falls in both inner
and outer London.
60 Travel in London, Report 8