Travel in London Travel in London

3. Travel trends by mode
Figure 3.18
Terminal passengers by London area airport.
Number of passengers (millions)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
London City Luton Stansted Gatwick Heathrow
Source: Civil Aviation Authority.
Note: Terminal passengers are those passengers either joining or leaving an aircraft, including interlining and transfer
passengers.
3.16 Modal trends: Licensed taxis and private hire vehicles
Figure 3.19 shows the trend in the number of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles
(PHVs), along with their drivers, within London since 2008/09.
The number of licensed taxis in London has remained fairly stable in recent years.
At the end of 2014/15 there were 22,500 – an increase of 0.9 per cent since
2008/09 – while there were 25,232 drivers licensed to ply for hire, representing an
increase of 1.8 per cent since 2008/09.
The number of PHVs has increased by 27 per cent since 2008/09, up to 62,754 in
2014/15 and up by 19 per cent in the most recent year alone. While the number of
registered PHVs has grown in most years, the number reduced by 8 per cent from
2011/12 to 2012/13. This is likely to have been caused at least in part by the
introduction of a 10–year age limit for PHVs in June 2012, meaning any PHVs older
than this were not able to renew their registration from that date.
Meanwhile the number of licensed PHV drivers has increased by 41 per cent over
the same period, up to 78,690 in 2014/15. From 2008/09 through to 2012/13 the
number of licensed PHV drivers grew steadily at an average rate of around 5 per
cent per year. In 2013/14 there was a 2 per cent reduction in registered PHV drivers,
perhaps attributable to a lagged effect of the introduction of the PHV age limit
described above. In the last year though, the number of registered PHV drivers has
grown by 20 per cent. One factor that has contributed to this acceleration is the
launch of Uber’s ‘UberX’ product in July 2013.
70 Travel in London, Report 8