Sustainable transport in London
Figure 3 shows the public transport accessibility level (PTAL) in London,effectively a measure of network density. 27 PTAL examines walking distances to various modes of public transport, as well as the reliability, volume and frequency of services in that area. As such, it gives a good idea of public transport access in different parts of London, with a score of 0 (grey) representing ‘very poor’ access to public transport and a score of 6b (dark red) representing ‘excellent’ access to public transport. 28 As can be seen, there is great disparity in public transport access across the capital, with central London having much greater access to public transport than most of outer London, where public transport is concentrated in a few nodes, such as Croydon, Woolwich and Romford.
Figure 3: Map showing public transport accessibility level (PTAL) in London in 2023. Source: Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, 48.
Buses are highly accessible, with 96.7% of Londoners living within 400 metres of a bus stop in 2024. 29 The high coverage contributes to why London buses are the most used form of public transport in London, accounting for more than half of journeys on public transport in 2023. 30 However, buses are not the most sustainable mode in the network and TfL’s rail network is not spread evenly. 7 of London’s 32 boroughs lack Underground stations, 31 and two lack any rail services owned by TfL. London’s light rail systems only serve eight boroughs and the City of London. 32 Furthermore, the bus network also is not evenly spread. 33 Bus network density 34 is highest in inner London, with network density in Westminster being almost five times higher than in Havering. 35 This is despite outer London boroughs relying the most on buses for public transport. The Superloop aims to improve public transport connectivity in outer London, with ten express bus routes connecting passengers with ‘310 other bus
27 You can explore current PTAL values at Transport for London, ‘Planning with WebCAT’, n.d., https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/urban-planning-and-construction/planning-applications/planning-with-webcat. 28 Transport for London, ‘Public Transport Accessibility Levels’, London Datastore, 2017, https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/public-transport-accessibility-levels/.
29 Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, December 2024, 47, https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/travel-in-london-reports. 30 Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, 43.
31 See Figure 8 in appendix. 32 See Figure 9 in appendix. 33 See Figure 10 in appendix.
34 Network density was calculated by dividing the total route kilometres in a borough by the area of the borough. Route kilometres data comes from London City Hall, ‘Bus km by borough’, August 30, 2023, accessed August 23, 2025, https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assemblydoes/questions-mayor/find-an- answer/bus-km-borough. 35 32.56 vs 6.53 route kilometres per square kilometre.
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