Sustainable transport in London
2030, although he has said that ‘it will never be the case . . . that all of our 272 Underground stations will be step-free’. 47 As such, it seems that the London Underground will never be fully accessible for everyone.
Passenger experience The London Underground is notoriously hot. To remedy this, air-conditioned trains have been introduced on the sub-surface lines, 48 as well as the Elizabeth line, Overground and Tramlink. 49 However, the deep-level tube lines and DLR still lack air-conditioning, with the introduction of new air- conditioned DLR and Piccadilly line trains having been delayed. 50 This means journeys on most Underground lines can still be unpleasant on warmer days. Public transport can also be very crowded. In 2019, about 9% of passenger-kilometres travelled on TfL’s rail services had standing densities above two people per square metre. 51 However, a shift in commuting patterns since the pandemic and the opening of the Elizabeth line has caused that figure to fall to 1.9% in 2023, suggesting rail services are becoming less crowded and passenger experience is improving in this regard. London’s transport also has varied service reliability. In 2023/24, the DLR was the most reliable service, operating 98.3% of scheduled services. 52 Buses operated 96.9% of scheduled kilometres, while Tramlink operated just 93.6% of scheduled services. All of these are between 0.8 and 5.3 percentage points lower than in 2013/14, showing a fall in reliability over the past decade. The biggest drop was the London Underground, which saw its scheduled kilometres operated fall from 97.5% in 2013/14 to just 90.8% in 2023/24. In the four weeks to 19 August 2023, the Elizabeth line performed poorly, with 9.1% of services cancelled – the highest proportion in the country. 53 Moreover, only 88% of scheduled trains on the Elizabeth line arrived ‘on time’ 54 in 2023/24, 55 making it the least reliable TfL service in London. With reduced reliability of services, some people may be put off from using London’s public transport network.
47 Noah Vickers, ‘London Underground stations will 'never all be step-free' - but Sadiq Khan outlines how many will be by 2030’, MyLondon , January 28, 2025, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.mylondon.news/news/transport/london-tube-stations-never-step-30878223. 48 Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. 49 Rebecca McCulloch, ‘Full list of London Underground lines which have air con and why the majority don't’, MyLondon , June 18, 2025, accessed August 23, 2025, https://www.mylondon.news/news/transport/full-list- london-underground-lines-31883011. 50 BBC News, ‘New Piccadilly line trains delayed by up to a year’, June 20, 2025, accessed August 23, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx5vgrgvgxo. 51 Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, 52. 52 Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, 47. 53 Harry Low and Katy Austin, ‘Elizabeth line tops list of train cancellations’, BBC News , September 9, 2023, accessed August 22, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66754481.
54 Arrived no later than 5 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time. 55 Transport for London, ‘Travel in London 2024: Annual overview’, 47.
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