TfL is chaired by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The Mayor’s key priorities for transport in the city are around expanding public transport capacity, smoothing traffic flows, leading a revolution in cycling and walking, delivering transport projects for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, improving safety and security and to dramatically improve the experience of travelling in London.
To achieve these priorities TfL plan to invest £39.2 billion in the period to 2017/18. The plans are set to form the biggest expansion of the London transport network since World War Two, representing an increase in capacity of almost 30 per cent. A large portion of the spending will go towards the development of Crossrail which on its own is anticipated to increase public transport capacity by 10 per cent. It will offer a new, high frequency, high capacity railway linking Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through to central London and on to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.
Tube line upgrades are also planned leading to 30 per cent extra capacity. The work will include new trains and signalling systems to provide a faster and more comfortable service. Plans are also in place to expand London’s Overground rail network, the management of which was taken over by TfL in November 2007.
London’s ongoing policy to promote and invest in public transport has seen rapid increases in bus patronage in the capital to levels not seen since 1962. Similar success can be seen on the Tube – on the 7th December 2007 it recorded its biggest day ever with more than 4 million passengers. Total ridership is around 1.1 billion journeys per year.
In the months since his election, the Mayor has placed safety and security high on the agenda for transport with a ban on alcohol consumption on the Tube and new officers to patrol the bus and Tube network. The Mayor also committed to a public consultation on the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge zone, the results of which mean that legal processes are beginning to remove the extension of the zone.
Updated December 2008.
