Monday morning peak use of London Underground and bus services has continued to rise since 2022 got underway and as the first working week since the government withdrew its “work from home” advice begins.
Transport for London says there were around 1.06 million Underground station entries and exits before ten o’clock this morning compared with one million during the same period last Monday and 0.92 million during the morning peak on Monday 10 January.
Buses use has also gone up on consecutive Monday mornings, with 1.17 million boarding tap-ins before ten o’clock today following 1.15 million on Monday 17 January and 1.1 million on Monday 10 January.
Today’s figures bring Tube ridership up to roughly 45 per cent of what it was before the pandemic and bus ridership to 69 per cent of what it usually was pre-Covid.
The Monday morning peak figure trend contributes to an overall gradual growth of bus and Tube use in the first weeks of the new year which has seen them heading back towards the levels seen in mid-autumn and above what they were a year ago.
TfL says around two million journeys per whole weekday were made on the Underground last week – an increase of around ten per cent compared with the week before and around half the usual number pre-pandemic. Bus ridership is put at between 4.3 and 4.5 million each weekday or roughly 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Use of both main public transport modes has been higher at weekends.
Also today TfL has issued a reminder that passengers using its public transport services are still required to wear coverings as a “condition of carriage” unless they have a valid exemption, despite the government saying they will no longer be a legal requirement in any setting from Thursday 27 January.
Graph from TfL demand by travel mode dashboard.
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