London Underground passenger levels now 80 per cent of pre-pandemic
Use of the London Underground is at its highest level since the onset of the pandemic, at 80 per cent of 2019 figures.
More than 3.3m journeys were made on Wednesday compared to 4.18m at the same point three years ago before coronavirus slowed down the global, UK and London economy.
In the early stages of lockdown 2020, the tube was down to just five per cent capacity.
New figures from Transport for London show weekly riding on the tube is at between 75-80 per cent of 2019 levels, up from just 45 per cent in January of this year.
Of the rise in ridership there have been at least 3.2m payments using contactless devices such as cards and Oysters.
The resurgence from the pandemic has also led to the weekend use of the underground increasing, now “regularly above 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels” according to TFL.
This includes the Night Tube, with Victoria, Northern, Piccadilly, Jubilee and Central lines all 75 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
There are similar figures for usage on London buses, between 80-85 per cent of 2019 figures, including roughly 5m weekly journeys on average, with some routes in outer London reaching ‘normal’ levels, TFL said.
Nick Dent, Director of Customer Operations (London Underground) at Transport for London (TfL), said: “Ridership on our Tube, bus and rail services continues to recover and we are delighted to see more people using our services as they return to work following the half term break or visit London to enjoy everything the city has to offer.
“Despite growing ridership, there is still some way to go to bring our overall fare revenues back to levels seen pre-pandemic. Public transport is the backbone of our economic recovery and we remain focused on operating a safe, clean and reliable service for our customers.”
This comes after TFL released figures this week showing that more than a third of all contactless payments on the tube are now done through a mobile device.
Pay as you go contactless, including with Google Pay, has made travelling easier for millions, with almost half a million journeys being completed with the technology from late July to August.
Transport for London said it constituted 35 per cent of all contactless journeys and 25 per cent of all adult pay as you go journeys.