More passengers set to feel the squeeze on London’s busy buses
THE CITY’S buses will become more crowded unless Transport for London adds more services to meet soaring demand, a report out today from the London Assembly claims.
The assembly has called on the Mayor of London and TfL to pinpoint which routes they would improve in the coming years.
The number of bus trips rose 64 per cent to 2.3bn between 1999 and 2012, far outstripping growth in the capital’s population, which increased from 7.15m to 8.3m.
TfL has estimated that journeys will jump a further seven per cent between now and 2022.
These 167m extra trips per year will put even more pressure on the network unless TfL looks at ways to keep services running smoothly, such as better roadworks planning and cheaper tickets outside rush hours, the assembly’s report says.
“[W]e need the government to continue to support our investment whilst we work hard to get the most out of the existing network and match capacity to passenger demand,” said TfL in response.