Weekly Passenger Numbers on TFL services between Sep-19 and Dec-21
Request ID: FOI-2051-2122 Date published: 09 December 2021
You asked
With the increasing concern around COVID for individuals, it would be really useful to understand whether this is resulting in a gradual decline in customers travelling over the past few weeks and how close numbers got to pre pandemic levels (Sep-Dec 2019) before any decrease was seen.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2051-2122
Thank you for your request of 6th December 2021 asking for information about passenger numbers on TfL services across the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“With the increasing concern around COVID for individuals, it would be really useful to understand whether this is resulting in a gradual decline in customers travelling over the past few weeks and how close numbers got to pre pandemic levels (Sep-Dec 2019) before any decrease was seen.”
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. I would suggest that the information already published via the following link best answers your question. This provides daily passenger figures for London buses and the London Underground from January 2020 (note that the first restrictions - such as the requirement to avoid non-essential travel - were announced in March 2020) up until December 5th 2021, and the page is being updated regularly (when the link opens click the tab at the bottom, “Understood - take me to the reports”):
You may also be interested in the latest TfL “Travel in London Report”, issue number 13, which provides an analysis of travel in London pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. The report can be found on our website via the following link, where future editions will also be published:
In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
