The Covid-19 pandemic normalised working from home for those with desk-based jobs. With far fewer people commuting into London as a result, the number of daily tube and bus journeys has plummeted:
Use of London’s hire-bicycles has, however, increased significantly. There are around 20% more journeys using these bikes – variously known as Boris, Santander or Barclays Bikes – than before the pandemic. The length of those journeys has increased, too:
The pandemic has essentially sparked Londoners into cycling more, inspired by the relatively traffic-free roads and desire to be in the open-air (rather than huddled in a bus or tube). And they have carried on cycling, even though the traffic has returned. Those additional cycle-trips are primarily for leisure rather than commuting, pointing towards a shift in how London’s public transport is used. Less for work, more for fun:
TFL’s budget should pivot accordingly. The experience of the pandemic shows that when cyclists can worry less about cars, they cycle more and for longer. More should be invested in bike lanes which terminate in parks, not just the City. Ideally, London would create more car-free zones. Richmond Park is an obvious candidate -cyclists already outnumber cars there and the 20mph speed limit makes it an ineffective thoroughfare for cars). The tube-service timetable could be scaled back to free-up funding: at only 60% of its pre-COVID usage, presumably London could get by with a couple fewer tubes each hour.