Overview

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, would like to hear your views on his draft transport strategy. The strategy sets out his plans to transform London’s streets, improve public transport and create opportunities for new homes and jobs, to ensure London is a fairer, greener, healthier and more prosperous city.

Our online survey will ask your opinion on the key parts of the strategy.

This web page summarises the draft transport strategy. It does not substitute the full draft strategy – which you are encouraged to read.

You can watch a short video that describes key elements of the strategy.

There is also an Easyread version of the Executive Summary available.

Click here for an accessible version of the full draft strategy (Microsoft Word)

Next steps

Please read the following information on the draft transport strategy, and its key policies and proposals, and then complete the online survey by Monday 2 October 2017.

We will consider all the feedback received and will use it to prepare a report to the Mayor to inform the development of the final strategy.

We expect to publish the final version of the transport strategy in 2018.

If you would like to go straight to a particular topic, please use the links below:

Background

London’s challenges

The Mayor’s vision

Healthy Streets and healthy people

A good public transport experience

New homes and jobs

Making it happen

Related documents

Have your say

The MTS is the statutory document that sets out the Mayor’s policies and proposals to reshape transport in London over the next 25 years. This will be the third version of the strategy with the last published in 2010. It builds on the vision for a better London that the Mayor outlined in ‘A City for All Londoners’, and takes forward the approach set out in ‘Healthy Streets for London’.

It is an ambitious strategy that puts people’s health and quality of life at the very heart of planning the city’s transport. Along with the new London Plan and the Mayor’s other strategies for economic development, the environment, housing, health inequalities and culture, it provides the blueprint for making London a city that is not only home to more people, but is a better place for all of those people to live in.

London’s transport system helps to shape the city. As well as allowing people to get around, it has a big impact on quality of life – street space defines what the capital is like as a place to live and work, and public transport is part of many Londoners’ daily routine. Creating a city for all Londoners will require an approach to transport that will help London to grow in a way that benefits everyone.

In recent years, there have been important changes in the way people travel, but car use is still too high for a growing city. People remain dependent on their cars because street environments are not designed to promote walking and cycling, because overcrowded or unreliable services make public transport unattractive, or because parts of London have been planned around car use to the extent that few alternatives are available.

As London’s population grows from 8.7 million today to an estimated 10.5 million in 25 years’ time, pressure on the city’s transport system and the demand for new homes and jobs will increase. Limited space means that building more roads to help a growing population to get around is not an option. For London to function well and be a great place to live, the way people move around needs to be re-examined.

﻿The Mayor's vision

Reducing the need to use cars will provide huge benefits for all Londoners. More walking and cycling can make everyone healthier. Older people, the very young, disabled people, and those living on lower incomes are most likely to be affected by the problems associated with living in a car-dependent city, such as poor air quality and road danger, so reduced car use will make London fairer. Streets will function more efficiently, with less congestion and pollution. Public transport and essential commercial journeys will run more easily and there will be more space for people.

London will grow in a sustainable way, not only improving people’s lives but supporting London’s growing economy, the benefits of which will be felt across the whole of the UK.

For all of these reasons, this new draft transport strategy aims to change the way people choose to travel so that, by 2041, 80% of all Londoners’ trips will be made on foot, by cycle or by public transport. This will be a significant change from today, when only 64% of journeys are made by these healthy, efficient and sustainable forms of transport.

﻿Healthy Streets and healthy people

Creating streets and routes that encourage walking, cycling and public transport use will reduce car dependency and the health problems it creates. Streets make up 80% of London’s public space, so making them Healthy Streets has the potential to dramatically improve the experience of living, working and spending time in the city.

Most people can get the minimum physical activity they need to stay healthy by walking or cycling as part of trips they already make. Improving the experience of being on streets is the most effective way of encouraging more people to do so. The Mayor’s aim is, by 2041, for all Londoners to do at least the 20 minutes of active travel they need to stay healthy each day.

Local streets and neighbourhoods will be designed to make them pleasant places for people to walk, cycle, use public transport and spend time. Walking will be prioritised across London’s streets, including around schools, so this easy means of getting around becomes easier and more appealing. Streets will be made more accessible for disabled people, with wider, clutter-free pavements and crossings that are easier to access and use. A new London-wide network of strategic cycling routes – which will also be good environments for walking – will transform the convenience and experience of cycling for all types of trips. More traffic-free areas will be created, starting with the transformation of Oxford Street and including trial closures of streets to motor traffic to help people see their streets differently.

Reducing road danger will make people feel safer and more comfortable walking and cycling. The Mayor’s aim is that no one is killed in, or by, a London bus by 2030, and for deaths and serious injuries from road collisions to be eliminated by 2041. Designing streets that encourage lower speeds and demanding safer standards for buses and lorries will help to make this happen.

Transport emissions can blight streets, harming human health and contributing to climate change. London must meet legal pollution limits as soon as possible, which requires an earlier introduction and expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. The Mayor’s aims are for all taxis and private hire vehicles to be zero emissions capable by 2033, for all buses to be zero emission by 2037, for all new road vehicles driven in London to be zero emission by 2040, and for London’s entire transport system to be zero emission by 2050. Air quality and climate change are such pressing issues with such dire potential consequences that London will provide international leadership.

A shift away from car use will help London’s streets work more efficiently, reducing congestion so bus services can run reliably, and essential freight and business journeys can keep London operating. Working to achieve fuller vans and fewer missed deliveries, the Mayor aims to reduce freight traffic in the central London morning peak by 10% by 2026. The Mayor also aims to reduce total traffic in the capital by 10-15% by 2041, with London boroughs leading on reducing traffic in their areas. The Mayor will give consideration to the development of the next generation of road user charging systems and will seek additional powers from the Government to limit the number of private hire vehicles in London.

﻿A good public transport experience

Public transport is the most efficient way for people to travel over distances that are too long to walk or cycle, and a shift from private car to public transport could dramatically reduce the number of vehicles on London’s streets.

Applying the Healthy Streets Approach will make the switch from car use to walking, cycling or public transport as simple as possible. Stations, stops and streets will be designed so that onward journeys by walking, cycling and public transport are the easiest choice, with the whole journey becoming as straightforward as a car trip.

To make public transport services more attractive, they will become easier and more pleasant to use. New technologies will provide better travel information, and wider benefits, such as bringing WiFi to Tube tunnels. Buses will be given proper priority on London’s streets, and bus services will be planned to match demand.

Fares will be kept affordable. Services and infrastructure will be designed to be more accessible and inclusive. The Mayor will aim to halve the extra time it takes for people who need to use step-free stations to get around on the Tube network by 2041.

Following the opening of the Elizabeth line, investment in new trains and technology on the Tube and rail networks, including an extension of the Bakerloo line to Lewisham and beyond, will help tackle crowding and create more capacity on existing lines. To bring rail services up to TfL standards, and to keep fares affordable, suburban services should be devolved to the Mayor’s control, creating a London suburban metro.

Crossrail 2 is a major new rail project that must be at the heart of London’s response to its current challenges. It will benefit businesses, residents and commuters across London, the Wider South East and the whole nation. It will enable London’s highly productive economy to continue to grow by helping 270,000 more people get into the city centre in the morning peak. It will support 200,000 new jobs, and unlock 200,000 new homes – more than 30% of them outside the capital.

People also need to make local trips, whether to town centres to shop and socialise or to travel to school, college or work. However, many have no choice but to use cars because there are no suitable public transport alternatives available. New and better services are required, particularly in outer London where car use is high and public transport links are relatively poor. Providing reliable bus services to and between town centres and improving rail services is essential to getting people where they want to go without relying on a car.

﻿New homes and jobs

More people than ever want to live and work in London. Each year, 50,000 new homes are needed to accommodate this demand, and by 2041 around 1.2 million more jobs will need to be created. People want to live and work in well-connected places so transport will help to make this growth happen.

Planning for these changes provides a unique opportunity to reshape the city, learning from mistakes made in the past. Transport has an important role to play in making sure that London’s growth is ‘good growth’ – providing more opportunities, delivering affordable homes and improving quality of life by creating places where people can enjoy living and working in good health.

People should be able to live in areas where many of the places they want to go to are within walking and cycling distance, and good public transport connections are available for longer trips. The places they live in should be planned around people, not vehicles, with attractive public spaces, cycle parking and storage, and deliveries that minimise road journeys and do not disrupt local people.

Applying the Healthy Streets Approach to planning transport creates a set of principles that will help London grow in a way that works for Londoners.

The transport principles of 'good growth'

Good access to public transport

High-density, mixed-use developments

People chose to walk and cycle

Car-free and car-lite places

Inclusive, accessible design

Carbon-free travel

Efficient freight

The Mayor will use these principles to help create the new homes and jobs London needs in the coming years.

Crossrail 2, the Bakerloo line extension and other new public transport connections will generate opportunities for new homes and jobs across London. New bus services will be developed to support regeneration and new development, including pilots of new types of high-capacity, high-frequency routes and demand-responsive services. New river crossings that prioritise walking, cycling and public transport will be developed to connect communities, such as the Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf bridge and a DLR extension to Thamesmead.

The Mayor will also take full advantage of any TfL land that could be used to deliver more housing, beginning the construction of 10,000 homes on TfL land by 2020/21 - with 50% of those brought to market since May 2016 being affordable.

﻿Making it happen

This draft strategy is the start of an ambitious plan that will reshape London over the next 25 years. It sets out a bold approach to achieve an essential vision – to create a healthier, fairer city; one that is not only home to more people, but that is a better place to live in.

A great deal of determination, investment and collaboration will be required to make this vision a reality. The Mayor and TfL will work with the Government, other transport operators, businesses and others to fund and deliver the proposals set out within the strategy.

The boroughs in particular have a key role to play. During 2018, they will draft their Local Implementation Plans, demonstrating how they will achieve the aims of this strategy locally.

Ultimately, this draft transport strategy is about making London a better city for all Londoners. The Mayor would therefore like to hear your views.

﻿Related documents

Executive Summary

Draft Mayor's Transport Strategy

Evidence base

Integrated Impact Assessment

﻿Have your say

The Mayor would like to know what you think about his draft Transport Strategy

Please give us your views by completing the online survey below by 2 October 2017.

Alternatively, you can:

Email us at consultations@tfl.gov.uk

or write to us at FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS

A reference copy of the draft Strategy is available at a number of locations across London. You can see a list of the locations here.

You can also request paper copies of all the consultation materials and a response form by emailing consultations@tfl.gov.uk, writing to FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS, or calling 0343 222 1155. Please get in touch using the details above if you would like information in alternative formats.