London’s Tube network sees busiest morning in 18 months

London’s Tube network has seen its busiest rush hour morning since March 2020, according to Transport for London (TfL) data.

Between 7am and 8am on Monday, there were some 277,000 “taps” in on the Tube, an increase of 24% on last Tuesday.

The morning grew busier still between 8am and 9am, when there were 332,000 Tube taps, up 22% on last week.

Later on, between 9am and 10am, the 222,000 taps recorded marked an 11% rise on six days earlier.

On the capital’s bus network, passengers tapped in 860,000 times between 7am and 10am on Monday, with the busiest hour coming between 8am and 9am when 321,000 taps were logged – up 71% on last week.

TfL said that when compared with pre-pandemic figures for September 9 2019, travel was up 45% on the Tube and 64% on the buses up to 10am.

Tube usage was expected to reach 50% of the pre-pandemic level by the end of Monday, while on buses it could be more than two-thirds.

The latest data comes amid the end of the summer holiday period and the return of schools.

TfL said the return of people to the network was a trend being seen over the last few weeks, with taps in on the Tube up by 12.5% and bus usage up by 13.7% when compared with last Friday.

A spokesman said that while many children used buses to reach school, fewer used the Tube, suggesting that commuters were returning to the network too.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “I am delighted that Tube ridership continues to increase as more people return to the office.

“Our city – and our country – depends on London’s economic recovery.”

On the capital’s roads, live data from location technology firm TomTom suggested the congestion level reached 61% at 8am on Monday, just below the 63% average level recorded on the same day in 2019, but above the 49% level logged in 2020.