Passengers are more likely to have a less crowded journey if they travel on Mondays rather than mid-week, analysis of latest travel trends has revealed.
There are 13 per cent fewer passengers on the Tube and London Overground on Mondays than on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, according to Transport for London.
Monday is the quietest day of the week – Friday mornings have 28 per cent less demand than mid-week but only six per cent across the entire day, due to a spike in demand on Friday evenings as the weekend starts.
The analysis, based on journeys made between October and December, found the Northern line, and Overground services between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon, Crystal Palace and New Cross, had the biggest differentials between days and between peak and off-peak travel.
TfL is keen to encourage passengers to “form new travel habits” post-pandemic and spread the mid-week peak as it battles to return seven-day demand and revenue to pre-pandemic levels.
The collapse in the five-day commute has left the Tube at about 75 per cent to 80 per cent of “normal” – about three million journeys on weekdays.
On the Northern line, Monday mornings were 17 per cent quieter than similar times later in the week.
The Friday morning peak on the line was 32 per cent quieter than midweek.
Across the week, the Northern line carried 30 per cent fewer passengers between 7.30am and 8am than in the 8am-8.30am peak.
There were 21 per cent fewer passengers after 8.30am – also showing the benefit of avoiding peak times.
The northbound and southbound Overground lines in and out of Highbury & Islington were 17 per cent quieter during the Monday morning peak than at the same time mid-week.
That section of the Overground was busiest between 8.15am and 8.45am – but had 26 per cent fewer customers between 7.45am and 8.15am.
Alex Williams, chief customer and strategy officer at TfL, said: “With many commuters now having the flexibility to choose when they go into the office, and people forming new habits to kick off 2023, this latest data shows the benefits of travelling on Mondays or Fridays or retiming your journeys.
“There is plenty of capacity for everyone on the public transport network but Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are consistently the busiest weekdays, so customers are likely to have more comfortable journeys by switching to or adding a journey on a Monday or Friday.”
Tube, bus and Overground fares will increase by an average of 5.9 per cent on March 5, mirroring the rise in national rail fares that will be introduced on the same day.
TfL hopes that the below-inflation rise in fares will not lead to a marked reduction in demand. Feared cuts to Tube lines – to save cash - have not been implemented after research showed that fare hikes were less damaging than axing services. However, three bus routes are being axed and 15 routes are being changed.
Shashi Verma, chief technology officer at TfL, said a one per cent above inflation rise in fares resulted in a 0.3 per cent reduction in demand – but a one per cent cut in services reduced demand by 0.6 per cent to 0.8 per cent.
“A service cut is much worse than a fare increase,” he said. “Service cuts are far more destructive than fare increases.”
