News Round-up October 2026
Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter October 2026
Mayor launches Action Plan for Disabled Londoners
Maggie Heraty writes: FTL welcomes the Action Plan for Deaf and Disabled People launched by the Mayor in September. This follows Transport for London's (TfL) Equity in Motion 2024 plan which set out to create a fair, accessible and inclusive transport network. TfL recognised the unfair barriers to travel around lack of accessibility, affordability and concerns about safety.
After further consultations with organisations of and for disabled people, which highlighted their continued concerns in the same three areas, the Mayor has committed to take the following actions in these regards:
1. TfL will work to improve uptake of concessionary travel options for disabled Londoners.
2. TfL and the GLA will work with partners to ensure disabled Londoners are engaged in improvements to Taxicard.
3. TfL will work to improve training for staff and taxi drivers to ensure they better understand and can meet the needs of disabled Londoners.
Overall the Mayor states that he will use his powers to ensure transport is as accessible and affordable as it can be for disabled Londoners. There is, however, nothing specific in the Plan about the on-going programme to improve access and information provision, or the funding for this.
The Plan can be found here.
Danger on TfL roads
More work on reducing the dangers on London’s roads is urgently need according to a report (here) issued by London Living Streets in September. The campaign group reports that the TfL Road Network (TLRN), or Red Routes network, represents around 5 per cent of London’s roads by length but carries around 30 per cent of the capital’s traffic. Some 37 per cent of all road fatalities occur on the TLRN and 28 per cent of all serious and fatal casualties.
The key recommendation is that some form of road user charging should be introduced to reduce the number of cars on the roads. This proposal has been floated by many organisations in the past but the vociferous opposition from many voters has made mayoral candidates wary of proposing it. The report points out that there is a relationship between traffic volumes and the numbers of road casualties. ‘Without significant traffic volume reduction, it will be not be possible to achieve reductions in road casualties on the TLRN in line with the 2035 target’ they say. At the very least it should cover the Inner London boroughs and, as a first step, charging should be reintroduced in the Congestion Charge Zone between 6pm and 11pm.
The report says that ‘TfL funding for safety improvements on the roads that it manages should be focused on the boroughs with the highest numbers of casualties and in particular the TLRN in Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster’.
Other measures proposed include removing gyratories which, they say, are an especial source of danger and risk and also are a source of severance for the communities surrounding them. Extension of 20 mph limits on TLRN in outer London (it is already a limit on TLRN roads in inner London) is also proposed.
Mayor’s opposition to Heathrow third runway
Mayor Sadiq Khan has formally come out against the building of a third runway at Heathrow. The case for the new runway, he says, ‘relies on outdated evidence that. fails to reflect current climate laws and travel habits’. The extra runway would reverse the progress made in air quality following the introduction of the ultra-low emission zone.
There is also considerable concern over the extra surface traffic which extra fights would generate. It is estimated that there would be 60,000 additional daily highway trips, adding 22 million road journeys annually to the M4 and M25 in addition to the upgrades needed for the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines and the need for new rail connections towards Reading and the south west.
Khan says: ‘I will continue to vehemently oppose these plans as I seek to build a fairer, safer, greener, more prosperous London for everyone’.
Transport in the heat
This year’s hot summer, likely to be even hotter in coming years, has given rise to a range of transport issues. There are signs that Londoners have been changing their travel habits with 25 per cent avoiding travel in the hottest periods and 16 per cent deciding not to travel at all.
It’s been uncomfortable for bus passengers and worse for drivers. Whilst all new buses have air cooling systems, and others have full air conditioning, these do not always lower the temperature sufficiently for drivers and, drivers complain, some do not work. The result can be cab temperatures of over 40 degrees which led drivers employed by Arriva in North and East London to strike demanding that the problem be fixed. The threat of future strikes has now been suspended following the promise by TfL to ensure that all its buses are fitted with air conditioning by next May.
It has been a boom time for cycle hire as commuters find this a more pleasant way to travel in the heat. There was a 28 per cent rise in the use of Lime bikes during the first heat wave in May. Many people have taken to the river. Passenger volumes on Uber boats were up to 80 per cent hire on some of the hottest days.
Rail has also been impacted by the conditions. The sub-surface level tubes, covering 40 per cent of the network, and the Elizabeth line, are fully air conditioned but conditions on the other tube lines have been very trying. Next year the Piccadilly line
will have air-conditioned stock, the first line on the deep tubes to be so equipped. Meanwhile stations are being equipped with industrial-sized fans. The new trains for the DLR will also be air conditioned.
On the national rail system, the heat is resulting in buckled track and sinking embankments leading to speed restrictions. It is likely that the recent derailments in Sussex and Essex were due to such factors.
More than 50 organisations, including Campaign for Better Transport, have signed a statement calling on the government to act urgently on transport in response to the climate emergency.
Class 700 refurbishment
The comfort of the seats, characterised as ‘ironing-boards’ has been a criticism of Thameslink’s class 700 trains since the prototypes were exhibited at the Excel Centre ten years ago. A Railfuture report at the time said ‘We found the seats very hard and imagine this will soon lead to complaints from passengers, particularly bearing in mind that some journeys on these trains will be up to 130 miles long such as Peterborough or Cambridge or Bedford to Gatwick & Brighton and taking over two hours.’
At last their mid-life refurbishment is giving an opportunity to upgrade them and make them more comfortable with softer cushions and improved backrests and a brighter moquette. Improved toilets are also planned. Refurbishment is planned to begin in 2027 and is due to take two years to complete the whole fleet.
The inner suburban class 717 trains have identical seats. Their refurbishment is not due for another four years but hopefully they will follow the lead from the class 700 refurbishment.
Croydon rail plans on hold
The plans to enlarge and relocate East Croydon station which we reported on in our newsletter 40 were paused some years ago but interest has now resumed.
It is estimated that the present station and the track layout around Selhurst junction to the north will reach 100 per cent capacity by 2030.
Two forthcoming developments propel new concerns. One is the planned enlargement of Gatwick Airport with the bringing into use of a second runway. One of the conditions for permitting this development is a commitment for 54 per cent of passengers to arrive by public transport.
The other development is the creation of Universal Studio’s UK Theme Park in Bedfordshire. A new four-platform Thameslink station is being built at Wixams, between Bedford and Flitwick. An enhanced rail service serving the station is envisaged and these trains would pass through East Croydon.
SL12
The latest Superloop route started on 5th September linking Gants Hill with Rainham via Romford. The Gants Hill start connects it with the Central Line. The original plan was to start it from Leytonstone but this was subsequently changed. The software governing the announcement on the bus seems not to have caught up with the change, referring continually to Leytonstone as the final destination.
Progress along Eastern Avenue is satisfactorily rapid although the parallel route 66 is almost as fast, the road being a 50mph dual carriageway. The route provides a useful new direct connection between Romford and Rainham. It continues beyond Rainham to the Ferry Lane industrial estate where no bus has previously ventured.
E-bikes to be regulated
New London wide standards to regulate e-bikes is being planned by Mayor Sadiq Khan but the DfT say that it will be 2028 before new regulations can be brought into force. The aim will be to manage bike numbers, and improve safety and parking. The new system would target badly parked hire bikes which block pavements and present particular hazards for people with mobility difficulties. The Mayor proposes to provide £1.7m to London boroughs to fund micromobility parking spaces. A London wide system would end the confusion which currently prevails with different boroughs having agreements with different hire companies.
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