Night Buses TfL Planned to Axe Had Demand Near Pre-Covid Levels, Lib Dems Insist Khan Save Them

The Southwark Liberal Democrats revealed on Wednesday that the use of eight London night bus routes that TfL planned to axe was often over 90% of pre-covid levels this year.

The group called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to guarantee no reduction to night-time services as cuts pose a safety risk and would restrict key worker travel.

Responding to a freedom of information (FOI) request from the Liberal Democrat group, TfL released this weekly usage data for the eight night routes it planned to withdraw.

These startling figures covered a 23-week period for 2019 and 2022 between February and August.

They showed that 21 of the 23 weeks in 2022 saw average weekly use of these routes at at least 90% of 2019 use. Five weeks saw 2022 demand surpass 2019 figures.

Out of the eight routes, all were above 80% of pre-pandemic use in total for the 23-week period, five were 90% and up, of which two were over 100%.

Even in the two weeks when the night tube was fully operational, use of the night buses was still at 92% and 97% of pre-pandemic use.

TfL initially proposed withdrawing these buses in response to conditions the Tories attached to a bailout deal, which the Southwark Liberal Democrats condemned.

Since agreeing to a funding package from central government in August, Khan has said that bus services could still be slashed.

However, this new data disputes TfL’s dodgy statement in its original consultation for the cuts, which was that customer numbers were significantly below pre-pandemic levels.

London Travelwatch, an independent travel watchdog, also called for TfL to scrap these plans as it would mean one in five passengers having to change bus in the night.

The organisation called the night bus changes a safety issue as it discovered three quarters of people believed that after 10pm was the most dangerous time to travel.

TfL’s own equality impact assessment on the changes notes that interchanges can have negative impacts on disabled people and for women’s safety.

Commenting, leader of the Southwark Liberal Democrats Cllr Victor Chamberlain said:

“Night buses are an irreplaceable asset to our city. They transport people safely home at night and help residents, including key workers, access hospitals at all hours. Getting rid of them poses a risk to Londoners’ safety, reduces access to hospitals and will badly affect the workers we rely on most. This latest data lays bare just how important they remain to people all across London and what a travesty it would be if TfL’s proposals were to come to fruition. Sadiq Khan must commit to preserving our night buses.”