During Platinum Jubilee weekend London Underground returned to pre-pandemic passenger levels for first time
Londoners returned to the Underground in record numbers last weekend for the Platinum Jubilee, with passenger numbers exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time in more than two years.
Figures released by the Department for Transport today show tube-users were up 118 per cent and 108 per cent on 2 and 3 June, representing a watershed moment in the capital’s Covid recovery.
During the peak of the pandemic passenger usage plummeted to just three per cent on the underground on 26 April, under a month after the first lockdown was imposed.
Welcoming the return to pre-pandemic levels of passengers for the Jubilee, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, said “it was incredible to welcome tourists from across Britain and around world to London, to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
“Our capital’s world-class public transport enabled visitors to enjoy the fantastic events taking places throughout the weekend.”
He also praised the new Elizabeth line which had “more than 1 million journeys”.
London’s Transport Commissioner Andy Byford added that he was “proud of all the staff who worked to deliver a seamless and reliable transport network over the weekend and demonstrate how vital public transport is to deliver great events like this which benefit the whole of the UK.”