Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash.

Since the pandemic, there has been a drop in Tube usership which has not been as fast to pick back up as expected, especially on Fridays, as a tweet from London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, states. With ridership being consistently 12 per cent lower on Fridays compared to the rest of the weekdays. This is likely due to the “flexible working” that many companies have adopted since the pandemic, with parliamentary findings that stated “44 per cent of workers reported home or hybrid working.”

With a quick scan of the Transport for London website, it can be found that “peak fares” mean that getting around London on weekdays between 6:30am and 9:30am, and 4pm and 7pm will cost you more than “off-peak” times, which are all times outside of the peak hours. 

However, this could soon change: Kahn has requested that Transport for London remove peak fares on Fridays to try and encourage citizens from the outer zones to come into central London on Fridays. 

This lower ridership is impacting the hospitality industry in London, as reported by The Guardian Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, a trade body for hospitality in the UK, stressed that Fridays have suffered due to a lower commuter trade.

In a press release regarding the subject  Charlotte, who runs the Gramos Coffee Bar at Kings Cross St Pancras Tube station said “As a small independent coffee shop, we rely heavily on commuter trade, and we’re just not getting that traffic on Fridays, even in a busy station like King’s Cross.” 

At present to get to a central London station (Oxford Circus, for example) from Upminster, a zone 6 station, will cost at peak times £5.60, but at off peak only £3.60. This change would affect those living closer to zone 1 less, however, with a single fair within zone 1 only being 10p cheaper at off-peak times and going between zone 1 and 2 being 60p cheaper. 

Khan broke the news via X (formerly Twitter) with a tweet that read: “I’ve asked TfL to trial off-peak fares all day on Fridays. Tube journeys on Friday haven’t bounced back since the pandemic as much as other weekdays. I want everyone to be able to make the most of London’s world-class bars and restaurants, galleries, and theatres on Fridays.”

The project would trial for three months and is expected to begin in March. At the time of publishing, Transport for London has been yet to respond but there are “early discussions about this and the technicality of how it will work are now underway.”