London’s cluttered pavements are preventing more people from regularly walking in the city, the London Assembly has been told.
By Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter
London’s cluttered pavements are preventing more people from regularly walking in the city, the London Assembly has been told.
Dockless e-bikes littering paths and traffic signage blocking pavements are among the reasons London has a long way to go before we see “Swiss levels” of walking among residents, according to Transport policy lecturer Dr Tom Cohen.
Speaking to the London Assembly Transport Committee on Thursday (September 25), he said: “Walking trips do seem to have stalled, and walkability is one of the reasons. It’s extraordinary how much of what we find on the pavement is there to serve the roads, such as signage.
“The allocation of highway between motorised and non-motorised modes should not be ignored. If we want to see Swiss levels of walking here in London, that’s perhaps where we really need to go. There is a reluctance to give up carriageway. There are lots of places where it will not be the end of the world if drivers have to take turns in order to provide a decent width of pavement.”
A lack of benches to rest and the sparsity of public toilets were also cited as reasons for people choosing other modes of transport over walking.
It was part of a discussion around why London’s “ambitious” walking targets are not being reached. This was also put down to a “wider societal” trend of people making fewer journeys since the Covid-19 pandemic, the capital’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Dr Will Norman, said.
Transport for London’s (TfL’s) ‘Walking Action Plan’, launched in 2018, set out the ambition for London to become the world’s most walkable city. One of its two main targets was to increase the number of walking trips from 6.4million to 7.5million by 2024 – but the latest TfL report showed the number has stalled at 6.7million.
In addition, walk trip rates declined in 2023/24 to 0.73, a 10 per cent decrease on the previous year.
Dr Norman, who is responsible for making the capital’s streets safer for walking and cycling, claimed there had been a significant change in the way and frequency that Londoners travel around the city.
He told the committee: “The Walking Plan targets were ambitious. Growth has stalled – pedestrian activity during the pandemic fell by 70 per cent but the recovery has been slow. In 2022, it was 25 per cent lower than pre pandemic, and 13 per cent lower in 2023.
“The recovery has been slower than all of us would have desired. It’s part of wider societal trends – such as hybrid working and economic challenges meaning people are feeling the squeeze and taking fewer leisure trips. This has been reflected in every mode of transport.”
TfL data shows that, in 2023, there were 6.7million trips taken on foot, the same as 2019, but there were just 8.6million journeys taken on public transport, over a million lower than pre-pandemic numbers. The number of car and taxi journeys also fell from 10million to 9.6million.
Dr Norman noted that City Hall had achieved its goals in increasing the proportion of trips made by pupils walking to primary school to 57 per cent, with the next target being 60 per cent by next year.
After the meeting, Neil Garratt AM, a member of the Transport Committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “As we near the end of Khan’s Mayoralty, today was another reminder that anyone trying to defend his record is on dodgy ground.
“Great strides made by Ken and Boris came to an abrupt halt with Sadiq’s Walking Action Plan. Instead of real action, he pumped out a report and a firehose of dodgy stats, hoping that’ll do. But London deserves better.”
